(Posted on July 14, 2016 at 12:55 AM)
Check out the (rough) audio of this poem here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfQExHjxijY *** Tear stains on my glasses Smile for the masses Everyone expects it. The classic, "I'm okay" with a happy emoticon For if you say you're not, you've sinned, You've committed a grave wrong Yet, I've read my Bible cover to cover And those are verses I have yet to discover Actually, you'd be scandalized at what I've uncovered See, My Bible says that there is a time for everything under the sun My Bible says Jesus flipped tables at unrighteousness, at wrongs My Bible says Paul got frustrated with sin in his life My Bible says that Jesus wept when someone He loved died Lamentation literally means the passionate expression of grief or sorrow; And if you don't know about Psalms, then there's a Gideon bible you can borrow For Anger, hurt, injustice, and cries are laid out Not covered up by a fake smile, or given a clichéd handout I don't know where Christians got this theology of perfection Cause that seems to me to be a Pharisee's tradition Becoming a deceitful invention: pretension. That is not the gospel, You know the good news that my sinful soul is saved from hell Not because of who I am But because of the Lion and the Lamb The king in all majesty and authority, becoming the sacrifice for my depravity That I would be reconciled to Him for eternity This relationship is one of intimacy and vulnerability. In His presence Venting without restraint (is okay) Crying out in pain (is okay) Admitting that living is hard (is okay) It's in those moments that joy Becomes more than just an emotion But the state of my soul in any situation When hope is no longer A flimsy whimsical thing in the air But something that anchors me When falling into despair This is when valleys are as valued as mountaintops For they show everything He's brought us through and from You catch your breath in awe at the view And remember that you only made it because He breathed life into you We have the privilege of entering into the throne room of the Most High, With transparency We are graced to do the impossible And dwell in both extremes To weep and worship To praise in the pain To bring sorrow to the Saviour To be raw and revere Him for all of His ways We are given the right to do so It's a right that we will readily claim For Abundant life never meant easy And spiritual warfare is not a game Endurance implies exertion Perseverance, persecution But we are not debilitated or paralyzed by tribulation We are revived in His presence and spurred into action We will be wounded, we will bleed, we will scar But even if our eyes are welled up with tears, We will [continue to] fix our eyes on the unseen Even if we don't understand where we are We will be authentic about what we're going through The imperfect are the ones who sit redeemed in the pews The broken are the ones that He chooses to use Hurting, angry, lonely one:
Yes, you.
