{"id":958,"date":"2023-05-08T20:40:22","date_gmt":"2023-05-09T00:40:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/telos\/?p=958"},"modified":"2023-05-20T15:45:51","modified_gmt":"2023-05-20T19:45:51","slug":"maranatha-tetelestai-an-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/telos\/maranatha-tetelestai-an-encounter\/","title":{"rendered":"Maranatha, Tetelestai: An Encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cFor I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it\u201d \u2014 Phil. 1:6(a).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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the bible, our definitive epic.
\ninfinite source, muse for all humanity. studied, celebrated, repudiated, loved, hated. the hero\u2019s journey from manger to messiah. story that made history,
\ntold throughout the centuries.<\/p>\n

all mighty made flesh:
\nvictorious tragedy.
\na carpenter carrying a wooden cross, a destitute riding a donkey,
\na servant washing people\u2019s feet,
\nall of them the sovereign savior.
\nso simple it transcends credibility. no one recognized you then.<\/p>\n

and now i sit at the table
\ndeaf to the knocking on my door.
\ni have spent my life in
\nthe state of perpetual silence,
\nthat which governed those three days the father abandoned you in calvary. eli, eli, lama sabachthani?
\noh, abba, where are you?<\/p>\n

i knelt before
\nyour outstretched arms on the cross
\nand the air you let out with your last breath has overwhelmed my lungs:
\ndesperation, longing, desire.
\nbut before issuing this life sentence,
\nyou whispered
\ntetelestai.
\nit is finished.<\/strong><\/p>\n

if such was your decree
\nwhy do i still yearn for fulfillment? is it that just like before,
\nyou are here and i can\u2019t see you? tell me if i\u2019m wishing for closure<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

that has always belonged to me.
\nhave you completed your telos,
\nand are waiting for me to finish mine? forgive me, father,
\nfor i do not know what i\u2019m doing.<\/p>\n

it is hard to explain with words.
\ni embody the emptiness of the tomb
\nnow that you are not in it.
\n\u201ctetelestai,\u201d<\/em> you say
\n\u201ci am yours for i have called you to be mine.\u201d help me consummate it, then.
\nfor i fail to recognize
\neven my own name.
\nforgive me, father
\nfor i do not know who i am.<\/p>\n

you breathed out your spirit
\nto give me the holiest of ghosts,
\nand in the bath of pure water
\nthat pours out of your side wound
\ni confront my humanity: i am not my own.<\/p>\n

tetelestai is my rebirth in the divine,
\nthat my existence is<\/strong>
\nbecause you were, are,<\/strong> and will always be<\/strong>. tetelestai is the death of my mortal flesh, that always bleeds, cries, ages, fails. tetelestai is longing with insanity<\/p>\n

to behold the hands that shaped me \u2014dust, prodigal, broken, vessel\u2014
\nto perfection not yet here but assured.<\/p>\n

and i cry, and my tears fall through the holes of your hands. seemingly wasted, but ending at your feet. in the death of my ego, i find identity. in the pouring of my heart, i find belonging. in my surrendering, you give me the air to breathe out: tetelestai.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NOTE<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Maranatha” is Aramaic for “O Lord come.”<\/p>\n

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Alejandra Pirela ’25 is a prospective Political Economy major, with special interests in Latinx Studies and English. When not participating in prayer or discipleship, you can always find her bundled up in a corner of the chapel talking, studying, or napping. Born and raised in Venezuela, she is an avid fan of warmth in all its iterations: weather, people, food, and God. She hopes to spread that same peace and comfort throughout campus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFor I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it\u201d \u2014 Phil. 1:6(a). the bible, our definitive epic. infinite source, muse for all humanity. studied, celebrated, repudiated, loved, hated. the hero\u2019s journey from manger to messiah. story that made history, told throughout the centuries. all … Continue reading “Maranatha, Tetelestai: An Encounter”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2921,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49347],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issues"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/telos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/telos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/telos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/telos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2921"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/telos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=958"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/telos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":975,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/telos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958\/revisions\/975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/telos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/telos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/telos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}