Phil:

Thanks for the note

I was pissed off at you!

You had me wondering:

"Ain't this
the sane
the  same
Phil
I had known
who preached

so powerfully

so wonderfully

upon the Politics of Jesus?"

Now
you are
back solid with me
back in my good old graces

given

your dispassionate note
your clarifying  note
your wise note.
..............

last Sunday

Richard Loughheed
set me straight in church

right there,
right then,

by saying :

"Togane,

I could not say

Amen

to your partisan prayer

 

against

 

Dubya & Sharon !"

Now Richard

 

Just like Huck Finn did

long time a go

deep down in me

 

I knowed

I found that out

 

I can't pray a lie —no more!"

 

"Well,

Richard,

you did not expect me

to pray a lie,

 

did you?"

"No!"

Richard gently got me off
my self-righteous high horse

It is most true:
there is nothing stronger than gentleness;

only a fool would raise

his ire
his voice
his hand

against such gentleness.

only a fool would harden

 

his heart

his ear

 

against such honesty

A soft answer does indeed turn away wrath,
but
a harsh word stirs up anger.

May I always remember this!
May I always live by this!

With an assist from
Jean-Jacques
and in no time,

the Prince of Peace
gave me the grace

to go over
to Gabriele Hopf
to ask her
to forgive me

for raising my voice against her
for hardening my heart against her

 

for my overheated vehemence

of wrong-headedness

of self-righteous wrath

 

of rant
of rave
of rap

that cost me

my cool,
my clarity

my pose,
my poise,

my balance
my blessing.
my baksheesh from Allah

She graciously gave me
the baksheesh
I had begged from her;

furthermore
she suggested
that we get to know each other

better
later

next Sunday
by going out

for some coffee
for some conversation

Somalis are right on:

Come

Let us talk with each other
Let us reason with each other
Let us reason together

means
Indeed

Let us understand each other
let us groove on each other

let us get it together right this time around 

 

 

That is the Christian mature grace I desperately pray for.

............................

I am not going to judge
I am not going to tell you

why others go to church;

but I will tell you

why I go to the mosque on Fridays

why I go to the Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath

why I go to church on Sundays

I go to church to go get naked before God

For a long time
I have tried on;
I have donned on

like the silly Somalis

like the chameleon


many a color
many a camouflage
many a disguise,

only to discover recently
(at the ripe old age of 57)

that naked is the best disguise
that confession is good for the soul
that the sacrifices of God are indeed

a broken spirit,
a broken heart
a naked soul
a contrite heart,

these O God, You will not despise.

He who whose heart is full
of dirty little secrets

does not expect to have

his heart healed
his heart whole

his soul satisfied

his soul sanctified

That is why they say
in AA,

one is
as sick as
one is secret

God commanded us
to come before Him

naked
just as we were born

He said:

 "Come unto me,
all ye that labour,

and are heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest"

That is why I go to church:
to unburden myself
to lay my heavy-laden broken heart

bare
naked

before Him

who loved me so much
that He laid down his life for me

I am old enough to have the courage of my convictions.

I believe that

every Christian
every cannibal

is duty bound

to distance
to divorce
to disassociate himself

from the KKK god

that Dubya
(who claims to be
a born again Christian)
worships

from the KKK god

in whose name
The Boy Emperor wages war

raining down

death
destruction
disaster
despair
desolation

upon the people of Iraq
upon the people of Palestine
upon the entire world of Islam
upon the whole world

The god of George W Bush
is
the honky fugly god

of bigotry
of bullshit
of bum steer

that is promoted
that is  preached

by Bob Jones University

where racism
where hatred

against the black race

is preached
is practiced.

Bob Jones University
is
where Dubya went first

to launch his campaign
for the US presidency

to signal
to all the Bible thumping bigots
of Dixie
of the USA

that he is indeed
one of their kind.

So I believe
it is incumbent

upon all Christians
upon all Jews
upon all Moslems
upon all believers of the Loving God

of Peace
of Justice
of Mercy

to pray

 

against Dubya

against Sharon

 

against all evil aggressors

against all evil transgressors

 

to work actively work against
the re-election of this evil man called

 

Dumdum Damiin Dullard Dayuus Dubya

who daily disfigures God's world

with injustice

with terrorism

with much help

from his friend
from his soul mate
Behemoth Beastly Sharon

 

the fartugly flatulent Zionist Butcher

 

of Sabra
of Shatilla
of Palestinian women

of Palestinian babies

Sharon

 

who holds in contempt
what Judaism is all about:

"That which is hateful to you,
do not do unto your neighbour"

who holds in contempt

the opinions of mankind
who has no .decent respect for

the opinions of mankind

Sharon & Dubya

are

the real enemies of Jews
the real enemies of Islam

the real enemies of Christ

the real enemies of Peace
the real enemies of mankind
the real enemies of womankind

because

these two evil twins
Tweedledum & Tweedledee
are destroying

the legacy of Jimmy Carter
the legacy Anwar Sadat
the legacy of Rabin,

the good Jew of gentle peace,

whose legacy was trying bravely
to persuade paranoiac Jewry

that the whole gentile goy world
is not
against Jewry!

There is indeed
"the battle for God"

raging all over the world:

the battle of the suicide bomber against the nutty nuclear power

that is why I am a prayer warrior
who is willing
to lay down his life
to make sure

that the evil god

of Dubya
of Sharon

does not triumph

Phil,

you are right:
I am in desperate need

of wisdom
of guidance

of leadership

so that I don't antagonize gratuitously
those who are already naturally on my side
such as yourself;

so that you & I can win over friends
such as Richard
to fight on our side
in this global battle for the real God

of Love
of Peace

Believe me
my daily prayer
is:

"O Lord,
grant me
the tongue of the wise
that brings healing

for reckless words pierce like a sword
for reckless words needlessly create enemies.

Set a guard over my mouth,
O Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips".

Yours in the Struggle
for Justice
for Peace.



Togane,

The Prayer Warrior