Hung on a Tree

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Solid is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being liquid, gas, and plasma). In solids molecules are closely packed. It is characterized by structural rigidity and resistance to changes of shape or volume. Unlike liquid, a solid object does not flow to take on the shape of its container, nor does it expand to fill the entire volume available to it like a gas does. The atoms in a solid are tightly bound to each other, either in a regular geometric lattice (crystalline solids, which include metals and ordinary ice) or irregularly (an amorphous solid such as common window glass). Solids cannot be compressed with little pressure whereas gases can be compressed with little pressure because in gases molecules are loosely packed. The branch of p… more »

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I've got dreams
I've got dreams, too...
I've got dreams
I've got dreams, too...

I've got dreams...
The suns shining, but I can't feel it past my skin
There's a million places I would've rather been
Families young and old are gathering
Now the victim staggers in
Things are getting tense
The crowd and religious leaders hate who he represents
They accuse him loudly but it's not making sense
The authorities don't resist and they ignore his defense
This much be a botched trial even though he's docile
Their words are harsh while it's getting hostile
Then they beat him. The violence and brutality
Have to be the sheer depravity of humanity
My heart breaks as I see his agony
While the crowd sits passively or even cheers happily
Words fail to describe this tragedy
They hung him high and let him die so all would have to see
My mind screams "I would've set him free"
Then I look into the crowd and see people just like me
This sin is so ugly now I see
Humiliated, violated and hung him on a tree

And they come draggin' one of the boys down
Out of the jail, took him right down the sidewalk
Everyone was kicking and hitting him and everything else
And there was a Model-T Ford coupe
That a woman standing up there
And just all goin' crazy
She jumped down, she had high-heels, I seen this happen
And her high heels just scraped a hole
Just like a cut with a knife down his back
They pulled him out and they drug him up there by a car
And took him over there and put him, hung him up on the maple tree...

That's the story of a lynching
A brutal execution similar to crucifixion
And this was while my grandparents were still living
Rarely do we mention or reflect on all the victims:
Mary Turner, Ernest Green, Charlie Lang, Thomas Shipp
Laura and LD Nelson, George Meadows, Abram Smith
Rubin Stacy, Jesse Washington, and Emmett Till
And thousands more just like them all were killed
And had their lives erased in violent hate in the United States
I can't try to shake this without seeing the Messiah's face
He walked in the shoes of the falsely accused
Mocked and abused and died, and we all were there too

There is a deep suffering in our history
And I've learned about it I've learn how Jesus can relate to the victims
Who have carried such terrible pain
But can I be real? I honestly struggle how do I relate to these stories
And the fact that the lynchings were so similar to the crucifixion?
Well, it's been said that "before we can begin to see the cross as done for us
We have to see it as done by us"
Well we know that the cross was done for us
Jesus was crucified for our sin
How was it done by us? I mean, that was 2000 yrs ago
It's because we recognize sin isn't just an actions or thoughts in us now
But it's a systemic problem, since Adam, that affects us all
We don't just do sinful things
We have a sinful nature, sinful tendencies, that we share
So if I'm asked "where was I?" in the crucifixion, I relate because:
I'm the religious leaders, who accuse with their agenda
I'm the Roman soldier, you know, just, "doing his job"
I'm Pontius Pilate who was concerned about pleasing the crowd
I'm the disciple who claims allegiance to Christ but fled
I'm guilty Barabbas who was released 
When he should have died, while Jesus took his place
I'm in the crowd that praised Him one Sunday 
But didn't mind Him out of their lives that next week

Only Jesus died to take away our sin
Only Jesus died with the power to rise again
But that death causes us to look within
And truly ask ourselves where we would have been
So when someone's publicly murdered and stops breathing
I am broken and I start grieving
I don't know all the reasons but I drop my pretense
It's humans like me who commit these sins
My response sets a precedent
I must confess all my sins, including prejudice
And not just the past, my current sins are relevant
My brothers and sisters suffer from my negligence
If I see the other as a scary thug
I'm barely forgiven so I barely love
Seeing specks but I miss logs
And despite it all Christ died for me in the lynch mob
This love shatters my defenses
I cannot justify myself, I seek repentance
Not just knowing it, but am I showing it?
I think I've got the upper hand, but I've got a stone in it
He knew I wouldn't set Him free
Yet He died for the crowd, people just like me
I was there too, now I see
It was my sin that hung Him on a tree

I gotta respond to the crucifixion of Jesus
With humility and introspection
But then that same heart has got to be in me
When I'm confronted with a brutal killing
Or I read about a lynching or I even just see the suffering
That these events cause in others
You see, I'm preaching to myself first before I preach to anybody else
Because that's where we'll have a heart to actually
One, know what the crucifixion means
Two, be able to bring our sin into the light and deal with it and
Three, lastly, that's the only space and the only heart
From which we can begin to learn to love each other and be healed...

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