Make Deep in Us - Luke 6 Part 3

O Christ, bring what we hear of you
beneath the words we say;
let mercy move through hand and heart,
let truth become our way.

Make deep in us the open hand
that gives and seeks no gain;
make deep the love that will not learn
the language of our pain.

Make deep the sight that first can bear
the timber in our eye;
the courage to receive the light
before we testify.

Make deep the heart where good may root
and ripen into fruit;
let mouth and deed bear out the life
that grows from hidden root.

Make deep in us your mercy, Lord,
beneath our hymn and creed;
beneath the name upon our lips,
let hearing become deed.

One builder works where none can praise,
his spade beneath the ground;
he cuts through soil and stubborn clay
until the rock is found.

No neighbour sees the buried stone,
no eye applauds the deep;
the hidden labour bears the wall
the daylight gets to keep.

Another raises walls in haste
upon the open ground;
the roof may shine beneath the sun,
though no firm rock is found.

Then waters rise; the river strikes,
the easy earth gives way;
the flood finds every hidden fault
beneath the brighter day.

O Christ, when waters test our walls,
when praise can lend no aid,
let mercy, truth, and practised love
lie deeper than display.

And when the river shoulders hard
against the work we frame,
let hidden rock hold all the weight
and let the house remain.