Seven last words from the cross

The first word

Forgiveness for betrayal
Forgiveness for wrongful arrest
Forgiveness for abandonment
Forgiveness for denial
Forgiveness for a corrupt trial
Forgiveness for false witness
Forgiveness for mob rule
Forgiveness for legal capitulation
Forgiveness for condemnation of the innocent
Forgiveness for imprisonment
Forgiveness for beating
Forgiveness for mockery
Forgiveness for violence
Forgiveness for torture
Forgiveness for murder

All sin
All humanity
All held
All covered
All embraced
All forgiven

The second word

From blindness to insight
From condemnation to salvation
From punishment to freedom
From death to life
From a cross to Paradise

You are with me
now, today
in Paradise
in this moment
in this instant
in this now
and to be
with me
in me
in this now
in this moment
in this eternity
is insight
is salvation
is freedom
is life
is Paradise

The third word

Love in the midst of torture
Care in the midst of pain
Life in the midst of death
Wounded reconciler
Wounded healer
Wounded carer

The fourth word

The sin-bearer
the scapegoat
is sent out
from the community
bearing the sins
of the community
taking sin away
from the community
into the desert
into the wilderness
into isolation
into nothingness
abandoned
forsaken
sacrificed
for the sins
of all

The fifth word

Dehydration …
thirst
loss of appetite
dry skin
flushing
rapid heart rate
elevated body temperature
fatigue
headache
dry mouth
muscle cramps
visual snow
hypotension
dizziness
delerium
swelling of the tongue
death

The sixth word

Death has been knocking on the door
Death has entered
Death is here
It is finished

Forgiveness achieved
Salvation complete
Mission accomplished
It is finished

The seventh word

Like an eaglet pushed from the nest
then caught by its mother
as it plummets
in order that it learns
to fly,
so I surrender my life
to death in trust
that I may rise.

Faith is
a leap in the dark
a step into an abyss
a journey through the valley
of the shadow of death
in trust that
the hands of God
are there
to hold you.

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Julie Miller - River Where Mercy Flows.