Ode to the Church Meeting

A joy to join the church again
As covid seems to reach an end
The songs and prayers and voices blend
While we this isolation rend

The gathered church can't be compared
To video - zoom meeting chaired
No toothbrush, hairbrush, clothing spared
For church on Sunday, we're prepared

I've never readied with such haste
To see my friends and get a taste
Of fellowship and sweetest grace
Received in worship face to face

And don't you think it's swell of God
To make us miss those we find odd
Who used to get a passing nod
We talk to now without a prod

Those empty halls again will ring
With every precious promised thing
To pray and preach, to give and sing
For us these days means everything

And could it be in this our joy
That tender hearts would now employ
Their love for those they would annoy?
The unforgiving thought destroy?

Lord, may it be that we not tire
In this our earnest heart's desire
No apathy to quench the fire
But Jesus Christ the Lord raised higher

This poem won first place for the June 2020 poetry contest