In our human efforts to understand the universe around us, we develop models to explain the observations we make. These models constitute representations of what we often label the “real thing.”
Models include people, both current and historic, like for example, Jesus. A key element in this human model-making process is an inconsistency between what we observe and the model we currently hold.
These inconsistencies-which I label as anomalies–are common when it comes to the religion. The following poem highlights anomalies between the way a Christian society conducts itself, and the teachings of the person of Jesus.
Nature’s silent beauty, a megaphone for the Still Small Voice
Listening to the Still Small Voice of Jesus
Deep in the depths of prayer, in a meditative state
between awake and Enlightenment,
The Still Small Voice of Jesus whispers:
Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves
and take up their cross and follow me. (1)
But I could not quite hear over the clatter of my self-centered Ego.
So I asked Me to step aside…
…. Maybe then I could hear the Still Small Voice of Jesus.
* * *
I listened for the still small voice of Jesus,
And he advised me to be clean, both inside and outwardly:
But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor,
and everything will be clean for you. (2)
But I did could not hear over the clamor for tax cuts for the wealthy,
and the screams to balance budget by cutting food stamps…
So I asked Religious Right to step aside…
…Maybe then I could hear the Still Small Voice of Jesus.
I listened once again for the still small voice of Jesus.
He replied with a roadmap for a place beyond these earlthy riches:
Go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me. (3)
But the message was garbled by my Christian education.
So I asked John Calvin to step aside…
… Maybe then I could hear the Still Small Voice of Jesus.
* * *
I continued listening, now with anxious anticipation.
Maybe this time I would hear the Still Small Voice of Jesus.
In response, Jesus spoke these words:
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God. (4)
But I did could not hear over the ear-splitting thunderclap
of Christian-funded bombs raining death down on innocents,
American-built ordnance slaughtering a nation for weapons it did not possess.
Nor could I hear over the wailing of weeping widows, morning the untimely deaths
of husbands and children.
Upset about the blood flowing in Afghan and Iraq streets,
I asked
my church if it had heard Jesus’ voice over the
Splatter of bloody body parts against pock-marked walls
of children blown apart by drone-dropped ordinance,
then over the justifying shouts of “collateral damage.”
…Maybe with church’s amplfied voice I could hear the Still Small Voice of Jesus.
Now with growing apprehension,I listened to hear for the Still Small Voice of Jesus
But there was only silence from the pulpit. (5)
So I asked Martin Luther and Emperor Constantine (6) to step aside…
…. Maybe then I could hear the Still Small Voice of Jesus.
* * *
Wondering whether I would ever hear Jesus, I made one last effort
to hear the Still Small Voice of Jesus.
And Jesus responded to my quest by saying:
Put your gun back in its place,
for those who draw the gun will die by the gun. (7)
But I could hear nothing over the crack of automatic gunfire echoing in schools and movie theaters, and over the screams of terrified children —and the squawking about Second Amendment Rights, with pseudo-moral claims of:
Kill the bad guy before the bad guy kills you. (8)
So I asked James Madison (9), and Alan Gottlieb, (10) to step aside…
…. Maybe finally I will hear the Still Small Voice of Jesus.
* * *
In a flash of light-filled clarity, Jesus’ Still Small Voice became a glorious chorus of spirit-filled souls, now unfilteredby the dual millennia of human distortion.
And standing before me stood a Divine chorus
of God’s spokespersons, basking in the profound
moral insights of God’s Wisdom.
Standing next to Jesus, Sophia’s sweet soprano voice
added a blended balance (11) to the
radical Truths carried by the choir’s song.
My Wholly-healed ears cringed at the challenging voice
of Isaiah, sung out a drum-beat melody:
Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold
justice from the oppressed of my people (12).
My heart pounded with the rapid rhythm
of Solomon-penned record of Sophia’s Wisdom (13):
Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. (14)
The Divinely-inspired once more struck up melody to Isaiah’s lyrics,
and from the clarion voice of Mohammed I heard: (15)
Scoundrels use wicked methods,
they make up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies,
even when the plea of the needy is just. (16)
My heart contined to beat to the pounding rhythm
as the choir’s angelic voices rang out the invitation-filled finale:
Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them.
Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. (17)
Then Sophia solo concluded the verse:
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. (18)
And Jesus’ voice became not-so-still and not-so-silent.
Footnotes:
(5) In interest of full disclosure, many denominations at the church-wide level look a position against the war in Iraq.
(6) Justification for war in Christianity is based on the “Just War.” This theory was the ethics of the Roman
Empire and Emperor Constantine, not Jesus. So when a Christian denomination looks to the Just
War Theory, they are not listening Jesus’ teaching of “Blessed are the Peacemakers…” See
(7) Okay. Okay, I substituted “gun” for “sword” in this Matthew 26:51-52 text. See
My rationale is that the sword is the current gun’s great grandfather. The evil embodied in the sword has been passed
down to it’s anscestors. Our current generation, as did those in Jesus’ time, look the The Almighty Sword as
their Lord and Savior.
(8) National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre actually said, “The only thing that stops a bad
guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” Translated, this means, “Kill before being killed.” Not exactly
what Jesus meant when he said “those that take up the gun.” See
(9) James Madison is acknowledged to be the “author” of the first 10 amendments, but no one single
(11) Sophia is name given to God’s Wisdom. See Proverbs 1: 20-33 “Wisdom’s Rebuke” identifies God’s wisdom as female.
(12) Sophia is the femine name of God’s wisdom. Her voice is found in Solomon’s Proverbs and in Apocrapha book “The Wisdom of Solomon.”
(13) See Isaiah 10:1-2.
(15) Mohammed and Jesus both share the heritage of the Hebrew prophets.
(16) See Isaiah 32:7.
(17) Proverbs 4:5-7 See
(17) Luke 14:13-14 See
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2014:13-14&version=NIV
