It has come to this
By: Dave Timmer
Why do you forget
What it is that I said
A blessing to my creation
But your self-interest instead
A winter sunrise from the A Rocha (NW Washington) Field Study Center.
You strive for more power
And pile up rules to follow
But it’s your heart that matters
And you’ve made it so shallow
You’ve cursed yourselves
With law and oppression
Listen to my prophets
Who hint at redemption
Mercy and Justice
It is this I require
The revenge that you seek
Only thickens the mire
It has come to this
As I continually pursue
Even the rocks cry out
I will come to show you
In the darkness so heavy
Into an empire so strong
The light still flickers
But for a king you still long
Mary’s song – a revolution
And the mighty are stilled
But you still don’t understand
That the hungry will be filled
A new kind of kingdom
The blind they will see
The prophecy is fulfilled
Now come follow me
You are forgiven
Dropping their rocks you’ll see
Their names in the dust
Now it is just you and me
As you look forward today
Just remember this
Mercy and Justice
Were betrayed with a kiss
The curtain was torn down
Through a death so gory
It’s now time to come home to
The great redemption story
And some millennia later
The church still stands
But it has often forgotten
The work of My hands
You are so much like them
Through all humanity
You’ve made an idol
Of your own security
So another voice yells out –
If you believe he has risen
Stop waiting for something
That has already been given
My story is for everyone
Your piety will only hinder
And my Kingdom unfurls
Through Peace now consider
All creation is groaning
As you strive for more power
I am still with you
But you need to look lower
With the poor and the lowly
The good news is sent
The prisoner is set free
And the crippled are not bent
The Messiah incarnate
The crumbling mountains don’t miss
The wine flowing jubilantly
It has again come to this
Bio
Dave is Director for A Rocha USA in Northwest Washington. Dave farms on A Rocha’s small urban farm called Five Loaves Farm, helps organize the Lynden Farmers Market, works on watershed restoration projects, and studies the ecology of Cascadia. A Rocha has recently began renting a beautiful property just outside of Lynden that they will farm, study, and host interns.