Entre'acte
between Acts 2 and 3
Where is the King?
We have no King but Caesar!
Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's
and to Caesar the things that are God's.
No man can serve two masters;
if he loves the one, he will hate the other.
If we serve the one, we will crucify the other.
Follow your heart; lay up your treasures:
treasures of gold and ivory, incense and myrrh,
treasures of silver and diamonds, silk and plyester,
computers and space probes, atom bombs and pearls,
and glorious tracts of unspoiled wilderness.
By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down.
Yea, we wept, when we remembered--Babylon.
Weep for yourselves and for your children,
poor orphans in an affluent society,
eaten by the worm that dieth not:
the worm of greed, the worm of siphyllis,
the worm of equality and justice.
Oh, had we but known the things that are for our peace!
(An intermission, if there is one, should occur here.)
Let him carry the cross; we will look on
Don't force it on our backs; the burden is his,
and we want time to contemplate the mystery.
Can he save others, who could not save himself?
If this is how he leads us, where is our fulfillment?
Let him unbolt his arms and stretch them down to us
if he would draw all things unto himself.
We would believe, we are not stubborn;
but give us grounds for faith, not this!
We would believe, we are eager to believe.
We believe already in science, in democracy,
We will accept the truth of transcendental meditation,
transcendental flying objects, and the classless state.
Anything remotely self-assertive we will believe in;
anything that promises progress and advance.
But not this.
Not useless suffering, passive non-resistance.
Not disgrace.
Not degradation of human dignity.
Not abandonment.
Not, O Lord,
failure.