Sunday, January 19, 2014

The Cross Unseen

In Roman times the cross was a common feature of the landscape, feared, but unremarkable--until history changed our perspective.
As science moved to the forefront of our thinking, God was gradually squeezed out . . . what we failed to notice was that, without God in whose image we are said to be created we lost our place of prominence in the order of things having meaning and direction; without God we are simply one of nature's products--without purpose or goal--expendable.



The Cross Unseen

Each age hews its crosses
Knowing not what it is doing.
The present does not judge itself.
That is the destiny of the future.
Only distance offers perspective
While involvement is ever shortsighted.

We invest our Pilates with power
And command them to rule us.
They pass judgments forced upon them
Then wash their hands.
Who then is responsible?
Where lies the greatest blame?

The web of existence is infinitely complex
And so great the number of weavers!
Each mistake undetected, is on all sides supported,
And multiplies itself a thousandfold.
Only the magnitude of deicide
Can expose the flaw.

How many be the nameless
Lost in oblivion
Until the Christ is sacrificed
Upon the cross of that flaw?
And when will He come?
And how will He be known?

Each time He is different--
Yet ever the same beneath the appearances.
And always He is unknown
(Save to a few)
Until the deed is done
And time gives sight to the involvement that was.

The slaughter of innocence,
The nameless unknown--
expended--to keep the flaw hidden
Within the tangled web,
For its detection means reordering
And the involvement demands continuous action.

As complexity progresses,
Do not the centers of order multiply?
Minor centers, radiating around The Center
Raising a need for many christs
The One, of the Whole,
Showing the pattern to the parts?

Each age hews its crosses
Knowing not what it is doing.
Now, the countless unknown, crucified with questions
Hang upon crosses of meaninglessness and alienation.
From whence will come the Christ
Whose sacrifice will illuminate the flaw?







No comments:

Post a Comment