Eucharist in troubled times

For Merinda and Julie

We give you thanks and praise as we recall
the pierced side, the gouging thorns, the flesh
exposed. Naked. Held to ridicule.
You do not shun the public place, the lash
of jeering words. Unshielded, there you hang
alone. Once, years before, a growing boy,
you startled and amazed the gathered throng
of elders – now, this brutal, bloody ploy
to keep their power and influence intact
means they can turn their backs. We meet your gaze
each time our gathered throng meets to enact
our sacrament. We give you thanks and praise
in broken bread, in many rooms or one,
needing no mandate save from God's own Son.