What was it like for us in Antioch?
We were, for the first time, beyond the shock
of prejudice (one of the devil's tricks,
since Babel towered) against the church's mix
of Hebrew, Gentile; any race or tongue;
with no hard epithets, or curses, flung;
and neither fist, nor stone, nor craven knife
thrust in the back. In Antioch, such strife---
(to which even the best of lost folks slip
sometimes)---had no place in our fellowship.
We were compact in faith, friendship, and love:
one in Salvation. And, in us unfurled
the living proof of what Christos talked of---
and thus we could proclaim it to the world.