Easter Praise
Men sealed the tomb,
God broke the seal,
And Christ arose, the Lord of all.
Before Him ev'ryone will kneel
And by that title on Him call.
Then hail the King, the Lord of life,
Savior of those who will believe.
His victory will crown our strife.
From Him eternal life receive.
Gethsemane
Holy, calm, sequestered shade,
What stories you could tell
Of how the anguished God-man prayed,
In combat locked with hell.
Your startled grove was favored then
As witness to an agony
That pales descriptive powers of men--Prelude to Calvary.
You long centuries have kept
The secrets of that hour
When hell's full raging torrent swept
The God-man's ebbing power.
You have not revealed the cost
Of help won from above--
And yet, your silence tells us most
Of His redeeming love.
God Answers Prayer
(Luke 11:9-13)
God answers prayer because
He works by love, not laws.
His Father's heart is bent
Upon our nourishment;
He grants the daily bread
By which are daily fed
Our stomachs and our hearts.
His benefice imparts
Strength for the moment's task;
To all who in faith ask
He gives His Spirit to
Empower, cleanse, renew.
We ask and seek and knock
In times of hurt and shock
And find our Father strong,
In ev'ry grief and wrong,
To grasp a feeble hand
And cause weak knees to stand.
What risks may we not dare
When our resource is prayer?
The Father's watchful eyes
See all we term "surprise";
His sympathetic ears
Each cry for succor hears;
His mighty arms defeat
The toughest foes we meet.
In Him is grace to spare,
With us the link of prayer.
Together they decree
Invincibility!
God Has a Sense of Humor
God has a sense of humor,
And you can bank on that;
He made Seuss, the maker of
That weird cat in the hat.
God has a sense of humor,
He likes a hearty laugh--
How else can we account for
The aardvark and giraffe?
God has a sense of humor,
It’s tinged with irony,
Stuffy bishops otherwise
Remain a mystery.
God has a sense of humor,
A thought that comforts me
Each morning as I’m shaving
The mirrored face I see.
God's Son Died
"Your son will live"--this word
In Galilee was spoken.
But God's Son died! Our Lord
On Calvary was broken.
The healing word became
A royal father's joy--
But One of greater name
To death gave up His boy.
To this great length He went
To make the stricken well,
His dearest treasure spent
To ransom us from hell.
O God in Christ, we too
In glad surrender give
Our very best for You
Who died that we might live.
Goodnight Prayer
You have given daily bread
From the largess of Your love.
Body, spirit, both have fed
On gift-manna from above.
You have pardoned ev'ry sin,
Granted liberating grace;
Not without and not within
Did evil find desired place.
Heavenly Father, Yours has been
Kingdom, power, glory too.
All things viewed and those unseen
Shaped a day of life for You.
So tonight I offer praise
And renew my earnest plea--
Hallow Your name all my days,
Let Your will be done in me
Hope’s Reply
The sun will shine, the fog will lift.
Unclouded day, the Father’s gift,
Will greet me when I come to die--All will be better by and by.
No work will fail for want of time,
No plans be wrecked by changing clime;
Be seen no tears, be heard no sigh--All will be better by and by.
Grieve not for years and joys past,
The good will be conserved at last.
To fleeting time let hope reply--All will be better by and by.
Then sing my soul, though morning’s gray,
And heavy now your burdens weigh;
Life’s not a joke but death’s a lie--All will be better by and by.
Refrain:
By and by, when Christ shall come,
By and by, when we reach home,
We will forget what made us cry--All will be better by and by.
I Do Not Wish...
I do not wish to rest
On work already done.
No! Let tomorrow test
My value to the One
Who in my callow youth
Called, graced and gifted me
To preach the word of truth
That sets believers free.
When I can't longer preach
With relish and with skill,
No longer sinners reach,
My calling to fulfill--
Then let me go away
With dignity in peace,
I do not wish to stay
When usefulness shall cease.
I will accept with grace
A lesser servant's role,
Some other time and place
May claim my worn-out soul.
I Heard a Song of Heaven
I heard a quartet singing
Of mother, home, and God,
Of heaven's welcome ringing
To roads and hills untrod;
No sin, no pain, no sorrow
No death, no grief, no fears--
A holy, glad tomorrow
Unblurred by stinging tears;
A place of sweet reunion
With family and friends,
And with the Lord communion
Whose glory never ends.
To some it sounded corny,
But to one well along
His weary earthly journey
It was a lovely song.
Let the critics' scorn be hurled
At simple tunes and rhymes--
Thank God, in a better world
We'll know far better times.
Sing it then again for me--I'm old and sick and tired--
With hope of heaven I will be
Encouraged and inspired.
Jacob's Ladder
Jacob's ladder was a cross
Uniting earth and heaven,
Where sinner's gain was Jesus' loss
As hands and heart were given.
Crimson links joined God and man,
At cost of death brought life;
Vermillion cement sealed a plan
That purchased peace through strife.
Eternity pierced time's confines
Outside an ancient wall,
Shattered sin's "NO EXIT" signs
And liberated all.
One God, one Mediator, now
Confront a ransomed race,
O trusting soul, before them bow--Be reconciled by grace!
Larger Rooms
(Psalm 22:3)
I read this morning in Your word
That You inhabit praise, O Lord.
Help me to spread the walls apart
Within my grateful, trusting heart.
In dinky, dark and dusty rooms
Untouched by light, unswept by brooms,
I would not ask You to reside,
But in clean spaces, high and wide.
Then let my praise be oft and loud,
And swelled by others in the crowd
Who bless Your name and gladly give
Vast mansions wherein You may live.
Life from Death
Behold the dancing flames
Consuming as they glow;
All life requires death
To fuel its onward flow.
The candle spends its wax
That it may give its light;
Love throws itself away
To brighten someone’s night.
In this world naught is free,
Each gift exacts a cost;
When anything is gained
Something is also lost.
And once upon a cross,
For mankind in its thrall,
The Lord himself was slain
To give new life to all.
