The Kingdom in the Street (Part 3 of 3)

...There I saw all the things I had seen before, all the death and destruction, the vacuous teenagers, and the old people on the corners.  But I saw something I had never seen before.  A great banquet table was all set up in the city streets.  There were hundreds of thousands of people sitting around the banquet table feasting and singing.  There was great dancing and music everywhere.  They were singing something like this:

            When all of the world shall feast again,

            Hurrah, hurrah;

            Injustice and crime are ended then,

            Hurrah, hurrah.

            Then all the valleys with joy shall ring,

            And all the people on Earth shall sing.

            And we will not rest 'til all of the world shall feast.

            When weapon is plow and hoe again,

            Hurrah, hurrah;

            Shall mercy like rivers flow again,

            Hurrah, hurrah.

            Then darkness shall be done away,

            And we shall see salvation's day.

            And we will not rest 'til weapon is plow and hoe

            And we will not rest 'til all of the world shall feast.

And I along with the others sat at the table and enjoyed the great feast.  Then it was that the Man of Sorrows came to me—to all of us who were gathered there at the table—and he said, “What will you do in my city?”  To some who had the gift of building things he said, “Go build more tables so that there will be tables for everyone to enjoy my banquet.  Go build shelters for the homeless and the hungry and the cold.”  To some who had the gift of telling, “Go and tell the story of my banquet table.  Write it, fax it, send it on computers, put it on the telephone lines, put it everywhere that there is room at my table for everyone.”

And then the Man of Sorrows gave to those who had the gift of disruption the assignment to go the holy mountain fortress and to break the dam which had blocked the river of life from running in the city.  Then he came to me.  “What will you do, son?”

I said, “I don't know. I don't belong here.”  I could hear the ringing of bells.

“Son, what will you do in my city?” said the Man of Sorrows.

“I don't know,” I said, “I'm frightened!  I would rather be up in the holy mountain fortress.”  The ringing of the bells was like the ringing of a death bell, the death of all the life I had known.

“What will you do in my city?” said the Man of Sorrows.

“I'm afraid!” I said.  “I'm afraid!”  I heard the ringing of the bell and suddenly the ringing of the bell became the ringing of the alarm bell on my bedside table.  I shut off the alarm and I lay there for a long time thinking about the images in my dream, the Man of Sorrows, and the table in the city streets.  Still I could hear the call: “What will you do in my city, my child?”  So while I lay there in bed, I wrote my last verse to the song that the wind had taught me when we were flying high above the city streets.

            Come see the kingdom coming,

            Come see the victory day,

            There will be no need for fortress walls,

            For there is a better way.

            The Prince will lift the lowly,

            And the proud will know defeat,

            Don't look for the kingdom on the mountain,

            For it's coming in the street.

                        For it's a long night,

                        And weary grow the feet

                        That walk the long road,

                        But the morning will come sweet.

                        Yes, it's a long night

                        And the Prince is in the streets tonight.

~Ken Medema