HYMN

Blest Holy Spirit, sent from Christ in heaven
To those who own Him as their Lord and King,
We praise Thee for the power that we are given
To move us, to Thyself, to laud and sing:
Spirit of Jesus, sent from above,
To shed out freely, within our hearts, God's love.

How low the place that Thou, in grace, hast taken
In humble love to help us praise before
Him who, for us, was once alone, forsaken;
Through Thee we now would worship and adore:
Spirit of Jesus, sent from above,
To shed out freely, within our hearts, God's love.


You'll get a tune at:
http://www.hidwithhim.net/tunes/531g.mid

This must be one of my earliest hymns.

THRONES

(Rev 3: 21)
What worthy accolade can we give
The Overcomer? None; it is beyond us.
But - blessed be His Name - the Father
Has made room for Him on His throne.

He awaits the Father's time, when He
Will take His own throne. There He will reign
One thousand years, the Ruler among men -
Just - as a priest upon a throne.

(1 Cor 15: 20-28)
And when the Son gives up the kingdom
To Him who is God and Father, and is placed
In subjection - will that diminish His glory?
No; it will, rather, glorify subjection.

30/12/09

RISEN!

Death could not long within its clasp confine
The glorious Man who is the Prince of Life;
The Righteous One by His inherent right
Stopped and rolled back the ever‑conquering tide;
The Father's glory in its exultant might
Raised Him who is the Father's chief delight.
Death is no foe in this triumphant time
And he who wielded it is undermined,
His kingdom broken and broken too his pride.
The Lord is risen ‑ who lately man reviled;
The Lord is risen ‑ the Victor in the strife;
The Lord is risen ‑ His conquest has sufficed.

GRAVE

If men appointed His grave with wicked men
God intervened to utilise reserves:
Pilate would wonder on hearing Joseph beg
The holy body after a shameful death.
Under God's hand Joseph prepared the best,
Cared for the body in which God was expressed.
In his own tomb which he had hewn himself
He laid that body with loving tenderness;
Had an acquaintance come to Jerusalem
He would have judged that Joseph must be dead ‑
In principle he would have been correct:
For him remained no prospect on this earth.

THE CROSS

It was for me Christ hung upon the cross;
He made atonement for evil I had wrought
And bore my sins in poverty and loss;
Made sin for me He met God's righteous wrath;
He was my ransom and His own life the cost,
While by His precious blood I have been bought.
He died for me and ‑ oh amazing thought! -
The One who died is in His Person God.
For me He took the curse of broken law,
Reconciled me who otherwise was lost,
Shed precious blood to cleanse from every spot
And lives to be Deliverer and Lord.

MALEFACTOR

Those crucified with Him reproached Him too,
But one soul worked, God‑guided, towards the truth.
"Father, forgive them ‑ they know not what they do"
‑ Was that the word through which change was produced
So that the thief confessed death was his due
While Jesus was in every action good?
That Jesus was the Lord he also knew
And longed to see Christ's kingdom introduced.
The Lord did not delay the joyful news
That paradise followed what he endured:
But more than that He was the Saviour who
Would be with him, his righteousness secured.

CROWNS

What crowns have they awarded to my Lord
And who was it determined such awards?
Firstly the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns
To grace His head while He endured the cross;
Though innocent of hate they moved in scorn
Coarsely disposed merely to jeer and mock.
Threat nor complaint came from the Lord of all
Though by His word their breath could be recalled.
But finally another crown adorns
The One who brought to God more than He lost.
God has ensured He has His just reward ‑
Glory and honour bestowed on Him by God.

JUDGMENT SEAT

Earth has not known a more incongruous scene ‑
The Son of God before a judgment seat;
The Righteous One arraigned by wicked priests;
The glorious Lord apparently demeaned;
The crowd at war against the Prince of Peace;
The Just condemned; the guilty man released;
A governor debased to feebly plead;
His gentile wife owning Christ's righteous deeds
While Jews demand their own Messiah's grief.
Within this scene perfection is replete:
The Lamb of God moves humbly to complete
His sacrifice by which we have been healed.

THE MOUNT OF OLIVES

Where did He spend the hours of that last night?
The Mount of Olives where He had valued life
And with His Father had joy that was divine;
Gethsemane: there His will must collide
With Satan's will to swerve Him from the right.
Yet if there lay before Him hours of strife
And grief more fierce that any can indite
His soul recoiled but Christ would not resile.
The enemy might try each thwart device:
He could not touch the dignity of Christ.
Before fire touched the offering in the types
The water proved the sacrifice refined.

THE BREAD AND CUP

The Lord desired to be among His own
To give the comfort He only could afford.
Seated at Supper the Master took a loaf
Which, having blessed, before He passed, He broke.
"This is my body", His people often quote
Owning His rights where He had been disowned.
He blessed the cup giving it to denote
The precious blood which shortly would be poured.
Such was the depth of God's sublime resource
To demonstrate love in its broadest force;
Oh glorious giving by which we are restored:
Oh great memorial confirmed by Christ enthroned.

FEET WASHING

Knowing His hour had come, before the feast,
Christ loved His own with love that would not cease;
He was for them a friend and paraclete.
Conscious the Father appraised Him and was pleased
He rose to wash the twelve disciples feet.
How wonderful the glory of the scene ‑
The Lord of glory serving upon His knees.
If Peter jibbed His Master could reveal
The glorious thought each could have "part with Me"
While He regarded Peter as "wholly clean".
What He had done was more than one could speak:
Great love alone educed this means to teach.

SUPPER

As time drew on the Lord's disciples wondered
Where He would eat the feast as was His custom;
Peter and John selected from the others
He sent to find it and to prepare His Supper.
Simple directions He did not choose to utter
But careful words to prove that they were worthy.
They were to meet a person laden under
An earthen pitcher as necessary turning,
Accepting thus a spiritual adjustment.
Arriving at the house that he would come to
They were to tell the master what Jesus wanted
And he would show them a large room, ready, furnished.

INVOCATION

Before our vision the time approaches now
When for our lost condition His head must bow!
O Holy Spirit, guide me as I recount
The solemn actions, the holy solemn hours;
Feed me upon it and fill me with its power,
Teach me right feelings and let them be aroused,
And give expression that's lovingly endowed;
Exalt the Saviour increasing His renown,
Expand His glory and let it be announced:
While I inhabit "this tabernacle house"
Pray that Christ's splendour be radiated out
And help in keeping vows that in Thee are vowed.

INFLUENCE

Distressed and storm-tossed seamen found a berth,
And hungry found an answer to their dearth,
Under the influence of the Son of God
Rejected and a pilgrim on the earth.

The savage man sat calmly at His feet;
The stricken woman's healing was complete;
The girl was raised - and given food to eat
Under the influence of the Son of God.

Under the influence of the Son of God
The eunuch went upon his happy way,
The Pharisee was brought from night to day,
And Gentiles yielded to the Spirit's sway.

God will secure Himself a universe
Under the influence of the Son of God
Where His enjoyed affections will immerse
His world, expelling all that is diverse.

12/09

WIT'S END

"at wit's end you will
find God beyond it - the God
of resurrection"


Picked our from a letter of G V Wigram

SATISFIED

When Man and Woman
Were thrust from the garden
The justice of God
Was satisfied.

When Christ walked on this earth
Serving in perfection
The glory of God
Was satisfied.

And when He bore our sins,
Made sin for us,
The righteousness of God
Was satisfied.

Throughout a dispensation
Of the Spirit and of faith
The grace of God
Has been satisfied.

He will rest in His love;
He will exult over thee with singing:
The love of God
Will be satisfied.

Zephaniah 3: 17

PLACE

He has gone to prepare
A place.

He will receive us to
That place.

His Spirit brings light from
The place.

He will rejoice to share
His place.

15/12/09

LIGHT

Stars in the darkness -
What heaven's delight to see
Saints active in faith before
The dispensation of faith
Had begun!

Full sunlight!
When the Sun was here,
Perfect in manhood,
Perfect in service,
Perfect in His atoning work.
What heaven's delight!

A filament of light,
This network of saints
Electrified by God's Spirit -
What heaven's delight
In a lucent dispensation!

28/11/09

HOLY SPIRIT

We know what God has thought
In love, through revelation,
By Thee, blest Spirit.

We find we have been taught
Divine communication
By Thee, blest Spirit.

We see these things inwrought
In spiritual formation
By Thee, blest Spirit.

6/12/09

27/10/04

The eternal God
Has worked in time, to achieve
Eternal results.

26/10/04

My cerebellum
- Is it? - which stealthily keeps
My organs serving.

25/10/04

In my body’s cells
Keen mitochondria turn
Food to energy.

24/10/04

Jesus has promised
“I am with you all the days...”
And keeps His promise.


Just back from a couple of days working in London - I'll catch up with a few things tomorrow, if the Lord will!

23/10/04

The beautiful hues
Of the rainbow show that God
Loves variety.

22/10/04

God loves me because
Of what He is, and because
Of what He’s made me.

21/10/04

Let me name a few -
Kelly, Chater, Willey, Deck -
Assembly psalmists.


You'll get examples at http://goodteaching.org/hymn/index.php

20/10/04

In ocean darkness
Delicate life participates
In earth’s symphony.

19/10/04

Pure in its whiteness,
Silk-cool, it is redolent
Of motherliness.



Time for a few more "Blessings"; for those who don't know: on my fiftieth birthday I was told to count my blessings - while I still could. So I counted a blessing for every day until my next birthday. If you go to: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/blessings/7098835 you can buy them. Or just email me and I'll send a copy. If you enjoy them please say so on Lulu.

FROM "TO GISLEBERTUS"

Did I ever go over with you my notion

Of the ideal village, such as will inhabit

The world to come?  These are the archetypes

Which would dwell there: firstly, the priest,

For I understand that priests on earth

Will officiate again.  Then the head man,

To a Scot, the Laird.  Under the shepherding

Of these two will be the ploughman or peasant,

Garnering abundance; the shepherd or fisher,

Folding abundance; and the soldier or sailor,

Wars now over, pensioner of the abundance.

There will be the pilgrim, the village’s journeyer

To Jerusalem – for the nations will flow to it.

Finally the poet, or psalmist, or bard.  

From this developed the custom of testing

Persons against the archetypes.  King David

Or King Charles, James Graham

Or Jacob – Rosalie, and Marina and me:

We have all been measured against this standard.   



And since perfection in manhood is Christ

These have been measured rather against

Him. If He is priest we have to expand the title

To Great Priest, for the quality of His priestliness,

To High Priest, for the dignity of His priesthood,

And for the scope of His service – Minister

Of the holy places.  To whom else could belong

The title, Prince of the princes of the Levites!   



And He is Lord of all; certainly because

Of who His is in those other dimensions

He is at home in, but because, too,

Of His worth, of His walk and of

His achievements.   He has displayed Himself as Sower – but all

Of the landsman’s crafts have correspondence

In the Lord’s activities; but He has exceeded

By graciously broadcasting seed irrespective

Of the quality of the ground.                                



As shepherd The Good Shepherd has expended His vigour

For us, and deliberately offered Himself;

As the Great Shepherd has forged through death

A path for us; and as Chief Shepherd engaged

Shepherds for our good.                          



But who is conqueror

Like Christ?  That constrictor death, and that

Venomous serpent Satan both dungen:

Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro!   



Someone questioned my referring to Christ

As a pilgrim.  To me a pilgrim is a person

With an objective – and who fulfils the description

As fully as Christ?  For He came from the heart

Of God to the cross and pioneered for us the path

From the cross to the heart of God. 

                                        But what

Of psalmist?  Each production of the range

Of poet and hymn-writer from Pentecost -

And the ancient psalmists and prophets – were makars

At the hand of the great Maker.



"To Gislebertus" was a bit of a blog before blogs had begun.  Not all 

of the snippets from it are so positive!