Purge

So often in the gathering gloom

Hope is the song we sing

both melody and lyric.

His name is Dayspring

whom we glorify.

Call him Hope personified.

And where would we be

without him?

Isaiah told it well:

the world was ever darkness

till he came.

The darkness threatens still

until he comes again.

In the meantime

in the in-between time

we follow the counsel of the one

crying out in the wilderness

“Prepare ye the way of the Lord.”

We purge the closets

of our hearts

discard old resentments

unrelinquished

get rid of old hurts unforgiven

confess our own stubborn sin—

whatever it takes

to make room

for God’s radiance to pour in

where it’s needed.

Romans 15:4–13, Matthew 3:1–12