Christmas Eve 2008

He sat next to me in silence. I was preoccupied with my own thoughts, but I did feel his presence.  What I remember about his face was his grey beard and a pair of old wire-rimmed glasses that were perched on his nose.  He wore clean clothes but smelled of the street -a mixture of sweat, old food and cigarette smoke.  He knew our prayers and songs and I sensed that he was no stranger to the church.     But when it came time for silence and the choir to sing their anthem I heard him singing softly with the choir.  His conviction to worship did not attend to our formalities.  He did not seem to notice or be ashamed that he alone was singing with the choir and it was his blind obedience to his need to worship that moved me into communion with him.  I saw my God through his eyes and my own feeble attempts of worship paled in comparison with his.  

I spend a lot of time shopping for, ministering to, cleaning up after our neighbors that there is not often time to be in communion with them.  As he was singing quietly with the anthem, I felt a glimpse of heaven, a place where all would worship together, a place where all join in one voice praising God.  There will be no black or white, no rich or poor.  There will be a beautiful blending until we are one voice and one people praising God.  A communion.