Oh Jesus, come. The world groans for you.
The streets are bloody and the debts are rising. There are riots all around, anxieties about the future, 72-day marriages, 5th grader suicides, political stalemates, crashes of every sort, too-high heating bills, faucets that don't work, pencils that smear instead of erase, milk that goes sour, teeth that get cavities, and cancer that keeps coming back.
Messiah, come.
Come and bring justice to the perpetrators of evil: The dictators who oppress, the pedophiles who abuse, the rich who swindle, the thieves and murderers and liars and cheaters and addicts... Basically, all of us. Judge us, refine us, renew us oh Lord. Cast our sins into the depths of the sea. Show your faithfulness to us oh God, as you did to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
Bring a father to the son who's never known one. Bring a day of rest to the mother who hardly stops. Bring buckets of cold, clear water to the parched lands throughout the world. Bring peace to the places where war has settled in. Bring hope to the suffering in Japan, and Joplin, and every place in shambles.
Oh sprouted blossom from the root of Jesse, come and heal the nations.
Give hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, joy to the lowly. Bind up the wounds of your people.
We are all hurting. Broken feet. Infected cuts. Insecurity. Heartbreak.
We are all sick. Coughing. Contagious. Medicated. Prone to wander.
We are all tired. Of work. Of failure. Of the persistence of disappointment.
We are all hungry. For a community that will last. For love that doesn't fizzle. For something—anything—of permanence. To know ourselves. To know the truth. To understand how it all makes sense. To see the face of God.
In the midst of all this, Jesus came.
Is coming.
Is here.