I am definitely not the poem type. I usually just skip 'em. But this was sent by a friend and I thought it had some profundity in it...

THE SIMPLE MESSAGE (with profound apologies to Dr. Suess)

By Steve Case

Way far away and a long time ago Back in the past where no one can go In a tiny small town of fishes and men Was a crazy young rabbi who was at it again He went out preaching He went out teaching And he never once stopped the constant beseeching That people look out for each other with care And stop all the griping about who’s here or there He said he was Jesus They said he was God But there were those all around him Who thought his behavior quite odd The man ate with sinners Taxmen and hookers And He would call out to The crowd of onlookers I didn’t come for the healthy I came for the sick They too are God’s children. You don’t get to pick And then he walked about town and saw the cold and the hunger Old folks and young folks and some even younger He’d stop and he’d feed and heal up their souls He touched the untouchable Made the broken feel whole He finally decided not to do this alone He needed a team, a good cornerstone And he gathered up those and called them disciples They would be his examples They would be his archetyples He called Peter the rock And Andrew his brother James and then John in spite of their mother He called Bart and then Phillip He called Thomas and Thad And Matthew who guarded the money they had A zealot named Simon and another man named James Finally Judas was added to the names He called Mary, and Mary, and Martha her sister Who all got less credit because of who wrote the scripture. Jesus called them his friends and he made them his own And sent them out to the world Across desert and stone To take folks the news That God loves them so. Heaven’s not about rules and who gets to go But that God is here with them, right now and right here They were God’s eyes, his hands, and his ears He sent them out proud into a world that was cruel To the nations they went without food, without fuel Their message was clear. God loves you. That’s all. We’ve managed to take it pen and with scrall And fill up volumes of rules of who can and can’t go We’ve taken the message of long long ago And squeeze it and press it and package it so We can sell it and buy and fill up a store Till it’s not even close to what it was before. God’s simple message Relayed by his son God loves you. That’s it. That’s all. We’re done.

Copyright 2006 Steve Case. Permission is granted to send this to others, with attribution, but not for commercial purposes.