Skin Deep

Dusky skinned child, plays in the sand,
Learning to live with, and love the land
Aunties and Uncles, in profusion, around;
Possessions are few, but love abounds

Pale skinned lawyer, of the city street,
Lives with his books, keeps everything neat,
Thinks, "how could a child with nothing to wear,
Be growing ‘correctly’, living ‘out there’?"

Taught of a God who ‘prefers you white’,
Yet Your Spirit witnesses, "This isn’t right",
Hears of a God who’ll not slumber, nor sleep,
But lovingly over them, watch always keep.

This is a God who does not see the skin,
But only the spirit, that dwells deep within,
This is a God who exists everywhere,
With their folk faraway, and with the child there.

This is a God to their Dreamtime akin,
For from Him, and through Him, all things did begin.
This is a God who will help them survive,
Keeping their heritage, inside, alive.

Many the things, that were done in Your Name,
Should cause us to hang down our heads in shame,
Many the things that we still do now,
Would cause a furrow, in our Father’s brow.

Teach us to love and to live in peace,
Let fighting between all Your children cease,
Let us, no longer; look at the skin,
But welcome our sibling, who is within.

Let us, as Your family, proudly declare,
That this is a land in which all can share,
Turn from the past, with its sin and shame,
And proudly together, exalt Your Name.

Let us become, a nation of love,
Lifting Your Name to the heavens above,
Open Your heavens, and out blessings pour,
Till all people are Yours, from shore to shore.
© 31/5/97