The Blessing

Jesus Christ, our only Savior;
Suffering pains no tongue can tell;
Turning away God's wrath forever;
Saving His saints from the pains of hell.

To remind us and to save us;
With His life, the quickening flood;
His flesh that He then gave us;
With His wine -His precious blood.

Praise the Father, God in Heaven;
Who gave over to death His Son;
To pay and to defend us
From our misdeeds we do and have done.

Christ calls to the heavy-laden;
Those not yet strong,or not yet well;
He'll make the weary hearts gladden;
Despise the best physician's skill.

No one can earn their own salvation;
Or this feast that is spread for me;
Useless is my own death and passion;
Unless my Holy Helper it is He.

If you believe this Gospel truly;
Then as a welcome Guest you'll be;
All your confessions He makes holy;
While His Feast is spread for me.

The Eternity of Music

In tracing of unnumbered years
They traverse time unknown
Someone pauses, faintly hears
A singing sweet, now gone

Straining far to hear the sound
Of song-wisps drifting by
Tenderly twirling and turning around
With fingers that fade and fly

O Music! Delight of our soul and living!
From whence you came far away
Make my life full and for giving
Be here, I cannot stay

The echoes of past I bare recall
Resounds through time and space
Each step laid down, with each footfall
Upon each point and place

The music I hear, and now I make
It passes beat by beat
Note by note shall soon awake
Its counterpoint shall meet

Blended into musical time
Unspeakable beauty to name
All thoughts transcend, and all sublime
Returning to whence it came

Within the heart of music true
Are infinite wonders to bear
The start from which it will ensue
The end to bring it there

The end is but the start of all
The start the start of the end
The starting notes are yet the call
The late notes are to send

In living, in giving, in all life receiving
Each person plays part of a song
In singing, in sounding, in music believing
Each moment its part to belong

He beckons with an open hand
Sweetly his song is sung
In words that none can understand
Nor hear from his own tongue

Pouring forth from deep to deep
In sounds both light and bright
Melody notes that leap and leap
In depths from height to height

Sounding and resounding more
Reverb’rates eternally long
The words to sing were sung before
More singing infinity’s song

The cosmos far its edge to reach
There time may run its end
All our knowing, all our speech
Around us comes to bend

Infinite depths we yet can sound
Eternity no limit knows
The world his music makes it round
Endlessly song echoes

Once the music had been sung
Across ten thousand years
In faintest strains o’er us is hung
Soft melody sounds he hears

Strain we may to hear each word
Transcending space and time
None by him are left unheard
All perfect in rhythm and rhyme

The Visitation

Blow the trumpets in Zion, blow;
Sound an alarm throughout the land.
Let all the people quake with fear
Until all hear and understand.

A day of gloominess and dread,
Dark as the deepest day or night;
One where only meteors shine;
As mist upon the mountain spread.

Destruction from the Lord has come.
Look! He is an avenging sword;
Who sent His hostile armies forth:
The terrible day of the Lord.

Look at His Word, the embattled power;
A flame is kindled by their fears;
Plagues, famines, hate, and swords have joined;
His fire before their face devours.

Before their face as Eden blooms,
Lays the pleasant landscape to waste.
No more the seat of joy and peace;
Their breath, the paradise consumes.

Four horsemen harnessed for the fight;
Loud rattling's were never far.
Light over the mountain top they bound,
Borne headlong with restless might.

1 John 4:7
King James Version

"Beloved, let us love one another:
for love is of God; and every one
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God."

Awake My Heart with Gladness

Awake my heart with humble gladness.
See what our Lord has done today.
How after gloom and solemn sadness
Comes forth the Bright Son where He laid.

By the grave, they thought they had killed Him;
Holding a pompous jubilee;
Before the women could attend Him,
Jesus Christ once more was free!

Upon the grave there stands The Hero;
Looking around without the foe.
No more withstanding from below
As God's banner forever blows.;

A sight it is to bring more gladness;
To fill the Apostles' hearts with glee;
No more fright or hysteric sadness;
His precious Love is forever free.

Hell and its' loathsome prince, the Devil;
His powers and controls now torn;
Now I am safe from all that's evil
No matter how he rages and storms.

The world against me will rages;
Even though its' fury I disdain.
Though bitter war Satan still wages,
His demonic works are all in vain.

My heart, from care, is forever free;
Misfortune will no longer stay;
No trouble will ever trouble me;
Night is no longer night, its' day

I hold forever to my Savior;
He promises He will never leave.
Whatever my life must travel through;
To His Strength I will ever cleave.

To the halls of heavenly splendor;
In my heart He will penetrate.
No enemy will I ever fear;
No reason to hesitate.

He'll bring me to His Heavenly Portal
That opens into eternal bliss.
Then and there I'll be immortal;
With no more fears of the abyss.

My God this Night

All praise to you my God this night;
Beneath Your own wings;
For all your blessings of Your Light;
Until I live with You my King.

Forgive me God for Your dear Son:
The world, the Pharisees, and me;
The ills that I have this day have done,
You bled for me so Your peace may be.

Teach me to live, my Exalted Head!
Teach me to die so I may lay
In my grave as little as my bed;
Rising at the Judgement day.

When in the night I sleeplessly lie;
Let no ill dreams disturb my rest;
Nor, my soul with fearsome thoughts supply;
Nor, powers of darkness will molest.

Oh when shall I, in endless days,
With hymns divine with angels sing
Forever chase dark sleep away
While praising You Eternal King?

Pray Now

In the moment of rage, I prayed
God helped me through somehow
For He has never failed me yet
Draws me near when my knees bow.

Pray now through the unthinkable
Knowing His Grace is sufficient
God understands our unbelief
We were born to be deficient.

Fearful, naked and screaming, but
Unto life more precious than gold
The Father God prepared the way
For a heart He longs to mold.

Pray now through the unthinkable
Do not meander until tomorrow
Or embrace this chaotic diversion
Then bend to a weighty sorrow.

Pour yourself out and surrender
In humility you feel His Grace
Not to do great things, no
But to stand in a Holy place.

Where He will give you strength
To overcome not questioning how
Fall down be filled with His Glory
Then pray, pray, pray, pray now…

Psalm 73:26
"My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart
And my portion forever."

Revival

Revival

My Beloved Mother had a vineyard

On a very fruitful hill

She dug it up and cleared its stones

According to her will

She planted with the choicest vines

And built a tower, too

She made a wine press for the grapes

But good grapes never grew

No matter what she did for it

The constant care she showed

Instead of fruit that she could use

The wild grapes would grow

So she broke down all the walls

And let the outside in

To trample down and lay it waste

To never grow again

Can you see the parallel

To where we are today?

God has blessed us for so long

And we've gone so astray!

Lord God, forgive Your fruitless vines!

And grant us a new start

Help us produce the best of grapes

Within our hardened hearts

Oh, Lord, hear! Oh, Lord, forgive!

Oh, Lord, relight the fire!

Revive Your Church and make of us

A people You desire.

Oh, Lord, we throw ourselves on You,

Helpless without Your hand

Break up our rocky, fallow ground

And heal our sinful land.