Sunday, March 22, 2015

Lent 2015

Lent 2015
This year part of my Lenten observance is to write four lines each day that reflect what the Lord is saying to me.  What follows is the product.  Perhaps I need some listening lessons.

1. Wednesday comes with trepidation.
Ashes placed in reparation.
While in hunger, days are long,
But in my weakness you are strong.

2.   Now begins the forty days
To cleanse the heart in varied ways.
To search for him in self denied,
And break the fetters sin has tied.

3.  No heart contrite or humble spurned,
But lives by grace in penance turned
From sinfulness and selfish lust
To lives of love and simple trust.

4.  A coarse and callous heart has lied.
My sinfulness abounds inside.
Choked by cares throughout the day,
How easily, I’m found to stray.

5.  Anger flared up yesterday.
A child who failed to get his way.
Lord quench that flame in me today.
Let me, to all, your love repay.

6.  Every day they’re at the door
The indigent and homeless poor,
But passing by we turn our eyes,
And Christ, we fail to recognize.

7.  Turn my ear to you oh Lord,
God of mercy and peace.
Then speak to me your guiding words
And grant me sweet release.

8.  In Ninevah where Jonah spoke,
Great sinners lived as pagan folk,
But when his word reached to their ears
Repentance brought the gift of tears.

9.  Deliver me dear Lord I pray,
From all my rude and selfish ways.
Grant me the ability
To exercise humility.

10.  My weakness and my frailty
Are evident and plain to see.
I say I want to fast and pray,
But then my self gets in the way.

11.  Love, the Lenten clarion call
That touches hearts and beckons all,
To look upon his suff’ring face
And find in there the gift of grace.

12.  Before the three on Tabor’s height
Your glory shone in splendor bright.
But do not speak of this you said,
Until I’ve risen from the dead.

13.  The cold of winter still persists.
My heart, your love, does still resist.
Lord break the ice and warm the chill,
And form my life within Your will.

14.  For sure my pride and haughtiness
Exclude me from Your happiness
For when like scribe and Pharisee
My works are done for all to see.

15.  Beneath the cross and labored cries
His bloody feet before her eyes
There in darkness cold and stark
A sword did pierce the Virgin’s heart.

16.  Such change we need down deep within
To shed the anger and the sin,
To leave the rich in all of us,
And learn to love the Lazarus.

17.  Perseverance the essential key
To unlock peace for thee
But, how, I pray, will you ever see
When you give up so easily?

18.  I see the beauty in her face
So innocent and pure
A countenance of holiness
A love to long endure.

19.  No crooked eyes or sordid thought
While gazing at this sight
But purity and love sublime
Shine forth in splendid light.

20.  I wish to join him for the feast,
But not when called to be the least.
Aspiring to great renown
Though health in humble service found.

21.  The key to happiness and peace
Is finding ways to love the least.
Transgressors too we must forgive,
And thus we learn just how to live.

22.  How cold and hardened is my will
I need your warmth to break the chill
The fire of love to set aside
My weakness and my foolish pride.

23.  Sin is a sin no matter how small
A turning from God each time that we fall.
Here is the best way to fight it I’ve found,
You simply must choose to then turn around.

24.  Impatient and impetuous
Describes I’d say most all of us.
Our lives in scattered disarray
No time to sit with Him and pray.

25.  I sit and ask the Lord to speak
To me a man of will so weak.
I stumble on the smallest stone
But still I’m never left alone.

26.  I have no time for patience
For it’s only worth a pittance.
My want to quickly gratify,
I simply wish to satisfy.

27.  Happiness comes not from things,
But from the joy that Jesus brings.
A joy untouched by temporal trial
Found by living His lifestyle.

28.  The glitter of the world is found
To turn man’s heart and pull him down.
But then he finds those jewels at last
Are nothing more than shiny glass.

29.  Oh hungry flesh, how can it be
That contentment come to thee?
Whatever fed is not appeased.
How will the Lord be ever pleased?

30.  Through the world roams Lucifer
Foe of all who are and were.
Glutton, fiend, and adversary,
Make my steps of him be wary.

31.  Wisdom fails where pride takes hold
Our tendency to be so bold. 
How prone we are to self-deceit.
We fail to see Him in the wheat.

32.  What puny faith, how little trust,
Is placed in Him, the true and just!
His love surpasses all we know,
His grace a mighty river flows.

33.  The time is near, it’s almost gone,
Here in the dark before the dawn.
For Lent is short, it’s getting late.
No time left to procrastinate.


34.  When looking at my own misdeeds
A haughtiness of heart soon breeds

I'll highlight then another's vice
And somehow think that makes me nice.

35.  Idolatry of any kind
Will warp the soul and skew the mind
Enslaving one to some mere thing
And turning faces from the King

It's called a vice because it binds

In heavy chains our hearts and minds
Jaws are poised and open wide
To squeeze the life from deep inside

36.  Incarnate God, how can it be

That all that is, is found in thee?
How could it be the virgin bride
Beheld the God of all inside?

37.  No greater love could we conceive
Why, then, do many not believe

Why do they call Him just a man
And not accept the great I AM?

38.  In suffering He hears our plea
The one we placed upon the tree

By joining Him in sacrifice
He leads us to His paradise

39.  One yes to God is all it takes
To wipe out sin and past mistakes

More than the mind could ere conceive
He grants if we will just believe.

40.  As this Holy Week begins
We call to mind our faults and sins
It was for them we recognize
He bled upon the cross and died.

First we hail as King indeed

And then we hit Him with the reed
We lay our branches at His feet,
And then we strike Him on the cheek.

Giving Him our royal robes

We turn and strip Him of His clothes
We shout to raise Him King on high,
And then we shout to crucify.

41.  The bruised reed he shall not break

A time of justice He shall make.
Quenching not the wick that smoulders
Bringing joy to weary shoulders

42.  Betrayal comes to mind this day

But surely it's not I we say
With loyal words my voice has flowed,
But listen now, the cock has crowed.

Great plans I have to honor You
In all I say and all I do
Your graces then on me bestowed,
But listen now, the cock has crowed.

43.  My tithe of mint and rue and dillNo substitute to do your will.
Love's the simple seed You sowed
But listen now, the cock has crowed.

Big promises have not been keptWhile in your agony I slept.
The cross a vast and heavy load.
Yes, once again the cock has crowed.

44.  May the oils blessed this day

Bring life and health to all we pray.
To those anointed into light
Give them the strength to fight for right

45.  What can I say about this day,
The one they label Good
Have I prepared and freely shared
The way I know I should?

No mind can grip that awful trip

To Golgotha on high
The thorns were bent, His scourges rent
Redemption drawing nigh

We made of Him a sign of sin

A serpent raised up high.
His blood has flowed, the cock has crowed
Redemption drawing nigh.

Humble...  Stripped...  Brutally whipped
Jeered by passers by
It's true, This One was sure His Son
Redemption drawing nigh.

46.  What happens now, does life somehow,
Go on without the Lord?
Love sublime, denied three times,
And broken by the hoard.

In Him I've seen the great I AM
But tell me what I am
Am I for sure the image of
This God of perfect Love?

Help me Lord to learn to love
In all I say or do,
And never shy from sacrifice
But lift my cross with You.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Half as Much

Half as Much

Half as much is royalty
Of how important I think me.
No fair mistake is overlooked.
I guess my ego’s overcooked.

Pretentious with the service here
I let them know that it’s quite clear
If anything is gone awry,
I’ll throw a tantrum, scream, and cry.

Would it not, more pleasant be,
If I, in soft humility,
Just offered up in quiet peace
And made instead, myself the least?