Two Christmas Poems

John Piper said in an address that I heard earlier this year, “very few of you (pastors) should give significant time to writing poetry, but all of you should make poetic efforts in the way you see and savor and show the glories of Christ.”  So, I doubt that Piper would be very impressed by these meager poems, but he would applaud the effort.  As a Christmas gift to you, here are two poems for the Advent season.  Both of these efforts borrow from Isaac Watts’ great hymn, “Joy to the World.”

WHAT I WISH FOR CHRISTMAS

In this world of sin and woe,

Where pain and suffering won’t let go,

I have a wish for Christmas.

That Christians would live like the Name they bear,

That absolute truth would be acknowledged here,

That the wicked and cheaters would not win,

That holiness would triumph over sin.

That marriage and children would matter more

and money and things would matter less

That the God of the Bible we would adore

and evil would lose over righteousness.

That the right to life wouldn’t be so hazy

That to kill a baby would be seen as crazy

That fascination with technology,

Would be tempered by sound theology.

That the Bible would be read,

That our souls would not be dead,

That thinking Christians we would be,

Walking by the Spirit in liberty.

That Christmas would be no mere “holiday”

That the God-Man be honored as the only way

That all peoples would embrace

What heaven and nature sing

That Jesus Christ is Lord . . . over everything.

 

LET EVERY HEART PREPARE HIM ROOM

His was a birth like no other

A mother . . . but not a human father;

Why does this matter?  Why should we care?

Aren’t there bigger issues?  Like, “why is life unfair”?

The sin of Adam marred us all

We are guilty; we all did fall;

Life’s not unfair, we get what’s coming;

It’s just that the pain is so very numbing.

God saw all this from beginning to end

He planned a rescue—His Son to send;

That Son is perfect in all deity

But wrapped in cloths—infant humanity.

See now, God’s Son, in human form forever

The Gift on a cross, a remarkable endeavor

To right the wrong; to erase the sting

Of what we call unfair and endless suffering.

The grace of God is now made known

Death’s triumph has been overthrown;

Sing it out!  The end of doom!

Let every heart prepare Him room.

Let every heart prepare Him room.