…so my thoughts about Carl Medearis and Kate Campbell continued, evidently, through the night as I found myself waking with another song in my head. It was the first one I ever listened to on my own repeatedly that had Jesus in it. I’d never heard a song that started out “If you’re ever in the Richmond jail…” Don’t know why that spoke to me, but it did. That and the line “Jesus is the way home” which made me envision some pen in my mind making purple ink cursive letters spelling out his name like some high school girl with a moon-eyed crush——and weeping. Weird. New. That was twelve years ago. The song still speaks to me.
Thank you, Carl Medearis
I was privileged to attend a conference this past week called Wiki2014. It’s sponsored by http://www.fivetwo.com/ a group of pretty wise and faithful and daring souls who read that old verse about the loaves and the fishes——five loaves + two fishes + a blessing from Jesus and suddenly five thousand hungry people are full——and came to understand it to mean that everything we need to help reconnect people to God is already right in front of us. Good thinking.
The speakers were all extraordinary, but the one whose story has stayed with me the most is that of Carl Medearis. His credentials as an expert in Middle Eastern/U.S relations and peacemaking between the Muslim and Christian worlds are pretty humbling: http://carlmedearis.com/meet-carl-medearis/ If you ever have a chance to hear him speak, go.
His was the only book I bought at the conference. I would not ordinarily buy a book called Speaking of Jesus ——my experience has been that mentioning Jesus in almost any public setting in L.A., where I live, is only slightly less risky than in say, Beirut, where Carl and his wife lived for 12 years. Medearis made me rethink that with a number of hilarious stories, one of which I’ll attempt to recap briefly here:
One time Medearis was invited to speak to a very large group of Arab Muslims somewhere in the Middle East. Just as he began to step up on the stage, the imam who had been assigned to shadow him tugged at his coat, “Mr. Carl, don’t talk about Christianity. Only talk about Jesus.” Carl Medearis nodded somewhat nervously and went on to speak about Jesus for 45 minutes. His presentation was met with great applause by the Muslim crowd. Then, just as he was preparing to step off the stage, the imam leaned in towards the podium.
“Mr. Carl.”
“Yes?”
“Keep going.”
“Keep going?” Medearis said, somewhat panic-stricken. I mean, he’d already been through every slide in his powerpoint.
“Yes, keep going. One more hour,” the imam said, and then sat back in his chair and waited for Medearis to continue.
This was just one of the many examples of how he came to know for certain that the world was hungry for Jesus. The Christian Church many could take or leave or worse, but Jesus, He was the real deal.
When I left the conference I drove a few hours for a reunion with two dear artist friends, Mary McCleary http://www.marymccleary.com/ and Kate Campbell http://www.katecampbell.com/ who drove down from Nashville to see us both. I have featured many of Kate’s songs on this blog over the years (I always get many more hits from her singing than I ever do from my writing). On Sunday as I headed home, I started thinking about Carl and Jesus and Kate, and I remembered a song she had written called “Looking for Jesus.”
This one’s for you, Carl Medearis. And for all of us who are attempting to follow your lead as you follow His.
The Leap of Faith
Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread. 1 Corinthians 11:23
After bitter herbs, I place
upon the table my strange bread
and wine, a really hard
saying. Wise men are wary
of this leap over a fisherman’s
tally of the catch, a tax
collector’s pinch of each
extracted coin. The apostle’s are
accustomed to the logic of ripping
sails and strong boxes
for Caesar’s drachmas, but I lure them
into Because I say it.
When they look down,
no solid ground beneath them,
except my hand upon the table.
–Kilian McDonnell, from God Drops and Loses Things
In celebration of “serendipitous” encounters
And the secret names
of all we meet who lead us deeper
into our labyrinth
of valleys and mountains, twisting valleys
and steeper mountains—
their hidden names are always,
like Proverb, promises:
Rune, Omen, Fable, Parable,
those we meet for only one crucial moment, gaze to gaze,
or for years know and don’t recognize
but of whom later a word
sings back to us
as if from high among leaves,
still near but beyond sight
drawing us from tree to tree
towards the time and the unknown place
where we shall know what it is to arrive.
–Denise Levertov (“I learned that her name was Proverb”)
A poem for all who are weary
Return to Me
Return to me
by your own red sea
open the ocean
of your heart
and walk through
what floods you
I will wait, I will wait
for your return
I will part my own blood for you
and hold out my hand
and break my silence
and speak my hunger;
return to me, return
I will break my own body
to feed you
and wash away
your tears with mine
–Rachel M. Srubas
Heather Choate Davis 