A PARADISE WITHIN

Make us a paradise within
     That we may be sin-free;
Make Eden in us new again
     By You on New Life Tree.

May we eat fruit you offer us—
     Your Body and Your Blood—
To hearts in You place all their trust
     And stand where Mary stood.

May we with her on New Life gaze—
     See through to empty tomb—
And know from death you came to save
     Through Your birth from her womb.

We see New Eden made secure
     By love to us you give:
From Trinity comes our sin’s cure
     As with You we will live. 

DOWNPOUR

Your grace is like a downpour on our grass
That’s almost choked by weeds of chosen sin;
We’ll now drink in the life from heav’n that lasts,
While weeds die out—will never grow again.

Your words to us within begin to soak
And mix with tears of joy and penance shed,
As we wear in our hearts your saving cloak
While with your Body, Blood we all are fed.

Our new selves grow your crop in us You sowed,
And love o’er flows to all creation bless
To show to us the world you always know,
Where earth will never be to heaven less.

For Your Son in Himself joins heaven, earth,
As Spirit breathed through Him gives us new birth. 

JESUS SEEN BY EARTHLY EYES                                  

We’ve asked to see You with our earthly eyes,
To touch You with our fleshly human hands,
And then You come to us and we’re surprised.

In bread and wine You come to us disguised
By grain and grape are grown by Your earth’s land.
We’ve asked to see You with our earthly eyes.

So common is the pearl that is our prize—
This bread and wine seem not to be so grand—
And then You come to us and we’re surprised.

No longer do we fall for Devil’s lies,
For his deceit at last we understand.
We’ve asked to see you with our earthly eyes.

Humility from you can make us wise;
Before your truth our pride can never stand,
And then you come to us, and we’re surprised.

For all of us You’re born and came to die,
And rise to come again at Your command.
We’ve asked to see You with our earthly eyes,
And then You come to us, and we’re surprised. 

BODY AND BLOOD

Your Body, Blood are offered for us Lord
That we may eat and drink your charity,
As with our body, blood, we You adore.

For to You we are tied with crimson cord—
We in your priesthood share humility—
Your Body, Blood are offered for us Lord.

A victim we become as Your life poured—
In heart of each Your sacrifice can see—
As with our body, blood, we You adore.

Our sacrifice for You is spirits poor
That others see You with more clarity—
Your Body, Blood are offered for us Lord.

Through us Your Spirit for the world will soar
To fill the world with Holy Trinity,
As with our body, blood, we You adore.

Your hand in us takes up Your Spirit’s sword,
And we become who we are meant to be—
Your Body, Blood are offered for us Lord,
As with our body, blood, we You adore. 

PINK RAIN

Rain coming down from evening sky is pink
Against the fading sunset’s afterglow,
And with that sunset sin in death will sink 
As in the night Himself within each sows.

For dead of night is anything but dead
As new life in each soul begins to grow,
And new life comes from Him by whom we’re fed—
Is seen in dawn by heaven’s morning glow.

When we arise we see why pink is rain
That covers earth, fades into night-time dark,
For He takes in Himself our sin-caused pain
And washes clean with Blood our Satan’s mark.

So in baptismal wash by Him we’re bathed,
And our new self with Him then He will raise. 

THE NIGHTMARE’S O’ER

Awake at last, the nightmare’s o’er;
My true self I’ve become–
No longer in the Devil’s pow’r,
     Earth’s now my heaven’s home.

For earth I see is taken in—
     Is heaven’s ante-room;
At last we’re free from pow’r of sin;
     Light pierces earthly gloom.

His dawn has broken through at last,
     And life in me prevails.
I now with joy can sing and laugh,
     And Rachel does not wail.

At last I can now love myself,
     For I know God loves me;
He has restored my Eden health;
     From Devil I’m set free. 

DAYBREAK OF OUR LIVES

We live in but the daybreak of our lives
Where light and darkness are together mixed
And pray each day will grow salvation’s light
As in us life anew forever quicks.

May night in our new dawn forever pass
As break of day lights Him who’s raised from dead,
And we see death will not forever last,
So future, full of hope, we will not dread.

May light increase as we walk toward the east
With family, friends, illumined on the way,              
As journey we toward heaven’s wedding feast
Where Father’s Word forever has His say.

In heart of Church is that for which we’ve longed—
His truth in light of ever-brightening dawn. 

SUNSET AND SUNRISE

You gather us from sunrise in the East,
When Adam, Eve in Garden still were pure,
‘Til Eden’s East sees sunset in the West,
And we know our salvation is secure.

Between the two we’re taught to live the Truth
By You who are the Way, the Truth, the Life
And see You on the Cross as final proof
That Your love in our darkness is our light.

The light of dawn in Eden is the same
As light of sunset dims the western sky
That’s colored by the Spirit with You came
To Eden’s East to bring New Eden nigh.

Your death in sunset brings New Eden’s dawn:
New life for which we have since Eden longed. 

HEAVEN’S SCROLL

God’s natural law is heaven’s scroll
     Unrolled within our hearts;
Is meant to guide both young and old,
     His wisdom to impart.

For on that scroll is heaven’s seal,
     His guarantee of truth;
And this is what on earth is real.
     Here is the final proof.

In us on earth His heaven seen 
By all along His way,
And His law is what’s always been;
     His Word here has His say. 

Within each one His kingdom reigns,
     His sovereignty assured;
For with His law each one He claims
     And saves from Satan’s lure. 

OVERWHELMING MERCY

At daybreak, Lord, your mercy overwhelms
The nighttime darkness of committed sin,
As your forgiveness paints dawns earthly realm
With heaven’s light, and we begin again.

The cool, fresh air is by your Spirit breathed
And wafts within the mercy of your dawn,
As sin is wiped away that has you grieved,
And we are claimed by One for whom we’ve longed.

Forever now we have new life to live
With feet on earth and heart with you above,
And we receive the truth you have to give
Wrapped in your mantle of undying love.

May daybreak capture every human heart
And give each day to us a brand new start.