MORE OF A STORNOWAY EVENING

 LIGHT

If life around seems grim

With all-embracing dark;

If Christians’ light grows dim

And gutters to a spark

Lift up your eyes and see afar

The shining of the Morning Star.

Among His faithful saints

The love of Christ gives light

Excluding Satan’s feints

To lead them into night;

Within the heart of every one

Shines gloriously the risen Sun.

His sweetness does not cloy

But makes our spirits full;

He makes our souls enjoy

The principle of rule;

His warmth surrounds with its embrace

Suffusing all our hearts with grace.

And His assembly shines

With God’s own glory’s rays:

The Spirit’s wise designs

Will soon appear in day

But in the night she rules for Him

Whose light towards her is never dim.

Where Light which has no taints

Has once, in beauty, been

Now all Christ’s chosen saints

Are lights in a dark scene:

While patiently His people wait

With variant lights they scintillate.

THE FATHER OF LIGHTS

When first the light broke through the primal darkness

It gave this earth hope it would live anew,

Although exposing chaos in its starkness.

Then great and small lights graced the settings due

To them, while looking to the Light that's true;

Father of lights, since then each light that's burning

Comes from One with no shadow and no turning.

(James 1: 17)

Fort William, Highland

TRUE

Their illumination constrained
To the sparks they had kindled
Men lay in sorrow: when
Christ came they preferred
The flickering of their caves
Yet we can know in its brightness
The pure illumination
Of the true Light.

A faithful Creator provided
Food for the journey:
They ate, and lived, and died.
But now the Father gives,
As a spiritual reality
For lasting life, lasting substance
And lasting satisfaction
The true Bread.

Once on a fruitful hill,
Dug and relieved of stones,
Was planted that unsatisfactory vine,
Israel, bearer of wild grapes;
Now He stands, to God's satisfaction,
Without earthly moisture,
Clusters ripening into grapes,
Christ, the true Vine.

Blind, and unaware
Of poverty and nakedness,
How could Laodicea give
Testimony? The source of eye-salve,
Of gold and garments speaks:
What words the Amen asserts!
What can He not introduce,
The faithful and true Witness?

What dignity He has
The reality of every type,
The One who supersedes every
Shadow. Who has the right
To the key of David - who
Maintains everything for God,
But the One who can call Himself
The holy, the true?

 

REFLECTIONS xii

Like a luminous ribbon,

Stretching forward,

Yard by yard increasing

In fluorescence

and phosphorescence

The path of the righteous

Advanced toward

Perfect day.

REFLECTIONS xi

John was the burning

And the shining light.

The appearing light

Was evident to the sighted.

And he was content

To be consumed.

For as the shining light shone

The burning light had burned.

REFLECTIONS x

The cattle surge in their pen,

Shifting and flowing,

To the roped gate.

Spring has come. The farmer

Senses the ardency

Of their senses.

The gate swings wide.

From the shadows cattle

Trample, bucking

Into the sun.

Its warmth balms the joints

Of their plump bodies.

REFLECTIONS ix

The moon is not

Tossed

Upon cloudy seas - it moves

Fixedly in its orbit.

To men it may

Change and fluctuate -

To God’s eye

It remains in its orb.

And the seas it never touches

Rise and fall under

The rhythm of

Its influence.

REFLECTIONS viii

Each knew the Lord.

One lived on the consciousness

Of the mercy

By which he had been retrieved;

One dwelt in the knowledge

That God had chosen her

Before the world was;

One was formed

In the graces found

In Jesus Christ;

And one in the glories

Of all established

In Christ Jesus:

In these distinctions

Star differed from star

In glory.

REFLECTIONS vii

It moves in

Inexorable dignity,

A strong runner

Who delights to run

From dawn to dusk.

It has the aura,

The rights,

Of a bridegroom.

Nothing escapes

The munificence

Of the splendour of its shining.

REFLECTIONS vi

There are recesses,

Crannies, shades

Within.

Outwith there are

Shadows, mists, wynds,

Recesses.

Thy word is a lamp.

REFLECTIONS v

Ye were once darkness,

But now

Light in the Lord.

Ye are not in darkness,

For all ye

Are sons of light and sons of day.

Ye appear

As lights in the world.

Ye are the light of the world.

REFLECTIONS iv

We will not see it,

Will not need it

Nor wish it

When night has gone.

But now it cheers

Sight and soul and heart

Till day arises.

When dark darkens,

If clouds cloud,

Lift yourself to admire

The Morning Star.

REFLECTIONS iii

All earthly life depends

On light

Fusing, infusing, suffusing.

All earthly life depends

On warmth

Mothering.

All earthly life depends

On order

Informing, forming, conforming.

Light warmth and order

Centre in,

And emanate from,

One Sun.

REFLECTIONS ii

Let there be light,

God said,

And from that light

Genesis could begin.

Distinctions could be distinguished:

Day and night;

Earth and heaven;

Earth and sea;

Earth and plant.

Yet before animal

Could be animated, or man

Could be man

The particularity of the great light,

Manifested lordship,

Must be revealed.

REFLECTIONS i

The Light appeared

- The Light of the world -

But cottages, synagogues, villas

Were shuttered or blinded.

Yet, through mercy, a few

Shutters were rotted, blinds

Were frayed: glimmers

Pierced gloom.

Attracted

Householders peered at the glow,

Loosened curtain or wood.

Cautiously, tenderly

Some souls

Moved to the doors, slid

Quietly into

The full blaze of the Sun.

TABERNACLE

He has brought us to
What He Himself pitched -
The true tabernacle.

Within it the ark, structured
By such nobles,
Bezaleel and Aholiab.

The mercy-seat,
Blood on the pure gold,
Is the place of justification.

All lit by
The lamps of the pure lampstand
Of pure gold, laced
With pure beaten olive oil.

     But purity demands
     That our approach is by
     The copper altar and the blood,
     The laver and its water.

For the heart of God
The golden altar pours up
Fragrance of His Beloved.

Blow the silver trumpet!
Let the good report
Sound and resound.

13/01/2019

THE BRIGHT MORNING STAR

Thou art the Star of the morning;
Thou art the Bright Morning Star;
Saints, in the midst of man's scorning
Welcome Thy light from afar:

Star of the morning,
O what a source of delight!
Soon Thou wilt have Thine assembly
Shining with heavenly light.

Thou art the Star of the morning;
Thou art the Bright Morning Star;
Shining with heaven's adorning
Into the night where we are.
 
Star of the morning,
O what a source of delight!
Soon Thou wilt have Thine assembly
Shining with heavenly light.


Sing it to "Showers of Blessing" - http://hidwithhim.net/hymn/?hymn=122&Submit=Go
 

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.

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.

LUKE 15

What the shepherd looked for

Was one who would recognise

His voice, one who would follow

His feet, one to enjoy

His pastures, one who was suitable

To be brought to the house.

What the woman sought

Was one who would shimmer to

Her lamp, one who would show

The Master’s face, one to enhance

Value within the house.

And what the father looked out for

Was one who could wear

The best robe with dignity, act

According to the gold ring, dance

Like a son in the sandals. One

With whom, in his house, he could share.