How Then Shall They Hear?

How Then Shall They Hear?


The cottage is proving
Adequate, Lord.
Some visitors show.
Usually the children
And the old.

There is such carnage
Our spirits are heavy.
The place runs
On appetites, ignorance
And slavish gratification.

Children are allowed
To run unsupervised.
Wives exchanged often,
If marriage is even
Contemplated.

Thieves and opportunists
Lie in wait,
Planning the quick gain.
Craftsmen and soil-tillers
Suffer their contempt.

After hours, many
Resort to every
Dark pass-time,
Available under flickering
Night lamps.

Gambling and gluttony
Are common.
Fashion and body-paint
Play to the sensual.
Aging is the great fear.

For those who lose
In the contest,
Forgetfulness,
Brought by drugs
And native beer.

Their priests
Mystify with
Incantations and
Rules that haunt.
Life in Jesus, obscured.

Their medicine-men
Ply their trade
In drugs and promises.
Healing depends on barter
Rather than prayer.

Is it possible
To witness of Jesus'
Earth walk and selfless
Death and rising,
When this culture is so foreign?

Can we bring these
People to pause,
To hear the scriptures,
And submit humbly
To Sovereign Goodness?

How we long to
See them respond,
Drop their sin,
Trust the Saviour,
Receive your Spirit.

Father God in Jesus' name
Help us foil the Devil's game.
Help us heal the sick and lame.
Help us spread the Saviour's fame,
For you have sent us here...

To Kitchener-Waterloo (2 child-like missionaries in 1987)