Broken Cross
This week’s article is a poem I wrote several years ago as I thought about how we sometimes distort the truth of Christianity and miss the simple message of Jesus’ death on the cross. I know… I know… how thrilling can a poem be? Please take your time and read it slowly. I pray that God uses it to remind us that the cross is not about being judgmental, having blind faith, or getting our way. The cross of Christ is about a loving God sacrificing for sinful people like us so that we can know Him and make Him known.
A Broken Cross
Every time I hate a man for the color of his skin,
And, in your name discriminate like you didn’t die for him.
I take my place on the judgment seat; a chance for mercy’s lost,
I slam the gavel and drive a nail through another broken cross.
Every time that someone asks for a reasonable defense,
And in your name I come up blank like you make no sense,
My halo hides my empty head; a chance for truth is lost,
My faith is blind so I stand behind another broken cross.
Every time I raise the flag and pledge allegiance to,
The country that I love so much more than I love you,
The stars and stripes and Uncle Sam, somehow God is lost,
We have no soul and our flagpole is another broken cross.
Every time I bow and ask for things to go my way,
“My Kingdom come, my will be done” and every time I pray,
I dress you up like Santa Claus, “your will on earth” is lost,
No Christmas tree, your gift to me drips from a broken cross.
Every time I love someone and stand to pay the price,
I raise you high above this land and trust your sacrifice,
When I say “your will be done” and humbly serve the lost,
The cross you bore, I bow before a no longer broken cross.
