Let me never forget how you gave yourself, O Lord, to the soldier's whip,
three thongs of leather braided together, each thong capped with a biting tip.
How they gathered together,the soldiers there, with blows of anger and mocking,
Twisted together the wreath of thorns in jest for a brutal crowning.
How unfairly condemned you were that day with two thieves at your side --
Yet by all of this, the blood you shed, and the hard death that you died,
you wrought our salvation.
Still today we hold the soldier's whip so tightly in our grasp,
Hearing the leather hit your back and your breath's quick choking gasp,
the flagellum with its biting teeth flailing through the air
The blood from the crown we weave anew dripping down in your hair
each time we choose to hurt, to have the final say,
each time we chose to have by force, intent on just our way,
each time we ignore the need, and choose to gloat instead,
each time that we laugh at good, and wish another dead
instead of longing for your salvation.
Have mercy, Lord, on the hardness of our heart,
The many many sins and darknesses that tear this world apart,
Warm us in spite of our coldness, so that we might heal instead of harm,
to bless instead of curse with your strength in our strong arm,
to love instead of hate, when anger fills our life,
to be your word of peace instead of tools of strife,
to be the the tools of your salvation.
Instead of the whip, O Lord of life, give us hands of peace,
Give us true repentance to make that harsh whip cease.
Forgive us all our hardness that beats you more and more,
O with your grace, O Lord of Love, may we may go and sin no more,
rescued by your salvation.
Suspended in that heartbreaking place
where Heaven and earth meet in a crashing line,
Cruciform, an intersection of time and space
an unheard of mingling of mortal and the Divine,
in one man's flesh.
Hanging there in plain sight
You are an offering of love unimaginable,
burning with a never-ending light
dying, You give hope unfathomable
God giving up to God in sacrifice.
You wait there, Bridegroom of light
feeling the life you offer ebb away
throb by painful throb, in Heaven's sight
Your life extinguished, your death will be the ray
of an unfading lamp to lead the lost.
O Light to lead the lost, remember me,
Here in the darkness of this wayward land.
Light my every step so that I might see
The loving touch of your blessed hand
That reaches out to take me home.