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Volume 36, No. 23

12/7/22 | Newsletter

God, What Can We Imagine? - Carolyn Winfrey Gillette

“God, What Can We Imagine?” lifts up the Servant Song found in Isaiah 42:1-9 and calls the church to think creatively about how we can join in God's work for peace and justice.

God, what can we imagine when all around we see
A world that's lost and fallen, a bruised humanity?
When violence seems a given, and sin is everywhere,
God, what can be our vision — our hope, our answered prayer?

This world is used to tyrants and people who oppress,
And yet you sent your servant in peace and gentleness.
He did not come to conquer, to break or crush the soul;
And so can we imagine a life that's new and whole?

Can we imagine justice that circles round the earth,
Till those who sit in darkness find healing, light, and birth?
Can we imagine prisoners, allowed to start anew?
Can we who've been discouraged now trust again in you?

Could those who've faced oppression find love and welcome here?
Could hungry, homeless children be free of want and fear?
Could we your church find blessing in reaching to the poor?
Can we your church imagine what we've been called here for? 

O God of love and justice, may we imagine, too,
How faith, put into practice, can change the world for you.
May what your church imagines when we are at our best
Restore your good creation till all your world is blessed.

Tune: AURELIA, Samuel Sebastian Wesley, 1864 (“The Church's One Foundation”)
Text: Copyright © 2015 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.
www.carolynshymns.com