I tell you, really, I would let you down
Written for the Good Friday service at Stirling Baptist Church. A reflection on Peter’s denial of Jesus in John 13, with a nod to the Old English poem, Dream of the Rood
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I tell you, really, I would let you down.
Although I think your words are ringing true,
I’d crack before the morning comes around.
I should be proud to raise you from the ground
for all to see, but it is awkward too;
I tell you, really, I would let you down.
My spirit’s willing but my flesh confounds
me: though I want to watch all night with you,
I’d crack before the morning comes around.
I’ve taken knocks with you. They’ve gone to town
on both of us, and flogged us black and blue.
I tell you, really, I would let you down:
I’m so bruised now. To back you up, be found
with you, at your right side. You always knew
I’d crack before the morning comes around.
And now I have to trust that grace abounds
with your defeat – while darkness runs you through.
I tell you, really, I would let you down;
I’d crack before the morning comes around.
