Come join the community of the beloved
Do you know the liturgy?
You mouth the words so eloquently
Certainly you must be elevated
I will let you socialize with me
We say the Words and sing the songs
And we are wise and righteous
You are free to join us
Now here, may I ask
What can you do for me today
In the name of dogma and theology
Practicing the faith of service
and the service of faith?
You have stayed within the lines
And observed the right propriety
Being persistently cordial
and sacrificially compliant
I will let you spend time in my company
You mouth the words so eloquently
Certainly you must be elevated
Clearly you know the liturgy
and are obviously one of the Sanctified

Has something happened to you spiritually?
It appears you exhibit a level of emotion
And have developed some sort of passion
Making me so uncomfortable
Are you sure you know the liturgy
The favorite anthem, our sacred creeds?
Your personal thoughts and feelings
Strike me as secular and schismatic
You must have left the Lord’s favor
And forgotten the liturgy, the theology,
our anthems and creeds and rites
I guess I cannot be seen with you
You have let your passions
Pollute His Passion
And upset our piety
Upset my spirituality
Pretending to love
Reaching out for me
Reaching out to me
While you know our hands are His
My hands are His
Unless the Vision bonds a bond
I cannot otherwise be
close to idolatry,
To emotionality,
To humanity outside of the doxology,
To one who appeared to know the liturgy
One who seemed elevated
One who claimed to love me
Among the anthems and creeds and rites
But asked for care in return
A handout of something I shouldn’t have to give
Requested with humanness and hunger and want
From one of the wholesome community
Undermining my sanctity
I cannot be close to such vulnerability
To one clearly outside of
the community of the beloved
Didn’t you know the liturgy?
I’m sorry.