By Sarah Olivo
Sunday July 13, 2014
This week Pastor Pat titled his sermon “In the world, but not of the world”. He talked about the things that set us, as God’s children, apart from other people. The message was great and I couldn’t wait to write a killer poem! ;)
They’re staring from across the room
A questioning look in their eyes.
We’ve piqued their curiosity,
And they can’t quite pinpoint why.
We seem to do everything wrong,
And yet nothing seems out of place.
We smile when most would turn and leave,
And we slow down when they make haste.
In the burning sun, we prosper best,
As they gaze wond’ringly from the shade.
And when all has grown dark, we somehow walk on,
Our lamps lit with invisible flame.
Our manners are peculiar,
Kind in the strangest of ways,
The people they can’t live around
We hasten to embrace.
We stay away from what the world
Tells us is worth it all,
Running after a mysterious
And invisible goal.
We seem to be all backwards,
Never following the trend
Criticized and pointed-at,
Yet our joy seems never to end.
The strangest part of all
Is what we tell them when they ask.
The reason that we give for all
The normal-ness we lack.
An all-powerful God?
Forgiveness for our sins?
What does that even mean,
To have hope and life in Him?
As we gleefully explain
It all as clearly we can ,
They marvel as they hear how
Truly simple is His plan.
And always, if they walk away,
Or if they turn and follow;
It always leaves a crater,
Always fills what once was hollow.
People stare from every corner
As we join our hands and pray
They can see, that vague distinction
We all carry in our veins
We’re like aliens, so different
From anything they’ve seen,
Whether they hate or love us
They can’t help but be intrigued.
For we are, indeed, not of this
World we live in anymore.
When we choose Whom to follow,
We inherit something more.
And we all act so strangely
Because our homes are in our hearts
We smile because we know that God
Has saved for us a part
Of His kingdom in heaven,
For there we will abide.
We’re only passing through here,
Only staying overnight.
Lingering only to tell
To all who we can reach
That they can be forgiven,
That they can have this peace.
That makes us unlike all the rest,
This fire in our hearts,
Citizenship not of the world,
But of His perfect love.
For we are pretty ordinary,
As much as we seem odd.
But we follow, you remember,
An extraordinary God.