my rsvp to the basement invitation

someone i know posted
jen hatmaker's post
on their face book wall

i read her words

you can as well...
http://jenhatmaker.com

i've had several responses
to what she has written.

the first response was:

no way!
i'm not going down
into the basement!
i just came out of
the seclusion of denial.

i just stepped out
into the open!
no way!
your invitation
is unacceptable!

on second reading all i could
see was that chicken...
the stupid chicken we've been
wrangling over

and yet the
chicken is not the issue.

she writes that she is serving
chicken in the basement...
i just learned how
not to be a chicken!
no way
i'm taking her up
on that invitation!

basement living
is not for me anymore.

on third reading
i saw other words
and realized that if indeed she and others
go down into the basement with a platter
of hot crispy chicken nuggets
then she and those who join her
are about to encounter
all those people who have long
been huddled in the basement
for fear of being further hurt.

(a dear friend brought this
to my attention)

and if they all go down
into the basement and
bump into those who have
long been hiding and hurting...
perhaps
just perhaps
in this instance
real ministry might begin to blossom.

people bumping into people
finally listening to each other
finally hearing each other.

on fourth reading
i still do not want to go to the basement
but i hear the blogger's genuine desire
that we find new ways of
speaking to one another
listening to one another
and loving one another. 

if we (me included)
are going to define the words of some as hate
then it is time for us
(me included)
to find new words
to speak and to live.

i don't have the answers
but i have a story
and i know full well
you have a story.

i just learned from one i love
how important it is
that we balance
our speaking and our listening.

and for GOD'S sake
if some of us come out of this
chicken debacle
with the intent
to find new ways of thinking
and listening...
then
perhaps
something good just happened.