reflections on Tuesday 18/7/1995

Division by adulation;
It is not hate which denominates us
but the differing of idolatries.
Who is more important -
the messenger or the King?
Why elevate the servant?
Encourage the brother.

Encase a corpse in wax -
it is preserved.
Encase a man, and he dies.
Why, then, take on the dead Order
of the World?
It shall not be so among you -
even to the seeming goodness
of exalting admiration.
Did Wesley die on the cross?
Were you baptised in the name of Luther?
What Word saved you?
God's wise foolishness and weak strength.

The paradox is this:
to make this foolishness wise
destroys its wisdom.
To build this weakness up
destroys its strength.
Its power bowls over
by revelation, not apologetics.
To peddle a palatable Cross
merely sells
a pretty package
of nothing.
To spruce it up for the trade
defaces the Artist's work.
Leave it unadorned
in its bare
foolishness.
Lose arguments and smile.

Seekers of signs
have decided what to look for.
Worshippers of wisdom
have categorised all they understand.
By the World's ways
they strive to save themselves
and fail.
They find Him not.

He finds
the ignorant and stupid
just as thoroughly
as the blessed wise.
The blind seekers and systematisers
founder on the Cross
as it makes all systems void
and signs useless,
unifying the saved
by the Sign of revelation
and the Wisdom of Grace.

-- Kathryn A