6 mins
Creator God
You who planted a Garden and caused it to flourish
Who brought us to life to see this world
To love it, and to love you
Who Father-like invited us
To come and join in with what you were doing
We praise you, the God of new life
We praise you, the God who knows how to grow things
A garden, a world
A Kingdom, a Church
We hear you call us alongside you again
To see what you’re causing to blossom
We smiled at Spring
Turning a corner; hopeful shoots of something new
Life returning
Patiently enjoying that season’s unfurling beauty
But we rejoice in the Summer
We praise you for exchanging grey for exploding colour
Surrounding your people with new life in full bloom
Growing, pulsating, dripping with fruit
Life in all its fullness
Let the parched land be filled with pools of refreshing
Let the scorched Church bubble with Spirit-springs
Open blind eyes, open deaf ears
Open silent tongues, open stiff legs
Open up stony hearts and closed minds
Open out a highway in this nation
For you to walk the land and be announced to all
‘See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
And streams in the wasteland.’
God, give to our churches and our communities
So much growth that we don’t know what to do with it
And then, Lord -
Teach us what to do with it!
Amen
Photo: Unsplash
This article appears in the July 2019 Issue of Life and Work
If you would like to view other issues of Life and Work, you can see the full archive
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This article appears in the July 2019 Issue of Life and Work