God on the Cross: “Look everyone, I understand the place is a mess and a whole lot of misery and pain are everywhere to be found. Not only do I know this, but I have lived it and been right in the belly of the ugliest of beasts. I have lived as one of the oppressed and persecuted, the outlaw and renegade, denied sanctuary and leniency, rejected by friend, family and beaten to death by foe. This is not a theoretical exercise undertaken in some celestial palace high atop Olympus: I have been betrayed, arrested, beaten, mocked, publically humiliated, unjustly sentenced, and crucified till dead surrounded by the carrion of criminals, thieves, and rebels.

I sympathize, empathize, and participate in and with your suffering.

And, in many ways, I, God, have created this mess. There is no way around it, no need to minimize, deny, sugarcoat, or make believe it isnt true: I, God, have helped to make this suffering possible. And not only suffering, but cruelty, malice, and evil too. Yes, evil.

Actually, we all have a hand in the mess. None of us, including me, God, are clean of guilt. Obviously there are degrees of guilt, but none stand purely innocent. Children are the closest. Not entirely, but surely the one’s who are least responsible. But, don’t fool yourself- they can be terrible tyrants too. As I have been, and you as well.

So, here’s the good news: we are all forgiven of this guilt. The slate is wiped clean. There’s no need to beat yourself up, seek punishment, find some sort of self-mutilation to set things right. I, as God, send out a universal decree of innocence to all. I’m God, I can do this sort of thing.

Now, it’s time to get busy. Give up your delusions of status, prestige, honor, wealth and power: that’s all tied to your guilt. Let it go and give it up. Instead, seek out the hungry, naked, sick, abused, homeless, orphaned, widowed, imprisoned, the insane…this is where you will find your joy and glory. This is where your salvation lies.

Understand, and this is the rub: this work will kill you. Sure enough, as soon as you chack out of the status quo passion for wealth, prominence and power…you will be seen as a threat. Likewise, as soon as you begin to remedy the suffering of the least among you, you will end up confronting those systems of power that profit from their miseries.

So, prepare for a Cross much like the one I am on here. I don’t know any other way to do this: to clean up this mess we are all in. But we are going to have to love one another like nothing else matters, and this is dangerous stuff in our world.

Fear not, I am with you all the way. The Cross will not have the last word, but it can’t be silenced either.”