Come, Holy Babe

This poem was written and shared with me by one of my former Bible College tutors, and I liked it so much I wanted to record and share it here.

Come, holy babe, come down once more to dwell in flesh, we pray,
But leave behind the swaddling bands, the stable and the hay;
Come lie within a manger in God’s image, made of clay –
Come, holy babe, come down once more to dwell in flesh, we pray.

Come, holy babe, disrupt our nights and rob us of our sleep;
Rouse us from our lethargy until we leave our sheep
And stumble into Bethlehem to see a baby weep –
Come, holy babe, disrupt our nights and rob us of our sleep.

Come, holy babe, and take us through the empty desert sands,
Guided by a far-off star to dim and distant lands
To give away our life and then to leave with empty hands –
Come, holy babe, and take us through the empty desert sands.

Come, holy babe, and send us dreams to take away our ease,
Force us from our house of bread to live as refugees,
To crawl into an alien land upon our hands and knees –
Come, holy babe, and send us dreams to take away our ease.

For you went forth with just a stone on which to lay your head,
You went into a desert place from which the angels fled;
You waged a war with darkness, and you came back from the dead –
So come again Immanuel; wage war with us instead.

You came not just to bring us peace; you came to bring a sword
With which to slay those fantasies that leave us, oh, so bored;
Come, overturn our tables with the trinkets that we hoard –
Come, holy babe, into our hearts – and swing your two-edged sword!

© Richard Johnson