SEVEN PHRASES FROM THE CROSS
I wrote this last week while travelling in the Atacama desert. The Atacama is one of the driest places on Earth,[9] and is virtually sterile because it is blocked from moisture on both sides by the Andes mountains by the Chilean Coast Range. Here in this hot dusty environment I began to think about the fate of Jesus hanging on a cross in the middle of a desert place. A place where the waste from the city is discarded. Humanity has a great ability to treat humanity with such inhumanity. And when it comes to God - well we just don't seem to be able to recognise him.
A man cried
Seven phrases
In a dry hot dust covered desert
Most thought he was mad
But his words changed humanity.
It seemed no one was listening
He was too hot to handle
Everything was over exposed
Including their souls
Too much sunlight obscures the view
He cries I'm thirsty
He become invisible
Two thousand years later nothing changes
The crucified poor are still left
To cry I'm thirsty
A man had six phrases left
Six before he died
Surrounded by tretchery
Lies and steel
As soldier stabs his hand with nails
He drew the sting and spoke a word
That demons fear
And angels can't repeat
And hammered blows are cushioned
By the shock of the cry - Forgive!
Nothing changes
The crucified still forgive today
And in forgiving are crucified again
By those who refuse to let forgiveness
Reconcile their hurting hearts to bring about peace
With five still left
One for each finger on his palm
Open hand and tearful eyed
He speaks to broken hearts
A word of comfort to revive
Behold my kin my friend your son
You can survive
The cruel lost
Embrace my gift close to your heart
Love camnot be crucified it will survive
Four phrases left still breathing hope
He speaks a word
Where hope is lost
He hangs amidst a waste of space
A thief a murderer has graced
And something changed a selfish heart
To empty out his fearful thoughts
He'd be forgotten lost in time forever.
An echo to the thought returns
Not lost but found in Paradise
With the third cry comes a puzzle
Why would God deny his double
It's one thing friends denying friends
But how can God deny himself?
Rejected lost abandoned divorced
Can it be the Trinity is broken?
Two against one
A Shadow cast across a face
And then a thought could God be dead
We're all alone on the edge of time dying
God forsaken crucified by our fathers
The Desert man begins to sigh
Two more phrases still to cry
evil takes the strain of love
But cannot break the bonds if grace
There's beauty in this awful place
Restoring faith to love and hope
And all who look uncover truth
Amazed to find that mercy lives
And now the cry that cannot end
Commands the ears of everyman
It's finished.!
Completed
For all time!
A final phrase is breathed aloud
Father into their hearts
I've breathed my Spirit
Posted By: Gordon Kennedy On: 9 Apr 2009 At: 9:23am
Thanks for sharing this with us.