Asia’s Rain

The wind ripped down my roof tonight.
It yelled and screamed until
the windows exploded
and I cried.

I cried like I was shaken by the wind,
like god withdrew;
the devil killed my sons.
And though I am not Job, I am not
left alone to tell you
anything except . . .

I am not going to make it.
The bricks falling through the chimney hole
make that clear in the clouds of ash
they raise.
I am
not going
to make it.

The only sanctuary now
is to walk into the open
darkness,
far from splintered roofs
and falling bricks.

If I am chaff,
I bid you all
goodbye.

Religion’s position is always between God and the individual.  One of the persistent assertions of religionists is that the position of religion is actually to bring the individual closer to God.  But few religions place any real focus on the individual.  Religions tend to place more focus on societal groups: families, congregations, tribes, nations, etc.  Why?
Does the individual need the religion to bring them closer to God?  Certainly God does not need the religion to become closer to the individual.
God and the individual can commune outside the structure of religion.  Religion actually interferes with the highest possible communion between God and the individual.
To commune with God through a religion only requires one to have faith in the religion–its leaders, its tenets, its doctrines, its mysteries.  To commune directly with God requires true faith in God, including faith in oneself and one’s relationship to God.