Twenty First Century Church
I found nirvana on the air conditioned
pickle ball courts along with a woman
playing with a portable oxygen tank
and a finger oxygen meter. Same church
where I saw a comfort dog in a stroller
wheeled into Sunday morning worship.
You can choose a Sunday School class
on “Creating with Color,” or take
a Zoom class with the minister
on the work of C.S. Lewis, or join
a book group where you’re divided
into groups of 6 in separate rooms
for better discussions. There are options
for Zumba, yoga, volleyball, grief counseling,
couples counseling and tango lessons.
It’s a place of meeting the human condition
where it is.
11 thoughts on "Twenty First Century Church"
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This poem can be read in different ways which is something I like. It’s at once absurd, but also heartbreaking and truthful. Comic-tragic-happy-sad.
These details are so spot-on for spa-menu theology. I didn’t know how to read it until the last line.
I agree with the above ladies that I was not quite sure how to read it most of the way through, but I also think that makes it interesting and begs the reader to read it again. Sadly, this IS where the human condition is. Kind of reminds me of Brave New World. You’ve done a good job evoking that feeling that the church and even society is missing the point.
reminds me of a book title from days gone by called The Variety of Religious Experiences
by William James, brother of Henry and Alice
Love this! My nirvana would be the Zoom class on C.S.Lewis. Well, maybe Creating with Color on alternating weeks.
Hyper individualism
The word “nirvana” feels out of place, given that the rest of the poem signals a Christian church. “Heaven”?
I feel and largely agree with the critique of certain forms of religion here, Pat. On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind going to the church in the poem. After all, I spent ten years as a Unitarian Universalist. We used to joke: What do you get when you cross a Unitarian with a Jehovah’s Witness? Someone who knocks on your door for no apparent reason. 😏
love that I also was a Unitarian and recently left that church to go to the one mentioned here
It’s a place of meeting the human condition
where it is.
Loved that last line; and. yes, this is a church that meets many people’s needs and that is very good.