Sacrifice

Found this today in with my writing:

Sacrifice

A life laid down for another - for enemies and friends alike
No greater love...

Candlelight reflecting in gold, in red
Precious metal caressing precious blood
We chew the flesh so freely offered
The cost of this feast forgotten in the midst of remembrance
Celebration of the risen Christ become ritual
Lacking meaning
"Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty"

One by one the communicants come forwards
Kneel at the foot of the cross...

Flame an expression of His presence in us
We forget
Though bread must be chewed and wine burns to the stomach
(My body broken, My blood shed)
Symbols of His sacrifice
Death on a cross
We wear so freely on our necks and display on our walls
The instrument of tortuous despairing
Triumph
"Heaven and Earth are filled with His glory, Hosanna in the highest!"

We believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth...
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord...
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life...
We believe in the holy, catholic, and apostolic church...

Candle-flame shadows the beauty of death
More than just the empty tomb, the bloody cross
The ascendant Christ
Who sits at His Father's right hand
And weeps for those who do not know Him as He weeps for those who do
For all are lost in our broken world
And all forget each week the cost of the gift He's given us
Eternal life
Love and happiness
Truth
"Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest!"

Singing "Hosanna"s and "Glory to God"s
"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine..."

A faint light glows dully, no longer brightly guiding us in
Our debt is worth more than our measly lives
(Our bodies broken, our blood shed)
But these we offer with strings attached in exchange for His suffering
Even as we remember
Proclaim
And await
As it was in the beginning
Is now
And ever shall be
World without end
Amen

"Go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit."
"Thanks be to God. Alleluia!"

And we commence fellowship.

-Janna Hoskin, June 3, 2002