First of all, I am protestant.
I protest everything: sanctuaries that echo,
robes that billow, mothers who die.
Especially mothers who die.
Second, I am Scottish. That bagpiping
of Amazing Grace in my left ear
conjures in my soul a heath-buried
ancestor who grins, using my lips.
Third, I once shared an office with her firstborn,
making headlines and junk mail. We listened to the loud
of Violent Femmes and Jethro Tull: “You
can excommunicate me on my way to Sunday School.”
Because of this or in spite of this, I almost walk
the ten yards to the man in the dress. And I almost
register a protest with the painted Jesus hunched
in the concavity that joins wall and ceiling.
Hunched as I hunch in he varnished pew,
trying to mumble any one of ninty-five theses.
You have a decision to make: double or nothing.
For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.
In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.
So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?
Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
