fragrances in the church

i love the story of the breaking of the alabaster jar in the gospels...

the woman who was the notorious sinner, breaks open the extremely expensive perfume and anoints Jesus' feet...

washing his dirty feet with her tears...

wiping his smeared feet with her locks of hair...

then the perfume lovingly lavished on his feet...

the fragrance fills the whole room...

no way to stop the aroma...

sacrificial worship always seems to release such a fragrance...

it happened today at the tampa underground...

our worship leader just gave birth to her second child, so she was not in worship this morning...

the rest of the team "filled in" and just let it happen...

and WOW -- God showed up...

awesome...

a sweet fragrance filled the auditorium...

God's children in worship -- simple, humble and undignified...

but, that was NOT the only fragrance in the buidling today...

while i was sitting in my row waiting for the celebration to begin, i smelled another aroma...

the acrid smell of a homeless guy settling into the row behind me...

he hadn't been near soap or shower for quite a while...

his clothes had not encountered a washer or dryer lately...

and, there was the smell of the mocker -- alcohol...

so much chemical abuse that i could smell the toxic amonia oozing out of his pores...

what a smell...

at that moment...

i breathed a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord...

i am so glad to attend a movement where EVERYONE -- yes -- even and especially the poor and the homeless are welcomed...

even better, i know this guy...

i have been praying for this man...

he attended my spiritual formation class this past week -- totally hammered...

we decided it would be better if he came back this week sober -- maybe the study would make more sense...

i thank God for him...

and for my spiritual family who opens their arms to love and welcome him...

one of the least of these...

maybe he was actually Jesus worshipping with us this morning...

maybe that is the connection between the two fragrances in the theater this a.m.

shalom...