Christmas Laments

All Around Me

Adonai

my Creator

My heart weeps

the tears are drowning me

I am sinking to the bottom

to the darkness

where there is no air

no light

My struggle to survive

seems fruitless

Save me Adonai

resuscitate me

Don’t let me drown

in this darkness

Your breath

is my lifeline

Your love

my ladder to safety

Pull me out

of this abyss

before

I become one

with darkness.

 

 

One New Man

Adonai

my Creator

Your table

has many servants

many different kinds

of peoples

You make them

able to stand

 

You tore down

the barrier wall

You invited both

to your table

 

Surely you knew . . .

How could you not?

 

May I please

ask a question?

May I plead

for understanding?

 

Is it painful

for you?

 

Your servants bicker

over how to place the silverware

You servants bicker

over who should be served first

You servants bicker

over who should sit with who

 

Is it painful

for you?

 

Has your judgment seat

become the block

they all stumble on?

 

Have they used it

as a foundational stone

for rebuilding the barrier

wall

that you sent your son

to tear down?

 

Have they blasphemed

the sacrifice?

 

Have I hurt you in this way too?

 

 

Regardless

Adonai

my Creator

Forgive me!

 

Your ways

are not my ways

Your thoughts

are not my thoughts

 

You love

where I fail to do so

You forgive

where I fail to do so

You encourage

where I fail to do so

You remember sins no more

where I fail to do so

 

Help me to be

• patient

Help me to be

• kind

Keep me from being

• easily angered

Take from me

• my rudeness

Remove from me

• my selfishness
• my pride
• my boastfulness

Teach me not to keep

• a list of wrongs

Don’t let me gloat over

• the sins of others

 

Help me keep

my beliefs

that would tear

down others believers

between

you and me

Help me know

the difference

between

teaching them

and destroying them

 

Help me pursue

• righteousness
• peace
• and joy in the Holy Spirit

 

so that I may please you

regardless of the day

 

so that I may honor you

regardless of the day

 

Help me live my life

so that on that day

when I bow

and

when I confess

that the life I lived

and the words I spoke

will be a pleasing

aroma to you!