A season of waiting
As the cold air has come and choked our land
Taking away our breath and our hope
Even making attempts on our lives with this cold
And almost succeeding in this terrible winter
Oh come oh come Emmanuel

Lonely sit these lands
Waiting for good things to return
And holding onto hope in this winter of anxiety and fear
That soon, our redemption may come for to carry us home
In these lands we wait, for it can't be much longer now
Oh come oh come Emmanuel

Our ancestors once cried 'over the next hill must lie our Promised Land'
And we now cry 'in the next year must come our Savior
For the Lord could not make us toil much longer
Lest our bones freeze and our bodies die
And all of this waiting would seem to be in vain
Oh come oh come Emmanuel'

Yet here we wait for years upon years and generations upon generations
For the promised king to finally bless our lands
And free us from the tyranny of this world
Leading us into a better life
And bringing us a better world
Oh come oh come Emmanuel

We wait this winter, knowing spring comes on the horizon with our Messiah
To end this long-lasting winter
And melt this world of snow and ice
To bring a green spring
Full of life and good things
Oh come oh come Emmanuel

For our Savior is coming
And He will redeem all things
He will end our exile in this winter
And bring warmth to save our souls
Oh come oh come Emmanuel and ransom us from this freezing winter

"My beloved"
Christ calls from the grave
"My beloved, arise
For the winter is past
The cold of the night is gone
See the flowers grow in the land
For death has passed and I have brought life."

For our Lord came as one of us
He came and lived for us
And then He went to the cross
He died for us
But behold, He is risen!
The grave once dark and filled with death
Now is bursting with joy and life
And the dark of the grave is gone
Now there is a light brighter than the sun

And Christ, our Lord calls to us  from the grave
"See, my beloved, I have risen
I am here and have made all things new
The light from my empty grave shines
And it casts light into the darkness of this day
I stand here risen for you
I will call your name
And I will call you my beloved
For all things have passed away
And they have been made new
You will be my beloved
And I will be your God”

Fumbling through a wilderness of pain
Lost in a desert of doubt
Desolate in a winter of anxiety
Buried in a coffin of maladies
Alone in a city full of people

Time and time again hearing whispers of doubt
Negative opinions and false truths
That I am nothing
That I will become nothing
Then die with nothing and no one

For out of the dust of the ground I came
And to it, I will return
For all things under the sun are meaningless
And in the end, toil means nothing except death
For this life is a lost cause

Then the winds of the wilderness increase
And the disorient of the desert intensifies
The death and terror of the winter do not relent
This capsule of corpses latches shut, trapping me inside
And the people of the city war against me

My hands tremble with the fears of my heart
My heart aches with the troubles of my soul
And my head pains with the false-knowledge I know
For I am filled with lies upon lies upon lies
And how might I ever know truth in the midst of such treachery?

It is then, in the midst of my hell
When the weight of this life has all but crushed me
And I am about to give up and die
About to accept these lies I've been fed
But then, the Lord speaks to me

I hear the voice of a heavenly nature, and it says;
‘Son, be still, and know that I am God’
Then, like a miracle
My trembling hands and unsteady heart are cured, and I'm stilled
For He has always been God, and has never left my side
And to the day I die, and even beyond, He never will

Jesus, Son of The Father
Hanging on a Roman Cross
Pierced for the iniquity of men
Killed for the love of His bride
With nails in His hands
Swords in His sides
Thorns on His head
His body slain
The body to feed His bride
His blood poured
The blood to quench the Church

"This is my body"
To eat of it
To feed the bride.
The Body of Christ,
The Bread of Heaven
To delight in the Holy Eucharist,
The spiritual feast, in Communion with God
To worship the Holy Name of the Savior

"This is my blood"
To drink of it
To quench the bride.
The Blood of Christ,
The Cup of Salvation
To delight in the Holy Eucharist
The spiritual feast, in Communion with God
To worship the Holy Name of the Savior

Hanging on the Roman Cross
God, The Son Himself crying to the Father
"Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?"
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?"
Plagued by the false view of the Father
The pagan god in the hearts of men
Inherited with the humanity of The Son
While the sin of man
Hangs with the Son of Man

The earth shaking
And hearts breaking
With eyes crying
And law tearing
With the world changing
And The Son dying

The trueness,
The oneness
Of the Father
United with The Son and Spirit
In communion with The Spirit and Son

The Gifts of God
For the People of God
To partake in whenever together
In Remembrance of the savior
Christ died for us
Feed on Him with our hearts
And remember our union in Him
With Faith and Thanksgiving

We are saved by the triune God of grace
By the Love of the triune God of love
By the Blessing of God Almighty
The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit
Be upon us and remain forever
Let us keep the feast!
Allelujah!

My Father loves me
My Father pains for me
My Father cries for me

His Son loves me
His Son pains for me
His Son dies for me

"Your boy ran away"
Someone says of me
"Your boy runs every day"

I run from my Father in Heaven
I hide from Christ, my redeemer
I cower from the Spirit, my breath

Daily I attempt to leave my Father
Daily I betray my Savior
Daily I pervert the Spirit

"I will find him"
The Father says of me
"I will pay a price"

My Father knows me
My Father sees me
My Father sends for me

His Son comes for me
His Son lays down for me
His Son pays the price for me

"You are enough"
My soul lies
"You can do it yourself"

Incarnate He became
Lost, poor He became
Human He became

Tired, hungry, pained
He was God in flesh
Stressed, betrayed, depressed

"You don't need help"
People lie
"You can stand on your own"

On the cross for my iniquity
The Son paid the ultimate price
And the Father found me

In the great sacrifice of the Father
The great price paid by the Son
In communion with the Spirit

I have been found
I have been saved
I have been redeemed

I will run no more
I will hide no more
And I will trust all the more

Wake up, dear dreamer; the morning has come!
Weary student, the term is over; the holidays have begun!
Oh saint, the long Advent is over;  the season of feasting is here!
Fasting and waiting, purple drapings covered all the places
But look on this day, white and gold shine like the sun of a new day

Remember, oh Christian, that night in the town of David
When the Light of the World finally shone bright
When, for a brief and glorious moment, eternity flashed its beauty
Remember that night, dear parishioner, when hopelessness was banished
For the long-awaited Saviour had finally come!

This great season when we celebrate that God on High descended to Earth down low
That the Lord of Heaven became lowly man to make all things new
That He showed us a world which we only know from fairy stories
A world where rivers run with wine and trees bear fruit the color of gold
Remember the Lord that came to renew the life robbed from humanity

So celebrate, oh Christian, you who have been renewed
Remember your Holy Baptism in the Lord, you saint
Remember all that you have forgotten, and celebrate the Incarnation!
Tear away those drapings of darkness and the curtains of purple
The season of fasting has passed, and a feast is to be set upon our tables!
Celebrate these next twelve days and never relent!
Dress the world in gold and white, that she might remember He who has restored her

For behold, the Word has been made flesh!
Behold, He brings life to this dying world!
Behold, before our eyes, the Salvation prepared for the nations!
Behold the Incarnate Lord!

We readied ourselves for the coming of the promised king
We threw off the garments of peasants
And dressed ourselves in clothes of royalty
To impress the king that was coming
To work for the redemption of this god

When a mere child came from the womb of a peasant girl
We never recognized Him as the Lord Christ
For we expected one much different from ourselves
Not a peasant boy born in a barn
From a family of a carpenter

We waited for years upon years for the savior
Like a bride waits upon her groom
While He comes down the aisle to meet her
Redeeming the world as He passes in their midst
To find His bride and make her holy

Out of Jacob came a star
A star that has risen and shines bright in the night sky
Nations and kings come to this great light
For the wait has ended
And God has come to this place

Out of Israel has come a scepter
A ruler for all nations and people
Splendor has come by this peasant descended from the Throne
The Lord Almighty bringing light to this land in darkness
Fulfilling the prophecies for His people

A light is cast from high atop the city
A star leads the way for wise men to find the King 
God on High to bring light to a darkened world 
Like the bright north star brings light to a dark night 
For the Lord has come, and remaking of all things has begun

Kings from the east journeyed for months so see the promised boy
Escaping the wrath of a pagan king to see the child
Not a mere child, but the very Son of God
Who has come to deliver a people
And deliver an entire world

An old man recognized this child
Knowing Him to be the Christ
Then the man could depart in peace
Having seen our salvation
The light of the world

Now listen to this night
Full of angels singing in the sky
And kings bringing gifts to God Incarnate
Hear the new refrain
And never feel the same again

For God came to us in a manor like the rest of us
As a child like the rest of us
From His mother's womb like the rest of us
Born into a world of sin like the rest of us
Born into sinful flesh like the rest of us

Born to a ****** like no one else
Born by the very work of the Spirit of God like no one else
Born to redeem a world in darkness like no one else
Born for the life of the world
Born God on High in flesh like no one else

For God became man
And out of great love took on Hell
Yet always overflowing with joy
Taking on all burdens, all pains, all anxieties
And giving to us His joy, His love, and His peace

It is by this boy that we find our peace
Through His death and resurrection
Taking our sins and defeating them in death
Then defeating even death itself
And defeating Hell and it’s ravages

Then Hell passes
By Jesus Christ we have found good things
Being perfect, complete, lacking in nothing, overflowing with joy
As His glory becomes our glory, His joy becomes our joy
His perfection becomes our perfection, and His Father becomes our Father

Trials bear down and defeat us
But through the promised Savior
The trials mold us to who we have become
They make us joyful and perfect
Through the love of Lord Jesus

Through all rough things
The Messiah is no longer merely an idea
He is the bruised, beaten, murdered savior
Putting to death all old things
And resurrecting new things to life

Now standing upon the shores of a new country
A land far to the north of our own land
Jesus waits for us to come to the shores of this Far Country
Where His redeemed children will come
And live with Him for all time, and everything after

Colossae
April 28, 2016

Oh Colossae, where have you gone to hide yourself from the Lord?
Colossae, why have you wandered away from the fold of God?
Have you forgotten the words of St. Paul, the man who brought you the news
Colossae, why have you departed from the ways of the Lord?
Oh Colossae, where hast thou gone?

Colossae, have you forgotten the Word which became flesh?
Have you Colossae, a city of unholiness, forgotten of the promise of newness
Oh Colossae, how quickly you have fallen into uncleanliness
From dust you came and to dust you shall return
But must you, oh Colossae, so quickly descend to the dirt of the earth?

Oh Colossae, you cut off limbs afraid of the flesh
As if less flesh could make you more holy
You believe that this gnostic theology saves you from your sins
But only God incarnate in flesh can save
Oh Colossae, forget not the Savior who made you new

Colossae, forget not the Spirit of God, the very giver of life
He descends upon you and makes you holy,
He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is worshiped and glorified
He is not one to worship alone, or to give identity alone
For that you have been united with Christ, who proceeds from the Father

Colossae, remember not this heresy of mysticism
There is this flood of culture and thought
Oh Colossae, be not drowned by this flood
And forget not the great unity the Body is to be
Forget this heresy to which you have come to love

Oh Colossae, you worship angels and men, yet too God
But you know, oh Colossae that the Lord on High is worth the worship
For these messengers from heaven may bring the Word of the Lord
But certainly, oh Colossae, they are not the Word which became flesh
Oh Colossae, forget these ancient heresies, and raise up the Lord Jesus

Oh Colossae, you partook in the Holy Communion of His Body and Blood
And baptized in the death and resurrection
Anointed with oil like the kings of old
Engrafted into the marriage of the Lord Jesus and His bride
Oh Colossae, you are one Body, abandon it not

Oh Colossae, return to the Lord!
Come back to the land of your spiritual fathers
Where they worshipped the Lord in all goodness
Come back to this land of orthodoxy
Oh Colossae, repent of this heresy against the Lord!

Oh Colossae, how we have followed path you have trod
To forget the redemption by which we are saved
To remember not the works of the Lord, perpetrated that we might freely live
That we have forgotten to live holy lives
Oh Colossae, how we have fallen in line with you and the Church of yesterday

Too have we, this Church of the modern age, departed like you, Colossae
We have succumbed to these heresies of forgetting our Lord Jesus
Oh Colossae, we have fallen, like you, and dirtied ourselves from holiness
We have descended to the depths of the sea like the rest of the world
Too we are drowning in our sorrows and our sins and unholiness

Oh come Lord Jesus
And redeem us, like Colossae, back into Your holiness
Come Lord Jesus
And renew our troubled lives, bring us back into Your holiness
Oh come Lord Jesus

We entered the holy city with palm branches to welcome
Parading in as they sang 'Hosanna!'
They honored Him as if He were their king
As if He had come to set them free
Oh how right they were, the Promised King, come to set His people free

We shared in communion with the Lord and the betrayer
On the eve of the darkest day in history
Hate brewed at one end of that table
While love stirred peacefully on the other
And all of us living in blissful ignorance in between

We celebrated the passover with our master
And we prayed that The Lord would not pass over us again
That instead He would stoop down to us and save us
But we denied Him in His hour of need
We slept soundly as He was betrayed by us

Like a lamb led to the slaughter, He gave His life for another
They beat Him within inches of His divine life
They cast lots for his garments, and spit on His bloodied face
No longer did they yell 'Hosanna!' to welcome their king,
But they yelled 'crucify him!' to condemn their Divine Lord

They drove nails into his frail hands
He cried out to heaven asking why The Lord had forsaken Him
He declared in defiance ‘It is finished’ and He passed on to death
They threw a sword into his swollen side
His holy blood and holy water spilled to sanctify the earth onto which it fell

So silly they were, they thought that they could **** God
That they really believed they could depose the Lord of all with mere nails
But the sky darkened, and heaven turned away as to not see her Lord die
The earth shook and the world changed
Suddenly all knew 'surely this man was the Son of God'

The once bright and beautiful sky turned suddenly dark
The earth shook violently in disapproval that her creator lay dead on her face
The warm humid air turned suddenly bitterly cold and dry
For the promised Messiah had been defeated
Death itself had victory over the world, and the world knew it was so

There, on the cross, lay the Life of the World, dead
The Light of the World had been snuffed out, and the world left in darkness
The hope of all mankind suddenly vanished
The steady hand holding the world wavered in mourning
And darkness covered the seemingly God-forsaken earth

Who are we at the foot of the cross that stood silently?
We stood by and watched the promised Messiah be taken away and killed
We reap what we sew, and will now live out our days in darkness
Without hope we shall suffer for all time, a punishment fit for our crime
We crucified the Messiah, we gave the Lord to death, we killed God

For three days the sun did not rise
For three days the world swayed unstable
The demons danced in the darkness
Hell was victorious
Because for three days, God lay dead in a tomb.

Remember those days oh so long ago
When you were too little to understand life
Where everything was given to you
And you were just a cute little kid
Back when nothing really mattered

Back when outside was a battlefield
For Cowboys and Indians in the Wild West
Or Fairy Tale Kingdoms with wars and battles
Always with sword fights with sticks and branches
When the most important thing was merely being outside

Remember when the raindrops would race down the car window
And when you would wait for your dad to come home from work at night
The days you would ride your bike to the far reaches of the end of the block
There were the days you would go for hikes in the forest
Exploring places never before known by another

Back when going to bed was hiding from monsters
The ones living under your bed
Waiting for your dangling feet
But then flying away, you were whisked away to a far land
Where your dreams would catch your every wish

Remember back when going to bed was being scared of shadows on your wall
Waiting in your closet for you to fall asleep
Then to get you in your peaceful slumber
But shadows do nothing to a sleeping little child
Because who could do anything to a sleeping child?

Don't forget those summers where you would chase fireflies in the night
And the times where you might have even caught one
But they would never stay long enough for you to love them
As soon as you had them they would fly away
And you'd never know what you missed

Remember when you would beg your parents for a play date
Where your friend could come over and play
And stomping off when they said no
Like a spoiled baby you were, since your parents gave you everything
And they loved you, how could they not?

Never forget when you couldn't wait to grow up
To get behind the wheel of a car, and take a pretty ******* a nice date
When you couldn’t wait to get away from home
To go off and discover the world apart from your parents
But today, all you want is their warm embrace once again

Remember those nights when going to bed was your worst nightmare
When that was the biggest problem in your life
You would beg your parents to keep the lights on
And when the lights went out you feared you would never see light again
That your parents hated you, but how could they ever?

Those days in the morning you’d wake up
And your parents would sing you awake
They would make you breakfast before school
They would hug you before they left for the day
And they loved you, how could they not?

The outdoors used to be a battlefield of imagination
Yet today merely waking in the morning begins the battle
And each moment of each day only fuels the war
The present is filled with fears and anxieties
And you only wish you could be young once more

You used to hide from the monsters that lived under your bed
But now you hide from the monsters that lurk in your past
The monsters that wait for you to take a wrong step
Where they might then devour you
But what could save you from these monsters?

You used to fear the shadows on the wall
But now you hide from the writing on the wall
Writing that tells lies and denigrates you
Instilling fears deep in the recesses of your soul that you may not be enough
Who could ever dispel these lies from your thirsty soul?

You used to chase fireflies in the night, and you could never quite keep them
But today you chase your dreams
And even though you might catch them
They seem still to slip through your fingertips
What could possibly put dreams back into your hand?

You used to avoid going to bed at any cost
But now you wish all the day long that you might be able to sleep
That the exhaustion might finally leave you
And you could close your eyes and get some sleep
But what could renew your infinite weariness?

You used to beg your parents that your friend might come and play
But now you don’t even know who in your life you might call a friend
There are many that surround you that call themselves friends
That falsely claim they have you at the forefront of their minds
Is there anyone that could truly be a friend to one who has no friends?

You used to shutter when the lights went off in your room and the dark came in
But now you shutter at the darkness in life
For what could pierce through the deep darkness of this life?
And save you from the terror of yourself
What could deliver you from yourself?

Remember when you would feel the warm embrace of your parents
But now you long for something even half as warm as such
As you fled from your parents, the people who love you more than anything
And you wish you might be able to feel their warm embrace in the cold of night
But there is something you might find that would be even better than that?

It is in this terrible sadness and anxiety
Where you wonder where this cold world is taking you
And you wish that you were young again in your parents house
A place where you would be safe from harm
A place where you would feel no pain

There is such a place, and it is not your parents’ house
A place where God on High looks over you
And He has saved you from the monsters that plague your mind
God on High has dispelled the lies that you are not enough
For He came to save and deliver you from all things

He has come to give you dreams that will not slip from your hand
Dreams that will come true one day, where you will be satisfied
And He came to renew your strength and **** your weariness
He came so that you may have rest, so that you will no longer tarry
He came to renew all things

He came to be a friend to one who has no friends
To stand by those who are lonely and have to one to turn
He came to deliver you from yourself
To free you from the ******* you have set yourself in
For He came to make all things new

God on High came and renewed all things
His love is warmer than a mere hug from a mother or a father
It could make even the coldest person in the coldest place of this earth warm again
He came to give life to those who have no life
For He is God on High, and we are His children, no matter how old we grow to be

A kingdom on the Nile
A man who called himself a god
Ruling over the people of the river
Enslaved we were in that Kingdom
By this man, Pharaoh, who called himself a god
Imprisoned by our chains
Enslaved by these whips and lashes
Enslaved by the sins of our fathers
Imprisoned by our own hearts

Our people flee from the rule of Pharaoh
Escaping the reach of his arm
We will follow Pharaoh no more
A way has been made
A way to the Promised Land
Through the Wilderness we fled
Out of the tyranny of Pharaoh’s reach
To our toil in the Wilderness we go
But with hope in the Promised Land

We will follow Pharaoh no more
A way has been made
A way to the Promised Land
We follow Moses
As he parts the roaring waters
Anyone can enter through the cleared path
Both righteous and unrighteousness can pass
Following Moses' lead
As he leads to the Promised Land

There is no shame in passing through the waters
For the love of God lies in the waters' part
By God, Moses parts the sea
Leading us to the Promised Land
A land filled with the Glory of God
Flowing endlessly with milk
Flowing sweetly with honey
In the land promised generations before
But Moses was a flawed savior

Moses could not lead us to this fertile land
But when we entered
We saw the great glory of the land promised
But we were still imprisoned
And we are still enslaved
Not by the toil of chains
Not by a man who called himself a god
But by our own iniquities
And by our own faults

Into exile we led ourselves
Enslaved by foreign nations
Betrayed by our own selves
Exiled into unknown lands
Exiled from the land of our fathers, the land promised
Awaiting reconciliation
Awaiting the Messiah promised
Chained by the faults of our humanity
Following the hearts of men

Then God on High came to Earth down low
To be that which He came to save
To save that which He became
Knowing the faults of our broken humanity
The Son of God became the mere son of a carpenter
Then He paid a hefty price for His bride
He laid down His life, and He and His bride became one
He married this ******* woman
And He sanctified her

For our sins, He died
For our faults, He gave His life
To give us living breath, He breathed His last
He died our death
Then resurrected us with Himself
To pay the price for His bride
A price none would ever pay for such a *****
But bought we are, with His blood
And in Him, we have new life

We will follow Pharaoh no more,
That man who called himself a god
A way has been made
By a man who is God
To the Promised Land we walk
A way has been made
In the Glory of God we'll live
There is no shame in coming to the cross
The love and blood of God was poured at the foot
A new Moses on the cross
Leading to the Promised Land
The arms of Moses stretched out upon the cross
Leading to the Promised Land
Where we will dwell for all time
For we have been delivered

Exiled out into an unknown world
The action of one man cursing a race
Leaving the presence of God
Into a cold unknown world
Hiding from the presence of God they fled

Exiled the hearts of men
Creating the pagan god in hearts
Not knowing the trueness of The Father
Not knowing the reality of The Spirit
Just waiting in Exile for The Son

Exiled into royalty
A king of his own heart
A king with a love for himself
Then came David, King of Israel
The seed to bring the Messiah

Exiled from the royal line
Kings of Israel and Judah
Became corrupted

Exiled into an unknown land
Away from all we had known
Judgment of God made suit
A line of Royalty forgotten
But we know a savior awaits

Exiled by kings of old
Leaving a desolate city
Brought on by our Nation
The sins of our people linger
As we lose sight of the savior

Exiled we were in Babylon
Then came a man who would have been king
Led us back to our home land
To build the walls of the desolate city
Building the temple in this holy place

Exiled still from the Father
Even in this holy land
Waiting for David's seed
Yet still no savior to say
In King David's city they wait

Exiled his city lay
In Rome's hand it will stay
Bethlehem where the savior lay
Not a bed, not a home
He would make us His own

Exiled to the cross He go
Love for us more than His own
Our sins on His shoulders lay
His grace on us lavished
And we die in Him we'll live

What was made perfect became imperfect
That which was on high fell down low
That which was good became bad
All good things became new
And al things became bad
For fall had come

They had to leave the place where they had dwelled
To become strangers in this strange world
Never to enter that garden in which they had once lived
The gate to be guarded by an Angel for ever
Never again to enter this Paradise lost
For fall had come

The core of a fruit lay on the ground
And naked people stand trembling
Hiding from their loving Creator
Fearing the effect of their disobedience
Imagining a false god
Recreating their Creator

Creating their own Creator in their created minds
One that was angry and impatient
One that was vengeful and paining
Not one of love and grace
Not one of endless mercy and endless knowledge
Their Creator only loved them, His creation

For their protection, they were exiled
Becoming strangers in a strange land
Wandering East of Eden
Where the winter would come
The winter with all its ravages
And the freeze would choke the people of the land
But after the terrible winter comes the warmth of spring

They became darkened in their understanding
Alienated from the life of God
For their ignorance and hard hearts
They were born of flesh
And flesh they remained
Through the fall and the winter
But when spring arrives
So does the recreating of all things
And things will be made new
Sad things will come untrue

Men remember the fall
Fallen men and redeemed men alike remember
The fruit from the tree condemning
But only the men redeemed know what is to come
That in due time a fruit from the vine would save

Suffocation; the torture of life without breath
Debt; the torture of being trapped without way of getting out

We signed away our souls and our very livelihoods
So that we might find treasures deep into the earth
In vain we gave ourselves to this cause
We became bankrupted and we became slaves to our toil
We inhaled our work and it poisoned our bodies
We owed our souls to the company for which we worked

We dig deep into the earth
In search of ancient treasures formed long long ago
Seeking to find riches beyond belief and beyond compare
Beginning a noble crusade for good things
But then continuing on to become a misadventure where there is little redemption
Oh what an ignorant odyssey we had begun!

In a manmade cavern, we dig for riches
Our faces becoming covered with black soot
As we invest into the dreams of the treasures for which we dig
And yet then further and further falling into debt
Until we are not only suffocated merely by the soot of coal but also by our debts
And as if the danger of this mine were not enough before the the mines began to fall onto our very heads

We toil for years upon years in this dark mine of coal
Losing all we knew and all we were for the sake of unsatisfying treasure
Our friends die day after day suffocated by the matter of our toil
We inhale our work and our lungs become so filled and poisoned with the soot of the coal
Many could no longer breathe or bear the pain of the poison in their lungs
And then they die in the depths of the dark caves searching for treasure in vain

Not knowing we had signed a death wish
To toil deep into the depths of the mantle of the earth searching for forsaken treasure
Believing that we were searching for good things
That we truly were in the midst of a noble crusade
Not even knowing of the reality in which we stood
That there truly was a terrible hell in which we were living

To this point we knew not of the soot slowly suffocating our lungs
And we knew not of the blood pouring out of our wounds
We knew not of the utter blackness that covered our faces
Or that no oxygen flowed to our ever so needy lungs
We knew only of the importance of our mission
And the necessity to find the treasures for which we were sent out

But the reality of this deep and dark quarry was a hell never before known
And the unknown need of fresh air was as heavy as a newborns need for his mother's milk
Yet we knew not of the need for fresh air
For our eyes were set on the prize
To mine the treasure for which we had so long toiled
And we forgot of our need to live and seek good things

Not knowing the depths of our manmade cavern and our lostness
Our faces so covered with dried soot and blood
Longing for new air to freshen our dying lungs
And longing for Holy Water to wash clean our coal-filled and coal-covered bodies
Yet we knew not any of this
And we knew not of the depths of our pain and our suffering

Yet then one day we break through the surface of the earth
We see the light of the sun, and we see good things
The light of day shines onto us
And a cool breeze blows onto our faces
Then we take a collective breath of the new air
A breath of fresh air more satisfying than a thousand breaths in the depths of the horrid coal mine

We see something we had not seen in years, freedom
And as our eyes set upon the world which we had nearly forgotten
We see the beauty that we had indeed forgotten
We realize the hell that we had clearly been enduring
And in a moment it all becomes clearer than ever before
The treasure of the coal mine had so deceived our hearts and our judgement and our very sanity

For we knew not of the depth and gravity of the terror of the hell we were in
We thought we were simply searching for gold, but we had truly sold our souls
Digging deep into the depths of the planet toward the core
And we lost ourselves in the darkness and depravity of the shaft
Suffering in blindness and lostness, unable to find any good things
Until finally we found the Light from above

Our debts had been cleared and our bodies had been made new
How sweet the wind was upon our sweaty, soot-covered, bloodied faces as we emerged from the cave
And then we were washed clean of all of our pain and suffering
The blood was washed from our faces, and our wounds were healed
The soot from the thick coal was scrubbed from our flesh, and our poisoned lungs were healed
And we were freed from the terror of our suffering

For out of the depths of the earth with squinted eyes and limp limbs
We emerged into great Light never before seen
And as our eyes adjusted, so did our understanding
The understanding of just how lost we had been
And just how close to death we came with each and every day
But the breath of fresh air, and the sight of new light resurrected us

From the great horror of our past we were healed
And from our ever-growing debts we had been released
We were freed from our self-imprisonment and given new life
And not on our own accord in the slightest
But by the great love of Christ Jesus
For Jesus is our great deliverer

We venture across the frozen desert
Separated from the warmth we had been accustomed to
Gone from the lush green jungles
And the blue lakes surrounded by living meadows
Gone from the beautiful valleys
And the great hills 
Gone from the flowing streams
And the elegant bustling cities

For that was years ago, now
When our journey was enjoyable
And the mission foreseeable 
Getting to the Holy Mountain
That which was promised
But years have passed since
Now we no longer venture in beautiful places
But only in this frozen desert

For though the wind blows
And the cold air comes
And the warmth has left us
We fight for that which might become ours

There are many gifts in God’s great creation
All part of His great economy of the order of things
The gift of breath
The gift of song and of music
The gift of life, of image, of love
The gift of all things
The gift of even --dare I say it-- death
He gifted all things that are

All is gifted unto us
All is given by the Triune God
In all gifted, there was still incompleteness
There was nothing to respond to God
So constructed into the image of God
Comes a gift better than any gift before given
With the breath of God flowing to our lungs
Wearing a crown of the honor and glory of God

This gift, these people- Us
He says to explore
He says to see the world that we have been gifted
To unwrap the gifts given
To gift our gifts to the world that we are exploring
But there was this problem, a tree
It was not a gift, in fact it was forbidden
Yet still, we unwrapped it, we took that which was not ours to take

We were overcome by death
Overcome by udder sadness
Overcome by sickness, and hurt
By this torturous, terrible thing
This terrible stolen anti-gift
And for it we paid a hefty price
We lost all we were
We lost all we were meant to be

No longer did we fulfill our meaning
Where we were to be gift givers
Where we were to be life to the world
Where we were to bless all things
We took that which was not offered
We broke our relationship with God
Not only did we suffer
But all creation suffered with and due to

Then came a new gift
A gift to restore
A gift to be freely taken
Yet a gift of great responsibility
This gift would set free
But also bind
This was a gift of all gifts
This was a gift to end all gifts

God Himself became man
Offering Himself unto death
So that all things could be made new
So all that was sad would become untrue
Now, as we were once to be
We could, ourselves, be gifts to the world
Blessing the world
Giving life to a lifeless

Our gifts were joined with Christ
With this gift, we would become like the gift we were
More like it than ever before
For Christ makes us more human than we've ever been
Where we would offer the world to The Father
And for the life of all things
Our priesthood would be restored
All things would be restored
All things would be made new
All sad things would come untrue
The world would be restored

Prepare the way!

Bathed in the light of the Father
Drowning in the darkness of broken humanity
Washed clean by the blood of the Son
Sinking in the pain of darkness
Indwelled in the work of the Spirit
Covered by the sins of ourselves

Weighed down by the world in which we live
Hated by the god we've created
Cursed by the sin we've attained
Bleeding from the scars of our lives

The Father looking onto our brokenness
Seeking reconciliation and love
Knowing the scars and the pain from our lives
Planning to heal our brokenness
He sent the Son

The Son lived in our darkness
He dwelt in the pain
He cried the tears
He bled the blood
He knew sin
He was us
On the cross he hung
Taking our sin, our pain, our darkness
He forgave the sins that killed him

God is touching us in our broken places
Mending the tears that lie in us
The Light of God reveals our scars
The Spirit is living in us
The Spirit is healing us
The pain we feel is the light being shed upon us
The revelation of all that our pain is
To show where we have been broken
To show where our blood flows to
The Healing from God
In the Love of the Father,
In the pain of the Son,
In the light of the  Spirit
We are healed

I remember when we lived in Paradise
I remember dwelling with God
I remember walking with the Father
I remember talking with the Son
I remember conversing with the Spirit

I remember the beauty that God had made
And I remember the fruit that was for us
I remember the animals that I named
And I remember the perfection there was
I remember having a relationship with God

I remember that day
And we left the garden
I remember being against God
And ourselves, and our children
I remember the sin I fell into

I remember telling my wife we had to go
And I remember leaving
I remember the tears, the pain, the regret
And I remember the blood
I remember this curse I brought

I remember my son
And how he killed his brother
I remember my son
And I remember his sons
I remember how they perverted God

I remember how they were pagan and wicked
And the flood, when they were destroyed
I remember my son, Noah
And I remember his righteousness
I remember the iniquity of even Noah, the righteous

I remember the sins of Noah's sons
And the pagan worship they began
I remember my son, Abraham
And his son Isaac
I remember the sacrifice

I remember Isaac's sons Israel and Judah
And the iniquity of their nations
I remember Egypt, and their god
And the slavery of my sons in the land
I remember the sins of my sons

I remember my sons in the desert
And the 40 years of sorrow
I remember them entering Canaan
And the beauty of the land promised
I remember the promises of God

I remember the promised King
And the seed of the king to come
I remember Judah and Israel
And warring among themselves
I remember the iniquity of my sons

I remember the sins of my sons
And their people scattered
I remember the pain and sorrow
And the exile they were given
I remember the loss of a people

I remember my final Son
And His gift given to us
I remember His death
And how He paid my debt
I remember the guilt

I remember the Father
And his assurance to me
I remember the Fall
And I remember the Spring
I remember it all

I remember that all deaths are mine to bear
And I was the founder
I remember the sin that comes with my name
And better yet, the grace that comes with His
I remember the name of Jesus

Like waking from a glorious dream
But not from a dream one would want to wake
From a dream of warmth and Summertime
To the reality of Autumn and its chilling winds
And it hurt to wake from the dream
But it will be okay, for reality is setting in

In the early of the morning, it may seem dim
And the times may seem sad
As you can feel the hope slipping away
But in the Autumn, the sun is slow to rise
And when it does, the true morning comes
For the dark of night has passed away

In the morning, a great lesson is learned
For His mercy is new
And His mercy renews itself each and every morning
For His mercy is never ending
And His renewal is everlasting
His love too, lasts all time

I am a broken man
Unable to heal himself
But by God above, I will be healed
Waking from that wonderful dream may hurt
It may not be fun, but it’s best
And I am being healed

How can one understand this great mercy
If one is never broken to be mended?
Life may pound down on even the best of us
But God lifts us up and heals us
By mending our wounds, even in painful ways
In the end, we are healed and perfected

He came to make all things new
And to make all sad things come untrue
I am ready to see these new restored things
And also, to see what the future might bring
For I am a victim of His great mercy
And call myself a victim, I will no more

The morning came slowly on that third day
The sun wondered how it might be able to shine through such darkness
The tears of the earth came early in the dew that morning
The flowers began to bloom in an open defiance to the earth
Perhaps the decaying body of the Lord gave them new life

The birds sang songs of jubilee that morning, as if there were reason for joy
Did they not know that the Light of the World had been snuffed out?
Did they not know that the one who fed them had gone away?
Did they not know that their creator lay below them dead in the ground?
Or did they sing defiantly knowing what we yet did not know?

Much like it had been in Bethlehem decades before, the world was silent
Breaking the silence like the Divine Child’s cries, somewhere a child cried
As if this child knew that his Lord lay dead below the earth
As if he could feel the thick darkness that surrounded him
But then, in defiance like only a child could bring, the first laughter in days

The new world was cold, dark, and bitter, and a child dared to laugh
While the rest of the world cried and mourned the death of their only hope
This child laughed while the birds sang and the flowers bloomed
It was as if they did not know that the Life of the World was still dead
Rather, though, it was as if they had read the prophets of old, and believed

When the sun finally rose, it could not shine through the thick darkness
We lived in a dark purgatorial world where we awaited the judgement
What a terrible judgement that must be coming toward us
We, who drove the nails into His hands, and gave Him over to death
But then, a glimmer of light comes upon the horizon

The light was not the rising of the sun, but some holy other
Those disciples who had run away while He hung on the cross ran again
This time not away from their Savior, but toward that otherworldly light
When they came to where He has been buried, they fell upon their faces
The brightest light to ever grace this old world poured out of the tomb

Then they heard a voice, the voice of the Risen Lord
‘Rise up you men of earth’ He said to the men lying facedown
‘Rise up oh you sleepers!’
‘Behold the Light of the World is upon you’
It was then that the world began its slow change

The cosmos, which had fractured so long ago in Eden, began to mend
Dead men rose to new life
Dark places were then filled with life
The world became a new place where the old had passed away
Every crack and crevice filled with an uncreated light never before seen

For the Lord has risen from the dead!
Indeed He has defeated death!
And forever, we shall keep the feast !
Alleluia!

Exiled for three hundred years
Without limbs, missing eyes, and unseen sins
The Church of Jesus Christ had been laid waste
Quietly living under the heavy boot of Roman Persecution
The bloodied Bride standing in Babylon waiting for her Groom

Hundreds of years prior, deep in the memory of the ancient past
Lay God Incarnate, dead in a tomb
Suffering for the sake of His very Bride
So too now does His wife lay dying
The Church being dismembered for His very sake

Three hundred years of darkness and exile
Separated from brothers and sisters by tyranny
Under duress and suffering inflicted by Rome
Until came an Emperor and a vacation home
To defeat the terror and end an exile

Constantine saw the Son of God and was granted victory in battle
Ushering in new peace and edicts to end the centuries of persecution
The Church of Jesus Christ was finally reunited and reconciled
For the Winter had passed, the night was over
The Spring had finally come, and the sun shone like the flaming tongues at Pentecost

Bishops and priests, pastors and deacons, fathers and sons; they descended upon Nicaea
Men with lost limbs and erased eyes, with restless wounds and sinister sins; they came
To reunite the Body of Christ, to define the Church for the life of the world
To remember what had been forgotten, and forget that ought which not be remembered
These men of God came to Nicaea to re-establish that from which they had previously departed

Confirming the core beliefs of the Body of Christ; the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth
The Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, made man Incarnate from the Blessed ******
And in the Spirit of God, the Lord the giver of life
In one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church
Existent for the sake of the life of the world

Broken they came, united they left
Exiled they were, one Church they became
When our spiritual fathers came upon the little town of Nicaea
And remembered the Church they had long forgotten that they were

Exiled we have been
Becoming strangers in a strange land
Like a light in the dark night sky
Like a star shining in the midst of darkness

For though we are in exile
Though we reside in this utter darkness
Are we not light bearers?
Are we not being used as instruments to sanctify the world?

Like stars burning in the night
And lights brightening the dark
We need to be light in the darkness
To make the night become bright like the noon day sun

The people walking in the darkness have seen a great light
People in the high-rises of the great city
And those in the deep valley of the countryside
They, once in darkness, saw the great lights in the night sky

For a new time has come
The age of darkness is passed
The time of light has begun
The Lord has come
The spring is born from this terrible winter
All sad things will come untrue
And all things are being made new

Prepare the way!

You never see the reality
You never know the true story
A thousand frowns behind one dead smile
But one thing you can always see
There’s a beautiful curtain, but you’ll never know
That behind the curtain lies such a shattered window
Even a well-hidden deer is seen in a scope
Eventually the curtain will tear
The hunter will see the fawn
And what was hidden will be in view
Then all mystery becomes true

My ship is sinking
The ship I built is falling into cold waters
The ship I steered is being swallowed by the sea
My ship sinking
My men are dying
And I, the captain, will fall with his vessel

This vessel has run her course
And she is accepted into the icy water
Where the men will surely die
As their lungs fill with water
Few will survive the icy tide
And I, the captain, will fall with his vessel

In the cold open ocean
Hell has been realized
As I hear horrid screams
And see floating corpses
The men of this mighty ship
Have fallen with their vessel

I, the captain, has ran his ship to her death
Where she will fall into icy waters
Never to sail again
Always to be lost at sea
And I dream of a land
A land I will never see

When my body hits the water
I feel cold for but a moment
Then a numbing feeling takes
And I float in the lukewarm water
Never to walk or breathe again
I, the captain, has fallen with his vessel

Then I sink into the lukewarm water
Struggling to breathe again
My lungs ached, my body pained
And I knew I would not breathe again
In reflex, I inhaled
And in came flowing waters

My lungs filled with water and salt
My throat, mouth, and lungs sting
Stinging with the burning of the salt water
Until my eyes shut
Never to open again
As I, the captain, had fallen with his vessel

There is something greater to which we are called
A greater purpose and a greater calling
For we live on this side of a great barrier
But over, across, and through the barrier
There lies the place for which we were made
The heavenly country, a far away land

How might we enter into this wondrous land
If not for one to bring us there
A savior promised to carry us there
We wait for this promised savior
Coming forth to carry us home
To that land past the barrier
That far country for which we were created

Out of the dark of night
In the chill of the winter
In the midst of a silent night
The wait ended
The terrible wait for redemption
For a savior from wholeness to come to brokenness
God from God to come to humanity
Light from Light to come into darkness
True God from true God to come to redeem us
And He came in a way unprecedented
Incarnate by the power of the Holy Spirit
Becoming man, the very creature He had come for
From the womb of a peasant woman
Into a feeding trough
An entry to this world fit for no king
Yet an entry into this world made by God on High

We know not of this savior who has come
For how might we know of one which we know not we need?
And how might we know of your need in our strength
We believe we can make it across the barriers
Into the new life, the far country

So we venture across those deserts
And we wander through those forests
We travel through the vast wilderness
And sail across these seas
We wade across these rivers
And trudge through these swamps
Too, we fight through sickness
And suffer through poverty
We push through the pain
And finally, we fall for we are not enough

Then the promised savior God on High
Come down to be a man, comes to our side
Descended to the lowest of men
Picking us up out of our filth
And taking it on as His own
Then He carries us home

We then see the Holy City on the horizon
For Christ carries us to our home, to His love
From the darkest and lowest places of Earth
Into the brightest, highest places of Heaven
Into the love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Where we will dwell for all time

Ezekiel do not cry
Though this wife of yours may lie
Descended six feet down
My servant, my child, do not cry
I will provide
I will redeem

Ezekiel do not cry
Though this nation of yours may lie
Exiled to another land
My servant, my child, do not cry
I will provide
I will redeem

Oh Israel, do not cry
Though your nation may lie
In a land ruled by another
My children, do not cry
I will provide
I will redeem

Oh Church, do not cry
Though this, my bride, may lie
Seeming defeated and broken
My children, do not cry
I have provided
I have redeemed
You are saved in me
As Father, Son, and Spirit
Amen!

Let me sing for his beloved
A vineyard on his hill
He dug and then He planted
He built and then He watched
The men in Judah judge him
For all of His sweet care
He finally saw His fruit bear

He is the vine
The great vine of His vineyard
The fruit of that hill
He is the vine
Already we are clean
With the words that He left us
Trust in him and we will drink of it
Partaking in the blood of Jesus Christ

Here's the end to His vineyard
Its hedge He has removed
Destroyed all of it shall be,
Its walls will be trampled
Then He will make it waste
All these thorns will grow up
And then the rains will not come

This vineyard that I sing of
Are His chosen people
And all this pleasant planting
No fruit has it beared
But my Jesus he is coming
To rule over the lands

The dead trees give off life
The barren branches grow green
The brown grass becomes lush
The flowers become fruitful
The sun shows its face
And the warmth shows proof
For spring has come

The months of dying have ended
The season of laments has drawn to a close
As warmth has come to our land
The frozen ground has thawed
As the snow has melted away
And the cold has left the air
For spring has come

We live in the cool morning
Dwell in the warm afternoon
Then sleep in the cold night
Spring has come
As our days get longer
And our nights become shorter
For spring is here

The air is filled with singing
We build houses and plant gardens
We wed and have sons and daughters
We fiind sons for our wives
And we give our daughters into marriage
And they too will have sons and daughters
And we seek peace in this warming spring

Time of growing has come about
A time where all sad things will come untrue
We will live for all good things
And the life of the world in which we live
We leave our small houses
And we venture into the unknown
For spring has come

We venture from our comfortable dwellings
Into centers of pain
To go to hell on earth
To give life to the lifeless
Hope to the hopeless
Life for the world
For all sad things are becoming untrue

For He will wipe away the tears from all eyes
Death will become no more
Pain will pass away from us
The season is changing
Crying and mourning will be but a memory
For all things will pass away in their time
And all things will be made new

This time of summer is coming
Spring has come
In this spring all is being made new
For The Lord is coming
But Summer will arrive
And all things will be new
For The Lord will have come

Scarred from beating and flogging
Left for dead by the tyranny of an Emperor  
But gifted life by the love of the King
In unmarked graves like poor peasant slaves
These people of God left only a forgotten story of heroism

They suffered for the cause of the Savior
Losing eyes and limbs for a cause greater than themselves
Persecution at the highest stakes
Death here on earth to attain love after
Martyred for all that is good and that is Holy

These saints, the ancient followers of the Messiah
Went unto their death for the sake of the Church
They were nailed to trees, burned while yet still breathing
They were eaten by wild animals, skinned alive
And still yet, the Church marched forward into Persecution

It was high time that the Church begun mourning
That the people of God began to cry out to God
Begging for His mercy, crying for justice
Requesting intercession from the great pain of their brothers and sisters
Praying the prayer of the Church; ‘Come Lord Jesus’

The citizens of this tyrannical empire became saints of Jesus Christ
Rome became the center of the Church of Christ
The people of God looking unto the Holy Father of Rome
To find good teaching of the Word of the Lord
Misled though they had become, the center of the Church on Earth lies in Rome

For two millennia saints of the Lord Christ have been martyred
By those who claim names other than the Lord
And by those who claim even the name of Christ
But the days of suffering have yet to end
And they will not end until we see the very face of God

For even on the very day of the feast of the Resurrection of our Lord
Twenty-one men, saints who had proclaimed the name of Christ
Served their purpose to give light and life to a darkened world
Even unto their deaths and the days and years following
For they saw the face of the risen Lord, Jesus Christ

We see on foreign shores our brothers in chains
Suffering for the cause of the Savior
For His Bride, the Church of Jesus Christ
We can see the suffering saints in chains and behind bars
And we can see them dying without food or water

We watched as our brothers bound by chains knelt on a seashore
Kneeling before the Lord Jesus Christ in faith and obedience to Him
But standing behind them the very hands of Satan
Attempting to dismember the Body of Jesus Christ
Oh what a pitiful, futile effort to dethrone our Risen Lord

The saints had their throats slit and heads removed from their very bodies
Their earthly lives ended for their faith in our Lord
What an absurd attempt to defeat the risen Christ
These hands of Satan vow to dismember the Church of Christ
But they will not be victorious over our Risen Lord

The lifeless bodies of these saints lay upon the sand of the shore and their souls lifted up
As if taking the heads of the saints of Christ brings upon more darkness
Only giving more truth and more life and light to darkened dying world
They may take the heads from individual saints
But they will never take the Head of the Body Of Jesus Christ

These murdered and martyred saints of Jesus Christ
Their blood pouring into the sea turning the ocean to blood
South of Rome, the city these hands of Satan vow to overthrow
The center of the Church on earth against whom they wage war
But attempt to overthrow our Lord, and you will be defeated

Is now not the time to lament?
Is now not the time for the Body of Christ to rise
And with one voice cry out to the heavens; ‘Come Lord Jesus!’
For now, just as all days past and to come,
The people of earth need the Savior

Perhaps the time has once again come to mourn
Perhaps the time has come for the Body of Christ to once again lament
To the east and the west, we hear terrible cries of terror
To the north and the south, we can see tears of despair
For once again, it has become ever-so obvious of our need of the Savior

Come Lord Jesus!

He created man in His own image
He formed man from the dust of the ground
He breathed breath into the man's nostrils
And raised him up from the ground
He gave man the gift of life
He gave man the gift of companionship
And He gave man the greatness of the Garden
The paradise of Eden

In this beautiful garden
There were rivers flowing gracefully
And trees growing up beautifully
The beautiful summer was upon the earth
And in the garden was given to the man, a woman
A woman from his own bones, his own flesh
And they wed

But in this beautiful garden
In this paradise of Eden
Dark shadows lingered
God gave all things for the man
Except for one tree located at the garden’s center
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
And in the garden, more cunning than any other, was a serpent
A fallen servant of The Lord on High

The most beautiful of all created beings
This Fallen Angel who had warred against God
This Fallen Angel was cast down to earth down low
There on the earth he would walk
Going to and fro, and up and down upon it
The serpent, Satan, would challenge God
He questioned the commands of the Triune God
He asked questions that ought not be asked

He approached the woman, the man’s bride
He questioned the words of God
He told her to eat of the tree which she was commanded not
If she did, she would be like God
She would have knowledge of both good and evil
So she ate of the fruit of the tree
And the serpent was not incorrect
They understood good and evil, but distortedly
They were cut off from God
They were ashamed
And they had a lack of reconciliation with God

The summer had ended
The autumn was coming on the horizon
The cold air was soon coming
Seasons changing, times changing
But know, the summer will come again
In due time, what was good, now bad, will be made new again
And all things will be made new
Times will change
And the summer will return
For The Lord will have come

Like waking from a dream
Waking from the horror of a nightmare
And seeing the beauty of the morning
Seeing the green of an Earth you had never before seen

For I hear our beloved saying to us;
“Arise, shine, for the light has come
The glory of The Lord has risen upon you
Come now my love, awake!
See the winter is past
The rain is over and gone
For Summer has come
Gone is the Winter and its ravages
Here is the Summer and its blessings
The warmth of the sun
The flowers flowing in the meadow
For good has come”
Thus says our Lord

For He has crushed the head of the Serpent
Like the King of Old has slain the giant
And the end of all things has come
The end of separation is arrived
The beginning of new things is here
The founding of the New City
This City was built, established by understanding
The rooms were filled by knowledge
Filled with all precious and good treasures

From the darkness of the night has come light
The sun has broken out with the dawn
And all wounds were healed
And the unrighteous became right
For the nations saw and came to our light
And kings came to the brightness of such light

On this New Earth there is no more pain or destruction
This Earth is full of the knowledge of The Lord
The cow and the bear graze in the field together
Their young lie down with one another
And the lion eats straw like an ox
All the depths of the Earth have risen up
The high points have been made low
The uneven places have been made level
And the rough ground has become a plain
For all things have been made good again
Like the Summer of the Garden, yet better

On this New Earth, roads have been made in the wilderness
And rivers bring water to the once-dry desert
For these new good things are being done
From the old things of nature come the sound of great music
Clapping from the trees of the field,
Songs from the mountains in the distance
From the ground come not thorns, but beautiful flowers

The ancient ruins of the old places have been built up
The cities of former glory have been rebuilt
The devastation of many generations have been healed
No more are we called forsaken
For our Salvation has come
And He has married our land
He has become one with our properties
No longer is our land called ‘Desolate’
But is now called ‘My Delight is in Her’
For His delight has come to us

On the Earth of Old we sold our possessions
We held onto treasures that would not fail
To moneybags that would not grow old
Moneybags that no thief could ever steal
Treasures no moth could ever destroy
And we dwell now with those treasures
As He had promised us before
We now dwell with Him in Paradise
In this paradise unimaginable
For no eye had seen, nor ear had heard
No heart had ever imagined this paradise
This great place God had prepared for us

We have been given one heart
And we have been given one spirit
Our heart of stone has been removed
And we have been gifted a heart of flesh
He bathed us with water
He washed us clean from our bloodstains
And He anointed our heads with oil
He clothed us with fine cloth
Shod us with good leather
He has wrapped us with fine linen
And covered us with precious silk
He sprinkled us with clean water
Cleansed us from unrighteousness
And took us from our idols
He had given us new hearts and new spirits
And His Spirit dwelled in us

We had died before, as He once did
We died, but now live forevermore
He too died once, but lives with us
Now, forevermore

We now dwell in this New Earth
For the first Earth has passed away
And in the New City of Jerusalem
For we are of the Bride for Christ, our Husband
For this New Jerusalem is a dwelling place
A place for us to dwell with God
He dwells with us
And we will be His people
And He will be our God
He has wiped away the tears from all faces
Death is no more, mourning is no more
Crying and pain are no more
Those who thirst have been quenched
Those who hunger have been filled
Those who were blind now see
Those who were deaf now hear
Those who were lame now walk
For the former things have passed away

A great shadow has departed
For everything sad has come untrue
For the voice told us;
“I have made all things new"

Oh Lord, faithful unto Your people in all ages and worlds
Faithful even unto those that forget Your faithfulness and discard You
And once more, here I am remembering not Your faithfulness
Your body has been desecrated and all but defeated and destroyed
For Your people use words as weapons for ****** and spite for means of destruction

Oh Lord, Your body has torn itself to shreds, and someone is going to die
That someone is going to be the Body of Christ
Disagreements and differences need not to lead to hatred and malice
We have been saved and united unto You by Your great love
Can we not be united to one another as to You through Your love?

When children become involved in immature entanglements, adults laugh and ignore
But when grown adults fight in the streets, the fight must be stopped
And now Your body is pulling punches and weapons
There is bitter hatred over language and style, awful things to cause blood
Oh Lord, might this soon come to an end?

Oh Lord why do You allow for Your people to tear one another down?
Day by day, year by year, generation by generation, Your Body falls deeper into dismay
Your people, oh Lord, war against one another over small issues and differences
How long must we persevere through bitter hate and rejection from brothers and sisters?
Oh Lord might we have unity and love as you have always called for us to come to?

Oh Lord, our knees are bruised from years of kneeling
Our minds are wounded from generations of dealing
Our necks are sore from all our lives spent looking heavenward
Our eyes are reddened and swollen from lives spent crying for our beaten and murdered brothers
And our souls are decomposing from being cast out by the powerful in Your Body

Oh Lord, heal our bruises, mend our wounds, take away our sores
Lord, take away our tears, and resurrect our souls into Your great love
Lord, defeat our adversaries and bring us all back into unity with each other and You
Bring us back into Your love and remember us who have been cast out and forgotten
Oh Lord, deliver us from our adversaries, our very brothers in Christ

But for those who show love to our brothers, and have unity in Your love
For those who call all sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ ‘brothers and sisters’
As for us, we bring forth unity in a fractured and all but defeated body
We call upon those who bring forth dissonance, and plead that they show Christian love
And though many do not listen, still we call in Your name

Still we commune in the Sacrament of Your Body and Blood with them
Still we refer as brothers and sisters, our very body
Even through pain, and hate, and torment, through tears, and blood, still we love on
Still we worship beside them, pray with them, and partake in the ministry of the Word with them
Still we participate in and out of liturgy in the work of the Church, for they are our brothers

So we cup our hands as if waiting for bread, we set our gaze toward the heavens
We pray for Your blessings to fall into our open palms daily
And here come I, on my knees begging that You deliver us from this hell
That You might intervene and put this broken body back together
That You might breathe new life into this seeming dying body

Your Son was murdered, broken, and crucified for our transgressions
His broken body lay in the ground for three days before He rose again into new life
So too might this body, the Body of Jesus Christ, resurrect into new life
And we read that Lazarus’ came back into life after passing unto death
So this body, which has yet not passed unto death, might be mended and healed

You, who have come to make all things new
Who have come to make all sad things come untrue
You can mend these wounds that seem unhealable
And we know that You will, for You are faithful unto Your children
Faith, which we so often lack, we will not lose

You have mercy upon us, forgiving us all our sins, through Your Son
You strengthen us in all goodness by the power of Your Holy Spirit keeping us in eternal life
So we lift our hearts to You, giving You thanks and praise always and everywhere
We sing songs to You and give our whole hearts to You
From the first breath we breathe in new life, to the last breath on earth, be our praise with You

This is the prayer from the oppressed in Your body
The prayer for those who have dwelt beneath the foot of the body
Have mercy upon us, have mercy upon our enemies
Give us Your grace, and bring the body back into unity, oh Lord
And more of all, grant us Your peace

Oh Lord, You accept the fervent prayers of your people
With Your many mercies, look with compassion upon us
Hear our prayers, oh Lord to whom we turn for great help
You are most gracious, you lover of souls
Hear, accept, and intervene on our behalf by Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen.

I wrote many poems
I wrote many songs
I even wrote of a life
Before I had even met you
Before I knew even of your existence

I wrote an entire book
This great adventure
Of love lost and gained
Of life gained and lost
This great journey of beautiful proportions

Then I met you
I saw your face, a familiar one
And I heard your voice, a calming one
Like I had seen you before
And I felt safe

In the eyes of someone I hadn't known
I saw beauty I had only before imagined
And as time wore on,
I saw your heart
I saw your beautiful soul

Then the rains came
The cold winter winds came
Blowing apart what we had built
But it was built on crooked foundations
And so it fell, as we allowed

And just like in the ruins of a city
A place once filled with hope
A place once filled with happiness
A place of celebration
The ruins became a lament

And for months lied those ruins
Drowned by flooding rains
Pounded by fierce winds
Covered by paralyzing snow
Then the spring arrived

With spring came the sun
And came the flowers of the fields
Came the singing of the birds of the trees
Came the gentle flowing of cold creeks
Came the beauty of new life

So too with the ruins of our city
When it became safe to do so
We rebuilt our walls
We reconstructed our towers
We resurrected our city

From the crumbling ruins of our once-great city
May come a city with more beauty than before
A city which could only come after the pain of winter
For if there had been no winter
The city in crooked foundations would stand, waiting to fall

So too with her
Had what seemed to have been good not ended
This new city could not be built
And an unstable city would remain
Waiting for a calm rain

But for now, we rebuild our city
Trying to restore its former glory
Where we want to make our home
This beautiful city-to-be
Rising from the rubble

We hope to rebuild
We hope to resurrect
We hope to restore
We hope to review
We hope not to redo
We hope for all to be good
In this beautiful new city-to-be

There was a day in which I was lost
There was a day in which I was blind
There was a day in which I was deaf
There was a day in which I was dead

But by The Father, as The Son, through The Spirit
I am healed

I was lost and He searched for me
I was blind and He gave me vision
I was deaf and He gave me ears
I was dead and He gave me breath

I was running like a scared dog
And He chased me until He caught me
He took me by the hand leading me back

I was hiding like a coward
And He searched day and night until He found me
He brought me to His home

I was cursing Him like fool
And He curbed my mouth into His praises
He took my voice and glorified Him

I was worshipping a pagan god
And He destroyed my idols
He took my false gods and revealed Himself

I was an orphan waiting for love
And He picked me up out of my darkness
He made me His own

I was dumbed by my knowledge
And He set me free
He showed the way

There lies a desert void of life
There lies a desert void of water and void of food
There lies a desert void of all good things
In this desert lies death
In this desert lies air more dry than dead bones
And in this desert lies pain more than can be imagined

For I wander throughout said desert
Seemingly with my lonesome
With no one to turn
And with nowhere to go
So I sit on a rock and wait
Then a promise of water comes to me from Above

But when the driest of days come over the horizon
And the hottest of times comes to my face
I almost give up, leaving the promise
And then I feel like I have moved on from that promise
But I cannot leave what came from Above
Oh me of little faith!

So I wander seemingly alone in this desert
For days upon days, weeks upon weeks
For months upon months, even years upon years
Longing for even a drop of water to satisfy my thirsty soul
But here in the dry desert the water is unfound
For all of the water has evaporated into the dry desert air

But on the horizon I see what I’ve longed for
I see what looks to be a spring
Bringing water to the dry desert ground
To satisfy the thirst of this dead dry country
And as I approach this great gorge of water
I am killed with the realization that no water lies here

For I have been tricked
By the images in my head
And the physical needs of my body
I have been deceived
The green and lush never truly existed in this dead dry desert
Only this mysterious mirage in my misunderstood mind

So still I search across these dry dead lands
For the water that might bring life back to my tired soul
But time and time again
The mirages ****** my hope for satisfaction
But soon enough I know I will find the promise
And reach the flowing waters to satisfy my soul

One day, I find myself a well
A well that may be full of water
Water that may wet my thirsty tongue
But when I look into that deep well
I see a crack in its basic foundation
And no clean water lies in this broken cistern

So I drop my bucket into that deep broken well
Hoping for a mere drink of water
But in the bucket comes muddied, dirtied water  
And when I pour that water into my thirsty mouth
My thirst is not satisfied, it is only magnified
And I am more thirsty than I have been ever before

So I take another drink
But this broken cistern holds water that cannot satisfy
Water that may merely increase my thirst
That will only bring forth the day of my death
For my mouth is as dry as this desert sand
And I will die here in this dry desert of death

I am like dead dry bones in the valley of death
With no flesh or breath to give me life
But then when I find the water that gives life
Flesh will come about my bones
And He will breathe breath into my lungs
Then for the first time, I will have true life

I wander on never finding the water I require
But then I stand and look heavenward
And I hear my weary voice cry out “My bones are dried up!
All hope is lost, and I am cut off!”
So I stand in the dry dying desert
Alone with nothing and no one to hope in

Then His glorious voice responds; “I will raise you from your graves
I will put My Spirit in you, for I am the Lord your God
I am with you to the end of the ages
For My Son, your God reigns with me
And our Name is Immanuel
For I am with you."

And I fall to my knees
For there lies a cistern unbroken
I look deep into this well and see a promise unforsaken
For the well is filled with sweet satisfying water
And I drink never to thirst again
For He is the Living Water, and I am satisfied in Him

I lay here dying
Breathing my final breaths
On the bed in which I will die
For I am a dying man

I am sick and broken
Lost and strayed
I had no one to turn
No one could heal my dying self

For there I lay dying
And later, I would lay there dead
For my life was over
That is, until the doctor came to my side

He took my hand showing me two worlds
One where I might live
And one where I might die
Then to rise again

He gave me wine to drink
He gifted me bread to eat
And told me I would thirst no more
That I would long for food no more

And I was healed
For this Doctor was not merely a man
But God on High
Who came to give life

He came to heal the sick
He came to mend the broken
He came to love the broken hearted
And to give life to the lifeless

He brought me to my feet and I danced
He led me out of my darkness
And He brought me into the Light
For He Himself was Light

Yet in the other world
He took my hand
And my pain remained
But my fear fled my weary heart

He gave me wine and I drank
He gave me bread and I ate
And I would never thirst again
Never again would I need the delight of food

Then I died on that bed of death
But soon after I died
I rose again in a whole new world
A world I had never before known

In this world came great delight
There were flowers sprouting in the fields
There were wild animals tame like a pet
And there were rivers flowing of honey and milk

This new world was the beginning of all things
For all things of the past had passed
And it had all been made new
This New Earth was the new makings of all things

Then I awoke from this glorious dream
Confused I looked around for an answer
The Doctor took my hand once more
And He said to me;

"Arise my son
See the sun is coming up
And the day has come
You've been healed from the dark of night
Arise!"

Disappointed, my eyes became a well of water
Longing for this New Earth I had seen
But The Doctor looked at me once more
And with a wonderful voice He said;

"Arise my son
That New Earth awaits you
You have been healed from the dark of night
And more work is to be done
It is your time not yet
But soon, you will come to this New Earth
For I will call you home."

I stand in a field planted by another
A plot of land bought by my fathers
Growing crops for the generations coming
The field bearing fruit for hundreds of years
Since the fathers of my fathers’ fathers came across the sea
And planted their seed in this once-empty field
To feed their generations yet to be born

My fathers came strangers in a strange land
My fathers sought the welfare of the land
But maintaining and keeping their nation
Not accommodating the native people of the land
But raising and maintaining their nation of old
My fathers were not saviors, not to people or the land
They only prepared the way for this to come
So for reasons similar, we too prepare the way

We do the humble work of planting the seeds
We till this land for the generations to come
We plant seeds for others to sow in their time
Just as my fathers did before me
We prepare the way of The Lord
We prepare a field for our children
And plant seeds for the children of our children
We work and toil for the blessings of our children

A seed is planted in the field
It will grow some day to feed my generations
I may not see what it grows to be
And I may not see who it goes to feed
But I know it will grow into food for generations
I know this to be true just like a woodsman
A woodsman knows that the acorn goes on to be a tree
And the oak becomes a forest in a thousand years

And so I till the field
And I plant the seeds in our land
And I give my love to generations to come
The Love of God

Fourteen train stops
All that separated us
From the separation of three months
Each stop bringing us closer to reality
Closer to the realization
That we would be separated
Not to see each other
Three months
Fourteen weeks and a day
Ninety-nine days
Two Thousand, three hundred, and seventy six hours
Hundreds of thousands of minutes
Millions of seconds
Too long for my impatient heart

But in the grand scheme of time
When all is said and done
If we end up one
What is that time?
If in the end we are one,
We will have decades,
So what is a quarter of a year?
It makes me feel better
But it doesn't make it much easier

In ninety-nine days
In two thousand, three hundred, and seventy six hours
In a few hundred thousand minutes
In a few million seconds
It's not too far from now
And even if it was

Moment by moment, sign by sign
The highway passes us by
High speeds, high risks
The highway passes us by
As we look upon the world coming before us
Waiting to get to the places we are going
And see the world passing by us
Places that we will never attain
But we have a mission
For the places we leave behind
Are nothing compared to the places we go

We travel along these long roads
And see the dashes fly next to our spinning tires
Discovering all that lies before us
Not regretting anything that lies behind
As we move forward in the lives we live
Looking for the next step of this life
We travel down these roads
Searching for the next adventure
To find that the one we have now
Is one that will never leave us
For forever we venture
Down these roads to eternity

I stand on a sandy shore overlooking a mighty ocean
Dreaming of the goings one of the foreign Shores
And the far away places across the open seas

There may be lands with new creatures
Creatures more beautiful than any other
Creatures even more wonderful than the angels of the heavens

These foreign Shores of far away lands might be deceiving
From beautiful shores to pits, canyons, and dark places of the lands
The possibility that what lies across this ocean might be the very pit of hell

Then I remember something beautiful
A memory like that of one from a dream
But as quickly as the beautiful thing comes into my mind, it passes

So we set sail on our mighty sheepish ship
And we set out to find these lands of which we’ve only dreamed
These wonderful, terrible, heavenly lands of our dreams

Leaving behind the land that we called home
To find these new lands that we might call our own
We land on a shore and find the very object of our intent

We, in leaving our home;and, we found something much much greater
The great land of which we had only dreamt
Was the very land which we had found

A few away shore so familiar to the land of our minds
The great object of our very best dreams
The Far Country for which we had sailed

And found we, the Land of Our Fathers
The old way which we had so long ago abandoned
The history that we had left behind in the dust

The Land of Orthodoxy, the great land of our fathers
A new adventure in a familiar land
The great land of our fathers, our true earthly home

A boy born into royalty
Destined to rule over a great kingdom
But sent away by one with ill will for the kingdom
To be killed in a shipwreck
And leave a kingdom without their prince

But a lion pushed the boy in the wreckage to shore
Where a man stood wakeful at night
And took the boy in, giving him life
The man abused the boy in many ways
And the future ruler would leave to rule his kingdom

The boy had always wanted to go North
As if there were something good to the North
Something drawing him to the mountains and rivers
As he had northern blood flowing through his veins
So 'Onward and upward, to Narnia and the North!'

The boy fled his home on the back of a talking horse
Escaping the abusive nature of his supposed-father
To the north where he was meant to be, they fled
From the south the life he was fleeing from
His destined kingdom lying in this northern land to which he travelled

On horseback he rides in a forest
Before hearing the sounds of another horse
And then seeing the sights of another rider
Terrified the horse pulls forward
Then a wild animal gives its mighty roar

Hearing the roar of a mighty lion
The riders and horses go on running from this terror
Until they are united, together in their travels
Then the lion disappears into the mist of the forest
And the travelers, a boy and a girl, and two horses now travel to the north together

The boy stranded in the desert
Away from all things he had known
Without his horse or traveling companions
Without any water to quench his thirst
And he spends the night alone in the dark desert

There on the desert ground, terrified he laid
For behind him stood tombs of the kings of old
And to his forefront laid the desert
He imagined ghosts and ghouls that might come from the tombs
And terrified he laid, there on the desert ground

Then a kitten came to his side
The cat came und nuzzled behind the sleeping boy
It kept him warm through the cold desert night
The boy felt safe with the kitten by his side
As if no one or no thing could possibly harm him

As he slept, he heard the sound of jackals howling in the desert
The boy became fearful once he noticed the absence of the cat
Yet it was at this time that he heard the mighty roar of a lion
And the lions roar made him even more fearful than he was before
But then the howling of the jackals ceased and he was safe

He awoke again later in the night to the cat by his side
The cat comforted him in his loneliness
And kept him warm in the desert night
When it needed to, the cat became a lion and defended the boy
For the lion always wanted what was best for that boy

Then the four travelers ventured north across the desert
Racing against time, and against enemy armies
To get to the kingdom in the north on time to warn the king
But like any desert travelers, they quickly tired
And they required one final push

A lion's roar cams out of the silence of nature
And very quickly the horses sped up to leave the lion's reach
But to no avail as the lion gashed at one of the riders
The terror of the horses propelled them forward
And they made it in time to save the kingdom

The boy was reunited with his father, the king
And he himself became a king when it came high time
The boy married the girl, and became king and queen of the country in the north
For the Lion and the Kitten led them to the north, and to their salvation
Even when they did not know the Lion at all

The Lion is Jesus Christ, God Himself in the flesh
He came to save the boy, and his horse
And his wife and her horse
He came as a fierce lion to redirect
And as a kitten to comfort
He came as a lion to defend
And as a kitten to protect
Jesus Christ came to men
He came as a helpless fetus and infant
And as a small child
He came as a man to teach
And as a man to die
Jesus is fierce when needed
And gracious when needed
For He loves His children
And will not let His children stray far from Him
For much good is to come for the Children of God

I see the work of my hands
I see the results of my will
I set my eye over the lands
I know I was too weak on that hill
I didn’t realize the journey’s demands
The pains in my side remain still

I set my foot upon that path
Over my shoulder I saw my pain
I run from the Monster’s wrath
If his way is made, I will be slain
There on my arm, I see the ****** ****
It seems this journey will be in vain

The Monster haunts me in my dreams
He follows on this path with chasing
No matter how loud I cry, it seems they won’t hear my screams
No one knows just what I’m facing
I run until I see flowing streams
And find my love, we’re embracing

From this dream I wake
The truth in this dream I dread
With this Monster, my will may break
But on this path, I will tread
And I will walk until I ache
On the path my Father led

I wander down this lonely road
In this deep dark wood
As I walked alone, my pace it slowed
Until I stopped and stood
By the streams that flowed
And for a time, all was good

The fire I had built begins to smolder
The smoke from the dead warmth rose
The night then grew colder
I thought for sure I would be froze
Then I saw the Monster over my shoulder
I can see in his eyes, my fear shows

I run hastily away from the Monster
He chases me through the dark
I know he leads me to slaughter
If only I could create a spark
In the darkness, I would no longer wander
Then maybe I might hit my mark

The Monster leaves me at sunrise
My pain vanishes with the light
My soul is calm like sunny skies
For a time, all is right
But as soon as the sun dies
There comes the pain of night

My night is filled with torment
And my days filled with fear
This journey is filled with lament
Oftentimes I fear the end is all too near
It seems something I cannot prevent
And the injuries I’ve acquired are all too severe

The pain is too great to continue down this road
Knowing the Monster is on my back
The weight I carry is too heavy of a load
The courage to continue is something I lack
But my Father gave me guide with the words he wrote
And with each encounter, I defend the Monster’s attack

Every night I see I’m not on my own
I’d be dead if not for my Father
With each fight, each night, I’ve grown
I no longer wonder why I bother
At the end, I’ll approach my Father’s throne
And the Monster will be but a scoffer

Still the Monster haunts when the sun is gone
It’s as if I’m stuck in his box
And I can never move on
Because still the Monster mocks
Weak. I feel as weak as a fawn
Yet somehow as strong as an ox

It’s a strange feeling
Being torn between pain and relief
Yet both are healing
It’s hard to hold to belief
When everything is reeling
When it’s always about a new leaf

Still I feel the pain from the hunt
The Monster always drawing blood
He’s always just steps behind, though I’m in front
I tread through deep mud
Only for him to catch me with his heavy brunt
Now I’m caught in this painful flood

Constantly I cry for my Father to save me
For someone to take me from my misery
But what I wanted was not what He gave me
A man came and was my victory
For my evil, He forgave me
And why He did is a mystery

He defeated the Monster on my part
He took on my pain and we limped down the path
He felt the pain I held in my heart
He experienced my pain from the Monster’s wrath
He had been with me from the start
Always interceding on my behalf

He acted as my brother
He defeated my tormentor
He cared for me like my mother
He dwelled in the pain left by my torturer
He was sent by my Father

Dark clouds gather on the horizon
As thunder rattles in the distance
A storm is coming
And it will destroy all things

The sky above
Once blue and bright,
Is now gray and dark
For a storm is coming

The rains will come
As lights streak across the sky in the distance
It seems like the world is ending
For a storm is coming

The dark moves forward
Coming to surround all we know
Until soon it is here
And with it come flooding rains

The rains flood and destroy
Gone is everything we once knew
All peace and good things
Flowing away with the flooding rains

Then the darkness passes
Like the winter comes to an end
And the flowers sprout from the ground
The Son has come to make light in the dark

And all life returns
For from the cloud came rains of death
But now from the sun come rays of light
For the sun has defeated the dark clouds
And God has defeated the dark of this earth

Exiled, a stranger in a strange land with hope for life
But we have locked our doors to keep him out
For the life of the World unless an inconvenience
One in the image of God disallowed human decency at our action
Hands and feet of the Lord Jesus, lest it be easier to pretend the problem away

Now has come the time for our repentance;
Forgive us Father, for we have sinned
We have not loved our neighbor as ourself
Rather, we have loved ourselves and only ourselves
We are the sinners we pretend not to be

They come seeking refuge from terror and evil
We slam doors in their faces
They come hungry for food to eat
And we stuff our mouths full, claiming to have none
Can we really call ourselves People of the Lord?

They sit on the side of the road begging for  our spare change
And we pretend as if we are poorer than they
They freeze to death on the sidewalk
And we cross to the other side like the priest and Levite of old
Have we reason to call ourselves the hands and feet of Christ?

Mightn’t there come a day when we are hungry with no food to eat
Did the Lord not command us to feed the hungry, and give to the poor?
Have we shown the love of the Lord to even our closest neighbors?
Mightn’t we show love rather than fear, generosity rather than persecution
Else we might no longer rightfully call ourselves the People of the Lord

The river moves steady along
Down the stream the water flows
In the course set long ago
Parts of the river flow peacefully
Places where the fish swim
And people gaze onto the calm creek

In some places the water flows to a sudden drop
Where the water roars down the fall
Splashing below the cliff
Then flowing normally again
Moving steady along
Down the stream the water flows

On another region of the river
The water rushes through rocks
Through gorges and pits
The water roars in the Rapids
Here the fish don't come
For they know there lies danger

I see a fish lay dying on the rocks
Rejected from the dangerous rapid
How I am like the fish
Thrown from the once peaceful stream
Onto the dry rocks with no help
How am I not like this dying fish?

From the once-peaceful stream I have been thrown
Rejected by the violent rapid
On these rocks I now lie
With no one to assist
But along the violent river lives a man
Of whom I do boast

The man gives living water
Water that heals
Water that gives life
Water that resurrects
On the dry rock I laid
Until the man dropped me into a bucket with that water

The water wetted my scales
And my gills welcomed the oxygen
As I could breathe again
The water was sweet
And it was clean
Cleaner than the muddy river water

Then he poured me back into the ***** river
But the clean water remained with me
And I swam along the river
Never to fear
For I had living water
And will never die

Simon, son of Jonah
You sailed the waters seeking fish
You were called from your boat to walk upon dry land seeking men
You were called by the Lord, God of Israel
You were beloved by the Lord of Ages

Oh Simon, denier of the Lord
Simon, you claimed Him to be the Messiah, the Christ
That He was the Son of the Living God, and He gave you a new name
For upon you, Peter the rock, He would build His Church
And like Simon’s father Abram, you became like Abraham a patriarch with a new name

Oh Peter, you saw who He was
Not by flesh revealed
But because the Father above revealed it to you
Peter, how might you ever forget that He loves you?
Oh Peter, how might you forget what you have seen?

Immediately taken up by Satan
For you focus on the things of earth
Oh Simon, have you forgotten who you are?
Have you forgotten, Simon, that He made you new?
Simon, have got forgotten that you are a rock, made not for a boat?

Peter, with faith to move mountains, you served the Living God
But when you walked upon the sea, Simon sunk like the rock Peter was to be
Oh Simon, hadn't you the faith?
Hadn't you known, Simon, that you had the faith to walk on water?
But Simon, you sank fast from the weight of your unbelief

Peter, you sat as the Lord washed your feet
Not understanding why the God of all would wash old Simon's feet
And you broke bread together in the room with the betrayer
Peter, did you know that He would go to die?
Did you know, Simon, that you would deny the Lord?

Oh Simon, He prayed in the garden
And in His last hours with you, could you not keep awake?
For but an hour, Simon, could you not keep awake for the Lord?
Simon, was sleep more precious to you than the life of the Lord?
Oh Simon, such a low place to which you had sunk like the rock Peter was to be!

Then came the soldiers to arrest the Son of Man
Oh Peter, you could not bare for your master to be taken from you
But Simon, must you have cut the ear from a soldier's head?
Must you have, Simon, resorted to such violence and vengeance?
Oh Simon, you could attack a soldier for the Lord, but could you not confess Him?

Oh Simon, a servant girl came and asked of your master
And you denied Him as if you never knew Him
Oh Simon, would you deny the Lord in His time of need?
Simon, saying you never knew the man, God Himself
As if He had never called you Peter, or declared that you were HIs rock to build upon

Oh Simon, would you deny your Lord during the very trial for His death?
Would you, oh Simon, deny that He was the savior to all?
And when the rooster crowed, oh Simon, you knew
Peter, your eyes opened to the sins of Simon
That you awoke a rock sunk by the weight of unbelief gasping for air in the depths of the sea

Then the Lord died, and Simon, you forgot the profession of Peter
That He was the Christ, that He would rise again, Simon wept with the world
But when the girl came, that the body was gone, Peter, you ran
Peter, you hiked up your robe and ran to the tomb
The other disciple may have won the race, but it would not matter

Simon, you went into the tomb, and your blindness kept you
You saw emptiness, and darkness, Simon
How could you not remember the words of His prophecy?
Simon, why did you not laugh with joy at what the scriptures foretold?
Oh Simon, you went home never remembering what even you knew!

Simon, you went upon a ship to seek fish, the treasure of the sea
Oh Simon, have you forgotten who you are?
Have you forgotten that you are Peter, the rock
Simon, remember that rocks belong not on boats
But upon the ground, Simon, that the Church may be built upon you

Simon, you locked yourself in a room with your brothers
Hiding away from the world to which you were to serve
Oh Simon, what did you fear?
Oh Simon, why did you hide away?
Simon, oh Simon, how had you forgotten the promise He made?

Yet still He came in and brought for you peace
Oh Peter, He breathed His breath upon you and indwelled His Spirit within you
Simon, you left and came not back, and were never missed!
And Peter awoke never to give way to Simon ever again!
Oh St. Peter look back on the life you led
Born Simon, a sinner, a lowly sinner
Born again St. Peter, the rock, the patriarch
Oh St. Peter of the Rock, on you has our Church thrived

A storm strikes the peaceful world in which I dwell
Shaking the very foundations of my soul
Somehow I forget who I am
My peaceful world shaken, my ignorant bliss erased
And I am left an unknown sojourner, lost in a dark world

So I venture into the forest searching for my home
Greeted by wild animals and wild people
I find trees and habitats, brothers and sisters, but not my home
I find a wonderful place to be yes, but my home it is not
No matter how fond and wonderful a place the forest, still it is not my home

So I take to the countryside in search of my home
Greeted by green fields and countless cattle
I find crops and vegetation, but not my home
I find a place with many brothers and sisters, but my home it is not
No matter how fond and wonderful a place the countryside, still it is not my home

So I set out out for the city in search of my home
Greeted by people more than can be counted
I find even some of my brothers and sisters, but not my home
I find a place bustling with energy and people, but my home it is not
No matter how fond and wonderful a place this city, still it is not my home

So I depart the city for a quaint village, in search of my home
Greeted by wonderful people, many brothers and sisters
I find a many good things and homely people, but my home it is not
I find, to my great pain, that this too is not my home
No matter all the wonderful and fond things, I know I have no home

I fall on the ground and look to the heavens
I clench my fist and shake it crying hateful words
And then my eyes see the glory of the Lord
A cross atop the highest tower of the village
For it all comes back to my pounding head

I return back to the fold of God from which I had wandered
Returning to the home from which I departed
And upon remembering my mother, I am reminded of my Father
Then I am reunited with my many brothers and sisters whom I had met along the way
Truly then, seeing the a glory of the Lord

For I was like the prophet who searched for the Lord
Seeing the great wind; but the Lord was not in the wind
Then the great earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake
Seeing the great fire; but the Lord was not in the fire
Then he heard the Lord come in a low and gentle whisper

I looked for my home in the forest; but it was not in the forest
I looked for my home in the countryside; but it was not in the countryside
I looked for my home in the city; but it was not in the city
And I looked for my home in the village; but it was not in the village
For I found my home, my very self, in the Body of Christ

He reminded me of my baptism
Reminding me of whose mark is upon me
Reminding me of who I am
In a low and gentle whisper
Calling out to me the name I had long forgotten; 'My Beloved'

The sun passes away
The moon rises in the late night sky
The sun has set on this day
The dark sky has cast
The night is cold
The dark is long
But the sun will rise
The light will overtake the dark
And the night will be gone
All the problems of night pass
And the dark of morning takes
All the glory the daylight makes
In the glory of the Noonday sun

The car drives through the valley
Along the roads laid out years ago
Through the hills and countryside
Over rivers and gorges
The beautiful landscape sculpted
The beautiful valley laid

But when the sun goes down
All is different
The hills seem higher in the countryside
The rivers deepen
And the gorges steepen
The beautiful landscape darkened
The beautiful valley changed

How the Valley is like our lives
In the light the beauty is seen
The beauty sculpted
The green and lush
The curving earth
And beautiful forests

But then in the dark days
When all is bleak
We see the cliffs heighten
And the rivers flood
The once beautiful place
Turns to a nightmare
And we know not where to go
And we know not what to do

But the beautiful valley has not changed
Only our eyes
The same beauty lies
If our eyes would stop the lies
And let us see the beauty laid
Even in the painful days

How lonely sits this city
Desolate on a lake's jagged shore
A forgotten city in a forgotten land
Awaiting a savior for the city's sins
This city shivers in the midst of the winter's chilling wind

This desolate city has frozen under the turmoil of corruption
And the people have drowned in a sea of the blood of young men
The children of this city have died before their eyes develop to see light
And the leaders have been hauled off to prison for their crimes
This city is paying a heavy price for the sins of her people

It seems this city will never be what it once was
Though the foundations of ancient days still stand
The architecture of those who have gone before still grace the city skyline
And on the outside, the beautiful city remains
But decaying like a corpse on the inside away from view

Under the boot of heavy oppression
The people of this city rise to seek justice
And they mourn the death of their own people
They mourn the lack of justice in this city
And seek to make their own justice

The people march down crowded streets doing funeral dirges
For boys have fallen too soon and in cold blood
And these people demand justice for these crimes against humanity
These crimes committed by the peace-keepers of the city
And covered up by the soulless corrupted leaders

How could the spring ever come to warm this land
After such a winter as this has ravaged against it?
When the ice has frozen over this once-grand civilization
And frozen the last vestiges of life here
How might the warmth ever return?

For the lake that once was filled with swimmers and summer
Now lies frozen, hard as a rock, stretching miles upon miles
For the winter has come and gripped this city
And the winter has choked away all life in this place
And all life has left this ancient civilization

The lights that once shone in the dark have fizzled out and died
And no one has come to replace the light
For when a light goes out
How can it be relit
If there is no light to ignite new brightness

For the light has gone out in this forgotten city
And the people outside no longer see the city
The people outside can no longer hear the city’s cries
And they know not even of the city’s existence
For they cannot see this city of lights in such darkness

How might this ancient city ever be raised up once again?
How could the hell laid upon this land be reversed?
And when will the light finally return to this once-great land?
Who might bring light back and put it in a high place
And also come to end this never-ending winter?

Coming for those in the midst of this terrible winter
A boy was born into the slums, to a mother of no nobility
In a place where the animals came and fed
But this baby boy came and died for all men
Then rose again from death, defeating its power

Yet the people of this city did not know of this savior
For how might they know if they are never told?
And how might they be told if the people of the Lord do not tell?
The people of earth know that something greater must be coming
Yet they know nothing of the Savior who has come and died and rose again

The people of this city wait upon the coming of something greater
To redeem them from their fallenness and brokenness
So the people of the Lord call out to the people of earth
Waking them from their deep sleep and ignorance, giving to them great news
"Awake you men of earth, come out of your slumber!
Rise up from the terror of your nightmares
And see this new day of wonder
For the Lord has come to this desolate place
And given life to this lifeless city
Awake to the reality of our Lord! Awake!"

The people of earth awake, revived from their blindness, resurrected from their death
And they see that all things have been made new
That this once broken city has been made whole again
Whole again through the holiness of the Lord
And all things have been redeemed

The frozen city has thawed and life has returned
The frozen water upon which the people once celebrated as water has melted
And the victims of great crime have found justice
The light has returned to this wonderful city of old
As all life has returned here to this desolate place

We are the light and life of the world
The hands and feet of the Lord Jesus Christ
For we carry the cross for the sake of the city
We brought life to those who had no life, through Christ Jesus
And brought light to a city filled with darkness, with Christ Jesus our Lord

For we are called for something greater
We were created for a land we yet do not know
With fields of joy and wildernesses of wonder
A place far north across the sea
Where we will dwell in this heavenly country for all time
With our Creator and Almighty God, who has redeemed us

Now come awake!