Beware of the Dogs

I don't recall ever paying much attention to this psalm in Edward Hays' Psalms for Zero Gravity before. In his reflection on the psalm he speaks not of people who are unbelievers, but those who are supposed to be followers of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Beware of the Dogs Psalm

Beware of the watchdogs of religion,

how viciously they bark and bite.

Dobermans of dogma, thirsty for blood,

Bible defender, guard dogs of the literal.

Beware of the growling, heresy-hunting dogs

prowling orthodoxy's rigid chain-link fences.

Beware of the dogged bird dogs,

whose prey is the Spirit Dove in free flight.

Chained by fears, they are repelled

by the freedom and liberty of love.

Beware, for they relentless sniff out the new,

the Spirit's scent of novelty.

Beware of the snarling dogs of war,

with the blood of God's wrath

dripping from the corners of their fanged mouths,

from countless crusades,

bloodbaths and heretics aflame.

Beware of those who ravaged and shredded

with their sharp teeth

the apostles and prophets of old.

As Jesus said, rejoice, but also beware.

Comment:  Reading MadPriest's Homophobe of the Day posts and all the stuff that is going on in our Anglican Communion and my sadness of the news of yesterday from California on Prop 8, this psalm seems most appropriate.  The Dobermans of Dogma and Guard Dogs of the Literal are out there, beware. 

I apologize to all the sweet dobermans out there.  I know you are not all mean and if you are it is probably a human who is responsible.  Isabelle, my sweet little dog, who loves anybody who brings treats and doesn't care a fig about church politics, pardon me, but I think I still need to say with Hays "Beware of the Dogs."