Kissing Cousins

Tags

Anne Lamott, community, congregation, crying, go deep, hug, kissing, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

When I had no internet access this morning (big storms last night), I decided to start the day by reading a message that had come into my e-mail late yesterday from my cousin Bonnie. It was a delightful passage from Anne Lamott, a story that included an old woman in church who “made me hug and kiss her for so long that I remembered Sam at age five, unable to part from me one night, heartbroken that I was going out, and he said like a sad old man, ‘Let me keep kissing you until I can stop crying.'” Since she was in a grumpy mood and not wanting to let it go, Lamott continues: “The gentle, tough, crying, laughing, singing congregation is such an unfair advantage on God’s part…”

I loved that because it speaks to the possibility that exists in a caring church community (or any community) to be a healing force for us. For me, an additional image popped up from Sam’s kissing request (which in itself was such an endearing reminder of the spontaneity of children). What if we’re being asked to keep kissing God until we stop crying or if God wants to do the kissing as long as we need healing – or just any time we need a little love? Can we go deep enough to experience that?

Thanks to Bonnie for that lovely thought for the day!