Wednesday, February 15, 2012

A Poem in Defense

it's a trend these days
it seems all the rage
to bash on the church
and her religious ways
give me jesus not religion
the trendy they clamor
but jesus said the church was his bride
so put your hand over your mouth
and pull that log out of your eye

if the church is Jesus' bride
don't you think you should try to
help it
shape it
instead of betraying it?
sure she's got her issues
I don't deny that
it's a true fact
that her pews and aisles are jam-packed
with hypocrites
liars.
impure hearts and
idolaters.
But isn't that exactly where they (we) need to be?

so maybe mother church,
"religion" if you will
seems washed up and over the hill
to young people, like you and me
we don't want to deal with that kind of hypocrisy
when really all we want is community
and freedom to help others in tune with our beliefs.

So you say mother church isn't meeting your needs
well change it.
I dare you.
Make it real.
relevant.
revelatory.
rampant.
resurrective.
reconciliatory.
rambunctious.
revolutionary.

you. me.
we are the church.
we.

2 comments:

  1. Amen, Luke! I don't know if this is in response, or maybe just inspired by that other video "Why I hate religion but love Jesus," but I think you have done a good job in this poem of challenging Jesus followers to work within the Church and make it what we want/what it should be and not throw out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak.

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  2. Emily,
    Thanks!
    I think it is mostly in response to that other video, with a few feelings left over from college wrapped in there too. I think in the last year I have transformed from a cynic/critic of the church to a defender, so I feel pretty strongly at the moment. :)

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