Limited offer

 Somewhere along the line

Somewhere along the line the message got confused

Good news for all became time limited 

The offer now reduced to believers, 

Belongers, followers and subscribers. 

What was free to all became rather small

And the unlimited became conditional

The God who counted every hair now counting points 

All applications required in triplicate. 

The prison of the promised people

Extended east and west

But still remained a place

By invitation only.  

Old habits die so hard

In the beauty of the desert

The habits of two thousand years

Refused to go, we know. 

If there is a God, it’s for everyone

Especially agnostics and unbelievers 

If there is a heaven, it will be full

Of those who never stood in chapel. 

Heaven will be another earth

Where the undeserving live

Cheek by jowl with holy ones

Just like the Prodigal Sons