Come home

A litany for worship inspired by Psalm 146

by Ken Sehested

All of you with voices, sing out! All who lack melodic
      tongue, raise the roof with joyful noise! If you have
      hands, clap them. Feet, tap them. Fingers, snap them.

Let even your eyelids blink out praise to the One whose
      delight drenches earth and every creature.

When you’ve had your fill of huckster dreams and foolish
      schemes; when exhausted by self-help gurus and stock
      market voodoos; when weight loss and hair gain on
      easy monthly payments disappoint:

Come home to the One who throws a party at your
      approach!

The Faithful One reclaims the breath of every death,
      adopting every orphaned child. Every martyr from
      every grave, every saint of every age, testify to
      Harvest plans from Heaven’s bounteous stage.

Every storehouse now released, to all the lost and all the
      least, every belly, every beast, bless the Name beyond
      all guile.

You prisoner, take flight. You blind, give way to sight.
      Humiliation’s reign, now stripped of fear and fright.

Every martyr, every grave, every saint of every age,
      gathers round to lend you Light through darkened
      days and restless night. Come home; come home.

Ye who are weary, come home.

©Ken Sehested @ prayerandpolitiks.org
Final lines adapted from the refrain of “Softly and Tenderly,” by Will L. Thompson.