Radically Happy

Everything that is alive
Needs some kind of Law to survive
Internalized norms we enforce
So all of our parts stay on course

The subconscious Law for a group
Is “Culture” that defines the hoop
Through which we all must jump
To learn whom to honor — or dump

That’s always been how this world works
(And also why we become jerks)
We must act without knowing why
To ensure our group does not die

Yet Christ makes this scandalous claim
That those who are called by His name
Must live by an inside-out Law
That redeems, not condemns, every flaw

This marvelous picture of Grace
Ought to bring smiles to our face
Until the day we realize
The cost of confronting those lies

Receiving the Grace that He giveth
Means losing the Law that we liveth
And the painful price of that loss
Is what we call “bearing a cross”

Yet that is how this world we mend
By showing that death’s not the end
Each time our old self doth die
The closer to Christ we draw nigh

And this is the Culture we seek
(Which may be what Christ meant by “meek”)
As we show how Christ heals our strife
His Grace will turn death into life

Today I will exchange my death for His life