“Our Renovations” ( ) [For First Baptist Church Service] [Pandemic Series]

John Knox’s flat’s a simple place – a tourist site, quite small –
A cup, a bowl, a table, with a writing pad – that’s all
I can recall, and yet that man had impact far and wide;
It startled me how small his place, how little was inside.

Back in his time and another man had influences well –
Said Wealth of Nations comes from folks who make the things they sell –
Not all alone, but as a team – improves life for the poor;
“So let’s change how we make our stuff, then life won’t be so dour”

Three hundred years that’s worked for us, and others on the earth;
Most now have more than cup, and bowl, and table, from their birth
Until the day they pass on to another life from here –
Make stuff as teams; add in machines; makes wealth – that much is clear.

The trouble is our landfill sites are choking with our stuff;
Pandemic’s shut-down cleared the skies, will world now cry, “Enough!”?
In these past months, the world has stopped, past values re-emerged –
It’s better now, for kith and kin no longer seem submerged.

For social-distance has its cost – we long to be with kin;
Thanksgiving was a time to stop, give thanks, new ways begin;
What have we learned as we go forth to Christmas time this year?
Perhaps John Knox’s “Jesus” makes our change of life quite clear.

For Knox, the Kirk was centerpiece for his community –
A greenhouse made for growing folks to be what they could be;
We’ve got a Kirk – First Baptist, here, with brand new floors and lights –
A place to grow some people up – somehow that seems just right.

We’ve got the Internet has well to feed our far-off kin;
Pandemic’s forced us to rethink how this could here begin;
For God has given us new tools at this Thanksgiving time
To multiply the work we do – in Him things works out fine.

Thanks Lord for this.

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