Unbearable Lightness of Myself

And now the LORD says, 

who formed me in the womb to be his servant, 

to bring Jacob back to him, 

and that Israel might be gathered to him, 

for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, 

and my God has become my strength —   

he says, 

"It is too light a thing that you should be my servant 

to raise up the tribes of Jacob 

and to restore the survivors of Israel; 

I will give you as a light to the nations, 

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." 

Thus says the LORD, 

the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, 

to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, 

the slave of rulers, 

"Kings shall see and stand up, 

princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, 

because of the LORD, who is faithful, 

the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

                            - Isaiah 49:5-7

He walked into the church office with laptop and lunch bag

set the coffee mug on the desk that held up his Bible

and Scotch tape and notes from phone calls never returned

he updated his status about the traffic, the stale scone

the rude service and the splinter thumb-stuck for three days

he Tweeted and emailed until his fingers floated off the home keys

then he felt his hair begin to lift like static electricity from balloons

his feet rose from the blue carpet his whole body felt

as if it would soon press against the ceiling fan and hot lights

his whole life a series of sneaked Wonka Fizzy Lifting Drinks

leaving him too light, lacking substance, the atmosphere somehow

more dense than his fattened body and eventually he would float

off to the cirrostratus clouds and disappear beyond the exosphere

and Neptune and unnamed constellations and the event horizon

he would evaporate from memory not even his dog would miss him

and then the phone rings and the girl with the unexpected pregnancy

and the ninety-eight year old woman dying alone and the light bulbs

need replacing before the hungry come to shop the pantry shelves

and the assembling again in the sanctuary where life once more

becomes humble and heavy enough to be gathered before God

and have the weight that holiness requires for there to be visible glory

the thick abiding presence that holds us beloved on the sun-lit earth