Jesus
Your name is an embarrassment
a sound bite
bumper sticker
billboard slogan
We’ve made it a cliché
a punchline
stand-up bit
animated GIF

How dare we even
speak it anymore?
We have forfeited the right

Jesus
Your name is a commodity
sold on the market
for thirty pieces of silver
Used and abused to
expand our empires
advance our ministries
push our political agendas

How did your name
become so cheap
when the love you gave
cost you so much?

Jesus
Your name is a cudgel
a byword for
condemnation
and contempt
We took the grace
you offered the world
and boarded it up
with our rules
and our dogmas
and our self-righteous judgments

Our lips are unclean
but nobody seems to recall
to what barren rock
we banished the angel
who bears
the burning coal

Jesus
Your name is a mockery
because we
who confess it
are clanging cymbals
and noisy gongs
We should have
learned better
from those who
knew better
than to speak
the name of their God

Is it even possible
at this late hour
to redeem it?

Perhaps the only way
now
to wash it clean
of our stain
is through an offering
of our own blood

But we shall know the truth
only if we want the truth
and as long as
we’ve got the nerve
to use
your name
like a discount code
ticket in a slot machine
get out of jail free card
who among us
would ever pay
so dear