WAITING IN JERUSALEM
by Marti McCraw

Doesn’t the whole earth tremble when a person finishes well?
Doesn't the sky open up and receive?
And how do we...
still here...
Absorb the aftershocks and unexpected tsunamis
that go on underneath the seemingly calm waves?
When everything appears fine.
When normal IS.
When life keeps pressing through an opening too small like dough.

I DON”T WANT TO!
Go through these tax forms
Load these moving vans
Read these assignments
Survive this virus
Write these papers

STOP! I want to STOP!
Why doesn’t everyone stop and honor this major shift in the universe?

Instead jostling crowds only push to their self-absorbed destinations.

Haven’t these two walked with us along the road and tapped us on the shoulder?
“Hello Ron”
“Graduated with honors”
“Hand in hand on a grassy knoll”
“Buy a valentine for my sweetheart”

With such a major shift in the universe is it any wonder
That computers broke
Unexpected expenses mounted
Spiders bit
Viruses attacked
Midterms stacked?


Go.
Go to the upper room and wait.
That place where I last
Touched you
Ate with you
Loved you

Go there and wait
Do not leave Jerusalem,
But wait.
The gift is coming
Power.
Anointed presence
that witnesses to the ends of the earth.
Wait for the gift in Jerusalem.

Acts 1, Isaiah 45.