It Is Finished

John 19:30—It Is Finished

Only you could say,

"It is finished"

An act of love

So divine

Not to be replicated

by mere man alone.

For human life is

fraught with pain,

messiness,

in which we can never repair:

Only you could say it is finished,

because we are chaos, vanity, and greed.

And yet, you love ourselves,

in spite of and in view of all our shortcomings,

propensity to violence,

and the inability to make good decisions.

So help us live like we are finished,

because: reality is so far from that truth.

I keep a little journal of poems, that I sometimes collect words into, to capture small moments. A few years ago, when, as an associate pastor, I had more time to sit and listen, I wrote a poem for each of the seven last words of Jesus during our Tenebrae service. Poetry helps me savor the words of scripture or name the holy moments that pass us by. In the spirit of Holy Week, above is one of those poems. I don't claim that it is a great work of art, but I think it reflects some of the prayerful hope that I have for us this Holy Week.

May we embrace the journey and horror of Holy Week because it is only through this act of Christ that we are made new—we are finished.