EYE-OPENING BOOK

EYE-OPENING BOOK

I’m reading a book that is new to me,

It was published in two thousand-one…

Michele Andrea Bowen the authoress

And the reading I’ve barely begun.

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The title…CHURCH FOLK..

Led me to believe this white boy’d like it just fine,

Not what I expected but the frankness will do

In a way that’s refreshing this time.

–

Attended a “black” Southern Baptist Church

For a while—it’s not foreign to me…

And found there were differences in point of view,

Underneath, not obviously.-

–

The church we attended really welcomed us,

Our color didn’t mean much to them…

The ways of doing things they liked to keep

Included the singing of hymns.

–

When we left the city, we left that church

But I returned once in a while…

Our friends there remember us, invite us in,

We’ve always come back to their smiles.

–

So CHURCH FOLK is about the “black” ministry

And the folks that they minister to…

How it will develop, I’ll just wait and see,

I’m bound to learn something new.

—Jonathan Caswell

***CHURCH FOLK, by  Michele Andrea Bowen…Warner Books, Inc. with Walk Worthy Press (2001)