Sidewalk Liturgy
Charles T, as everyone at the shelter called him, sat on the small patch of grass across the street from the First Congregational church. Behind him loomed an attorney’s office, closed as it was on every Sunday. From his pocket he removed a tiny book, a small green covered Gideons Bible containing the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. The handout had been given by a local church at a soup kitchen where he spent the previous Easter. A bell in the church tower rang out, telling the world that prayer was to begin. Ten o’clock, Charles T thumbed through his favored possession and stopped at John’s gospel, chapter 1, verse 35. Inside the church the congregation would be singing. He wondered which hymn they would start with this morning. He thought it interesting how different denominations might sing the same songs with slightly different lyrics. He hummed ‘Amazing Grace’ to himself, since it was his favorite. “...