The Tragic Gap

The Tragic Gap

The greatest threat to faith

is not the question—

it’s the demand for certainty,

the way we define salvation

by who’s in and who’s out.

But Christ flung doors open wide,

set a table for thieves and beggars,

broke bread with betrayers.

His kingdom was all cross,

no velvet ropes, no list at the door.

To bear the cross is to stand

in the tragic gap, as Palmer says,

between despair and hope,

between death and resurrection,

refusing to numb the ache

with easy answers or doctrines pat.

Love is not safe—

it drags us to the dark places,

presses us face down in the dirt,

whispers that resurrection waits

just past dying.