Declare and Believe - Carlo Furlan

Deformed hearts --
inherited --
full of deceit,
greed,
cruelty
and more.
The list is endless.
Our frailty mars
the planet,
fractures relationships
and steeps
history in blood.

*Declare and believe.


Count the cost,
tally the dangers,
stand in the line of fire --
declare your allegiance.

**Rest in the resurrection --
that impossible,
mind-boggling,
flipping-on-its-head
event
that split history
in two.

Resurrection power,
let loose on the earth
breathes hope
for the poor,
the prisoners,
the sick
and the dying.
This power 
is where your allegiance
will lie.

Imperfect though we are,
limping forward,
in spite of patched hearts
and tainted hands,
we declare 
and believe.

***Good news
needs a voice to be heard,
a runner to run,
senders to send --
open arms to give.

*Rom. 10:9
**1 Cor. 15:14 & 19
*** Rom. 10:14-15