COME ALL, COME NOW (December 24, 2021)

O come, all ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.   But we are not all joyful; And we are not all faithful. “Triumphant” is a claim that stays A year or two—or ten—away. We’ve lost the cadence in our rhyme; We’ve lost the ones we loved to time Or dimming memory or disease— Where is this house of bread and ease? Yet still we tread with hope that clings; We murmur faith and barely sing On each hard day, through each dark night: “There is a God who makes things right.”   O come, ye worried and undone; O come, ye who have often run. O come, ye broken and confused; O come, ye bullied and abused. O come, when sin requires grace; O come, when you have missed the race. Yes, come, ye doubters, restless souls— This Child will live to make you whole.   So stay in grace. -Bill Knott