Evangel

Robert Ronnow
The Imaginary i

Evangel

I watch the television evangelist Joel Osteen with Josephine from Ghana.
God wants you to succeed, he says. I think God died or lied,
same difference. When everyone holds up their Bibles and thumps them
I make my nervous laugh.

Joel’s favorite story is David and Goliath,
how the little guy slays the big guy by throwing rocks. There’s no singing
in this church, singing’s for funerals and death is for losers. I say to Josephine
What kind of day was it for Goliath?

Josephine and Joel’s congregation
hold no sympathy for Goliath. Just as I can’t picture God
they can’t visualize Goliath with a wife and kids. I watch Shrek with my wife and kids,
one of our favorite movies.

Is this done in every American town and the world over
so there is no need to feel lost or lonely ever?