When the World was Dark
And all was quiet
You came
You crept in beside us.
And no one knew.
Only the few
Who dared to believe
That God might do something different.
Will you do the same this Christmas Lord?
Will you come
Into the darkness of tonight’s world;
Not the friendly darkness
As when sleep rescues us from tiredness,
But in to the fearful darkness,
In which people have stopped believing
- that war will end
- or that food will come
- that government will change
- or that the church cares?
Will you come Lord, into that darkness
And do something different
To save your people from death and despair?
Will you come Lord
Into the quietness of this village
Not the friendly quietness
As when lovers hold hands
But the fearful silence
- When the phone hasn’t rung
- The letter has not come
- The much loved voice no longer speaks
- The doctor’s face says it all?
Will you come Lord
Into that darkness
And do something different
Not to distract but to embrace your people?
And will you come Lord into the darkest corners
And the quiet places of our lives?
We ask this not because we are guilt ridden
Or want to be,
But because the fullness our lives long for
Depends on us being as open and vulnerable to you
As you were to us
When you came
Wrapped in swaddling bands
And trusting human hands
To hold their maker.
Will you come into our lives
If we open them to you
And do something different?
When the World was Dark
And all was quiet
You came
You crept in beside us
Do the same this Christmas, Lord
Do the same this Christmas.
