Denial

            Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath,
            “I do not know the man!”
            At that moment the cock crowed.
            Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said:
            “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.”
            And he went out and wept bitterly.

                           —Matthew 26.74-75

I deny you, Christ,
when I deny my own divinity.
I deny you when I deny
the divinity of those I condemn.
I deny you when I do not hear you
in the oppressed and rejected.
I deny you when I turn
from my glorious giftedness.
I deny you when I am afraid
to stand with those at risk.
I deny you when in my guilt
I doubt your love.
And still you love.

Let remembering’s bitterness awaken me.
Let my weeping be my wisdom.

To the frightening, to the infinite,
to the compassionate, to the holy,
help me say yes.

Let me die with yes on my lips.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

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