Christ THE King

Dear Beloved Christ the King Community,

I am writing this blog from Guatemala as I finish a week of continuing education.  I have been brushing up on my Spanish, learning about community and Lenten practices, and beginning to work on Holy Week sermons.

Throughout the Lenten season or Cuaresma in Guatemala, flowering trees are blooming all over the countryside.  My favorite tree is the Jacaranda with its beautiful and delicate small violet flowers that fall from the branches to the ground, creating a brilliant blanket of purple.  They remind me of Lent, where the color purple is designated as the liturgical color for Lent, since purple has long been associated with royalty.  Christ indeed is royalty, but a very different kind of royalty than what is expected.  

I thought I would share with you this week an excerpt from a poem that I wrote in 2018 about Christ THE King. This poem is a reflection written from the perspective of the plaque holding the inscription on the cross, naming Jesus as King.  I invite you to reflect upon this poem and your Lenten journey.  I then challenge you to be present these final weeks as we remember Jesus journey to the cross and the amazing gift that has been given to us.

Grace and peace and even more.....hope,

Pastor Jennifer

Mark 15:25-32 (translation from NRSVUE)

It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”  And with him they crucified two rebels, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him. 

THE King (2018)

I am the inscription on the cross where Jesus hangs. 
            I read .........."The King of the Judeans"

 

THE king, not a king

 

Created yesterday

            blade chiseling into wood

                        while he stood

                                    dressed in a purple cloak

                       

an accusation, a charge, a crime

            against the divine

                        the king

 

THE king, not a king

 

I am looking out from the top of his cross

            at a group of people

                        noisy with emotion

                                    screaming insults toward me

                        but not TO me

            to HIM

 

 THE king, not a king

 

I see scribes and priests, high society,          law-twisters, God-limiters

            minds bound in chains and boxes that will not let go......

                        of power

                                    supposed power

                                                not actual power

                                                            which lies inside of HIM

THE king, not a king

                       

 

I look left and see another hanging on a cross

            weak ........ but with a look of question in his eye

                        asking who it is that is hanging underneath me

                                    A king?

I look right to find one more hanging

            taunting the man below ME

                        crying out:

                                                "What kind of a king would be hanging alongside

                                                a criminal, a cheat, a low life?"

I listen and wait ......

            Will the man below me not answer?

                        Will he not tell them what I proclaim is true?

                                    He is:

THE king, not a king

 

I look down to the man under me

            noticing the space between our cross and his neck

                        dried blood speckled across his shoulders

                                    drippings from underneath his thorned crown

                                                the crown of

THE king, not a king

 

But I cannot see his eyes

            Do you see them?

                        Do you hear them?

                                    Please answer them!
                                                Show them who you are .....

THE king, not a king

 

I grow weary as HE grows weary

            Is there a translucent cloth

                        between me and those looking on?

                                    Veiling my proclamation,

                                                as I look out upon

 

                                    proprietors of falsity,

                        perpetuates of scarcity

            instigators of calamity

 

To him who lived

            inconformity to society and

                        resistivity to the monstrosity

                                    of the perpetuation of poverty

 

            and to the lie

                        of the ineligibility

                                                of humanity

                                                                        to the kingdom of God.

 

Oh veil, be torn!

            Rip in two to bring clarity

                        about who ..... he ..... is

 

THE king, not a king

 

 

What inscription do you wear?

            What are the accusations against you?

                        Not good enough               Stupid           Worthless                Addict

What inscription do you give yourself?

            What does your inner-heckler scream?

            Fat                 Loser             Unlovable                 Lost                Not Essential

                       

Are your eyes blind too? 

            Like those of the priests and bandits?

                        Can't you see it?

 

                                                            Your inscription

 

THE inscription, not an inscription

 

            THE inscription written upon you

                        THE inscription carved upon your heart

                                    by the sword of light

                        held by the hand of THE king

 

THE king, not a king

 

YOUR inscription reads ..........

            Beloved

                                    Child of the most high God

                                                                                    Heir of THE King

 

THE king, not a king

                                                birthed into humanity

                                                                        to save you and me

                                                                                                and all of creation

 

Revealing our inscriptions

            nestled deep within

                        but not hidden from him

 

I am the inscription

            HE is THE king

I read the truth

            He IS the truth

And he is exactly who I name him to be

            Not a king

                                                            THE king