Daily Worship

How long, O Lord?

Roderick MacLeod December 05, 2015 0 0

Revelation 21: 1-4

A new heaven and a new earth

21 Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’

Whether it’s Myanmar or Burma sums up the mixed feelings 
    we’ve come to associate with regime change.
We have anticipated this moment for so long,
    heir apparent, awaiting her moment so serenely.

Yet, now she is in the ascendant, the questions flow:
    will she govern for all citizens?
There is steel in those fragile bones, 
    we pray there may be justice in her heart.

In the meantime, we yearn for all whose legitimate convictions
    make them enemies of the state.
“How long, O Lord?” 

May the cry of the saints in heaven
    stiffen the resolve of those on earth,
    to be ever aware of the suffering of those whose call to follow
    is taking them along rough tracks.

Fortify all citizens of the New Jerusalem
    in the knowledge that our ever-present Lord
    is coming soon in the fulness of his Kingdom…