Poetry

Sunday School Dreams

The slopes of Vedder Mountain drying in the August heat
            withered verdantly beyond the Mennonite sanctuary,
                        heart, soul, thoughts, and conscience almost purified.
But hunger for secular intellectual sustenance persists unabated,
                  gathered in Yarrow's long defunct Elim Bible School,
                          just a Sunday School now, even German religious school ended.

How many Sunday morning sermons?
How many Sunday evening missionary programs?
How many Wednesday evening Bible Study classes?
How many rehearsals of the Junior Choir on Friday night?

How many Church picnics with laden tables at Jordan's stream?
                        Enough already! Did I say it wasn't fun?

I became very hungry and the man standing before me was saying,
    "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism,
                but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.
    This is the message God sent to the people of Israel, preaching
                the good news of peace through the message of the words of Jesus Christ."

I became very hungry and fell into a trance, and the tableau
        of Vedder's slopes contained all kinds of beasts, and reptiles,
                and birds of the air, and I heard the man say,
                        "Get up!   Kill and eat!"

Podcast: Sunday School Dreams

© Elmer Wiens