Focusing Upon What Unites Believers

SOME SAY...

 

Some say

only Catholics get to Heaven,

some say

Protestants have the key.

Some debate sprinkling and immersing,

Virgin birth, saints, the 144,000, the Great Tribulation,

while others argue

infallibility of the Pope, Purgatory, Baptism of the Holy Spirit,

or whether Bread of Communion

becomes Flesh (with a capital F),

or is partaken in remembrance.

Some say

read only the King James,

others, the Douay-Rheims,

others, the N.I.V.

Some say

pray in tongues,

while others say it’s of the devil.

Some say

pray silently, reverently

with folded hands and nodded head.

Others say

shout, leap, dance with timbrels

and raise arms high in praise.

Some say

it’s impossible to be Jewish

and believe Jesus is Messiah,

sitting Shiva for those who do.

 

I’ve worshipped in all your churches,

sang “O Salutaris” in a cathedral

with a Cross gleaming above its towering steeple,

“How Great Thou Art” in a stone hillside chapel,

“Oh Happy Day” in a store-front on Main,

and “The S’hma” in a Messianic synagogue

with David’s Star and the Lamb

up front by the Bimah.

I’ve read Father Girzone’s, “Joshua”,

said “Amen!” as a radio evangelist

implored listeners

to focus upon what unites,

not what divides,

but most of all

I’ve sensed

the One who knows hearts well,

whispering,

whispering ever so softly

into mine,

“Love,

just love

one another.”

 

Maude Carolan

 

 

The above poem was previously published in "Sensations" magazine.