Easter Sunday

The Son of God was lying in the grave
and so the Serpent bragged, “I’ve struck His heel!
For how,” he reasoned, “can a dead God save
once all the power of Hell has been revealed?”
A large stone blocked the entrance of the tomb
and those who’d followed Him would face great strife
For now, the Serpent revelled in this doom
But Grave could not hold Him who’d authored Life!
An empty place marks where his body lay
for all Death’s victories had been undone
the mighty stone was simply cast away
and brighter than the sun-rise rose The Son
For Christ, in rising, crushed the Serpent’s head
Life conquered Death, and death itself is dead

Witness to His Salvation – 4th Sunday of Advent (Simeon’s Song)

This child I hold upon my knee
I’ve waited all my life to see.
God’s spirit, many years ago
told me I’d see His Christ, and so…
I’ve waited. Waited. Patiently

He’s come to set God’s people free
but how He does this may not be
what you expect, and you must know
for you: pain will accompany
this child I hold.

The Light to this dark world he’ll be
Ah Lord! Thank you for letting me
meet Jesus! Now Lord, let me go
unto my rest, for now you’ve shown
me who will save humanity:
This child I hold

Witnesses to His Coming – 3rd Sunday of Advent (The Shepherds)

You should have seen the stars that night
against a sky so vast and deep
we’d never seen them shine so bright
upon us and our flock of sheep

But then came something so profound
we all forgot the stars were there
in fear we fell down to the ground
all of us in great despair

An angel of the Lord Most High
stood mighty, tall, and far too near
we all believed that we would die
until he told us “Do not fear”

And then he told us wondrous news:
the One that we’ve been waiting for
the promised Saviour of the Jews
is here! We have to wait no more!

Then suddenly the sky was filled
with angels singing praise to God
no human choir is so skilled
it left us breathless, thrilled, and awed

Then just as quick they went away
but we recalled what we’d been told:
we’d find Him in a trough for hay
and not a palace filled with gold

So off to Bethlehem we went
to find The One who’d bring great joy
The One whom God Himself had sent
the Saviour King…an infant boy

When we had found that manger bed
and met the Holy Promised One
ev’n memories of angels fled
for we had met God’s only Son!

Witnesses to His Glory – 2nd Sunday of Advent (The Angelic Host)

When Eve and Adam ate the fruit
that grew on the forbidden tree
all Heaven knew an evil root
had surely doomed humanity

The angels must have wept that day
to see perfection wrecked by sin
Did they think God would turn away
believing Hell had scored a win?

Could even angels comprehend
our Heavenly Father’s wondrous plan
to bring Hell’s power to an end;
of how He’d deal with sinful man?

Perhaps they thought that they’d be sent
upon the earth with flaming sword
where they would all be Heaven bent
on righteous vengeance for the Lord

Did any angel up above
anticipate the Mighty One
would counter sin and death with love
by sending to the earth His Son?

But I know that they rejoiced to bring
to shepherds news of God’s great grace
proclaiming birth of Christ the King
with songs of loud exuberant praise!

Psalm Sunday – Psalm 5

I love form poetry. I love the discipline of restricting my words to a set meter and rhyme, and so I rarely write free verse.  I was hoping to write a rondeau for Psalm 5, but everything seemed too forced.  I started writing in other forms too,  but nothing seemed to come together (hence why I didn’t post anything last Sunday).  The fact that nothing would come together caused me to believe that God wanted me to meditate more on this particular Psalm.  So I ended up going in the free verse direction so you can see some of what came to me in my reading and rereading of these words of David’s.

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Was David speaking of himself
when he spoke of his enemies?
Was he, himself, the wicked one
that God must surely hate?
Were arrogance,deceit and malice
vices that he struggled with?

I wonder, Lord, for when he asks
to be led down straight paths
he says to you that it’s because
of enemies he faces

And I, oh Lord, like David know
that you detest all forms of sin
and sin abounds within me Lord, and yet…

Because, oh Lord, of your great love
I can come bow before your throne
and though my sin is as a grave,
yet still Lord, I can come to you
and sing for joy…
…for you give me new life

Philipians 2:6-11

In the church that I attend, or pastor taught us that many scholars believe that Philipians 2:6-11 was actually an early church hymn. I wanted to try my hand at turning the text into a poem/song. I haven’t set this to music yet, but here are the lyrics:

You were in very essence God
and could have worn a crown
but that’s not why you came to earth
and so you set that glory down

Becoming nothing for our sake
the flesh of man you wore
you chose to fill a servant’s role
though you were worthy of much more

Chorus:
In heights above and depths below
and here upon the earth
let each knee bend down at the name
and ev’ry tongue and voice proclaim
let praises and Hosannas flow
extolling Jesus’ worth

To please your Father was your aim
with each and ev’ry breath
you humbly sought to do his will
obeying even in your death

Willingly you faced the cross
and willingly you died
so God exalted you on high
to where you sit on His right side

Chorus:
In heights above and depths below
and here upon the earth
let each knee bend down at the name
and ev’ry tongue and voice proclaim
let praises and Hosannas flow
extolling Jesus’ worth