ASCENT II

Selflessness: always the sheep,
All wanderers and all in need,
Brambled, fallen, or sickening,
Occupied His days. Touching,
Searching and healing He cared for them;
Whatever the distance, the hour, the depths,
Like the urgent benighted fisher
He was on call and on duty. Tenderly
He bore the lambs; patiently
Led the sheep; constantly was door
To their fold: both in metaphor and fact
He laid down His life for the sheep.

ASCENT I

Homelessness: Adam's condition,
Ousted from Eden, He took part in
From His moment of birth. A beast has its earth;
A bird its nest; even the sun its tent;
He had nowhere to lay His head.
He must pass by foot the land's length,
Becoming wearied, requesting refreshment,
His feet roughed by shards of stone.
Though always purposefully advancing to that ultimate ‑
Homelessness; friendlessness ‑
That through anguish for men He should secure
Never to be lacked, God's concept of home.

THEIR GLORIOUS LORD

He came among them
Risen and living
Their glorious Lord
"And when they seen Him
They done Him homage"
With one accord.

He was their Saviour,
Their Friend and Teacher
Their glorious Lord ‑
He had encountered
In all its horror
God's judgment sword.

They stood beholding
As He ascended
Their glorious Lord;
God has enthroned Him
Giving Him honour ‑
His just reward.

And now we see by
Faith and the Spirit
Our glorious Lord;
And when we see Him
We do Him homage
With one accord

(Written on the day of death of an aged saint whose fervour was rather greater than his abilities in English - as quoted!.)

JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAME

Men climb and fall. Each in his day
Rises on mounting waves of fame
Till the waves break in froth and spray
But Jesus Christ remains the Same.

From riches which words cannot say,
Because of His great love He came
Into the deepest poverty,
Yet Jesus Christ remained the Same.

From past eternity's sublime
Relations to an infant's frame
Within the range of death and time
He moved, but always was the Same.

Jesus could utter words of grace
Or in His Father's house declaim
Against polluters of that place
And still in all things be the Same.

Seen on the mountain clothed in white
Or in the scarlet robe of shame
He caused His Father's heart delight
Since every scene proved Him the Same.

Though He heard Peter own Him Son
Or in the High Priest's house disclaim
All knowledge of Him He was one
In mercy and in love ‑ the Same.

In love He reached the depths for men
And in His body bore the blame
For those who trust in Him ‑ but then
In death or life He was the Same.

But His arising power displayed
The justness of His splendid claim
That altogether what He said
He was, He was indeed ‑ the Same.

Peter and John, in faith, could call
Upon Him to restore the lame
Showing that though ascended all
His power and grace remained the Same.

Throughout the dispensation’s length,
Attacked by persecution's flame,
His own received the needed strength
In knowing Jesus Christ the Same.

They did not fear as dreadful power
Of those who merely kill or maim
But found the grace in every hour
That comes alone from Christ ‑ the Same.

The Lord knows those who own His sway
And every one who names His Name
Departing from iniquity
Proves succour since He is the Same.

Soon we will greet the glorious day
To which our longing spirits aim
When He will come to catch away
His own to find Him still the Same.

Then in the time of setting right
His power will make the nations tame
Till all will find in Him their light
And own that Christ remains the Same.

Throughout eternity His own
For whom he suffered will proclaim
No man but Jesus Christ alone
Is, was, and is to come ‑ the Same.

MARY

Why wife to a carpenter? Although
The royal blood pulsed, the rights
Of monarchy existed, you husband
Crafted in wood; each day's labour
Used energy, skill and mind. Nothing
Derived from you or him imbued
That Child of whom you were mother.
But it pleased God in His ways to choose
The ambience you both provided; righteousness
Of your unwilling‑to‑expose husband,
Subjection of your spirit, soul and body.
You observed perfection in childhood,
Pondered signs and growth, retained
Thoughts, memories and affection till
You could act as repository to His church.

ELIZABETH

The old man chanted his words,
Recited his prayer ‑ you were the real
Priest: believer in your prayer,
Griever in your lack, conceiver of
The chosen harbinger, favoured receiver
Of the mother of your own Lord.
And what a son! Of women you
Hold distinction as the bearer of
The greatest born of women. John,
Zenith of one dispensation, star
Of another issued from your tenderness
To harshness of desert, rejection, prison;
To ecstasy of friendship with the Bridegroom.

BATHSHEBA

Your first husband morally greater,
All ways a mighty man, your loss
And your dead child led you to value,
Especially, peace, your son Solomon;
Jealously you protected his interests,
Provoking your enfeebled king to grant
Immediate access to the throne.
Skilfully you chose subtle allies,
Priest, prophet and the commander
Of the king's bodyguard, men
Fitted by a great king's service
To inaugurate the new regime.

HANNAH

Out of the anguish and your consolation
You shaped that: an experience
Carved into verse. Reiteration
Merely you disdained, distilling
History, agony and resultant joy
A psalm ‑ which I can use.
Beyond the actual your abstract truth
Was timeless, while your sense of time
Pervaded this as your other craft ‑
Making, annually, Samuel's coat,
A mother's intuition guiding your measures.
You had no doubt how each "this
Year" in Jehovah's house he would grow.