I’ve seen it delivered in a casserole dish.

I’ve heard it sung, rapturously and not-so-, recited in joined affirmation, spoken singly with a smile, “Welcome.”

I’ve seen it, with and for, refugees and homeless neighbors.

I’ve watched it lift disasters’ debris.

I’ve tasted it, torn from one loaf, poured from one cup.

I’ve seen it laid on a casket like a pall and draped across grief’s shuddering shoulders.

I’ve seen it in a cemetery and on a playground.

I’ve watched it at work in meetings, tended by people with other things to do.

I’ve seen it in the offering plate and the covered dish.

I’ve watched it drip from a baby’s head and heard it in the Yes of confirmands, college students, and nonagenarians.

It is the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of Life and Hope. It is a life, a way of moving and being. It is life.

It is liberation and forgiveness, the enemy of evil and a friend to all.

It is newness never old.

It sees through T-shirts, tats, and tags. It rips away labels, revealing children of God.

It is a word, a gesture, a moment of grace. It is eternity.

It is with us in our weeping and in our laughter.

It is light in the darkness, peace in turmoil, truth silencing the mob.

We gather in it. We serve it gloriously and fail miserably. We live it and don’t. So, again, we gather.

And though we divide ourselves, it holds us all.

Remember.

In Christ,

Mark