I want to get close to You
On that cross.
So close that I can reach my hand out
And wipe a tiny drop of blood
From the end of Your nose.
Take eight fingers and wipe the dirt
From underneath Your eyes;
The sweat beads from the brow of Your head.
It feels like they ran me through Your side
As if they chiseled me into a spear
To break forth the water.
Entranced in Your gaze
The hurt feels real to me now.
You look deep into my eyes,
Deep past the sin that put You here.
Your tears run like rivers around
And down Your cheeks.
I feel as thought I’m a rigid rock
In the rapids of Your love.
Over time You will get Your image
Out of me.
Your heartbeat is rhythmic like thunder
Below Your breast.
A heart about to finish the greatest love note
Of all time.
You’ve chosen to write this down in
Crimson.
No longer will humanity be seen wrapped
Up in an empty skin of fruit.
Like sunlight upon ruby,
So the hearts of man will be seen
Through a blanket of blood.
Savior blood.
I cup Your face in my hands to hold you still
To just look at You.
I want to kiss You
Grace.
Your hair entangled with sweat,
Sand, and sin;
So I push back the mess.
Where the thorns pierced feels like brail now,
And I can read that You love me.
In that moment I pour my alabaster ointment
All over Your toes,
And through the holes gaping Your feet.
Everything about me wants to pick up
My clothes from off the ground
And run away.
I’ve been a harlot, naked,
Whoring in the same room
As a star-maker.
A universe poet.
You say, “light.”
The sun burns.
But only until You say,
“night.”
Oceans on beaches
Rush back and forth,
With the sky up above wanting
To crash into the sea.
Your hands hold them apart.
This Grace keeps atoms together
From the furthest point in the Whirlpool Galaxy,
To the nearest point in the laminin of man.
How can You let me call on You?
Every inch of my being is covered
In the fruit of Adam,
Of pride.
Yet You left Your throne room.
Traded in earth as Your footstool,
Angels that applaud You;
For a bucket of water and a wash cloth
To clean the sinner’s feet,
And a crowd that would rather throw
Stones than see the innocent freed.
There must me something that I just
Cannot see.
As my eyes are stuck on Yours.
My hands shaking under the weight of
Your head.
The strength in Your body
Is slowly wavering.
Straining for another breath.
The air inside Your lungs
Mixing with the blood
Inside Your body.
I want to pull You off this crucifix.
I’d rather go to hell, at least I think,
Than continue hearing You plead
For another breath.
Then,
Breathing stops.
Heart settles.
Muscles give.
Grace breathes last breath.
As You closed Your eyes
I wondered if there was any hope.
None that I could see.
Where had the King of Glory gone?
Had Kingdom missed its Savior?
Crowds departed in droves of disappointment,
Some tears.
Why hadn’t You climbed down from Your
Criminal’s Cross?
Pulled the nails out from the hands and feet
And stepped off.
If You were God why didn’t You save Yourself?
Because You’d rather roll back stones!
Look death in the eyes and pry his
Hopeless fingers off the winnowing fork.
Spend three days inside the belly of the earth,
Only to resuscitate Yourself.
Climb back on the tree from which Adam pulled
The fruit,
Put sin on the chopping block,
Stare at me, and say,
“It’s Grace.”
I want to get close to You.
So close that my blood turns into
Your blood.
When You move Your hands,
I want to move mine.
If You smile I want my lips
To be right behind Yours.
Let Your Kingdom over take
My eyes.
Ears.
Mouth.
Hands.
Feet.
Heart.
If You need me to stand still,
I have no desire to move.
If You need me to dance,
Play me Your songs.
Hold my face in Your hands.
Teach me what it means
To reach out to the world.
As if my feet and hands were nailed down
To a crucifix.
As if my brow
Had blood on it.
Put a spear in my side
To humble this pride.
And at Your name,
JESUS,
Teach my knees to bow.
And at Your name,
JESUS,
Teach my heart to sing.
And at Your name,
JESUS,
Teach my hands to move.
For it’s no longer I who live
But it’s You.
It’s You.
It’s You.
Amen.
R.g.
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)
