This is a poem written some time ago, as an expression of congregational repentance for a church that was in the midst of a dry time spiritually.
Kyrie Eleison
Restore us, O God.
Make your face to shine upon us,
That we may be healed.
Hear our confession;
Give
ear to our cry,
That
we might seek you and find you
When we search for you with all our
hearts.
Forgive our pride, O Lord—
We have sought to make for ourselves
Garments of righteousness and truth,
But these both belong to you,
And in our pride you have made us
blind
That we are naked before the world.
Forgive our bitterness, O Lord—
We have judged each other so
harshly,
Yet still we wear the masks of
fellowship;
We have forgotten to forgive,
Forgotten
to love beyond the pain,
And so here we have remained,
Empty
and unforgiven.
Forgive our hollow pretensions, O
Lord—
We sing your name with unimpassioned
lips;
We enter your temple and believe it
our own;
We gather at your throne to sing
with our tongues
And
not with our hearts,
Never expecting to meet you there.
Grant us grace, Lord, as we turn;
Give
us an undivided heart,
That our one passion,
That our one passion,
Our
one great thought,
Would
be to seek and to love
You
for whom we thirst.
Restore us, O God.
Make your face to shine upon us,
That we may be healed.