Oh, My God....
When I meet you in private, we seem divinely connected.
You seem close and reachable.
You appear to be warm,kind and forgiving.
You feel closer than my jugular vein to me.
When I meet you in the confines of my home, I don't feel my external appearance is being judged by you.
You don't seem focused on the length of my dress, the color on my nails, a strand of hair being visible.
You seem to see far beyond all that deep into my soul.
But, all that changes when I meet you in public.
You are spoken about with fear.
You seem surrounded by an army of serious looking men.
You appear strict, harsh and unforgiving.
You feel so very distant.
When I meet you in the confines of places of worship, you feel inaccessible.
Men with beards, men in saffron, men and more men seem committed to separating you and keeping you far away from the rest.
You can't be reached without their consent, involvement and permission it seems.
They talk and give grand sermons about you.
But, these sermons only seem to elevate you to ranks that make you seem more unreachable. They infuse everything about you with fear, judgement and punishment.
But, that's not the God that I know or the God that I meet in private. The God they speak of is not like my God.
My understanding of you can be characterized as "blasphemous". A great sin and crime, I'm told because it is disrespectful to God.
But, isn't their narrow, harsh and fearful understanding of you the real blasphemy?