NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST

Conventioneers from thirty-seven

countries throng the banquet

hall to hear the message.

A clergyman tells God to bless

the fruit and rolls.

The President

speaks up for Reagan, Martin

Luther King, and having faith

in faith.

Love is the common

theme, most of it touching,

all of it frank, unburdening

and lengthy.

If faith is saying so,

then this is faith.

The problem is

that I must be the problem.

I’ve always thought that faith

declaimed too publicly destroys

the mystery.

Years back,

when Brother Antoninus yelled

at listeners to hear the voice

of Jesus in them, Maura whispered,

“The Jesus in me doesn’t talk

that way.”

Later, when I saw

a placard bannering, “Honk,

if you love Jesus,” I thought

of Maura’s words and passed

in silence…

Jesus in fact

spoke Aramaic in Jerusalem,

foretold uninterrupted life

and sealed it with a resurrection.

If He asked me to honk

in praise of that, I’d honk

all day.

But rising from the dead

for me seems honk enough

since no one’s done it since,

and no one did it earlier or ever.

Others might disagree, and that’s

their right.

But there’s an inner

voice I hear that’s one

on one and never out of date.

It’s strongest when it’s most subdued.

I’ll take my Jesus straight.

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