COME ALL, COME NOW (December 24, 2021)

O come, all ye faithful,

Joyful and triumphant,

O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.

 

But we are not all joyful;

And we are not all faithful.

“Triumphant” is a claim that stays

A year or two—or ten—away.

We’ve lost the cadence in our rhyme;

We’ve lost the ones we loved to time

Or dimming memory or disease—

Where is this house of bread and ease?

Yet still we tread with hope that clings;

We murmur faith and barely sing

On each hard day, through each dark night:

“There is a God who makes things right.”

 

O come, ye worried and undone;

O come, ye who have often run.

O come, ye broken and confused;

O come, ye bullied and abused.

O come, when sin requires grace;

O come, when you have missed the race.

Yes, come, ye doubters, restless souls—

This Child will live to make you whole.

 

So stay in grace. -Bill Knott