“Broken” is a trendy word

Which gives us all a pass

To roll like Pollyanna

While blinding through morass!

Who wants to face the music though?

Who wants to buck the throng?

But no matter what your view of things…

We all know something’s wrong.

It’s bigger than we bargained for

It’s deeper than we know

We may whistle in the darkness

But despair is all the show.

There’s tension here with no way out

–play dumb and numb the pain

Or –work your way: ascetic death

No confidence of gain.

I’ll hint a third way pictured.

What if breakthrough gently came?

Though most are blind or working hard,

He still offers all the same (His remedy insane)

It took gargantuan sacrifice.

The work completely done.

The reach from out our system:

A perfect sinless Son.

The clean One came to right us.

No other god could do,

Before we knew our greatest need.

He entered: faithful, True.

To pass on this though it’s shrouded

Is to miss the greatest tie:

That God for man has made the Way.

The rescued testify.

This I wonder, how can any atheist or agnostic explain why human life has any value, even as they may want to hope so? And why is hope even a word, a human instinct, if it all does not matter? There’s tension here… but tension can surprise and birth beautiful things.

Ernest Becker, atheist and social-psychologist said “the plight of moderns is that they are sinners with no word for it” (The denial of Death, p.164)

The plight of God was to make a perfect way for sinners to be safe with Him. “The paradox of the cross is that it insists on highlighting our evil, in order to leave us with absolutely no doubt that whatever we have done, we can be forgiven.” (Becky Pippert, p.129 Stay Salt)

Image: monotype with muddy ink, 26×16″ by Mary Nees

Poem by Mary Nees