Ah, Lord, the 'mountain' of your house
Is a source of contention, even strife!
For although many have "streamed towards it"
Few have really "listened to your ways"
And fewer still "walk in your paths".

Yet your judgement rests, heavily, upon us all.
For we have beaten our swords
Not into mattocks but into machine guns
And our spears into cruise missiles!

But, still, your gracious loving call is
To all of us to "walk in the light of the Lord".
Oh, Lord, enlighten our dark minds
With the light of your love and warm
Our hearts with the flame of your spirit.

Those early, eager, anticipations, Lord
Have subsided into the resignation of "not yet"!
And yet, Lord, we still have some expectations.

Would, therefore, we could put off the deeds of darkness.

All too much of our material existence,
Even our personal living, is tainted with that darkness
There is little enough of decency and too much
Of "quarrels and jealousies".

Would, therefore, we could put on the armour of light.

We show little enough of the 'life of Christ';
We show little enough of the 'life of the Spirit';
We show all too much of the 'death of sin'!

Would, therefore, that "Christ were our leader by night as by day"!

We are obsessed, Lord, with "days and hours", time.
We measure time in fractions of a micro-second
And fill our diaries with future meetings,
But are we, the slightest bit, ready to meet you, Lord?

We like to weave fantastical tales around your word
But take little practical action to reform our living.
We love to make forecasts and predictions
But are quite unprepared to meet you, Lord.

As we look forward to celebrating the memory
Of your first coming, by the indwelling of your
Awakening Spirit, help us to be ready
In ourselves to meet you, Lord, in one another