Journal Entry, Thursday nite:

“A hundred flickering votives, the slow devotions dancing and bursting, they move wildly, beyond all control, but never seem to blow themselves out. The flame holds steady fed by whatever the source of wind is here inside the sanctuary. The Spirit in us, we dance, we burst, we do not sit still containing His numinous light. How is it that they move so? Do my votives at home move like this? Gold orbs. I make them the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
The squared chunks of chimney brick house and contain the movement, allowing the flames to dance to the edge of extinction, kept safe, protected. Like the image of the boundary fence around the pasture, it holds us in, keeps us safe, but gives us free reign to run and dance, to gambol on the green grass, to serve, to love, to rejoice. “I rejoiced when I heard them say, let us go to the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 122:1) See the way the lights are stacked, askew but balanced— not orderly, but perfect. Only the foundation bricks— the cornerstones — are at 180 degree angles. All the rest are cock-eyed, leaning, turning, holders of the Spirit, inside them the flames dance. At my feet, the reading for the night, “Above all, keep your love for one another at full strength, since love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Based on the gift they have received, everyone should use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God. If anyone speaks, his speech should be, like the oracle of God: if anyone serves, his service should be from the strength God provides, so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4: 8-11)