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When Joan Osborne’s One of Us came out, these lines arrowed into my heart: What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us? Just a stranger on the bus, tryna make his way home? Those lines still sing their way through me all these years later. So much in this world needs healing. And so much doesn’t.
Jesus at the Gay Bar, by Jay Hulme
He’s here in the midst of it –
right at the centre of the dance floor,
robes hitched up to His knees
to make it easy to spin.
At some point in the evening
a boy will touch the hem of His robe
and beg to be healed, beg to be
anything other than this;
and He will reach His arms out,
sweat-damped, and weary from dance.
He’ll cup the boy’s face in His hand
and say,
my beautiful child
there is nothing in this heart of yours
that ever needs to be healed.
Click here for more information about poet, performer, and educator Jay Hulme. Today’s poem is from his collection The Backwater Sermon, published by Canterbury Press in October 2021.
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