Where To Stand (A lament for Christ’s Church)
- 14 May 2024
I hear the summons of His voice
Above the clamour of your crowds
Its signal penetrates the noise
Like rays of sunshine through the clouds
Comprising many Scripture words
It beckons me to stand apart
Its message like the dawning birds
Constrains the sinews of my heart
They cannot for the trees see wood
The light within their eye’s grown dim
Their weekly meetings like a flood
Drown faithfulness within each hymn
When will the sleeping giant rise
And cease from being brittle bones
Deliver them from blinded eyes
And the allurements of their phones
Bewitched, they can cannot fathom why
Christ’s holy Bride has been betrayed;
They obfuscate and wait to die
And settle for the slightest blade
Lord, grant to her a brighter view
Of all in history You decreed –
This crooked earth, made wholly new
Free at last from crime and greed
The Church that Moses led away
From Pharaoh’s proud and wicked hand
Was loathe to follow in that day
And slow to really understand
In spite of wondrous miracles
They often hankered to return
Neglecting sacred oracles
The love of God they chose to spurn
Are we today much different?
God’s token gifts are all around!
Why are we then do diffident
While pressing on through holy ground?
His Word and will are very clear:
Redemption of this stricken Earth!
The wand’ring sheep refuse to hear
And fill their hours with futile mirth
Because each week I don’t attend
The shallow shows they orchestrate
My every word they twist and bend
And all my books and friends berate
But heaven’s truth is loud and bright
Upon each page of holy writ
It comforts me that I am right
And not a selfish soulless twit
Each narrative upon each page
Confirms the worldview I embrace
I may not be the wisest sage
But every day I run the race
Wise as a serpent I must be
Bedecked in dove-white gentleness
O Lord, Thy beauty let them see
In all the ways I others bless
Perchance You’ll open others’ eyes
To kingdom glory yet to come
That future may they recognise
Just like the rising of the sun
Dear Father God, please grant that I
Might be among Your chosen few
Thy path I’ll tread until I die
And come rejoicing home to You
Please draw my disparate family
Which You have blessed with much increase
In Your good time may Truth they see
Filling their hearts with joy and peace
AMEN
