A Sacrifice of Praise

The following poem was spontaneously written in 2012. God knew I was exhausted by two young children and years of wrestling with atonement theology (unable to put into words my growing inner dissonance with the popular view of the cross).  Not being a poet, I was shocked when out-of-the-blue, poetry began flowing. I literally had a pen in one hand barely able to keep up with the free-flow of words and a spoon in the other stirring the kids' macaroni & cheese!  A couple of notes about this poem: Philosopher Girard refers to Rene Girard who said the scapegoat mechanism is the origin of sacrifice in all cultures and the Bible both reveals and denounces it. The last word of the poem brings together both John 14:6 and Psalm 119:105.   

They speak of You
paying the price for
our sins, of this Ultimate
Sacrifice

As if Your
visible vulnerability
were not enough

Our Creator, the Creator of all,
coming to this land a crying
baby boy and leaving
a bleeding and broken man

What more sacrifice
do we want?
What is left to be
paid?

In pain we look for
a purpose, the greater
the reason the more our
pain allayed

You say You delight
not in burnt offerings,
and You neither require
nor drink the blood of goats

But how can we trust
such words to be true?
Sacrifice and religion,
dare we separate the two,
even if it be a marriage of
convenience
and not of love?

We give such reasons
so scared for them to fail,
but what if we sacrifice reason
and find our scapegoating revealed?

I tell you philosopher Girard
was never so happy
as when he put to Western words
such ancient discovery!

What revelation!
To step outside sacrifice,
to see her for who she is,
tis like naming a covenant new

You indeed paid a price
Man of Sorrows, and told us
to follow You
Find life and eternal joy
by being well-acquainted
with grief

You died because of
our sins
in the manner of
a thief

It was not Your blood
that was needed in order
to make us right,
but it was Your blood
that showed You to be
the Way,
the Truth,
and the Light.

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