First,
Replace the Priest with a Quilter
The Altar with a table
The chapels with sewing rooms
Substitute fabric for food
Thread for wine
Patterns for rituals
Then,
From the scraps of our poor faith
Ask God to make a beautiful thing
Heat for the cold-
Covering for the naked-
Delight for the eyes.
Tell Her we would
SEE, not taste
FEEL, not chew
HOLD, not swallow
Ask Her to stick Her needle into our dull lives
And through the pain of Her efforts
Bind us into usefulness and riotous beauty.
In the end,
When corners are tightly joined,
And hems have been carefully sewn,
We would give God to an icy world
As delicate patterns of soft warm cloth
Wrapped around sleeping children. AMEN
