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#'The people Jesus loved were shopping at the Star Market yesterday. I could hardly look at them.'
queenlucythevaliant · 2 years
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The Star Market
Marie Howe
The people Jesus loved were shopping at the Star Market yesterday. An old lead-colored man standing next to me at the checkout breathed so heavily I had to step back a few steps.
Even after his bags were packed he still stood, breathing hard and hawking into his hand. The feeble, the lame, I could hardly look at them: shuffling through the aisles, they smelled of decay, as if the Star Market
had declared a day off for the able-bodied, and I had wandered in with the rest of them—sour milk, bad meat— looking for cereal and spring water.
Jesus must have been a saint, I said to myself, looking for my lost car in the parking lot later, stumbling among the people who would have been lowered into rooms by ropes, who would have crept
out of caves or crawled from the corners of public baths on their hands and knees begging for mercy.
If I touch only the hem of his garment, one woman thought, could I bear the look on his face when he wheels around?
#I posted an excerpt of this poem yesterday but it felt necessary to post the whole thing today#because this poem#this darn poem#knows exactly where i live#'the feeble the lame i could hardly look at them'#i (like many of you) grew up around Christians like 85% of the time#i chose not to go to a Christian college specifically so that i could try to mitigate this part of my heart#that feels almost viscerally uncomfortable around certain types of people#i want to learn to love all my neighbors with Christ's abounding love#i know that I am no less sinful than my neighbor#but sometimes it's like there's a bee in the room and i don't know where it is#i'm set on edge by certain kinds of sin#in a way that i'm not by others#i'm sure this is true in degrees for many of us raised in the church#and this poem. this darn poem calls us out directly#it calls /me/ out directly#'The people Jesus loved were shopping at the Star Market yesterday. I could hardly look at them.'#'Jesus must have been a saint (that's the one bit i don't like-- Jesus must have been GOD) to be able to love these people'#'these people who came stumbling towards him crawling towards him lowered through the ceiling towards him'#'begging for mercy. begging with more humility than I manage on any but my best day'#'the people Jesus loved-- and i could hardly look at them'#and that last line hits you right in the solar plexus#'if I could only touch the hem of his garment could I bear the look on his face when he wheels around?'#no. no i don't think i could#and yet#i imagine that look would be so so beautiful#and by the grace of God i know i CAN bear it#i and all the other people Jesus loves#Bible humans#literature makes us more human
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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁
The people Jesus loved were shopping at the Star Market yesterday. An old lead-colored man standing next to me at the checkout breathed so heavily I had to step back a few steps. Even after his bags were packed he still stood, breathing hard and hawking into his hand. The feeble, the lame, I could hardly look at them: shuffling through the aisles, they smelled of decay, as if the Star Market had declared a day off for the able-bodied, and I had wandered in with the rest of them — sour milk, bad meat — looking for cereal and spring water. Jesus must have been a saint, I said to myself, looking for my lost car in the parking lot later, stumbling among the people who would have been lowered into rooms by ropes, who would have crept out of caves or crawled from the corners of public baths on their hands and knees begging for mercy. If I touch only the hem of his garment, one woman thought, could I bear the look on his face when he wheels around? - Marie Howe - ("The Kingdom of Ordinary Time")
[Echoes of Panhala]
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gatheringbones · 4 years
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The people Jesus loved were shopping at The Star Market yesterday. An old lead-colored man standing next to me at the checkout breathed so heavily I had to step back a few steps. Even after his bags were packed he still stood, breathing hard and hawking into his hand. The feeble, the lame, I could hardly look at them: shuffling through the aisles, they smelled of decay, as if The Star Market had declared a day off for the able-bodied, and I had wandered in with the rest of them: sour milk, bad meat: looking for cereal and spring water. Jesus must have been a saint, I said to myself, looking for my lost car in the parking lot later, stumbling among the people who would have been lowered into rooms by ropes, who would have crept out of caves or crawled from the corners of public baths on their hands and knees begging for mercy. If I touch only the hem of his garment, one woman thought, I will be healed. Could I bear the look on his face when he wheels around?
marie howe, the star market
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gatheringbones · 6 years
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The people Jesus loved were shopping at The Star Market yesterday. An old lead-colored man standing next to me at the checkout breathed so heavily I had to step back a few steps. Even after his bags were packed he still stood, breathing hard and hawking into his hand. The feeble, the lame, I could hardly look at them: shuffling through the aisles, they smelled of decay, as if The Star Market had declared a day off for the able-bodied, and I had wandered in with the rest of them: sour milk, bad meat: looking for cereal and spring water. Jesus must have been a saint, I said to myself, looking for my lost car in the parking lot later, stumbling among the people who would have been lowered into rooms by ropes, who would have crept out of caves or crawled from the corners of public baths on their hands and knees begging for mercy. If I touch only the hem of his garment, one woman thought, I will be healed. Could I bear the look on his face when he wheels around?
the star market, by marie howe
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