First of all, I am protestant.
I protest everything: sanctuaries that echo,
robes that billow, mothers who die.
Especially mothers who die.
Second, I am Scottish. That bagpiping
of Amazing Grace in my left ear
conjures in my soul a heath-buried
ancestor who grins, using my lips.
Third, I once shared an office with her firstborn,
making headlines and junk mail. We listened to the loud
of Violent Femmes and Jethro Tull: “You
can excommunicate me on my way to Sunday School.”
Because of this or in spite of this, I almost walk
the ten yards to the man in the dress. And I almost
register a protest with the painted Jesus hunched
in the concavity that joins wall and ceiling.
Hunched as I hunch in he varnished pew,
trying to mumble any one of ninty-five theses.
We launched the First Things 2023 Year-End Campaign to keep articles like the one you just read free of charge to everyone.
Measured in dollars and cents, this doesn't make sense. But consider who is able to read First Things: pastors and priests, college students and professors, young professionals and families. Last year, we had more than three million unique readers on firstthings.com.
Informing and inspiring these people is why First Things doesn't only think in terms of dollars and cents. And it's why we urgently need your year-end support.
Will you give today?
