Today I stood beneath a cross and received
again the gift that God has always given. In that cross I saw all of
Jesus’ earthly story. It became a microcosm of all God’s mercy focused
on one point in time and lived by one person—who knew the heart of
God—in human and historical terms that we could understand and follow.
It spoke to me of giving—giving all, kenosis,
the utter outpouring of the loving life of God. I was awed, loved,
moved. My spirit bowed as I felt the Holy Presence, and I drank it in
... breathed it in ... and rested.
Yet for centuries we who
claim to offer back our love have demanded even more from God. Standing
beneath that cross of utter self-offering and measureless mercy, we
cry repeatedly, “Lord, have mercy.”
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© 2013 Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
