The Ground So Dirty

This past weekend, I was at Awakening, a retreat led by Duke's Catholic Student Center. I went last semester as a first-time participant and was on staff for this retreat; for the next one, I'll be on leadership. There are some funny reflections on how a hardcore Methodist wound up in a leadership position for a Catholic retreat, but that's not what this entry is about. This past weekend, I saw the body of Christ in full force. One moment in particular was nothing short of miraculous and summed up what I think a visualization of a truly Christocentric ecclesiology might look like.

On the Awakening retreat, there are a series of talks. The topics are always the same, and they include Faith, Love, Prayer, etc. They are given by students whose lives have been changed by Awakening, and they are always incredible.

This year, a friend of mine delivered the talk on the Mystical Body of Christ (MBOC). We hadn't met long before this weekend, but we both went on the monastery trip this spring break. Naturally, both of us having a strong connection to Awakening, we talked at length about the body of Christ, the Eucharist and ecumenism while we were at the monastery. The MBOC is central to her faith, and I could tell not only in her preparation but also in the talk itself that she poured every ounce of her being into telling us what it meant to be the body of Christ.

Her talk was real, raw and challenging, but the miracle came at the end. Exhorting us to recognize Christ in each other, not in a warm-fuzzy sort of way but in a way that calls us into the suffering of our neighbor, she declared to us that we were Christ to her, and she knelt before us all. Later she told us that she was planning to kneel for about 10 seconds and then go sit down for the reflection song that is played after each talk. But that isn't what happened. She knelt for a few moments, and then there was the sound of chairs being pushed back and shoes scuffling on the floor. All of a sudden, every one of the roughly 100 people in the room was kneeling. It was not a domino effect; it wasn't as if someone thought it was a cool idea and then everyone else followed suit. Everyone just knelt. We all stayed there on our knees throughout the reflection song, "Jesus" by Page France. We knelt, smiling and crying and knowing that we could never look at each other, or anyone else, the same ever again.


I will sing a song to you
And you will shake the ground for me
And the birds and the bees and the old fruit trees
Will spit out songs like gushing streams

And Jesus will come through the ground so dirty
With worms in his hair and a hand so sturdy
To call us his magic, we call him worthy
Jesus came up through the ground so dirty

I will sing a song for you
And you will stomp your feet for me
And the bears and the bees and banana trees
Will play kazoos and tambourines

And Jesus will dance while we drink his wine
With soldiers and thieves and a sword in his side
And we will be joy and we will be right
Jesus will dance while we drink his wine

And Jesus will come through the ground so dirty
With worms in his hair and a hand so sturdy
To call us his magic, we call him worthy
Jesus came up through the ground so dirty

— "Jesus" by Page France