Word: christe
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Will we now see Christ heaved up heavy, slapped on the boards, prodded slinking smiling mile by mile into martyrdom? Or in this rock-opera raging, ranting, kicking down the cross, song-swinging, shining in his armature of doubt, will this be Christ come again, come for the first time? Descended from thieves, tempted, torn, encircled by disciples and dilettantes, his love shining out from the ranks of the furious, the flaming, the fornicating...
...sinless! I hate, I am sinful, I doubt, I am unsure and blaspheme. If I see him sure and steady, spread out on the boards I will not believe it. If I see him walking out with tainted men and himself untouched I will not believe it. Will Christ walk on the waves where I am drowning, or sinking down to take my hand lift both of us in rapture...
...then, will be this Christ that's coming? Whose Christ is this coming? Will he be just and chaste? Will he be Judas? Will Christ kiss Christ? Will Christ swing his bag of silver, swing his body from the tree? Will Christ be anointed by whores, be lover of liars, lover of women, a Christ dragged and dirtied? Will he be Christ with faith flagging, flogged, wielding wildly thorns? Will he be Christ rising from rudeness and doubt to take the cross like a shining scepter? Is this Christ the song, Christ the storm, Christ the lamb or lion...
...Hail, Christ's rage, raging! Hail, Christ the unknown! Hail, Christ rising from the arms of Magdalene! Hail, Christ, questioning! Hail, Christ wielding doubt, doughty, searing the skies with maledictions! Hail Christ at last loving despite all! Hail Christ born for our stage to die on our stage, our own Christ...
Giuliani's position is simple enough, and right on the ball. But it masks a simmering brew of constitutional, moral and even religious questions. Sound a lot like "Piss Christ" or Robert Mapplethorpe all over again? The same issues boiled over then, and the same issues continue to define America's bitter culture war today. While it may be tempting, therefore, for those of us who support the mayor to just render due kudos and go home, perhaps we should take advantage of this fresh opportunity to explain why he was right--maybe even to propose a just accommodation...