Lam 2:19 "Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street."
Amo 8:11 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "when I will send a famine on the land-- not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.
O listen if you will, to the cries in the night,
Of a world gone mad with shouts of "me" and "mine,"
Death followed by the call of "Only my way is right!"
"You insult me with your existance!" echoing down the line.
Does it press against your heart, this dark futility,
Of blood shed in laughter at the pain of another,
Of evil done in self-righteously certain anger,
The pageant of Cain forever slaying his brother?
When prophecies of hate justify the pain,
Or when self becomes the arbitor of all that has worth,
Blood is shed in explosions piercing the night,
Blood is shed of children who with never know birth.
Blood is shed as we reenact over and over
The hand of Cain reaching out against his brother.
Each new act of hate breeding new pain,
Each grief giving birth to more hate for each other.
Is there a hope that turns nightmare to daylight?
Is there an end ot the drought, for hope's rain?
How can one break the chains that shackle and fetter
This poor world to hate and anger and pain?
Listen! The Word came to give you the answer,
He suffered and died just to give you the way.
Listen! Can you follow the way that he showed you,
Can you follow his steps that turn night into day?
Love mercy, do justice, walk humbly with God,
Don't hide your light behind a closed door
Love the Lord with all the strength in your body,
Know God looks at you through the eyes of the poor.
The road that he asks you to walk is not easy,
It calls for true willingness to be vessels of light,
But through your two hands and two eyes and two feet,
He will make you the lantern that pierces the night.
To love mercy, do justice, walk humby with God
Sounds just so trite when the world has gone bad.
But God brings some light with a small cup of water,
God heals with touches that others think mad.
His is the strength that will let in the sunlight
to shatter the nightmares that man's hand have wrought,
Our role is to answer with Yes when he calls us,
to be tools in his hands that his own blood has bought.