The Aud

For my big birthday we are going to spend the weekend in my favorite place in the world, Black Mountain & Montreat, NC.  I can hardly wait.  I’ve been blessed to visit some amazing places in my life, but more than the Colosseum, The Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge, and Westminster Abbey combined; Montreat is where I feel awe every time and my soul most at home.  Below is a poem I wrote originally in 2012 about my first memory of Montreat Youth Conference. 

The Aud

1,000 people gathered together
in a large worship space
built from local mountain stone.
Wooden beams soared overhead
and lanterns dangled from the rafters.
The pews, we'd been told
were older than our grandmothers
and we should treat them with the same respect.  
Large windows were open to let in the breeze
from the cooling summer air. 
Electricity, I felt waves of it,
as if we touched our neighbors to the left and right of us
we would be shocked with a jolt of the Spirit. 
A hush fell over the congregation, 
bursting with silent expectation.
Then I heard it, 
a strong beat
on a solitary
djembe drum. 
As the rhythm grew,
stretching out like a  r i b b o n   u n f u r l e d
voices began to chant from various corners of the auditorium, 
they moved about us, 
rising up from our midst and 
joined together a dozen in number on the stage.
"Will you listen?" one side of the room would chant
"Come follow me" the other side would respond.  
They carried the beat in their feet, 
they matched the intensity of the rhythm with their voices, 
"I. Will. Make. You. Fish. For. People!"  
Final beat, actors froze, lights went out.
I was enthralled. 
I felt my heart pounding, blood coursed through my veins,
and the Spirit left me with goosebumps as she blew through the room. 

(I was fourteen years old when I attended my first conference at Montreat.  I had yet to be baptized but I knew in that moment that I would be. I had seen the Holy Spirit move and I was without a doubt, absolutely certain that this type of worship, this kind of faithful expression was exactly what I needed to do, where I needed to be.)