The Gathering

by Diane Sprague

The crowd gathered in the dark room. It was a time of celebration and the one thing they lacked was a sense of certainty that there was truly something to celebrate. On the stage before the crowd a handful of very sure and very authoritative men gathered together. One man stepped up to a platform and began to speak.

“You are here searching for truth. I am here to tell you that there is no truth that you have any ability to discover for yourself. Even so, you need not worry. I am here to give you God. God comes as an amazing package. This package includes eternal life, escape from hell, certainty, and a reason to celebrate. This God died and then came back to life again. Hurrah! All you need to do is believe me and this amazing package is yours. It’s free!

Now I am going to send these men standing behind me out into the crowd. They are going to do something strange, but you do well to ignore them. Pay attention, instead, to the plate that will be coming around. The God package is free, but surely you must know that voluntarily gifts are required to sustain the offering of such a precious package”

The man gave a plate to a member of the crowd and asked that it would be passed around. The other men came out into the crowd and began to pull the rug out from under their feet. As they did so, the speaker continued his sermon.

“Pay no attention to these men. Rid you mind of your own corrupt truths and listen carefully to my truth. I see the light and you will also once you accept my wonderful package of God. No other truths will do. Clear your mind of your own thoughts, symbols, dreams, and ideas. They are only deceptions from the father of lies, Satan.”

The crowd focused on the speaker’s words. The package was irresistibly appealing. Now we can have truth they whispered. Now we can escape our fears of death. Now we have a reason to celebrate. What they didn’t notice was that they were now standing on nothing. They were floating in the darkness.

Music began playing and the crown began to sing. As they sang their bodies dissolved. All that was left were their voices fused in agreement and the very full money plate eerily dancing to the music.

He arose
He arose
We are free
Our thoughts are silenced
Our humanity has shrunken
Our celebration has begun
We have died to escape our fear of death

God, our symbol, our package is with us now
Our silence before God is profound
We are nothing
We are nothing
He arose
We disappeared

From the back of the room a wicked female began speaking. Her voice was filled with a haughty scorn.

“I would prefer a god that remained dead.”

This statement was followed by wild cries of protest. The speaker began to loudly condemn her foolishness, but she was not to be silenced.

“I am the rug weaver. I can bring you back to life by providing you with something real to stand upon. I can give you the astounding promise of your own minds. You can have bodies again once you accept your own ability to think, to create, to dream, and to follow your intuitions. You may celebrate yourselves, your life, and your freedom.

God is not a package. God is a symbol that comes alive when you realize that you must accept the responsibility of choosing to be fully alive yourselves. The first step is realizing that death is not to be feared but embraced”

And with that she turned into a terrifying corpse. The crown turned away in fear. The doors were opened and her body moved outside into the unknown. The doors were left opened but no one followed her. No one saw that she was transformed into a butterfly that flew high into the unknown to explore the creation, to discover wonders, and to celebrate the mystery of life