Stephen Gregory | + Follow Poet |
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Church Reluctant, Church Militant

We’ve marched along the watchtower,
And stepped across the wall,
We’ve looked for hearts of gold
And joined the band on the run,
The road we walk is rocky and narrow
As we step towards the gate,
And we sing songs of praises
When from life we escape;

We lost the way to the sanctuary
And forgot that there is a need to pray
We’ve become the church of Christ reluctant
When the sermon is so twee,
The preacher speaks of being…’just like me’;
The worship has become a sing-a-long
And the prayers a by numbers rote;
The road we walk is getting wider now;

We’ve heard of stars on Sunday,
And songs of praise from Skegness;
We’ve gone to Soul Survivor,
Greenbelt and the big day out;
We’ve danced at all the festivals
From Glastonbury to Reading
And we’ve made excuses for missing church
As the road becomes a motorway to the stars;

Now the days are growing darker
And the truth is finding the markers
That speak of pulpit notoriety
When all the thoughts that build the preacher
Fall on deaf ears who welcome Jesus
As the Church wakes from its slumbers
And preachers drop the numbers
For the reality of the Gospel of Truth;

The media mocks the religious,
While the Church stands with shoulders stooped;
When once the church of Christ reluctant
Spoke with mumbled part and gave
The easy option to let the world get out,
Now the day has come when the world 
Has overcome, and the church is falling faint
While the world changes what God gave;

Then the Spirit ignites the hearts of men
And psalms and songs are taught again
The Word of God is preached to retain
The heart and soul of all who come
To welcome Christ, the radical King,
And stand on the Word that gives all life again;
The church of Christ is militant by name
And now the world will see the same march in His fame;

We’ve marched down every High Road
And sung at every celebration
And the word we hear is God’s very own,
That sows our hearts with seeds that grow
We are the church of Christ Militant
No longer reluctant to stand on Truth;
So we will walk the narrow way
And welcome Christ every day;

We believe the Bible tells the truth,
That Christ was the Word from creation,
There is a passion aflame in His church
That is flickering brightly around the world;
And Christ has become our battle cry
While the world still turns its back
And cries every time the pulpit calls the world to order;
Now as Church of Christ Militant, the world fears the fight;

We’ll sing, we’ll preach, we’ll march with Gospel feet;
The day will come when the world
Will bend the knee and lips declare
Jesus Christ as Lord, 
And the church of Christ reluctant
With militant offence, step up to the Word
And now the world is quaking 
As the church lifts up God’s head.

Copyright © Stephen Gregory | Year Posted 2017

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