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.

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