Playing Harmonica with Jesus

I played harmonica with Jesus today.  Actually, I was playing guitar, and he was playing harmonica.  We were standing outside of his car as he and his caregiver were attending our drive-thru Gathering Place.  

The Gathering Place is a monthly time of respite, entertainment, and hospitality for people who are living with Alzheimer's / dementia and their caregivers.  We had been holding these monthly gatherings for years indoors at our church, then with Coronavirus, that changed.  After months, we were able to have a drive-thru Gathering place in which our guests drove to locations in our parking lot with our church ministers there to provide the activities.

I was serving as a "roving musician," playing my guitar and singing songs for folks as they drove through.  The first guest was also a musician. 

They had arrived early, so I walked up to their car and asked if they wanted a song.  They did, and the elderly gentleman in the passenger seat had his harmonica with him, so I asked if he wanted to play with me.  He was very glad to do so and began getting out of the car to play.   His daughter/caregiver said of his playing, "It's just noise," not as an insult to him, it seemed, but to let me know out playing together might not be a rock solid jam session.  I smiled and said, "No, it's music," as I went around to the other side of the car to play.

Getting his harmonica out of its case took a few moments as his elderly, shaking fingers weren't as adept as they used to be.  The Alzheimer's had taken its toll, slurring his speech and slowing his movements.  I asked about his playing, and he said he used to play in a country band.  Then, taking note of the pitch of his harmonica, a blues D harp, I chose a couple of songs in the key of D.

We began playing together, he on his harmonica and I singing with my guitar.  It was beautiful.  His playing was mostly on one note, changing with the blow to the draw.  His disease and age had taken away his former skill, but it hadn't taken away the music.  We played together, savoring every note, enjoying the gift of song, of story, of the divine dance and whispered love that is music. 

After finishing a second song together, it was time for them to drive on up and through the rest of The Gathering Place.  I don't even know the gentleman's name, but I know who he was.  He was Jesus.  He was God with us.  He was who he was, a man born decades ago, beloved of God and of countless others, family and friends, all fellow children of the Divine One.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus says, "Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me."  Whether sharing food with one who is hungry, water with one who is thirsty, visiting one in hospital or prison, or sharing music with one whose mind has been ravaged by Alzheimer's, Jesus said these things we have done to him, we have done to God.

Every single one of us is a beloved child of God, and God lives within each of us.  Making music together with this beloved man, playing harmonica with Jesus, I was blessed, and for a few moments, God revealed the world beyond the veil.  A couple of things stuck with me.  

One:  Jesus plays a mean harp.  

Two: moments of blessing and union are all around us, the world alight with the Divine One who is in and through all of creation, every moment, every speck bursting with opportunity for life and love.