Talking to the Burning Bush (revision 1)
Posted: September 17th, 2015, 12:54 pm
Seriously,
Not flippantly, not diffidently,
But earnestly
Trying
To stand up to the burning bush
listen like Moses to what an anthropomorphic God wants,
speak like Job from the heart to the injustices,
the horrid teasing, the flaws of creation,
the sadomasochism of prey and predator,
the natural law, a weather indifferent----
The universe has multiple personality disorders
We want to be as invisible, as innocuous for as long as possible,
Though eventually we will offend,
Maybe just our physical presence,
The bulb and sag of our flesh, our thoughts so hideous
To the higher and lower powers, but
We just want to get along, as long as we can,
Not have some crazed person knock on the door,
Fire an AK-47,
Yell "God is Great"
And turn what was intended as a prayer of gratitude
Into a curse.
Is it not possible to sit with the Savior over a cup of coffee?
Talk about the mundane evil that has to be forgiven every day?
I think I could talk to the human part of Jesus,
Hope that He instantaneously relays my concerns, hopes, fears
To that Divine roar in the sky accompanied by so many angels
That flurry down softly like snow and chill one’s adoration
With the cold power and Presence of the otherworld
So that the spiritually naked human shivers,
Eternity not conducive to conversation.
Too much costuming in the latter days of civilization,
Mitres, chasubles, hair shirts,
And we shouldn't have to think like a first century Jew
Unless we want to understand THEIR thinking.
After all didn’t Boyle, Lavoisier, Niels Bohr, Einstein
Chang our views of the universe, and
It is not magic on our level of experience
That moves us and through us
But chemicals and gamma rays and maybe neutrinos,
And the moral compass has been reset.
We aren't one chosen people or Church
But a whole humanity
whipping around a star
That tracks through the gravity of a galaxy
That swirls itself on a filament in such macro-space
That we hardly have the slightest grasp.
God, it would be good to have a talk,
Though talking to You is like balancing on the rim
Of the Grand Canyon on one foot, or floating alone
Somewhere far from land in the wide ocean.
We need the human part of Jesus to sit with us,
Enjoy His coffee and if teaching us anything
Doing it with kindness and good friend camaraderie.
Don't be an oligarch, please;
Be a good conservative Democrat who really cares.
The world needs saving again
now.
Not flippantly, not diffidently,
But earnestly
Trying
To stand up to the burning bush
listen like Moses to what an anthropomorphic God wants,
speak like Job from the heart to the injustices,
the horrid teasing, the flaws of creation,
the sadomasochism of prey and predator,
the natural law, a weather indifferent----
The universe has multiple personality disorders
We want to be as invisible, as innocuous for as long as possible,
Though eventually we will offend,
Maybe just our physical presence,
The bulb and sag of our flesh, our thoughts so hideous
To the higher and lower powers, but
We just want to get along, as long as we can,
Not have some crazed person knock on the door,
Fire an AK-47,
Yell "God is Great"
And turn what was intended as a prayer of gratitude
Into a curse.
Is it not possible to sit with the Savior over a cup of coffee?
Talk about the mundane evil that has to be forgiven every day?
I think I could talk to the human part of Jesus,
Hope that He instantaneously relays my concerns, hopes, fears
To that Divine roar in the sky accompanied by so many angels
That flurry down softly like snow and chill one’s adoration
With the cold power and Presence of the otherworld
So that the spiritually naked human shivers,
Eternity not conducive to conversation.
Too much costuming in the latter days of civilization,
Mitres, chasubles, hair shirts,
And we shouldn't have to think like a first century Jew
Unless we want to understand THEIR thinking.
After all didn’t Boyle, Lavoisier, Niels Bohr, Einstein
Chang our views of the universe, and
It is not magic on our level of experience
That moves us and through us
But chemicals and gamma rays and maybe neutrinos,
And the moral compass has been reset.
We aren't one chosen people or Church
But a whole humanity
whipping around a star
That tracks through the gravity of a galaxy
That swirls itself on a filament in such macro-space
That we hardly have the slightest grasp.
God, it would be good to have a talk,
Though talking to You is like balancing on the rim
Of the Grand Canyon on one foot, or floating alone
Somewhere far from land in the wide ocean.
We need the human part of Jesus to sit with us,
Enjoy His coffee and if teaching us anything
Doing it with kindness and good friend camaraderie.
Don't be an oligarch, please;
Be a good conservative Democrat who really cares.
The world needs saving again
now.