No Time to Pray

They throw their anguish before me: Everywhere I go

They stop me on the street

Call me on the phone

Corner me in the homes of friends

Contact me on the internet and

Shout at me on the radio and HDTV.

G-d assures me they will see the light and urges me:

Resist the cheap and gaudy, easy faith

That hides indifference behind prayers

Threatens people with His words

And ridicules those who bleed from giving

His love to the lonely, disenfranchised and forgotten.

Their misery, neediness and beggary astound me:

Their churches are enormous

Their brochures and merchandise are exquisite

Their wealth is spectacular

Their homes and appliances are stunning

Their comfort is beyond compare

They throw their desperate anguish before me:

My conversion is their salvation

My presence in their congregation

Assures their presence before G-d

Will be met with open arms when they point to me,

The one they saved for Him.

G-d assures me, this is still just between Him and me:

Do not let their loudspeakers drown out His voice

Their arrogant words and selfish ambitions

Erase His teachings from my head

Wear me down, depress my joy, or

Keep me from His lovely path.

The daily platters of food placed before them:

Could feed a dozen children

Keep a family from starvation

Save a withering old couple from cat food diets

Feed their homeless neighbors for a week

Give respite to those who care for the sick and dying.

G-d is happy when I have no time to pray, for He sees I am busy:

Feeding a hungry child, laughing with a lonely old man

Changing diapers for a dying woman

Holding newborn orphans in my arms,

Wiping the brows of teenagers coming off meth

Lending my ear to prostitutes with AIDS