come, lord jesus

Come, Lord Jesus for those who feel unloved,
    unsatisfied, unsure, unholy.
Come for those who need a savior
    and don’t even know it yet.

You came for me when I had no interest in you,
    when I argued with believers and belittled their faith.
You came for me when I became mildly curious
    but didn’t want to commit to a specific, personal god.
You came for me, not requiring me to conform to a creed,
    because no one yet suspected that I didn’t.
Everyone could see that I was on a path,
    just like they were, far from understanding fully the road ahead.
Like a child holding out hands to receive her first communion,
    none of us can fully take you in.
You came to me on a road, in a car.  The road was not of my choosing. 
   The road is already somebody else’s idea of where you should go.

A prophet called for you to come down to make your way known
    to your enemies, to make the nations quake.
And, in fact, you do,
    but not in the way we want or expect.
You came as a powerless babe, in an ignominious setting,
   and the enemies you terrified then are the enemies within;
I have recognized, over the long years,
   my wayward heart is the manger into which you are born.*
And the others--self-satisfied, the oh-so-sure,
    the so-called holy, the self-righteous,
These who will never repent,
   too proud to love others who aren’t like themselves.

Liz McFadzean

“In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.  Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord; the needy will rejoice in the holy one of Israel.  The ruthless will vanish…those who with a word make a man guilty…and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.”  Isaiah 29:18-21

*from “Exile” by Diane Glancy

Photo by Meredith McFadzean Barnes