The Emperor does not like us
gathering with others he also resents,
at this table beyond his comprehension.
His is the kingdom of fear,
his honor enforced, dissidents crucified.
His only power is death, and the fear of death.
But this is the table of life,
the table of the Loving One
who healed in the face of the Empire
and its machines of cruelty and greed.
We are the followers of this loving rebel against evil,
who resisted the powers of domination,
and so was arrested, detained, tortured,
executed by the State—
the very one who was also raised from the dead.
We gather, all of us sinners, broken and powerless,
and he breaks the bread of his life for us.
We drink his love, we feast on his energy,
and we become one body—his Body.
We are his resurrection.
We are the Resistance.
O Uncontainable One,
we are the flesh of your love and mercy,
alive by your Spirit, not our strength,
one body, all over the world,
strengthened to subvert the Empire of fear,
to resist injustice, to bring life,
to stand with the outcast and the condemned—
for we too are condemned,
enemies of the structures of evil.
But nothing can stop us,
for we have been crucified and raised already.
Beloved, guide us, protect us, and empower us
with your radical love
that troubles evil, that shakes the Empire,
that mends the world.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
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