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    Face Time

    The clerical collar

    Today nobody knows it

    Why the first ministers chose it

    The ring around the neck

    Was meant to look like a link in a chain

    To express unity with the Roman slaves and their pain

     

    Now that’s all forgotten and besides

    It doesn’t look good on TV

     

    The televangelists

    On their primetime hour of power

    They’re rockin’ earth tones and silk

    Donations are their mother’s milk

    When they’re talking about the Holy Ghost

    What really matters to them is who’s got the most

    Wearing suits with nice creases

    They step out of Benzes with long leases

    To tell you that’s the way God planned it

     

    Now I don’t mean to just sound outrageous

    So let’s look inside the pages

    And see what the good book has to say

     

    “Beware of the scribes, who like to go about in long robes, and to have salutations in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts.”

     

    In other words….

     

    I don’t wanna walk and talk about Jesus

    I just wanna see his face

     

    The archbishop sipped tea in the back of the limo

    Exquisite wood and leather everywhere

    A $900 briefcase at his feet

    And a laptop to which he gave great care

     

    He had a meeting and he was late

    But it didn’t bother him, let them wait

    He represented the biggest account on earth

    Let them take more time to prepare

    Bankers were the trout in the stream

    And he was the bear

     

    When the archbishop stepped from the limo to make that trip

    From one oasis of perfumed air conditioning to another

    He ignored the homeless all around him

    The homeless who asked him to be their brother

     

    But in the conference room the suits were all smiles

    Brandy and cigars

    Signatures all around

    All the money for the new cathedral had just been found

     

    Now I don’t mean to just sound outrageous

    So once again let’s look inside the pages

    And see what the good book has to say

     

    “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”

     

    In other words…

     

    I don’t wanna walk and talk about Jesus

    I just wanna see his face

     

    National City is an international city

    Between San Diego and the border

    A storefront church sits on a corner

    In a mixed neighborhood created by the new world order

     

    The pastor has a day job

    Works hard like his congregation

    Nice folks

     

    But controversy came to National City

    In the year 2004

    The mayor declared the city an immigrant sanctuary

    Said they would not bar the door

    The right wing went crazy

    Telling lies about Mexicans, said they all were lazy

     

    The pastor and his church?

    They didn’t say a word

    In 2006, the right wing got their own mayor in

    Again, the pastor and his church could not be heard

    The new mayor laughed

    When he revoked the sanctuary status

    He said that those immigrants

    They’re a cancer and they’re aimed right at us

    Said we don’t need more people of other hues

    And still there was silence in the pews

     

    Now I don’t mean to just sound outrageous

    So one more time let’s look inside the pages

    And see what the good book has to say

     

    “I was a stranger and you took me in.”

     

    I don’t wanna walk and talk about Jesus

    I just wanna see his face

     

     

    Poem / 2007

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