Maundy Thursday April 21, 2011

We Mean Well

[RGC Holy Week 2011]

We mean well, O God.

We see a small corner of the blueprint of your Kingdom and interpret that before we have even understood your vision.

We take a small part and make it the whole;

We interpret out of context - or rather we posit our own context and distort the plans to our own design.

But we mean well, O God.

We mean well when we race ahead of you, O Christ.

We think we know where you are going and what you are planning so we charge on ahead, blind and ignorant.

We try to mold the future to match our limited vision.

We force the hand of fate with our acceptance of the payoff of the world around us, choosing to deny with unforeseen consequences.

All because we mean well, Lord.

We mean well as we make our plans, Spirit of Wisdom.

We have knowledge stored in abundance and interpretations stacked up like huge logs but we fail to see our blindness.

We are drawn to quick and easy solutions.

We drink in the wisdom of this world and make the kingdom fit it's shape in the name of relevance, unable to discern our finite folly.

Oh, we mean well, our Guide.

Take our well-meaning and bend it to fulfill your purposes, O God of all history and meaning.

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What will we do now?

[RGC April 2011 in Holy Week]

What will we do now, God?

What can we do that can change the way things are?

Our hopes are turned to dust and ashes,

Our dreams of a utopian Kingdom have been razed even before they had been built.

Jesus is defeated.

    Let's go home and pretend it never happened.

    Let's hide the whole thing in the past and get on with life.

What will we do now - now that we are alone?

Where will we turn to, God?

What place is safe and comfortable for those who seek to go back?

Can the old ways satisfy us?

Can the former occupations of our lives give back meaning and purpose?

Where can we go now?

    Let's go home and pretend it never happened.

    Let's hide the whole thing in the past and get on with life.

Who are we now - to whom do we belong?

Are we vassals of the political overlord sublimating our hopes to the Emperor's command?

Are we just poor village folk mired in a system of religious duties and hopeless yearnings?

Are we defeated dreamers whose burgeoning visions have been shattered like a face in a mirror smashed in a violent struggle?

     Let's go home and pretend it never happened.

     Let's hide the whole thing in the past and get on with life.

Who are we now - this ragtag bunch of disparate nobodies - now that the One we called the Christ is out of the picture?

    Let's go home and pretend it never happened.

    Let's hide ourselves in our past and get on with life.

What else can we do?

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