Revolt (What I Typed on a Facebook Thread Yesterday)

“I was brought up without God.
Atheism is the most natural point of view for me.
The God assumption isn't the least bit plausible to me.

There is a God if it's useful for us that there be.”

—What did I mean by “useful, ” I wonder?
—I think I just meant that there can be a God if we want there to be.

Jesus, won’t you come by here
Jesus, won’t you come by here
Jesus, won’t you come by here

The usual view is that God is a Higher Power, external to us.
God created us, and is waiting somewhere we don’t know where
to see what we will do.

But He already knows, of course—

knew from the very first moment of creation
whether I would be saved or not.

Now is the needed time
Now is the needed time
Now is the needed time

But what is God, or what can God be for me—for us?
God is the everyday excitement of my life.
God is the emotion, the gladness, the inspiration,

the spark I feel in my heart for another.

No need to call this stuff by the name God,
but not a bad thing to have a Name for it either.

Jesus, won’t you answer prayer
Jesus, won’t you answer prayer
Jesus, won’t you answer prayer

Adam walked in Eden, naming everything.
God was there too, walking in the cool of the day.
When Adam was naming the animals, did he name God too?

But God wanted to test us—it’s the oldest story,

so He told us not to eat the apple.
The “Great Forbidder,” Satan called him.

Daniel in the lion’s den
Daniel in the lion’s den
Daniel in the lion’s den

So we ate the apple, of course. When somebody tells you
not to do something, sooner or later you’re going to do it,
like a child being told, “Don’t spill the salt.”

Then we had to be banished from Paradise,

and women would now have to bear their children in pain,
and have an eternal enmity toward snakes.

The angel locked the lion’s jaw
The angel locked the lion’s jaw
The angel locked the lion’s jaw

It’s easy to be cynical about Christianity—
all we have inherited from our ancestors’ understanding
of their spiritual situation,

but I’ve gotten to the place

where I can’t remember any more
why I felt I needed to reject it.

I’m down on my knees and prayin’
I'm down on my knees and prayin’
I’m down on my knees and prayin'

Saying, Lord, have mercy on me
Lord, have mercy on me
Lord, have mercy on me
                                                on me

Poems for Advent 2017