Jesus.
There He hung.
No more words left to be sung,
and all had shied away from singing.
All the hope he’d been bringing seemed to cease.
As his suffering increased to this climax of silence
As violence had it’s way, even seemed to rule the day
As if there was nothing left to say.
All that was hidden had been revealed
As the death of our savior peeled back the layers
Of what this world intends

This culture that befriends hate and selfish pursuit
The present age where hope is moot
This stage where anxiety is the order
Where borders have no door, disease has no cure
Where those who love are branded a fool
Where death is wielded as a tool
The quiet darkness settled over the land
Seeming to demand the attention of all creation
To this tension of cessation, where all striving ended
For when death is befriended, all is lost
We see the cost, hanging on the wood
Asking “Have you understood?”

Will we choose to understand
Or will we stand under his body with eyes too darkened to see
Will we bend our knee and mourn
That death which has torn the veil
We see the nails unused still grasped within our palm
Mistaking the calm for peace
But He is not pleased.

Here is not a moment to quickly pass on by
Here is the plank in our own eye
As we hear the cry of those who followed
We approach this hallowed ground
Having found in this silence, invitation to repent.
(For this is why He was sent.)

As this moment of darkness sheds light
On all this world has to offer
We hear our own voice among the scoffers
Those who’d wanted a savior
But only on their own terms
Such a heart spurns the life being given
Turns away from true living
Embracing the only thing left
Death.

As blood drips onto the dirt beneath the cross
It seems as if all has been lost

We know there is more to come
But to numb our pain to these tears
Is to let fears of darkness rule in His stead
We are not afraid of the dead
Because He means what He said
“I am - the Light of the world.”
Even in death, He has hurled salvation right where it was needed
Defeated the shadows we enter tonight
Proclaiming even in spite of all this pain
His Name remains.
Breaks the chains even as spear pierced His side
The wounded and crucified.
Pride set aside for the purposes of Love
More than enough Light to show us what we need to see
Death on a tree.

Such darkness is all this world affords
Their lords unable to save
Unable even to keep hope in the grave
But for now, we bow
At the length such Love would go
Simply for us to know
And so - with knees humbly bent
We see our need to repent.
This Savior of David’s descent
Revealing a rule unlike any known before
Love so pure it conquers empire
A holy fire shining brightly even in the dark
Healing found even in death
In what seems final breath
In silence His Love is loudly proclaimed
We are no longer blamed, for He has quieted our accuser
Forever.
It it Finished - said the Son
And He has only begun…