2008 was the last time that all of the family came together for a vacation. Later that summer, Greg Matte's sermon was about a prayer that asked God to strip down your life, so that it may be rebuilt to according to His suiting. I was afraid to pray that prayer, but I did. I consider October 13, 2008 to be the day that the prayer began its answer. I have always been open about matters of addiction and that was the day that therapy began to end a two year affair with pain killers. What follows is not poetics, but merely a list. It is all true.
Lose
your family,
relatives,
friends,
girlfriends,
acquaintances,
and everyone
that you had known.
Lose
your home,
church,
charities,
and the city that had
become your own.
Lose
your job,
pick-up,
savings,
gold,
money,
insurance,
investments,
and the credit record.
Lose
your political affiliations,
your volunteer causes,
your community efforts,
and your social fluttering.
Lose
your shrinks,
your doctor,
your dentist,
and your banks.
Lose
your security,
reputation,
familiarity,
bearing,
possessions,
food,
medicine,
your sense,
and your sense of identity.
Lose
everything that could touch
the skin and bone,
all that was your own,
everyone that you loved,
all that you had known,
and then you lose your cell phone.
II. GAIN
Lose all
of this
within the midst
of your desperate affairs...
then you
gain
captivity.
Lose freedom
to your new
career as
a slave.
An eight month tenure
was spread over
a ten month reign.
There were
five sets of masters
in five towns.
The third set of masters,
allowed you
to embark upon
five consecutive months of
servitude and captivity.
From the third set,
you were passed to the fourth
and the fifth set of masters
were also other members of the third set.
You were left
rattled,
despondent, desperately poor,
emotionally shaken,
lonely,
while desperately craving
love,
security,
hope,
fellowship with the brethren,
freedom,
friends,
trust,
and peace of mind.
All of their promises
became words
that were never kept.
You were kept,
used,
abused,
starved,
controlled,
manipulated,
trafficked,
and when they tired of you,
you were passed
to another set of masters.
They also
wanted you
to know
disaster,
poverty,
destitution,
enslavement,
starvation,
manipulation,
reputation,
lies,
gossip,
slander,
opinion,
possession,
frailty,
and all of the deliriums of human nature.
Now you
truly do
understand
depravity,
delusion,
hypocrisy,
sociopaths,
narcissists,
passive-aggressive behavior,
manipulators,
and the buried depths of human depravity.
You were the
whim of their while
as they reduced
your sense of dream.
Now you dream
merely to speak
to someone
that has known you
for more
than a year.
III. IN THE NAME OF GOD
All of this atrocity
came under
the banner of God.
What in Heaven’s name
has become of God’s children?
Has too much
of the world,
culture,
convenience,
business,
media,
money,
fame,
temptation,
and human appetite itself
taken hold of the Church?
Where has Jesus been in all of this?
Do you think that His Father is mad?
Where is the outrage
of the brethren that claim His Love?
Where is the ire
of wolves
in the midst
that slander His name
for their sake
of craving
money,
power,
fame,
and all
of this is
instituted
through
their whims
of human trafficking.
Why do God’s children
turn blind eyes
to the wicked
bearing lecherous gifts?
Many use His Name,
His knowledge,
but fewer imitate His acts,
and even fewer
give with His intent.
When did Jesus
become a commodity,
a fashionable season,
a brand for merchandising,
a slogan,
a catch phrase,
an advertisement,
a revenue spike,
a tee-shirt,
a clique,
a club,
another hierarchy that sets itself apart
from those who need Him most?
When did Jesus become
a costume,
a guest star,
a celebrity
with a posh and
comfortable manse
that is earthly
with a seaside view?
I thought
that His Father
Who art in Heaven
had many mansions,
because
if it were not so
then He
would have said so.
LOSE
LEAGUE OF DREAD
No comments:
Post a Comment