Christian Men

You are, Christian men
Men of authority,
to whom others look---
Reverends, Teachers, Good solid conservative men,
you have the secure positions
the titles
the respect.

Why are you mockers,
Why do you not understand?
Why do you spit in another man's face
(suffering)
strutting in what you are?

Surely there were men like you once,
They were good men,
observant men,
good solid conservative men,
Who did good,
had the secure positions
the titles
the respect
strutting in who they were

They killed God.
(on a spring morning, on a rocky hill)

Oh, they had done it long ago,
somewhere between the prayers, and the carefully embroidered prayer shawls
Somewhere where the face of God became obscured
By who you were, and your brilliant Bible Studies
That were bestsellers at Christian Book.
Somewhere in the expositing of the levels of Yeshayahu
The different opinions of the Rabbis
the shades of meaning in Deuteronomy
The fan letters from church study groups,
And somewhere your yearning for the face of God
was lost.

They killed him long ago
Between their prayers,
And making sure Rev. So-and-So knew his theology correct
With your more conservative mainstream Protestant blog
and the Shema said clear enough so that the people could understand.
It was amid good things
Good upright things--and a few nods from respected friends
The shining eyes of disciples, and young men in the pews
That you killed God long ago.

And so when it came down to it,
Just before dawn, it the cold cramped hours of the morning
---annoyed by that ache in you left middle back
still half of tomorrows sermon forming in your head--
That you cast your groggy vote against that man
So unrespectable, un-mainstream, offensive, standing so
in chains.

And he was executed, as the unrespectable are
outside the gate

Outside, Outside, Outside the gate.
The face of suffering is hard
It bleeds, and the cuts ooze blood
And its clear eyes cut
straight to your soul
No, it is too much, we must leave
the face of suffering,
the man of suffering,
outside, outside,
Outside the gate.