The Ancient Modern
Standard of Living / Joshua Alan Sturgill
Inflation of the idea spiritual
and an over-supply of religion
has devalued God
until there is no market for Him.
His arts and His interests are long
out of fashion.
Collectors exist, of course, and
examples of God are still purchased
for museum holdings.
Among old family photographs,
on the walls of nursing homes, you
may still see
images of God. Not Himself,
but impressions and interpretations
stripped of any
Symbols we can’t read any more. Just
last week, I saw three pictures of God:
God the scholar,
God the lover and God the recluse,
framed and hung with nails
in the hallway
of an old church. The Scholar God,
hands folded in contemplation, gazed
languid and calm
into the wise expanse behind me.
The Lover God, like a Hollywood
movie’s leading man,
looked sensually into my eyes.
The Reclusive God knelt down in
a garden alone
to consider all He had left to do.
I know these pictures. Inexpensive
copies are available
wherever inspirational items
are sold. I could have walked
past them all
without thinking about them and
continued into the church for
that wedding or
funeral or whyever I was there. Yet
I waited. For what? I think I was
listening. Fading pictures of God
are everywhere these days, but I
never hear Him speak. Does anyone
remember His voice?
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