White Bread Jesus

Too much of the work 

of the institutional church

feels like feeding white

bread to domestic ducks.

Never mind that its nutritional value

has been thoroughly denatured

by a bleaching process which

not even God can withstand,

fully oppositional to transfiguration’s

amazing glow; or that it doesn't even

stay in our spiritual digestive system

long enough to last us ‘til the next meal.

Give us a Jesus that is

palatable and domesticated;

a Savior who goes well with

the rest of our pasteurized lives;

a smoothie, processed

for safe and easy digestion.

God forbid that we should

have to chew and think,

to struggle and be challenged,

to wonder what it means

to be invited to a table

whose menu is "my body,

broken for you" and

"my blood poured out for

the forgiveness of your sins".

No, we’ll have White Bread Jesus;

and make that “to go” please.

Photo by Keith Powell

© 2014 Todd Jenkins