Steeple Chase Poem by Long Tooth

(How Do You Know That God Loves You?)

So how do you know that God loves you?
Is that something that you can control?
Does God sanction the church you're attending
Or people who sit in your pew?

Is new church more Christian than old one?
Do the members all get that you're saved?
Are you always at peace with the message
And feel like that maybe you're done?

Is there a strong sense you belong here?
The parishioners grey haired and old?
Are young children remarkably absent
Is sin in control of your fear?

What makes your church better than my church?
Are there more saints in your faith than mine?
Are the saved more deserving of God's grace?
Does peacock deserve better perch?

It's sin if we judge other's sin's facts
And it's prideful to think that we're grown!
Love of God always given to children
Whose innocence truly attracts.

Your pride in your church thwarts your best goal
For its glory's not mortar but God
And its towers and steeples are worthless
Man's vanity just rock and roll!

Your posturing just wasted effort
Your attempts to draw merit as well
Better focus instead on what Grace means
It's how God reveals His support.


Long Tooth
April 25,2016