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.