hymnsandbooks

Friday 28 August 2015

They’re carted off like cattle - Reported this morning - 70 found dead in a lorry in Austria

They’re carted off like cattle,
yet we’d refuse a bed
to those who flee from carnage
now drowned, or lost or dead?

Christ said accept the stranger,
how can we bar the door
to those both poor and hungry
who wait beyond our shore.

How can we guard our comfort
or fear what we might lose
when those who are more needy,
we punish and abuse.

God, must we wait for judgment?
Will nothing change our face
from sneering denigration
to smiles of love and grace?

Good God forgive the selfish,
the ones who bind the free,
who now withhold salvation.
Begin right now with me!
© Andrew Pratt 28/8/2015
Reported this morning - 70 found dead in a lorry in Austria.
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