Of Unholy Forwards and Gossip at a National Level

Of Unholy Forwards and Gossip at a National Level

(“John the Baptizer came and did not eat the usual food or drink wine. And you say, ‘He has a demon inside him.’” Luke 7:33)

The president speaks and we would rather
drop his words on the asphalt, stirred up with the hot
summer sunshine, and serve them back as if we
were there, front and center, heard every word,
counted the freckles in his eyes, and deflected his inflections
in forwarded emails so every gullible saint

Would know the truth that
we took the time to manufacture.

Snapshots with colors (greenish squirrels) prove
the acid rained exactly how we prophesied.

Let the bragging begin, if the church service is just an hour
only handfuls of god hang around long enough to overcome
the caffeine’s fine effects.
At an hour and a half, it is so long we lost our lunch reservations,
and the roast burnt t-bone, the stew dried in the crockpot while the
crackpot
pastor spoke too long.
But run up to three hours or four and the Holy Spirit has locked the door,
no leakage or early exits, God has broken through our resistant noggins.
We judge so well, that every song, announcement, prayer and sermon
is measured in Olympic style; (poor preacher who thought God could
help him make the point in 20 minutes, and excuse the good people to
ruminate the good food from Heaven’s Bread at home. The Sermon on the Mount
takes 15 minutes read.)

Did I leave you there? Were you still wondering about snapshots and
presidential pardons? Were you still snipping buds behind your back
in the Federal Rose Garden?

Some women spend little and mean it. Some men eat less without pretense.
Some men consort with the sinners, the poor, the abused by gossip that other
saints vilify and demean it.
Some women like a Chardonnay with dinner, but when the pictures are taken
they are lushes in future tense.

I have never hated a president (it’s true), and never thought one to be the
anti-christ (even truer). But I’ve come near an unholy rage when those whose
faith is always italicized cannot disagree with humility, and start their sentences
(after counting the freckles in your eyes) with,

“Now, I’m not saying he is the anti-christ…