At poor peace I lay these
my gentle burdens down,
take up his yoke and cudgel
‘gainst these blind
and porous bishoprics,
whose poor brokerage of truth
has destroyed the faith of many.
Tunnel they now metaphorically -
in past as historic fact -
‘neath the temple’s walls,
caves of pagan worship there
they’ve carved from ‘living rock’
- now dead -
for casting spells via media,
and surrendered to the dark,
these priests of compromise
have sold the living Christ
for coinage of the realm,
ethics situational embraced,
and left the word behind.
Cudgel them I would,
with love and forgiveness,
lest in hate their mythic delusions
I embrace,
and twist the sacred words for
material advantage mine.
But cudgel still will I,
and face them off,
for truth is truth eternally,
neither be erased
nor forced to submit
to correctness merely cultural,
oh so political -
for this read their
commitment to expediency,
love of status,
and too much willingness to please.
The crowds?
The crowds do pleasure them
with praise and gold abundant.
But I reject their honeyed lies,
their appeals to raw emotions,
and the religious lust
of those who wish
only forms of righteousness,
and not the substance lived.
For the substance is
the living and eternal
Word,
who nailed my sin
upon that blooded wood,
for all the world to see.
In the bread and wine,
this simple liturgy
and word proclaimed
I do him meet,
all glory in humility
cloaked,
his hand outstretched,
scars apparent,
in friendship to this creature.
And I proclaim my personhood,
my intrinsic worth,
as with my own hand
I reach out,
take his,
on this week’s
resurrection day.
James Gagiikwe © 2008
|
Author notes
Sacramentum Verbi: Latin, the sacrament of the Word
Comments
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Private worship, adoration and brotherly connection with the Father's boldest and purest avatar: the Word enfleshed. And all the hierarchical pomp, ritual fuss, "gold" and "crowd"-pleasing "compromises" are nothing compared to one man's strong and faithful sense of himself, of his "instrinsic worth" - which is all the sacrament he needs and wants, all the word he desires and speaks in this poem. My sentiments exactly, and you've summed them up with poetic flair here, J.G.
I like the tunneling image, going under the massive monuments of worship to those "pagan" roots, covering them up and constructing new myths when the old ones were more simply truthful, more probing and wise, tied to natural life and death, as is His death and resurrection on whatever "day" the poet wants.
I also like the traditional rhetorical style of this poem, J; it makes the poem have the feel of one man's Credo, his statement of confident beliefs - those final five lines are a poem in themselves. I enjoyed this one a lot, and I think it should be included in all seminary studies, everywhere. Verbum sapienti sat. Really nice work.
Later,
Lad -
I thought this was teriffic
and an excellent message. When it comes to truth, a church and it's authorities should be guardians of that truth, hard-liners and explicators of doctrine, maintaining it in the onslaught of popular culture that would attempt to manipulate and undermine it. People today are so confused what with gay bishops and all. I accept all people as they are, but homosexuality is clearly at odds with the doctrines of God. And yet we have openly gay priests. Forget homosexuality and consider simply the law of chastity. Sexual orientation is immaterial if one is sexually chaste. It is an obvious fact by virtue of how we are constructed that homosexuality was never intended by God. Were we all to embrace homosexuality and partake exclusively in this practice the earths human population would die off within 2 to three generations. How would that be fulfilling God's will? It's just commom sense. And yet we have people confusing the issue and demomonizing those who hold fast to the truth that Adam was created for Eve and not Steve. I know and respect and value my friendship with gay people. No one should be demonized by virtue of their orientation, but the fact that homosexuality is at odds with the doctrine of God is quite clear. And to enthrone homosexuality in the priesthood has simply baffled me as to how in the world can this practice be at all supported, doctrinally? It can't. Man is changing religion to suit his own will, and when the word of God is conformed to the will of man it is no longer the word of God, but the word of Man. People today are lost and so fulfilling of that warning written in Ephesians 4:14:
"That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;"
People today are so confused, and nobody is willing to stand and cut through the confusion for fear of being politically incorrect. It seems I remember this guy who was hung on a cross for refusing to be pc and speaking instead the truth. No one today wants to bear the cross of truth because it's so much easier to fall in lock-step with mob acceptance of the doctrines of men. So swing that shaleigh-leigh...truth hurts and it should. If everything rings sweetly to your ears, question it. There's a reason why one must "hold fast" to the truth, because so many try to shake it.
al
excellent message
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