4/15/18 Through 4/21/18

4/15/18 Through 4/21/18

Sunday

Be not afraid, but now believe

I'm in the flesh as you perceive

I've truly risen as I said

Though crucified, no longer dead

For this is how it had to be

That every man might come to see

A time of joy will now begin

For love has victory over sin

Monday

Peace amidst tremendous trial

Comes from knowing Him awhile

Seeing how His will provides

No matter where the Spirit guides

So why then, do I worry still

If I wish to, His word fulfill?

It's only 'cause my pride creeps in

To say I can't rely on Him

But I should know from many ways

That He has rescued in my days

And how His way proves better still

Than every time I choose my will

Tuesday

What sign can You give to make us believe?

What sign can give stone the sense to perceive?

There's far more than just a great prophet here

You now have the wrath of Almighty to fear

When given so plainly to you everyday

In language of love, you reject what I say

But eat of this manna and hunger no more

Then taste of the sweetness that God has in store

Wednesday

Believe in Him, What does it mean?

Just that we follow some routine?

Or is it more than outward sign,

And just a hollow claim of mine?

It must be something fresh and real

That fosters diligence and zeal

By bearing fruit we prove to be

Believers that we claim to be

Thursday

Let me Lord, a Philip be

That I may lead some more to Thee

Let me shine the light onYou

So others see the works You do

That they may come to love Your word

And learn to act on what is heard

Then build their house on solid rock

And know You'll answer when they knock

Friday

May the scales just fall away

That I might see the light of day

May my ears be tuned to hear

Your every word as loud and clear

May I be Your ready slave

Proclaiming every gift You gave

Changed forever by Your touch

Well prepared to suffer much

Saturday

These famous words we've come to know

Peter's "Lord, to whom shall we go?"

For even when the teaching's hard

We trust Your word as light and guard

As often we don't understand

The varied ways that You have planned

But often come to comprehend

How much Your way, from ours, transcend

So we have come to trust Your way

No matter what the others say

And confidently follow Thee

Even to that dreadful tree

4/8/18 Through 4/14/18

4/8/18 Through 4/14/18

Sunday

On this day of mercy find

Compassion of a different kind

One here since ever time began

One who for love, became a man

He calls us to explore His hands

And then to know what love commands

To probe His flowing open side

And know for sure that He once died

And yet before us now alive

That we'd believe and so would thrive

Then pass along the faith to those

That from our Lord great mercy flows

Monday

What a way to save the nation

Through the gift of incarnation

God takes on the flesh of man

To help the human understand

How humbly there in Bethlehem

He showed His depth of love for them

And greater still upon the tree

How much He truly cares for thee.

Tuesday

The Son of Man be lifted high

In everything we do

May we prefer that we should die

Than turn our backs on You

May we forego all earthly gain

To serve our fellow man

May we endure whatever pain

And do all that we can

Before us keep at every glance

The serpent lifted high

Repent of sin at every chance

Of Christ, be never shy

Wednesday

We too will try to lock away

His word, so we may have our way

Far more appealing when our rules

Become the law to lead the fools

But truth cannot be bound in chain

And truth endures whatever pain

To speak with clarity and zeal

The word that man cannot conceal

Thursday

One from above, above all is One

An obedient, holy and righteous, Son

The source of the fullness of which we all seek

Without whom all life would be dreary and bleak

But, oh what a shame, we so often refuse

The love that He has, and our selfishness choose

For it leads but to emptiness, dark, and despair

When life so much different, is offered to share

Friday

Five loaves and two fish, a paltry sum

But with His blessing they become

Enough to feed a multitude

And fill them with this holy food

We hunger for His offering

And seek to crown Him as our King

But He retreats to lonely hill

For such is not the Father's will

Saturday

Lord come into the boat with me.

Just how I struggle, can't You see?

I try so hard to row towards you 

But self creeps in to all I do

When ere I try to row alone

It makes my weakness clearly shown

My strength is not enough for me

against the wind and stormy sea

4/1/18 Through 4/7/18

4/1/18 Through 4/7/18

Sunday

It's true the Lord has risen

And death no longer reigns

He's freed us from our prison

And all our sinful chains

Monday

Death, the power of sin, is gone

For on that early morn at dawn

The stone was rolled away and then

Our Christ, in glory, rose again

Tuesday

This Jesus whom you crucified

Has risen though indeed He died

And God has made Him Lord and Christ

This Lamb of God you sacrificed

Repent and all must be baptized

To find our God in flesh disguised

Who came in humble human form

To break the chill and hearts to warm

Wednesday

How very slow to understand

The cross was in the way

For Him to die, they had not planned

How could it be that way?

But as they heard it all explained

Their hearts would burn within

The crucified had thus attained

The vict'ry over sin

Then through the breaking of the bread

Their eyes were opened wide

They understood the words He said

And why their Savior died

But death could not restrain the King

Whose love was crucified

His death upon the cross would bring

Salvation undenied

The way to see His vict'ry won

And hear His gentle voice

Is take upon a ready tongue

The holy bread of choice

Thursday

He showed them well beyond a doubt

It was no trick to figure out

But true it was, that through the cross

We'd count all other gain as loss

His hands and feet were glorified

Though once they had been crucified

He ate His food like normal men

But then He disappeared again

He wants you too to know for sure

And be disciples found mature

Who pass along the gift of grace

In every time and every place.

Friday

Walking and leaping we come to Thee

Cripples before, but now set free

The Name of Jesus christ makes whole

The wealth of life that sin once stole.

Saturday

They were seen as His disciples

Thought as but, no more than trifles

Yet the leaders knew for sure

Somehow these men had worked a cure

But rather than rejoice with them

They tried to now, their teaching stem

In hopes no more would know the Lord

Lest power, they no longer hoard

3/14 Evening Jn 12:1 ff

Giving all without reserves

Is nothing more than God deserves

But still I find it oh so hard

To give away the costly nard

By holding back I try to save

The blessings that the Father gave

In selfishness I fail to see

That all are gifts You've given me

I want no more to keep from You

My everything that is Your due

I want to be as saintly are

A broken alabaster jar

3/25/18 Through 3/31/18

3/25/18 Through 3/31/18

Sunday

How sterilly we see this time

The Passion read at church each time

But have we really entered in

To what it means each time we sin?

Rejecting Him who calmed the sea

Rejecting Him who died for me

Spitting on his holy face

Refusing when He offers grace

Each time we choose our separate way

"I'm more important's" what we say

Your cross is nothing much to me

What matters most is that I'm free

But freedom of that kind you'll see

Leads not to love, but slavery

And when the flesh is thus controlled

The faithful heart will be consoled

Monday

Contained in alabaster jar

A fragrant oil from afar

The wages of three hundred days

Her gift to Him of love ablaze

She gave it all without reserve

His holy body to preserve

The time she knew was drawing near

Her love she wished to make quite clear

Tuesday

The key to forgiveness is but to forgive

A little bit like "to live and let live"

Sins have we all, we must recognize

Deserving of punishment in the Lord's eyes

Great mercy He's granted to each of us here

To model that mercy should be our frontier

For mercy brings peace and contentment of heart

Revealing each person as His work of art

Wednesday

We turn away so easily

From boundless love that's plain to see

A little silver for the purse

Becomes a deadly worthless curse

How often I have done the same

And yet I still profess the Name

Receive again this wayward one

And make of him again Your son

Thursday

Christ who kneels before us cleansing

Causes in the soul a tensing

Why should Master serve the lowly

But to better get to know thee?

More that we should understand

The way of love the Father planned

Of how the great shall be the least

And lowly ones enjoy the feast.

Friday

No one called it "Good" back then

When lightning pierced the sky

No mind could e're conceive it when

They heard "Condemned to die!"

The One they hoped would save the day

Was scourged and bloody rent

The Man who said "I am the Way"

To Calvary was sent

The darkest Friday ever known

To man upon the earth

When creature killed creation's own

Creator who gave birth 

But now we see in different light

Illumined by the age

Of grace from Holy Spirit bright

Who now takes center stage

Such love we saw was never known

Before by mortal man

How "Good" it is that we were shown

Our Christ, the God made man

Remember well this holy day

When skies were black as night

Repent and turn from former way

To stand amid the light

For sin no longer rules the day

Or reigns with any power

Ever since that Good Friday

Upon that holy hour

When on the cross he said "I thirst"

The final cup He drank

It's finished now, His heart was burst

And lifeless body sank.

Saturday

A day of emptiness and death

His body in the grave

A somber day of sabbath rest

For Him we thought would save

So, what comes now? Our greatest hope

Lies dead beyond the stone

How will we ever learn to cope

As sheep left all alone?

Abandon not, He said He would,

But that's before He died.

As Mary stood beneath the wood

We all just fled and cried

Now lost without our Shepherd here

And huddled in one room

We shudder if someone draws near

Awaiting pending doom.

3/18/18 Through 3/24/18

3/18/18 Through 3/24/18

Sunday

We too must follow in His way

To find with Him eternal day

A fool but thinks he can elude

The pain of many sins accrued

The sin itself becomes the pain

If we, our will, refuse to train

The fleeting pleasures we pursue

Will never make the man anew

But fasting from our will to sin

Will bring about a change within

If we, now but, His will employ

We'll catch a glimpse of Easter joy.

Monday

Saint Joseph model for each man

Things didn't follow in your plan

But yet, you sought to find God's will

And faithfully to follow still

Grant me a faithful, trusting heart

And willingness to do my part

To bring about God's holy plan

And prove myself a righteous man

Tuesday

Look upon this sign of sin

And find a sadness deep within

For this is what my soul has gained

A life of anguish bound and chained

Yet on the cross the sign of love

The One come down from God above

And nailed upon the rugged tree

For sins of those like you and me

Wednesday

How dreadful to be fooled by things

That people think a freedom brings

The truth is not that freedom's found

The fact is that, in truth, we're bound

No creature here on earth can bring

A freedom that can make hearts sing

The only time that slaves are free

Is when the slave is bound to Thee

Thursday

Too good to be a story true

His love for those like me and you

The sinner and the reprobate

Whose crooked way He turns to straight

How could He know this Abraham? 

How could He be the great I AM?

His age is not enough to be

The timeless one He claims to be

But yet it's true, If we but see

He spans through all eternity

And chose this special time and place

To bring to us His peace and grace

Friday

Around me now I have no friend

As I approach this bitter end

Scattered like the autumn leaves

Left for dead between two thieves

Here in anguish on the tree

Mocked and spat upon for thee

Love like this was never known

Love like this, for you, I've shown

Friday Evening Adoration (To the tune of the Stabat Mater)

There beneath the cross she stood

Jesus nailed upon the wood

With unfettered cruelty

Love from pierced hearts now flowing

Christ on her all grace bestowing

Perfect in humility

When her son had breathed His last

All His anguish finally past

Lifeless body she received

There within her arms she held

As the tears within her swelled

One as virgin she conceived

Gently laying Him to rest

In that tomb so richly blest

Parting with divinity

Now to home in sadness turning

For His touch again now yearning

Mother of all men to be

Saturday

Near the barren waste He dwells

A simple life the story tell

To put distractions far away

And clearly hear the words You say

No things to cloud His perfect view

Or take the mind away from You

The time draws nigh to save the land

And thus fulfill what God had planned.