Here is the church,
But where are the people?
Hiding in shops,
Not sat in pews,
Under the steeple,
Where is the meaning and where is the truth?
In bottles of vodka at 40% proof?
Look to the streets,
And look to the parks,
But keep out of sight,
If you’re out after dark,
Long-lost are the hopes,
We had for our kids,
If they don’t end up on drugs,
We’ll be out of our heads.....,
....With joy,
But who is to blame for this general malaise?
Who took the plug out and turned off the lights?
Too fast, too fast to self blame!
“Maybe it’s the culture,
You see, it’s just not the same,”
Tell that to the church in South Korea,
Of the lack of faith, around churches near here,
Where is the hope of the coming of the Kingdom?
“As long as it happens after the reality show’s final?”
Just hang fire with the wild cultural accusations!
Perhaps the problem,
Is more about us,
By “us”, what I meant,
Was quite plainly “I”,
The European Enlightenment,
And its focus on ‘me’.
That I am an individual,
Look can’t you see?
That I have my wants,
My hopes and my desires,
Because what is important,
Is the way that I’m wired,
But step back, surely history’s not to blame?
“Yeah, but what you’re saying,
Is from your individualistic brain,”
Perhaps it’s our ethics,
Because they truly suck,
If we lived out the words,
That Jesus actually said,
Maybe the church wouldn’t just end up dead.
No comments:
Post a Comment