Thursday, May 05, 2005

Crossing

A Poem for the Occasion of the Consecration of the
Chapel of the Holy Cross
The Episcopal Church of the Redeemer
in Cincinnati, Ohio
The Eve of Pentecost + May 14, 2005


I cannot imagine
where you are not
or
when you were not.


Primeval firestorm,
galactic infant:
traverses 13 billion light-years,
epiphanic red shift
dances through Virgo
announcing
starbirth.
"Let there be light!"


Elegant double-helix,
Jacob’s spiral ladder:
hides, convoluted and coiled,
betwixt deo and imago,
bearing inscrutable runes of
dreamers rising from the
dust.
"Very good!"

Ineffable presence
suffuses both places,
all places,
broods over interstices of
shimmering
space-time –

You called?
We are here – waiting...
Enclosed by luminous wood and stone and glass and copper
we reach through the fluttering shadows to
touch your face.

Will
you
once more
cross
over?

CFB

I am enthralled by science and theology, and have always considered them complementary (rather than contradictory) ways of perceiving, understanding, and enjoying creation.

The second stanza refers to Abell 1835 IR1916, an ancient galaxy (spotted with a near-infrared telescope in 2004) that is one of the most remote known in terms of distance/time. It's mind-boggling to me that human beings are just now witnessing the birth of a stars formed during the very infancy of the universe some 13 billion years ago.

The third stanza refers to DNA. I was fascinated to learn that the DNA of humankind is almost identical. Only a tiny fraction of one person’s genetic code is different from the next person’s. We rightly treasure our uniqueness; but we are truly more alike than different! I wish we could examine the DNA of Jesus – the one who bridged heaven and earth (John 1:51), and who (in the remarkable declaration by St. Athanasius in the third century) "was made man so that we might be made God."

In this poem I express my hope that the new Chapel of the Holy Cross will be, to borrow a concept from the ancient Celts, a "thin place" where people will experience the loving presence of God in a particularly intense way. The whole poem expresses wonder in the mystery of the Incarnation (the good news that the transcendent God, the Alpha and the Omega, chose to "cross" the infinite gap between Creator and creature in order to come near to us) and the sacramental nature of God’s universe (there’s more going on here than meets the eye!).