Remembering When Church Let Out...

She sat at our dining room table. “Your song ‘Holy As the Day is Spent' means a lot to me,” I said.

Holy is the dish and drain
The soap and sink, the cup and plate
And the warm wool socks, and the cold white tile
Shower heads and good dry towels

And frying eggs sound like psalms
With a bit of salt measured in my palm
It’s all a part of a sacrament
As holy as a day is spent

Holy is the busy street
And cars that boom with passion’s beat
And the check-out girl, Counting change
And the hands that shook my hands today

Hymns of geese fly overhead
And stretch their wings like their parents did
Blessed be the dog
That runs in her sleep
To catch that wild and elusive thing

Holy is a familiar room and the quiet moments in the afternoon
And folding sheets like folding hands
To pray as only laundry can

I’m letting go of all I fear
Like autumn leaves of earth and air
For summer came and summer went
As holy as a day is spent

Holy is the place I stand
To give whatever small good I can
The empty page, the open book
Redemption everywhere I look

Unknowingly we slow our pace
In the shade of unexpected grace
With grateful smiles and sad lament
As holy as a day is spent

And morning light sings “providence”
As holy as a day is spent 

Carrie Newcomer is a folk singer from the Midwest. Her religious affiliation is Quaker. I believe she’s more mystic than most I know. Many of her songs reveal a vision that peers beyond the physical and unmasks the spiritual source behind it all.

“Holy Now,” she responded in her quiet and modest manner. “Have you heard ‘Holy Now?’”

“I haven’t,” I said. “What is it?”

“It’s a song by my good friend, Peter Mayer. It’s wonderful.”

 “Holy Now. Peter Mayer.” I wrote on a piece of paper that was nearby.

Later that very week Tammy, my wife, was perusing our community newspaper. She looked up and said, “Peter Mayer, the singer Carrie mentioned, is playing at a venue in The Woodlands." I had to ask, “What are the chances of that?” There simply aren’t any accidents.  

We notified our good friends, Mark and Olivia, and made plans for the four of us to attend together.

Prior to going on stage, Peter was at the back of the auditorium visiting with folk. I introduced myself and said, "Carrie Newcomer told me I should hear your song ‘Holy Now.'” He said, “I’ll open with that one for you.”

Peter sat on stage. As he tuned his six-string he introduced himself. Then he began:

When I was a boy, each week
On Sunday, we would go to church
And pay attention to the priest
He would read the holy word
And consecrate the holy bread
And everyone would kneel and bow
Today the only difference is
Everything is holy now
Everything, everything
Everything is holy now

When I was in Sunday school
We would learn about the time
Moses split the sea in two
Jesus made the water wine
And I remember feeling sad
That miracles don't happen still
But now I can't keep track
'Cause everything's a miracle
Everything, Everything
Everything's a miracle

Wine from water is not so small
But an even better magic trick
Is that anything is here at all
So the challenging thing becomes
Not to look for miracles
But finding where there isn't one

When holy water was rare at best
It barely wet my fingertips
But now I have to hold my breath
Like I'm swimming in a sea of it
It used to be a world half there
Heaven's second rate hand-me-down
But I walk it with a reverent air
'Cause everything is holy now
Everything, everything
Everything is holy now

Read a questioning child's face
And say it's not a testament
That'd be very hard to say
See another new morning come
And say it's not a sacrament
I tell you that it can't be done

This morning, outside I stood
And saw a little red-winged bird
Shining like a burning bush
Singing like a scripture verse
It made me want to bow my head
I remember when church let out
How things have changed since then
Everything is holy now
It used to be a world half-there
Heaven's second rate hand-me-down
But I walk it with a reverent air
'Cause everything is holy now

The words struck a deep chord. About half-way through the song, tears poured from my eyes. I feel things deeply --- both a boon and bane. It's a part of myself that I’ve only recently made a little peace with.

“I remember when church let out…” Peter sang. The words meant something to me because church had recently let out for me, too. "And I remember feeling sad..."

About four years have passed since Carrie Newcomer sat at our dining room table and since I first heard "Holy Now" by Peter Mayer. "How things have changed since then."

In those four years I've learned that sometimes a significant loss opens our heart to a new and larger Vision. "Everything is holy now. It used to be a world half-there. Heaven's second rate hand-me-down. But I walk it with a reverent air 'cause everything is holy now."

It's a blessing to find others whose words speak for us when we're not able, the scribes who record the soul's experience and mine their own lives so we can better understand ours. Thank you, Carrie. Thank you, Peter.

I intend to continue these thoughts in future posts. I'll entitle them, “Remembering When Church Let Out,” or something similar so they're easy to recognize, in the event you want to keep track of them.

Here's Carrie singing "Holy as the Day is Spent:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qZyoRiBteI

And here's Peter singing "Holy Now:"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfLI1l_Pda4