Emmanuel

For North River Community Church

It was well past mid-night
The holiday shoppers had gone home 
Only the Christmas lights
remain and one figure alone
huddled in a coat of rags
His clothes and belongings
stuffed all into one shopping bag

The air was sharp and piercing
Cold and crisp it was
light from above shinning fiercely
Like one lone star of love
bringing the message that Angel’s tell
But he did not know Emmanuel
All he knew was that
his life was a living hell

Across town
in a tenement building
a family of five
barely made ends meet without yielding 
to drug money deals to survive
Staying clear of neighborhood gangs
how could they keep their son
from poverty and pain 
from living his life in a jail cell
Hope can be a dangerous thing  
They did not know Emmanuel

She had been in sin so long 
But they all thought she could do no wrong
They couldn’t see the tell tale signs
of too many men
and too much wine
What could she do but keep up the act
Yet she wondered how she could turn back
She thought her secret too dark to tell
She did not know Emmanuel

There is no night to dark
No life to stark
There is no crime
that Jesus hasn’t already
did the time
No secret life
that He hasn’t paid the price
No circumstance to tough
No road in life too rough
for the one who died for us

To know Emmanuel – God with us
is to know the joy that Jesus lives
Not as a marble statue
resting below an ornate temple arch
nor as a great prophet
whose grave is well marked
Even though He died 
to save us from sin and Satan’s power
He rose again and abides 
within our hearts each day and every hour

But greater still there
is more story to tell
You still have time to know Emmanuel
for He’s coming again
So take the time to know Him now
and He will know you then

Amen!

© All rights including copyrights are reserved 2007 Teresa Adams Ware