I do not recognize the world.
Up is down.
It used to be that the poor
were simply the objects of surface pity.
Now they are targets.
That sounds like Herod’s game.
Three dignified wanderers were warned in a dream
to evade the wolf in sheep’s clothing.
They went home by another way.
Today’s wanderers search for the dignity torn from them.
Come, dear Jesus,
cry out loud.
Lift your infant head
and wail for the world.
Then help us find those you inhabit
who cry because they are cold,
or neglected, or sent from one war zone
to another.
And when we wage the battle of belief,
show us that it’s not whether our beliefs are pure,
but whether they show up at all
in the war zone of rancor and blame,
in the neighborhood,
in our hands and feet.
O come, O come Emmanuel.
– John Thornburg, Christmas 2017
The Rev. John Thornburg, a retired clergy member of the North Texas Annual Conference, is a poet, hymn writer and song leader who also serves as an area representative for the Texas Methodist Foundation.