GRACE - Auto Psalm

 

Once I was a gas-guzzler, belching fumes:

Grace has converted me to solar power.

I wandered through side-roads and cul-de-sacs:

Now grace gives satellite navigation.

My windscreen was translucent and shattered:

Grace replaced it, and broadened my vision.

My brakes could not restrain my headlong course:

Discs, pads, and fluid – grace replaced them all.

For my overheating engines and gears

Grace has abundance of coolant.

Newbattle Abbey: The abbey became a stately home, and then a college for adults returning to education.  My father had a couple of weeks here when in the Non-combatant Corps.  The poet Edwin Muir was warden, and the poet George Mackay Brown a student.

THE FATHER'S GRACE by J N Darby

             

Father, in Thine eternal power,
Thy grace and majesty divine,
No soul, in this weak mortal hour,
Can grasp the glory that is Thine!


E'en in its thoughts of sovereign grace
It leaves us all far, far behind;
The love that gives with Christ a place
Surpasses our poor feeble mind.


And yet that love is not unknown
To those who have the Saviour seen;
Nor strange to those He calls His own –
Pilgrims in scenes where He has been.


In Him Thy perfect love, revealed,
Has led our hearts that love to trace
Where nothing of that love's concealed,
But meets us in our lowly place.


But grace, the source of all our hope,
From Thine eternal nature flows;
Could to our lost condition stoop,
And now through Christ no hindrance knows;


Has flowed in fullest streams below,
And opened to our hearts the place
Where, in its ripened fruits, we'll know
The eternal blessings of that grace.


And here we walk, as sons through grace,
A Father's love our present joy;
Sons, in the brightness of Thy face,
Find rest no sorrows can destroy.


Nor is the comfort of Thy love,
In which we "Abba, Father" cry,
The only blessing that we prove:
Because that love is ever nigh,


A holy Father's constant care
Keeps watch, with an unwearying eye,
To see what fruits His children bear,
Fruits that may suit their calling high;


Takes ever knowledge of our state –
What dims communion with His love,
Might check our growth or separate
Our hearts from what's revealed above.


Oh, wondrous Love, that ne'er forgets
The object of its tender care;
May chasten still, while sin besets,
To warn and guard them where they are;


But ne'er forgets, but feeds them still
With tokens of His tender love;
Will keep till, freed from every ill,
They find their rest with Him above.


Oh, wondrous, infinite, divine!
Keep near, my soul, to that blest place,
Where all those heavenly glories shine
Which suit the brightness of His face.


Oh, lowliness, how feebly known,
That meets the grace that gave the Son!
That waits, to serve Him as His own,
Till grace what grace began shall crown!

1879


Looking south to the Moorfoot Hills from the Bing (a coal spoil heap near home now landscaped).

GRACE - Computer Psalm(!)

I had crashed like all other computers

But the mercy of God rebooted me.

Though my programmes were incompatible

He has linked me in grace to a mainframe.

Grace gave me a new hard-drive and software –

All I wait for is an upgraded screen.

Seeing my limited applications

It gave me richer functionality.

Where I had been merely a stand-alone

Grace connected me to a world wide web.

Swans and cygnets (last summer)

O GOD OF GRACE by G Gilpin

O God of grace, our Father,

All praise we give to Thee;

'Tis in Thy sovereign favour

All blessedness we see;

There only is the fountain

Whence living waters flow,

Which like a glorious river

Still gladden as they go.

 

As Thine Thou didst foreknow us

From all eternity;

Thy chosen, loved ones, ever

Kept present to Thine eye;

And when was come the moment,

Thou, calling by Thy grace,

Didst gently, firmly draw us

Each from his hiding-place.

 

Thy word, Thyself reflecting,

Doth sanctify by truth,

Still leading on Thy loved ones

With gentle, heav'nly growth.

Thus still the work proceedeth

(The work begun by grace)

In each, made meet, yet training,

To dwell before Thy face.

 

The Great Cumbrae Ferry

 

GRACE by Philip Doddridge

Grace! 'tis a charming sound

Harmonious to my ear;

Heaven with the echo shall resound,

And all the earth shall hear.

 Grace first contrived the way

To save rebellious man;

And all the steps that grace display

Which drew the wondrous plan.

Grace taught my wandering feet

To tread the heavenly road;

And new supplies each hour I meet,

While pressing on to God.

Grace all the works shall crown,

Through everlasting days;

It lays in heaven the topmost stone,

And well deserves the praise.

(Philip Doddridge 1702-1751)

Near Millport on Great Cumbrae

THE GRACE OF OUR LORD

(1 Timothy 1: 14)

He did not wreak upon me His holy judgment

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

He looked on me kindly, despite my condition

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners"

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

He came to give Himself "a ransom for many"

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

He displayed on earth manhood according to God

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

And showed God's kindness to those who were poor and sick

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

Thus He set His face to go to Jerusalem

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

Although He knew He would suffer man's rejection

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

And "He bore our sins in His body on the tree"

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

Death was upon me, but Christ took that penalty

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

He shed His precious blood for remission of sins

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

He was buried to remove the offending man

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

Then Jesus was raised for our justification

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

And took His place above to intercede for us

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

The Holy Spirit came to restrain evil

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

And to shed abroad in our hearts the love of God

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

Soon the Lord is coming to conform us to Himself

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

Let the redeemed give glory to the Redeemer

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

Let the sanctified exalt the Sanctifier

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded";

Let us rejoice in the God of our salvation

For "the grace of our Lord surpassingly over-abounded"!

January 30, 2011

I've just put a post on my other blog: https://dcbbackground.blogspot.com/

DIVINE GRACE by Stanley Drever

 From the heights of glory the message comes

    Of how God has come near to men

For the worlds were made by the blessed One

    Who came into manhood then.

So in full devotion to God's own will

    Christ His beautiful pathway trod

Till His prayer, so poignant and moving, spoke

    Of His sacrifice to God.

And the One who died on that shameful tree

    At the place known as Calvary

Was the One who fashioned the starry sky - 

    Yet He gave Himself for me!

From the grave triumphant the Saviour came

    And ascended to God's right hand

Where He's given a name above every name - 

    Soon He'll greet His ransomed band!

Oh would you, friend, share in His glory there

    And there lay at His feet your crown?

Just surrender all to the Saviour's thrall - 

    He, for you, in grace, came down.

In His precious blood that was shed for sins

    Put your trust - learn His present love;

And repenting sinners communion keep

    Till we see His face above.

Stanley Drever, also now with Christ, was local in Calgary in Canada.

Still around Great Cumbrae, with the isle of Arran across the water.

"GRACE UPON GRACE" by G Allan Brown

 "Grace upon grace" with constancy unceasing

Those mighty billows ever onward roll;

Their power and might and impulse ne'er decreasing

With joy and calm supreme o'erflood the soul.

"Grace upon grace" whate'er the trials around us,

Though desolate the vale of Baca be,

Fulness divine and endless grace surround us -

Compassed about by love's unmeasured sea.

O Lord, 'tis grace, Thy grace which now preserves us;

Its deep unplumbed our souls shall never know;

Yet this we know, that grace unceasing serves us

And keeps us near to Thee while here below.

We stand upon the fringe of that vast ocean,

'Tis here the breakers seem to stronger beat,

'Tis at the edge we feel the stronger motion,

'Tis here that grace our frailties doth meet.

Ere long we shall with Thee enjoy the fulness

Of that unfathomed tide, in heaven above.

We soon shall bask in wondrous love and nearness

And live eternally, immersed in love!

Around Great Cumbrae