Priest Lost to Church Scaffolding
Szumowski, Margaret C
Margaret C. Szumowski Priest Lost to Church Scaffolding Only yesterday, in his fine green gown, he talked of lost sheep and calves stuck in the mud. Today he walks the shaky scaffolding high...
...Stuck in mud, we wonder who this priest is, once so familiar that we ate pigs' knuckles and drank stout together...
...Are these the thin spots where heaven and earth come together, where God really is right at the end of a good man's fingertips...
...Desire has brought him here, swinging away on the scaffolding close to God, seeing as God does, near toppling in his ecstasy...
...He touches ancient cracks in the ceiling...
...Now he has gone to heights that terrify us in our limited desire...
...He thinks so...
...We crouch in pews, scoffers, impatient jinglers of keys, greedy paws, lovers whacking each other with fry pans, coughers wheezing, He's had it, it's the scaffolding for him...
...All we want down here is relief...
...Today he walks the shaky scaffolding high above the pews, eye to eye with the risen Christ who hangs above the altar...
...Remember that, oh you, once our friend, now wobbling there among the stars...
Vol. 124 • December 1997 • No. 21
