Saturday 30 July 2022

BETHEL

 

Genesis 28 & 37


The place made Jacob's flesh recoil
In face of things which were divine;
Yet, if he first poured only oil
Returning he poured oil and wine.

The Spirit graciously portrays
Himself as substance to deploy
To honour God and as God's ways
Adjust our souls we give God joy.

And substance whereby God anoints
The saints He chooses to refine
To fill the places He appoints,
Whose hearts are glad, and faces shine.






The standing stones of Callanish

Thursday 28 July 2022

JACOB AT BETHEL by Lucy Hutchinson

Order and Disorder 19 from line 65:

 

Such in his desolate lodging Jacob found

Who sees the ladder standing on the ground,

The  top up to high heaven advanced, from whence

The angels waiting on God's providence

Perpetually in thick troops made descent

And back to heaven by the same steps went:

To heaven where his penetrating sight

Beheld the glorious uncreated light

Where are the ladder's top Jehovah stood

And thus His lasting promises renewed:

'I am that God whom Abraham did before,

And since, thy father Isaac did adore.

The land on which thou liest, I have decreed

To give unto thee and thy blessed seed

Which I will make as numerous as the sands,

Dilate to the east, west, north, and southern lands.

Blessings unto the whole earth's families

From thee and thy successors shall arise.

Lo, I am with thee and in every place

Where'er thou goest will be thy guard; my grace

Shall thee in all thy wandering sustain

And to this land conduct thee back again.

Till all my promises accomplished be

I will in no distress abandon thee.'














Friday 22 July 2022

O PRAISE THE SAVIOUR FOR HIS LOVE V





O praise the Saviour for His love –
But what is love? Touching the sick,
Weeping with the bereaved, feeding the hungry,
Washing the disciples’ feet; submitting
To swords and bonds; going alone
To face the cross. And going alone
To the Father’s house to prepare a dwelling
For us. And desiring the presence of His own.
What is love? All that the Saviour
Showed to us, and shows us still.

 

Friday 15 July 2022

O PRAISE THE SAVIOUR FOR HIS LOVE IV

 




O praise the Saviour
For His love ...

Is a husbandly love
Pleading with his unfaithful spouse;

Is a fatherly love
Gently taking my hand to help me walk;

Is an observant love
Rejoicing to see fruit ripen;

Is an alluring love
That speaks from His heart to ours.




Tuesday 12 July 2022

O PRAISE THE SAVIOUR FOR HIS LOVE III

 III

O praise the Saviour for His love
That has displayed heaven’s fulness.
Bless Him since He has descended
To demonstrate the heart of God.
He came into the world to die
And He came to fulfil God’s will.
How love shone at Golgotha’s cross!
How love shines in His present care!








Thursday 7 July 2022

O praise the Savior for His love (II)

 Triolet

O praise the Saviour for His love
That took Him to a world of strife
Where humans elbow, kick and shove.
O praise the Saviour for His love
That came from peaceful scenes above
And caused Him to lay down His life.
O praise the Saviour for His love
That took Him to a world of strife.








Sunday 3 July 2022

Oh praise the Saviour for His love

Oh praise the Saviour for His love

Which made Him take on blood and flesh,

As come from realms which are above,

To bring men back to God afresh.


Love brought Him to a world of sin

Which held men in captivity;

He worked in grace to bring men in

To righteousness and liberty.


Love led the Saviour to the tree

To bear sin’s judgement and atone

That sinners might be just and free,

Secured by Christ to be His own.


Victorious through all He endured

He sits upon the throne above:

We sing, as those He has secured,

“Oh praise the Saviour for His love!”


The first line is the first line of a fine hymn - that is suitable for a burial. I wanted to make it use it more broadly, since it is a very fine line. If the Lord will I will put other variations of this on in the next few days.







Friday 1 July 2022

NIMROD by Hester Pulter

When mighty 
Nimrod
, hunting after fame,
Built this huge 
fabric
 to get him a 
name
(Fearing another 
deluge
 might o’erflow,
And all man’s petty projects overthrow),
With slime and brick, instead of lime and stone,
He meant to reach unto God’s glorious throne.
O, vain! To think by those terrestrial towers
They
 could ascend 
super-celestial
bowers
,
Foolishly dreaming their dim mortal sight
Could view invisible, inaccessible light!
From this the 
fiction of the giants
 rose,
When they th’Olympic deities oppose;
Then fierce 
Egeous
 scorned Jove’s 
thunderstocks
,
When at his head he threw a hundred rocks;
Like molehills, mountain upon mountains hailed.
Thus, most presumptuously, 
they
 Heaven scaled,
Till thunder 
routed
 this rebellious crew.
So let usurping Nimrods have their due:
Let their accurséd plots prove their delusion;
For fancied glory, let them find confusion.
But from presumption, Lord preserve my soul,
That
 in thy mercy I may safely 
roll
,
Resting in Christ, that blesséd 
cornerstone
;
Then by his steps I’ll mount his glorious throne.






The weather in Lewis was amazing.  Peat cuttings in the last picture.