All will be thrown down

Christendom’s temple began

its inevitable disintegration

some decades ago.

We didn’t see it coming.

It had become weakened, its foundations

eroded by respectability and status.

The collapse continues, and gains intensity

as priests are disgraced,

bishops run for cover,

and Rome’s response is to secure itself

behind barricades of denial.

Ah, but we are Protestant;

we are not to blame.

No, but the scandal of our brethren

is a reminder of our own shortcomings and lies;

along with our deluded half-baked attempts

to create protestant versions

of the Christendom dream.

Let it go.

Refuse to weep or mourn.

It does not matter.

We built a grand edifice and pretended

that some divine uncritical blessing

rested upon it. It colluded  with us,

spending so many of its years

draping itself in self-importance;

and never really understanding

that discipleship is a humble thing,

with much giving and serving

and dying.

Eschew the role of custodian;

do not become a curator

of ancient and best-forgotten relics.

Let the stones be thrown down

and the walls crumble!

They will not be missed.

Spray what remains with rude slogans..

Claim your true identity as a disciple,

a follower of one who died

in order that the whole of creation

might become reborn.

Embrace the birth-pangs;

anticipate with hope the new thing

that is surely coming

to sweep away the remnants of the old.

Let the sacred memories of Christendom

be relegated to the history books

and let them serve as a warning.

© Ken Rookes 2012