A hymn for Holy Week – Rising gloom surrounds the story

Rising gloom surrounds the story,
Jesus moves towards the cross,
here Jerusalem is waiting,
favour swings from gain to loss.

Crowds had swarmed in adulation,
many came infused with hope.
Every person sought an outcome,
nothing seemed beyond his scope.

Zealots called for liberation, 
sinners waited on his word,
children ran with palms to meet him,
felt affirmed by what they heard.

Other people simply bustled,
thought their lives beyond reproach,
when the Lord came riding humbly,
hardly noticed his approach.

In the temple, tables turning,
those in power were disabused
as he showed the way to worship
for the poor, despised, abused.

Choices faced him in the garden,
prayer was dry, betrayal lurked;
while his closest friends were sleeping,
human evil waited, worked.

What is left? some trumped-up charges?
Self-conceit? Religious hate?
Here the Christ still stands before us -
time for judgement ... crosses wait.

Andrew E. Pratt (born 1948)
Words © 2006 © Stainer & Bell Ltd, London, England copyright@stainer.co.uk . Please include any reproduction for local church use on your CCL Licence returns. All wider and any commercial use requires prior application to Stainer & Bell Ltd.
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ADORATION (Hunt)