Very good to be here again.
I want to read from a new manuscript
that I'm working on called Extra Room.
And one of the meanings of the title
is to make a space for unofficial categories
to widen the circle of ideas that you live with.
This is called Many Mansions.
In a free country, the church of your choice
may bear a name not on the list of official churches,
the name you bestow yourself after trial and error.
The church that includes not only those
with the courage of their convictions,
but those with the courage to be unconvinced, disappointed,
and lonely.
A church that's quick when it finds
you despondent to suggest your soul
is a great bold beach with a towering canopy offering
ample shade on a sunny day and a dry retreat on a rainy.
A church that's quick when it finds
you smug to pronounce you a crooked
stick not even a long soak in a pool of grace can straighten.
Now the key word of your church is yesterday,
as in the sentence, yesterday, I swore an oath
I'm trying to keep today despite what seems
a sudden collapse of trust.
Now its key word is tomorrow as in today I
like more than anything to be elsewhere,
but tomorrow, given some luck, I want to stay.