Heart. of Jesus. Literally.

Currently on display at the Coville St. Patisserie, WW

A hollow muscle.  The center of thought and feeling.  Moods of sympathy or tenderness or  courage. A symbol that folks draw or emoticon,an image based on the shape of ones rump.  So many meanings for one notion and set of sounds.

"This Support Group featured a rotating cast of characters in various states of tumor-driven unwellness. Why did the cast rotate? A side effect of dying. The Support Group, of course , was depressing as hell. It met every Wednesday in the basement of a stone-walled Episcopal church shaped like a cross. We all sat in a circle right in the middle of the cross, where the two boards would have met, where the heart of Jesus would have been. I noticed this because Patrick, the Support Group Leader and only person over eighteen in the room, talked about the heart of Jesus every freaking meeting, all about how we, as young cancer survivors, were sitting right in Christ’s very sacred heart and whatever."*

Literal Heart of Jesus is a frequent phrase in the bestselling YA novel 'The Fault in our Stars'. It is a bit of bittersweet humor in this bittersweet novel about young people with cancer.  It is an interesting notion, referring to the intersection of a cruciform nave as the literal heart of Jesus.  We who follow him and make a practice of being church know that we are to be his body in the world.  When we gather yes, the heart of Jesus is there.  However is it in the building itself?  Is the heart of Jesus wandering wildly around the creation at ever cruciform intersection?  At the least the ones that are intended to recall the device of his terrible death and symbol of his resurrection.  Hmm.  If I believed in magic cures, maybe.

As it is we are a rotating cast of characters in various states of wellness and unwellness.  Some days are marvelous, and others are not.  We who practice the life of church are more than a support group, but that is an important part of our life together.  The practice of small groups for reflection, prayer and study has a long history of effectiveness in congregational life.  Formal and informal sitting together and crossing the boundaries of alienation are a blessing.  They can be for us a heart, a center of thought and feeling, an emotion beyond words, a muscle filling these tired bodies with life.

*John Green (2012-01-10). The Fault in Our Stars (p. 4). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.