Ode of Sorrow

 

Once, God sent forth His son

In his flesh, he came full of wisdom and undeserved kindness.

With us, he entrusted the sacred secret of God, God’s means of salvation—the Good News

 

After he left, he sent a Helper to teach us all things. 

By it, he directed our preaching and settled matters of law.

Our circumcision, it taught, must no longer be of the flesh; rather, it must be of our hearts.

 

Through the Helper, we were commanded go here and there, but not to go thither.

Through it, directive words were spoken as occasion demanded.

When in dire need, angels came and delivered us.

 

Now, two thousand years later, times are evil.

No longer do we hear the Helper’s words.

No longer do we visibly see angels assisting us.

 

At times, it seems that God has fallen asleep.

The End has been upon us for many generations already.

And still the End hasn’t arrived.

 

In faith and by prayer, we do commit ourselves daily.

But bleak and dark the days are.

The body is broken, the spirit is sagging, and the economy is in shambles.

 

Endurance will produce an approved condition;

                    Or, it will break all hope and spirit.

Christ endured all for 1260 days.  We endure still -

                    —some for 14,400 days, others for 25,200, and many have fallen on the wayside.

 

Still darkness is all around.

Daylight and morning lacks, while pain and mourning abounds.

The groaning is deafening.