Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IT ISN'T THE CHURCH - IT'S YOU, by ANONYMOUS First Line: If you want to have the kind of a church Last Line: It isn't the church -- it's you Subject(s): Churches;public Worship; Cathedrals;church Attendance | ||||||||
If you want to have the kind of a church Like the kind of a church you like, You needn't slip your clothes in a grip And start on a long, long hike. You'll only find what you left behind, For there's nothing really new. It's a knock at yourself when you knock your church; It isn't the church -- it's you. When everything seems to be going wrong, And trouble seems everywhere brewing; When prayer-meeting, Young People's meeting, and all, Seem simmering slowly -- stewing, Just take a look at yourself and say, "What's the use of being blue?" Are you doing your "bit" to make things "hit"? It isn't the church -- it's you. It's really strange sometimes, don't you know, That things go as well as they do, When we think of the little -- the very small mite -- We add to the work of the few. We sit, and stand round, and complain of what's done, And do very little but fuss. Are we bearing our share of the burdens to bear? It isn't the church -- it's us. So, if you want to have the kind of a church Like the kind of a church you like, Put off your guile, and put on your best smile, And hike, my brother, just hike, To the work in hand that has to be done -- The work of saving a few. It isn't the church that is wrong, my boy; It isn't the church -- it's you. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE WHEELING GOSPEL TABERNACLE by JAMES WRIGHT GIRLS GOING TO CHURCH by JOHN CIARDI EFFECT OVER DISTANCE by ALBERT GOLDBARTH THE RESPECTABLE BURGHER, ON 'THE HIGHER CRITICISM' by THOMAS HARDY GOSPEL VILLANELLE by ANDREW HUDGINS SONG BEFORE SORROW by LOUISE A. BALDWIN REMARKS TO THE BACK OF A PEW by WILLIAM ROSE BENET WHITE SPIRITUAL by WILLIAM BERRY TIS A LITTLE JOURNEY by ANONYMOUS |
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