Why You Should Care About This

I recently read a poem on the cover of a church newsletter that kind of ruffled my theological feathers
....
And that the name of this church has 'Grace' in its title makes their cover selection all the more of a faux pas.

Here's the poem—you may have seen it online:

No Time To Pray
by Kathryn Neff Perry

I knelt to pray but not for long,

I had too much to do.

I had to hurry and get to work

For bills would soon be due.


So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,

And jumped up off my knees.

My Christian duty was now done

My soul could rest at ease.


All day long I had no time

To spread a word of cheer.

No time to speak of Christ to friends,

They'd laugh at me I'd fear.


No time, no time, too much to do,

That was my constant cry,

No time to give to souls in need

But at last the time, the time to die.


I went before the Lord,

I came, I stood with downcast eyes.

For in his hands God held a book;

It was the book of life.


God looked into his book and said

"Your name I cannot find.

I once was going to write it down... 

But never found the time"

---

This poem, though well intentioned, is simply bad theology. Maybe this poem makes me mad because I'm a pretty progressive seminary student. Maybe it's the ignorant assumptions about God's character that tick me off. Whatever the reason, there are so many problems with this poem that it became a topic for this blog.

I also believe that you should care about this poem. If you find this poem inspiring, or challenging, or even insightful, I want to tell you why you should find it offensive.

Yes. Offensive.

This poem assumes that God is as petty as people are. It implies that salvation is dependent on 'what a person does for God,' rather than on what God has done for all people. It even says that a short prayer isn't good enough for God's standards (so watch out the next time your morning prayer is quick-and-to-the-point). It tells us that God demands certain standards of us, and that God shows no leniency when it comes to humanity's salvation.

This poem gets it all wrong, and so did the church that chose to put it on the cover of their newsletter.

God's grace is bigger than humanity's best efforts ... and also bigger than humanity's worst offenses. Period.

You should care when you see bad theology like this. Because there's likely someone who read this poem and then felt a lot of unnecessary guilt, all because they realized they weren't 'good enough.'

And to this person I say, "It's okay. Christ died because none of us are good enough."