Wednesday evening just before I went home I saw Jesus. He was standing by the gate at the back of the church that opens into our atrium fernery.
I really didn’t know what to do. Who has left him out there? Who knows about him? I had to rush and get ready for the Ash Wednesday service but he has been on my mind ever since. It looks to me as if someone thought he might find a home in our beautiful fernery Memorial Garden. When I came to church Friday morning I brought him in. He was caught up in cobwebs and bits of grass and leaves, so he must have been standing waiting for some time. He is a bit battered, but it would be easy to touch up his paintwork. I popped him by a column at the back of the fernery and he is looking much more comfortable there.
He is a very Catholic looking Jesus. I think I will take him along with me to the minister’s meeting Tuesday week just in case anyone has pilfered him from another place. And this Tuesday I should bring him up at Parish Council. I guess the point is: ‘Will this representation of Jesus add to or distract from the worship of the people who use the Memorial Garden for prayer? We certainly can’t just leave him standing by himself at the back gate forever. If he isn’t welcome in the fernery, I can always take him home to the rectory.