JACOB

More than a mother's love,
A divine secret,
Moved Rebecca to discern
Jacob was loveable.

"What was torn I have not
Brought to thee", Jacob attested,
The words of a man
Who did justly.

Renamed, after his wrestling,
And his maiming
He, Israel, could walk as one
Of God's nobility.

To approach God's house
- "Put away the strange gods ...
And cleanse yourselves" -
Demanded purity.

After the byways, 
Skewed routes, now
Leaning on his staff,
A true worshipper.

 

ACROSTIC PSALM

1.Abundant mercy has answered my need;
Abundant grace has given me a home.
2.Blessing was in God’s heart for wilful me;
Blessing is in my heart, put there by God.
3.Come to the earth the Saviour showed mercy,
Mercy is free since He went into death.
4.Death was the dominant power against me;
Love has acted to break that dominion.
5.Every day pressure surround man’s pathway;
Saints are succoured by great loving-kindness.
6.Faith gives us access into God’s favour;
Love gives us favour in the Beloved.
7.Grace has given me a place in glory –
Glory will accrue to the God of grace.
8.Heaven is my home through the Lord’s goodness –
How can I count His manifold blessings?
9.I was going astray like a lost sheep:
His goodness has led me to repentance.
10.Just as I am He poured mercy on me;
Just as He is He brought me into grace.
11.Kindness of God wished to make me at home
As David wished to bless Mephibosheth.
12.Love never fails, love is patient and kind;
And Jesus Christ never fails to show love.
13.Many waters cannot quench love, Christ proved;
The love which triumphed is now free to bless.
14.No one can challenge God’s rights in mercy
Nor cavil at the actions of His grace.
15.Outstretched arms are towards us in blessing;
Underneath us are everlasting arms.
16.Perilous seas cannot overwhelm me
Since I am buoyed by god’s loving-kindness.
17.Quietness pervades the people of God
Who rest in the Lord’s goodness and favour.
18.Redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus
We glory in the grace that redeemed us.
19.Sustained daily by His loving-kindness
We wait for redemption of the body.
20.Travellers on crooked paths find straight roads
As love accompanies and protects them.
21.Unworthy of life since we were sinners
We have received mercy through Jesus Christ.
22.Victory appertains to Him alone
But grace allows us to share it with Him.
23.Worthiness belongs to Jesus alone
But love allows us to share it with Him.
24.Xenophobic Jews and Greeks are made one
For love at the cross smashed the middle wall.
25.Youths and maidens faint and the old languish
But God in His kindness revives us all.
26.Zealously sing praise to God and the Lord
By whom we have blessing, favour and love.

MEPHIBOSHETH

How good it is that Christ has shown
Himself as model for His own
Through suffering and death;
But too He gave a model in
A person not immune to sin:
His saint, Mephibosheth.

"In word" he witnessed that his place
Depended on the sovereign grace
Which was so welcoming:
'What further right therefore have I -
And for what purpose should I cry
For more unto the king?'.

"In conduct" in humility
By which he showed the loyalty
With which his spirit burned;
If rebels ruled Jerusalem
His deeds would give no place for them
Until the king returned.

"In love" which hastened to accord
The true place to his absent lord
Despite the world's disdain;
"In love" which would not make a claim
For self, but honoured David's name
When he had come again.

"In faith" that waited on God's will
In days of fortitude until
The king returned in peace;
"In purity", recoiling from
The world that followed Absolom
Until God brought release.

A wisdom which is glorious
Portrayed Mephibosheth to us
For us to imitate:
Blest Spirit, may we learn this grace
Until the time we see the face
We eagerly await. 

UGLY

Babirusa, boar,

Warthog - The Lord made all things

Darksome and ugly!

ANSWERS

I need redemption - where can it be found?
“Through His own blood”: there is no other ground.

I need forgiveness - and I can be led
To know it since the Saviour’s blood was shed.

I need peace here, where sins and conscience toss;
God made peace through the blood of Jesus’ cross.

And reconciliation is required -
God reconciled me since His Son expired.

I wish that sin and flesh in me had died -
It is with Christ that I am crucified.

STATE

The eternal state -

Embrace of intimacy

Between God and men!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Off to India for two weeks - so probably won't be posting!

EPIC

IX

The whole world is one ICU

And the God of grace
Sprinkles over it His blessing.
 
So she discovered
By the constant experience of
His intensive care.
 
Confident under His hand
She knew His care would always tell,
“I see you”.





(This concludes the epic ...)

EPIC

     VIII

 

So she waits now,
Waits and prays,
Doggedly loving,
Doggedly hanging on,
Remembering the day of espousals
The day of gladness of heart:
Faithful unto
Life.

EPIC

            VII
 
Well, there was a brown dog
That she took as God's blessing,
Who loved her doggedly.
 
But did the man
Who should have loved
See only the changes?
 
Her frame, like a shaken home;
Her mind, its components reordered;
Her speech fragmented;
Her love constant, womanly.
 
And over all
The Observer of men
Who loved her divinely.
 






If I shouldn't go on, tell me.

EPIC

    VI

Firstly her sensory perception

Betrayed her; he eyes' witness
Warped in her brain.
 
So the brain betrayed
The body, thwarting its need
For food.
 
Mirrors and scales, once
Friends and helps, joined
The betrayal.
 
Was it the brain or the blood
Enacted that betrayal,
Her stroke?
 
Those dependable legs
Betrayed her torso
Into collapse.
 
Faculties of speech
And thought, sight,
Betrayed her too.

But was that stalwart,

Her husband, seeing this shattering,
Truly her betrayer?
 
Or did she betray herself
By releasing the old demon
Unwantedness?

Who would stand to her?

 

 

 

 

 

EPIC

   V

 

Human joy
Will last for a little;
the sorrow
Goes on.
 
But if there are two the sorrow
Is share; the burden
Lightened.
 
Yet for some sorrow
To have a partner in it
Doubles the sorrow.
 
So she could be a crutch
To his illness; he a sling
In her bereavements.
 
But the hunger, the craving,
The childlessness meant
Two sorrows to them.

But there was an inkling
Of a Third to share with:
For she prayed.

EPIC

  IV

But celebrate young love -

Lovebirds,
Love at first sight,
Love's young dream:
Ring out the clichés.
 
But now
The rejected
was accepted;
The unwanted
was wanted.
 

For marriage was God's thought

Before it was ours.

EPIC

   III

So there she – a teenage girl – was:

A boat loosed from its moorings,
Its timbers warped,
With a dangerous cargo.

For while a sister's

Responsibility gave a harbour:
A little repair, painting,
Sorting of the freight

Not enough: cast out
Into the world's oceans without
A known port.  (The Saviour
She did not yet know was too
Outcast.)

Strangers provided

An unknown port – then
Commandeered; gay paint
And bunting could not disguise
The water-logging,
The volatile loading.

Still the lodestar

By which she had not yet learned
To navigate
Shone upon her.

EPIC

         II
 

Wounded by the failed abortion,

Of which she was yet unaware,
She grew in a nest wedged
Between a rotting branch
And a leaning ivy.

Yet a poor father is still

A father – even when distant
In a penitentiary; how good
That over all, secretly, watched
One she would know as Father.

The branch broke,

The ivy collapsed.  But soon
Grew to a new bole
On which to lean.  Slowly its
Branches spread over our heroine,
Its leafs shaded; it became home.

Serpents struck.  The green camouflage

Wilted before her.  The abuse
Left her soul gravid with
A cancer of evil cells
Replicating confusion.

That pathetic ivy granted

No shade, no hiding place,
Meagre refreshment.
It clung to the false tree.

The Observer of men

Observed.  He understood -
He waited – in divine wisdom.




Post more, or delete? - up to you. 

EPIC

   I

So she grew
In the normalcy of
The womb,
Cell by cell bifurcating
In nature and God's way,
The identical cells differentiating
To be seed of the growing organs.

What futures were possible
She did not know; what melding
Of human potential:
Peasant or poet,
Shepherd and soldier,
Tramp, priest,
Princess.

Clung to the womb-wall, nearest
To Eden -
The serpent is at her! No
Subtlety of seduction, like Eve,
But the bitter chemical assault.

That bitter tide
Strives to detach her
From the womb-wall;
Blood that fed her
Becomes her enemy:
Will she hold?

Seaweed clings to the rock,

Depends on the rock
As the tide
Drives it.  Fronds
Swill in eddies, retreat,
Advance;
Hold.

She held.

Through her tenacity,
Through grace of God,
Our heroine held.

For was that womb her

Beginning?  Before time was
She had been the choice of
One she would come to know as
Father: and chosen in Christ.

What bitter chemicals had

Assaulted her? The alembic had held
A father's anger and selfishness,
Pinches of pride and desperation:
A large dose of female weakness.
 
So her birth delivered her to the care
Of a weak mother and selfish father
As a failed reject in the world
That rejected the Son of God.




Do I go on? Or is this already too much?

TRINITY

Our Heavenly Father
Measures blessing and chastening
With Fatherly care.

Before the Father
Stands our High Priest and Patron
Pleading His own work.

The Spirit of God
Guides and comforts, and links us
With heaven’s glory.

SUN

Since He accomplished all the redeeming work

And since it is the right of His own worth

The Lord is set on the Father's throne above:

In that position Christ Jesus is the hub

Of a new system to which He is the Sun -   

He orders each in his own orbit's curve.

If we are true no influence will perturb

No falling star will move us or disrupt

But we shall share the benefits of love:

To gain His light where once we had been dull,

To gain His warmth where bitter frosts occurred,

To gain His peace which nothing can disturb.

HYMN

We worship Thee, Lord Jesus,
The everlasting One;
As He who had existence
Before time had begun,
"Over all God", we gladly fall
Before Thee, Maker of us all.

We bow to Thee, Lord Jesus;
Thou art Emmanuel:
Come down to serve in manhood
And thus do all things well.
Thy glories as the Firstborn shine
With power and grace that are divine.

We praise Thy Name, Lord Jesus,
For all Thou has achieved;
Thou hast secured the blessings
Thy brethren have received;
How great this is - but, greater still,
Thou hast accomplished all God's will .

Lord Jesus, we adore Thee
For what Thou dost, and art,
Thou art the assembly's Object
To satisfy her heart.
Enraptured by Thy grace and charms
Thy bride is resting in Thine arms.




You'll find a tune for this here.

THE GLAD TIDINGS ...

The glad tidings light
Exposes all that has been
Accomplished by Christ.

WHAT ...

What a Friend the sinner has in Jesus
Who will take his burdens all away;
He endured the distance and the darkness
That we might be brought into the day.

What a Lord the Christian has in Jesus
Who is seated on the Father's throne;
From that place He gave the Holy Spirit
And gives grace which cherishes His own.

What a Son the Father has in Jesus
Who was always pleasing in His sight;
Through His worth and all He has accomplished
God eternally will have delight.

RIGHTEOUSNESS

The sun darkened:
There, at Golgotha,
Righteousness was accomplished.

The sun risen:
In the garden, testimony
To accomplished righteousness.

The sun in its firmament:
Accomplished righteousness
Celebrated in ascension.

RESPOND

Owning the majesty
Of the eternal One,
The I AM,
Worship.

Seeing the glorious Man,
Accomplisher of God's will,
Made Lord and Christ,
Do homage.

Knowing the greatness
Of His victory, the nobility
Of His manhood
Praise Him.

Captivated by the charm
Of His loveliness; enraptured
By His warm embrace
Love Him.

JUST

There He is set down, our Advocate,
Pleading His greater accomplishment:
Jesus Christ
The
Righteous.

There in the heavens
Is the Accomplisher
Who has been made
To us
Righteousness.

But we are here
Fruit of His accomplishing,
Through His bitterness,
God's righteousness
In
Him.

I'm following a line of thought of Christ as Accomplisher in poems reposted over the last few days.

OPENED HEAVENS

Heaven had observed
Thirty secret years; perfection
In a Man.  Heaven saw
The Accomplisher of righteousness
Baptised.  Confident in Him,
And what He would achieve, the heavens
Were opened to Him.

That Man now stood, glorified:
Accomplished righteousness, heaven's
Celebration.  But on the earth Stephen
Suffered - suffered but beheld
The heavens opened.  Steeled
By his view of the Son of Man
His dying breath initiated
The address, "Lord Jesus".

And it came to Peter's vision
From the opened heavens, a vessel
In heaven's grip: including,
Cleansed and made righteous
The persons who would enliven
Heaven's view, the vessel
Of a heavenly character.

When the vessel has been caught up,
Responsive to the Lord's voice,
The heavens will be opened.  The Accomplisher
Of righteousness will go out
To execute righteous judgement -
His saints following Him clad
In white, fine, pure linen.

HE DOES ALL THINGS WELL

Creation composed;
Perfection in manhood portrayed:
Atonement made; Christ
Is the Accomplisher.

Creation maintained;
Men borne on His heart and shoulders;
God's praise continued: Christ
Is the Sustainer.

The truth in Jesus;
Sons blessed in the beloved;
A new creation formed:
Established in Christ.

SHEEP

Abel

Well to select
For man's first sacrifice
Of the firstlings of the flock;
God saw
What would not be superseded.

Abraham

What a sheep God
Provided Himself!  Its will,
Its vigour, binding it
To the will of another,
This ram.

Moses

Without blemish, a yearling
The passover lamb - blood
For safety; flesh for food:
From head, legs and inwards
The power for exodus.

Samuel

The smallness of this
Suckling lamb!  Grandeur
Of a whole burnt-offering -
Give in humility; and God
Smells a sweet savour.

John the Baptist

But what was it like
To see One who outranks
All previous offerings?
Impulsion to exclaim,
"Behold the Lamb of God!".

John

In the midst of the throne
A Lamb standing, as slain,
Provokes the acclamation
Of myriads of myriads:
"Worthy is the Lamb!"

ELEPHANT

In forest darkness,
Under the wilderness glare
Or on the pleasant grasslands,
Acme of strength, He moves,
Breaking straight paths to
The watercourses.

Hearing, beyond the ear of man,
Scenting, beyond the scent of man,
Touching, as man cannot
He senses ‑ superior
In feeling as in power.

His preciousness,
His shining strength,
Intrinsically grand in life
Becomes available
Only in death.

And men collude,
Rulers, soldiers, silver‑touts;
He is betrayed, encompassed,
Who is
"Chief of God's ways".


Job 40: 19 refers to the behemoth as "chief of God's ways.

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.

INFLUENCE

A pebble dropped into a pool
disturbs the water in a circle
widening without definite boundary.

Motion displaces air, 
nor can we assign any limit 
to the extent of such displacement.

Earth revolving within space 
carries along with itself 
its own vast atmosphere.
 
And more or less like each of these, 
personal influence is certain
and is incalculable; 
is a mighty engine inseparable from 
a proportionate burden 
of responsibility. 

None are too great, none too small, 
for this burden. 

St. Paul laid himself out, 
moulded himself, 
spent himself 
to bear it worthily; 
as his own words attest.


"Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ), that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."
(CGR and DCB)

If I call this a poem of mine - it's a plagiarism: see here!   It is a poem?  Was it before I started?  Does it give a hint of what a modern Christina Rossetti would have been like?

HIM

In Him

We have redemption,

Forgiveness of offences.

With Him

We have been buried,

And with Him raised and quickened.

From Him

In highest glory

The Spirit has descended.

Through Him

We, by the Spirit,

Have access to the Father.

For Him

The church, His body,

Is here in testimony.

To Him

Will soon be bending

The knees of every being.

GROUNDED

Our hope, our blessing,
Our safety, are all grounded
On the atonement.

TO A BABY DAUGHTER

My little daughter,  you know no language yet -
Forgive me then  while I expatiate
With this new composition  didactic verse
Using a style  I've borrowed from Old French.
It's no new wisdom  which I have to dispense
But you may find  it's helpful none the less.

Your life is an adventure  and you'll explore
Though you may not  wander from pole to pole.
Never, my daughter, repose in what you know
But always be a person  who pries and probes -
Through wind and rain,  like a keen Viking, row
Until you land  on you own Vinland shore.

Plough your own furrow  and always plough it straight;
Do not divert  to someone else's way;
Broadcast good seed  and then, with patience, wait -
Anything good  will grow in months, not days;
When it is ripe  harvest before the rain
And for the future  be generous with you grain.

Allow the time  occasionally to wander
Across the hills  or by the babbling waters;
Perceive the boredom;  the glory and the horror
Within all nature - slow slugs or leaping horses,
Ravenous shrew  or deft fish-killing otters.
Let each one halt you  and give you cause to ponder.

Fish just to meet  your own and other's wants
But not for pleasure - a sport which God abhors.
Both good and evil  will come within your trawl:
Discriminate - don't keep and swallow all.
Although winds blow  and bucking billows toss
Persist until you can  relish what's caught.

To be a poet  would do you little good
And whether I would like it  I am not sure.
There's poetry in life  as you will prove -
In every movement  a subtle rhythm moves,
In every word  a fertile tension broods;
And every object  is image for a mood.

I know that you  will never be a queen
- But you must rule  within yourself at least;
Only by self-control  can you be free.
Be careful not to watch  all that you see;
Be careful not to heed  all that you hear;
Your heart is the most precious  thing that you keep.

Philip had four  daughters who prophesied -
If he was fortunate   I can't decide!
So, little one,  prophesy if you like
But you must pray  from your depths to God's height,
Must find the answer  to darkness in God's light,
Must find in Jesus  the purpose of your life.

My little Rosalie, I'll soon have ended:
I'm sure you think  I've been too long already.
To tell the truth  you don't seem interested
In being wrapped  in archetypal vestments.
I guess it's nearly time  that you were bedded,
A so good night  and may God add His blessing.

Written 15 October 1984; so I must remind her off it!
 

FAILED

"You'll never guess, the hikers exclaimed
to the young woman in the headsquare
"Who we've seen just up the road there -
Philip and Charles and Anne"; excitedly
Failing to recognise
The Queen.

We have sent out probes,
Received messages that we cannot
Decipher.  We have scanned the universe,
Its black holes and quarks.  But have we
Failed to recognise
The Creator?

We have studied the microscopic,
The bright and nocturnal, seen beauty
In the forms and the lives lived
In them.  Unravelling molecules have we
Failed to recognise
The Designer?

We have poured words through a plethora
Of instruments; twisted them, vexed them,
Decanted and canted.  Articulating
Man and sagacity of man, have we
Failed to recognise
The Word?

SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST

If the Sacrifice, at Golgotha
Was tested by fire, in Gethsemane
Its quality
Had been proved in the water.

If perfect obedience led
To the anguish of the cross
It had led in the garden
To His words to the Father.

If a real Man accepted
The angel's ministration
This Man endured the cross
Without consolation.

If His sweat, on the mount,
Fell as great drops of blood,
From His pierced side at the cross
Came out blood and water.

If Gethsemane showed
The Altar's four-square strength
At Golgotha the Sacrifice
Was bound to its horns.

RESURRECTION

Righteousness was there
As the Saviour rose,
Glorying in the witness to itself.

Peace was there
With the new ground for man
Established in clarity.

Joy was there
For the grave testing
Was forever past.

Mercy was there,
Feeling its release
To bless whosoever will.

Grace was there
Effusive with Joy,
Righteousness was witnessed.

Justice was there;
And joined Grace and Mercy
In the celebration.

Love presided:
With Truth, Glory, Goodness ...
All of God's attributes.



Belfast

VITAMINS

Hi, folks,

I hope to go to India in December to India, if the Lord will.  Before that I'd like to collect something to help  the poor children in the Medak area, to the north of Telangana.  If you click on Vitamins! it will take you to a JustGiving page.  I would really appreciate some help; every little helps!

Many thanks

David

CHRIST

Among the dust of Palestine
He, come within our human span,
Displayed a worth that was divine
While God was glorified in man.

Between heaven’s glory and earth’s sod
The Son of man was crucified,
And through Golgotha’s torments God,
Regarding sin, was glorified.

As faithful women reached Christ’s tomb
The rising Sun dispelled the night -
God’s glory dwelt on Christ through whom
Men are accepted in God’s sight.

A Man is now at God’s right hand -
A Man is on the Father’s throne!
And Christians gladly understand
God’s thoughts secured in Christ alone.

JESUS

The Master made His people's hearts rejoice

Because they answered to the Shepherd's voice.

They learned through grace that He would not despise

The poor and weak, or turn away His eyes.

They came to Him with all their needs and fears,

Assured He would attend with open ears.

And it delighted Him that He should smell

The myrrh and nard which proved they loved Him well.

His hands had handled men in direst need,

So that through Him they might be healed and freed.

His feet were bearing Him upon the path
Towards Golgotha and God's awful wrath.

But ere the Saviour bowed His head to die

He uttered one triumphant mighty cry.

I wrote this when thinking about Psalm 115: 4-7

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands:

They have a mouth, and they speak not; eyes have they, and they see not;

They have ears, and they hear not; a nose have they, and they smell not;

They have hands, and they handle not; feet have they, and they walk not; they give no sound through their throat.

SHIPS

“I see hundreds and hundreds of ships

Sailing out of the harbour.”

But what ladings –

Precious gems discovered, emerald,

Ruby, sapphire, diamond and pearl.

Gold in its purity,

Silver refined; copper

Fired to value of gold.

Abundant spices, fragrant,

For their home-coming,

Myrrh, aloes, cassia…

Rich their sheets and tackle;

Billowing from the crosstrees,

Buoyant their pennons.

Tribute for their Master –

He comes from their destination

To their coming –

His Grace.

The first two lines are the last words of the poet George Mackay Brown.

FAITH

Faith; Jacob's ladder; Abraham's path; the rope
That hauls me from the deep; the kind of light
In which the blind walk fearlessly; our hope
Made present; noonday sprung up in the night;
The power for deaf to hear and lame to walk;
To walk on seas; strand of a triple cord
With hope and love; a hearing when I talk
To God; and the soul's gateway to the Lord.

God's present; and the beachhead of the place
The Spirit dwells in; means to have a sense
Of pleasing God; the instrument of grace
To save; the herdsman of obedience;

The hyssop for applying the Lamb's blood;
A glimpse of glory; something understood.


See George Herbert: Prayer

 

PERFECTLY

Only a divine Person
Could display divine love
Divinely.

Only a perfect Man
Could display perfect human love
Perfectly.

Only the Son
Is a divine Person
And a perfect Man.

THE SEVENTH DAY

Malcolm Guite link

The work He viewed
Was wholly blest
And “very good”
So He could rest.

THE SIXTH DAY

Malcolm Guite link


When He first saw His fresh
creation, man,
the Word becoming flesh
was in His plan.
 

THE FIFTH DAY

The Guite Connection


To Him belongs the height
And creatures that take flight;
The deep belongs to Him
And all that bask or swim.

THE FOURTH DAY

Here's the link.

The Sun is set in place
To rule in grace;
The Moon throughout the night
Reflects its light.

THE THIRD DAY

Malcolm Guite link

Why do we see the spacious plain
Fruitfully yield?
Because the solitary Grain
Fell in the field.

THE SECOND DAY

Link to Malcolm Guite.

And my small response:

The One who set the firmament
In its fit place
As come in flesh was in its tent
In lowly grace.

THE FIRST DAY

Malcolm Guite has written roundels for the seven days of creation; this is the first of my little responses.  His First Day is here.

Earth lay in death and strife
And darkness then
One came in whom was life
The Light of men.

THE JOURNEY

If the lamb's blood around the door
Was answer to immediate need
God strengthened for what lay before:
They had the lamb on which to feed.
Christ has not only set me free
But been the food to nourish me.

God overwhelmed the Egyptians first
So that the victory was complete
Then satisfied His people's thirst
By water wood He showed made sweet.
Because Christ died to make me free
"Christ" sweetens what refreshes me.

Since the brass serpent held their gaze
Though serpent-bitten they could live
And reach soon, in Jehovah's ways,
The well He promised He would give.
Sin in the flesh has been condemned;
The Spirit's grace has been unstemmed.

The Jordan's flooding waters found
A force that they could not withstand,
And once they crossed it on dry ground
They ate the old corn of the land.
Christ and His cross have made me whole,
And Christ in glory feeds my soul.