The Church is Empty Now

The paint is peeling where the choir used to stand

Dust on the pulpit, no voice, no hand

The bells don't ring, the candles don't burn

Just a book on the altar, pages that yearn

Mama wore white every Sunday morn

Now her dress hangs quiet, faded and worn

The preacher's gone, took his flock to the south

And the echo of hallelujah's just a whisperin' mouth

The church is empty now, just stone and wood

But I still hear the songs like I thought I never would

There's grace in the silence, and peace in the doubt

But the church is empty now, the light's all out

I come here still when the wind turns cold

To sit in the back and pray like I'm told

Not to a God I understand or see

But to the ghosts who still kneel beside me

Maybe faith ain't a building of glass and gold

Maybe it's scars and stories told

In cracked old walls and broken beams

Where sinners wept and dared to dream

The church is empty now, just stone and wood

But I still hear the songs like I thought I never would

There's grace in the silence, and peace in the doubt

But the church is empty now, the light's all out