I

A dark vow

that married death and life.

The branches of the

Tree of Life intertwined.

A match made on earth

with roots dug deep

in fecund soil,

and arms outstretched 

to Heaven,

before a great cloud of

witnessing stars

in the dark night.

II

We are the bastard children

of an unholy union.

Orphaned in the feud between

a Queen and a Tyrant

yet bound to both - 

destined to repeat

their bloody history.

III

Blood begets blood

death begets death.

The dense soil readied

with generations of

human compost and refuse.

Death cannot be escaped.

Could even God himself

dirty his hands with the earth 

and not succumb?

IV

A tree is more than a tree

when it is cut down and

fashioned into a cross.

Flesh wounds are more than just

when they are on the hands 

of God.

Death is made less than death

when defeated and subjugated.

Man is made truly man

when resurrected.

V

The fruit of the spirit are ripening

on a tree with blood in its veins.

Come sit under the shade of growing leaves

as we stare into the persecuted skies

and dream of our place among the stars.

Death and life are intertwined,

with each other

and with us. 

But the shed blood no longer is our own.

Forum 1

In our society, everything we do is, in one way or another, for someone else.  Think about your job.  Most likely you are providing some sort of service for others.  Teachers serve students.  Politicians serve the public.  Waiters serve eaters.  Factory workers are making products for others.  And what about what you do when you're not working?  Most likely you are supporting workers.  We are told our consumption is good for the economy.  Which means that as we spend we are doing it not only for our own good but for the good of others.  And yet for all we do for others we are still selfish and we lack community.

Community is more than simply providing services or fulfilling needs.  As Christians, our community is the Church - the body of Christ.  This distinction is important because we often fail to remember who's body we are.  The fact that we are Christ's body makes all the difference.  As Christ's body, we follow his lead and our community is held to the standard of the cross - the standard of sacrifice, forgiveness, and redemption - namely love.  Meeting this standard is not something we do on our own - it takes a whole body.  We need each other.  It is our striving together for this standard, the standard of the cross that makes us distinctly Christian, so that the why of meeting needs is as important as the what of the needs we are meeting.  When we get the why right, community flourishes and needs truly get met.