Triumphal Rood

Hanging
at the chancel step
over-arching nave and sanctuary
Christ in Majesty
draws every eye
forcing reaction
magnet-like
this rood-creation of Epstein
aluminium on concrete
angels hovering
feet descending
hands upturned
to beckon history and hope;
destruction and rebirth
encircle this saviour
Pantocrator
suspended serenely
proud, in majesty.

Living
in this holy space
coming daily to pray beneath
Majestas
evokes awe at first
and then unease.
No Lamb of Revelation*
this smoothed-over, woundless Christ
offering bloodless welcome 
initially inviting
insistent 
yet vapid 
in giving embrace;
artifice and construct
coil from such sway 
interrogated by the old Celtic paths   
of saints who knew a simpler Saviour

living more humbly,
poor in spirit.** 

* 'Then I saw, between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered.'  Revelation 5.6 
'For it is not the Lamb but the suffering Lamb which is exalted, it is not the Christ but the Christ crucified which is the power of God: the Christ lifted up from the earth draws all men to Himself (Jn 12.32, 1 Cor.1.3-4)...[only] as such is He the worship of the church and the world which He has redeemed.' Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers.

** 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.' Matthew 5.3