Embracing Earth

The light in east, His breaking dawn,
     Casts all our fears away;
To our dark night He says “Begone!”
     He comes in light of day.

By His pure light at last we see
     The beauty all around–
The sky and trees and hills and seas;
     His wonders here abound.

Wherever we our eyes now cast
     We see His grace shine through,
And know He will forever last–
     Bathes all in glory’s hue. 

And when our life on earth is done,
     The good earth we embrace
And know we’ll rise in vict’try won
     For all the human race. 

Your Beauty, Truth in Me

Just as You carried Your own Cross
So my false story is my own,
But now I ask that it be lost
And Your true story in me sown.

Please, Jesus, my true self reveal
That I may see the goal before,
As I submit to You who heal
And with my life I You adore.

Each step I take brings greater light
As shadows in me fade away;
More clearly I see Your new life
When You in me have Your own way.

Then beauty, truth You live in me,
And I rejoice in love You give,
As I before You bend my knee,
And in me my true life You give.

Sing Alleluia

We sing our alleluia to the Lord
As pilgrims on the journey to our home,
And travel toward the One whom we adore
As love song beckons us to Father’s throne.

Our load is lightened as in hope we sing—
Make progress in the virtues from His life,
Begin to hear the sounds from heaven ring
With angel’s voices shine through clouds His light.

Then hope believes our life will never end
With Him who calls us from beyond His grave
To join Him, while on journey He life mends
All those surrendered to Him to be saved.

In hope’s fulfillment, we in promise live
In Him who all His life forever gives. 

Transfigured

The common things are taken in,
     Transfigured by His grace,
So we see what has always been,
     Illumined by His face.

For Jesus is transfigured here,
     As we see in His light
That death is stripped of human fear,
And we live in His life.

But we cannot restrain Him now
     To keep Him on this earth,
And we with Him to Father bow–
     Await our heaven’s birth.

For after death we rise with Him,
     Elijah, Moses too.
His tomb becomes our Bethlehem;
     We rise to life anew! 

Set Free

His living water Jesus gives
To all who say, “Your will, not mine,”                       
With Mary—first from Him receives
The water transformed into wine.

His blessed Mother gives us birth
In Him who is her only Son,
And we discover sacred worth
Of all who have this life begun.

Created in His sovereign love,
He re-creates with our consent,
And living water from above
Brings Father’s mercy through veil rent.

In Him we now ourselves become
To give Him joy eternally.
In heaven our sin is undone,
And we at last will be set free. 

Life Eternal

Our waste is flooded with your Body, Blood–
Flows from her womb through crib and Your pierced side–
And enters us to cleanse us of our scum
That we in Adam may no more abide.

Your channels we become for all the earth
As You through us will all creation cleanse
To give to all the fruit of Mary birthed,
Who died on cross to Eden’s curtain rend.

New Body, Blood of heaven through us flow,
And we sing alleluia to Your Name,
For we receive what You want us to know:
That Your loss on the Cross becomes our gain.

Your life eternal freely to us give
That we in Triune Love may always live.

Unity of Heaven and Earth

We glimpse the intricate pattern You weave
Among our words and all the world that is:
In poetry Your Holy Spirit breathes
The hope and faith and love to us you give.

A glimpse of unity of heaven, earth
Assures us that the world is in Your hands,
And we now have a second chance at birth
With Jesus’ love in Eden’s eastern lands.

As He removes the veil from eyes of hearts,
We’re called to trust our broken lives to Him,
And Father to us His Son’s life imparts:
Creates anew His image free from sin.

Our words and all that is, together knit
In poetry as we at His feet sit. 

Your Priceless Gift

Of us You came and died and rose
     To lift our eyes above,
Your truth and beauty to disclose
     On earth from heaven’s love.

We cannot fathom what it’s like
     To give so great a gift:
Surrender to the Cross’ height
     And with You all us lift.

You say, “I will not equal grasp
     My place at Father’s side;
I’ll enter world that will not last,
     With Adam’s kin abide.”

Not able we to keep You here
     In world of sin and death;
Instead You take us where You are,
     On Holy Spirit’s breath.

And now with gift received from You
     We in Your world will live:
To all mankind, not just a few,
     Your priceless gift we’ll give.

The Joy of Truth

What is this joy, surpasses pleasure here,
Immerses us in truth we’ve never seen,
‘Twas always there and now dispels our fear,
And with it sin as though it’s never been?

How clearly now we can His wisdom see
Wrapped up in beauty that’s seen all around,
As each becomes the one he’s meant to be,
And heaven’s angels sing their joyful sound.

We enter into joy of Trinity
Who made us all and now redeems each one,
As we before those Three on bended knee
Await the consummation they’ve begun.

Oh, joy! On earth here truth in love we know–
This wisdom Church receives is heaven’s bow. 

His Kingdom in Our Hearts

Within our hearts two kingdoms can’t exist—
The world and Christ together cannot reign—
And world, and flesh, and Devil all resist
The kingdom in our hearts Christ came to claim.

When Christ comes in, they try to us persuade
That coexistence can now be achieved;
Yet when we cling to Christ their efforts fade,
And world and flesh and Devil all must leave.

Like angry bees they fight us to the end;
They sting and then with honeyed words they speak,
And promise if we trust they’ll made amends,
But with the stench of Satan their words reek.

For we now know that all they do is lie,
And light of Christ exposes their deceit;
With Spirit’s breath we say to them, “Goodbye,
For Jesus’ kingdom in our hearts we seek.”