Just at the moment it seems that all around is hurt and despair; world news, money worries, illness and dying. This poem by Thom M Shuman from the Iona Community speaks of hope in our darkest moments with the coming of Emmanuel – God with us. It certainly gives me hope and lifts my spirits.
Come, God-with-us:
who braves our rejection and hurt,
who holds us in acceptance and love.
Come, God-for-us:
who whispers in our ears
that we – each of us – are beloved children.
Come, God-under-us:
who cradles us in arms that never grow weary;
whose lap has room enough for all.
Come, God-over-us:
who watches in the long silence of the night,
that we might rest in peace.
Come, God-beside-us:
who steadies us when we falter,
who lifts us up when we fall.
Come, God-behind-us:
who picks up all the faded dreams we drop along the way
and patchworks them into hope.
O Come, O Come, Immanuel:
and we will rejoice for ever!
– Judith Hansen, churchwarden St Mary’s Beaminster
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