YOUR SPIRIT NOW RELEASE

Lord, come and die in us—
Your Cross within our hearts.
In your new life we trust;
In us your life impart. 

O Lord, give all of us your peace;
In us your Spirit now release.

Forgive, Lord, all our sin;
Your image in us shine.
Let us be born again
And drink from you new wine.

O Lord, give all of us your peace;
In us your Spirit now release. 

Our wounds cry out to you;
Please give your healing balm.
Forever make us new
And always our storms calm.

O Lord, give all of us your peace;
In us your Spirit now release.

Take us on glory ship
With all your planet earth;
Free us from Satan’s grip,
As Eden knows new birth.

O Lord, give all of us your peace;
In us your Spirit now release.

PRAYER

Prayer is the life-blood of our souls;
You heal our wounds and make us whole–
To do your will our only goal.

We praise and glory always give
To you who let us in world live;
Our sins you offer to forgive.

Confess our sins to you again–
We often slip and fall and then
You let us a new start begin.

For all the world we lift in prayer,
All bound as one by human cares–
Alone those cares too much to bear.

Their faces pass before our eyes;
To you for them our prayers do rise–
Our prayers for them our sacrifice. 

All us below join those above
In our petitions to your love–
Raised up to you by Spirit’s dove.

Through prayer are earth and heaven one,
The two united by God’s Son,
For all new life has just begun. 

And when we earth to heaven go,
We’ll find your language we now know–
Our own prayers back to earth will flow. 

PERFECT IMAGE

O Mary, Image beautiful, complete
Of Trinity in heaven whose clear light
Reflects in you, who Holy Spirit greet,
Consent to bear God’s Son in earth’s dark night.
A perfect human self put back at last
In Naz’reth’s Garden through Gethsemane
By Son who took from you what He had cast
From future, to replace that Past Lost Tree.
Eternity’s New Tree grew once in time
In Galilee and bore its perfect fruit
In Bethlehem, beginning heaven’s rhyme
Of Jesse’s Son sprung from New Eden’s Root. 
O Mother Mary, Trinity’s clear light
Reflects in you to shine in earth’s dark night. 

THE TOUCH OF BAPTISM

Please touch us with Apostles’ hands;
In us Yourself release.
May where we stand be holy land,
With deep shalom of peace.

Our holy land is justice built     
With mercy as its rock;
Forgiveness takes away our guilt,
And our true selves unlocks.

Again, through us that river flows–
Baptism’s mighty pour;
Now virtues in us start to grow   
In river’s mighty roar–

Flows out through us to earth so parched,
To image too long dry;
Through us that serpent’s head is crushed
As Mary’s Son draws nigh.

That river’s source is stable poor
In one small baby boy,
But flowing out that stable door  
Is all of heaven’s joy.

Through water and Apostles’ touch
Those virtues’ joy now blooms;
Makes planet earth a heaven’s porch,
And drowns out hell’s dark doom.

With water and the Spirit raise
All us to heaven’s gate.
We step through gate to paradise
With Jesus, our soul-mate. 

ON TO GLORY

Lord, may your grace prevent
My journey’s every step,
For it is my intent
That none of self be kept. 

May Holy Spirit dwell in me
From all my sin to set me free. 

Repenting of my sin
Convicting grace reveals;
May I be born again,
By Holy Spirit sealed.

May Holy Spirit dwell in me
From all my sin to set me free. 

Then on to glory take
My own enraptured soul;
And me for heaven make,
Again be fully whole.

May Holy Spirit dwell in me
From all my sin to set me free.   

OUR LORD’S SONG

Can song we sing in land so strange 
Be our Lord’s melody?  
A place were fame and fortune reign  
In land that thinks its free? 

Where freedom from God’s moral law    
Is only standard held,  
With nature red in tooth and claw 
Where human nature fell?

What is that melody so clear; 
O’er all the earth it wafts? 
It’s joy’s own song I yearn to hear 
Like children when they laugh. 

A heaven’s song is in earth’s air
Of our Messiah’s birth;
Eternal comes for human care,
And earth is filled with mirth.

An old, old story born again;
God enters human flesh.
It’s God’s true fairy tale for men 
As earth and heaven mesh.

Can song we sing be old made new
In land without the Tao?
Where people say most new is true,
Is all that matters now?

The One who walked that Garden cool  
Comes now as little child;
To make again the earth
His school, And burn the tares gone wild.

But from that burning there will rise 
A New Creation born;
No longer will our Rachel cry–
We rise on Easter morn. 

That song I hear is of death’s night
And Resurrection dawn–
An old, old song raised to new heights
By coming of God’s Son.

The closer heaven draws to earth
The more like home earth seems,
For earth inherits sacred worth
Reflecting heaven’s scenes.

That song we hear has changed this land,
And it is strange no more;
It’s now a place were we can stand
To step through heaven’s door.

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

We celebrate in little things
That purify the heart:
The joy that in our families brings
Christ’s blessings to impart.

He came to us in littleness,
A Baby in a crib;
Such power in His gentleness,
For God is never glib.

He speaks in Baby’s still, small voice
And smiles in Mary’s face;
Sees her who for us made her choice
To save the human race.

A Mediatrix she becomes,
Stands always by His side;
Has never to our sin succumbed,
For in Him she abides.

Through Cross and grave and empty tomb
She follows Father’s Son,
Who lived His life first in her womb
And all our sin undone.

In all the ever-after years
We’ll Christmas celebrate,
For He casts out all human fears
As each heart pure He makes. 

TWO GATES

Lord, up the road I see two gates, 
One narrow and one wide; 
And by each gate an angel waits
For me to choose his side. 

As I approach, I understand 
That I must make a choice.
Each reaches out to me his hand; 
I hear each angel’s voice. 

The angel by that wide gate speaks,
“Choose him and I’ll be proud;”
With God I can play hide-and-seek,
Hide from Him in a shroud. 

Then on my own I’ll never need
A guide along the way, 
With only my desires to heed
While feelings in me play. 

“Come on,” He says, “yourself become, 
Fulfill your human wants;  
Your conscience I will make so numb 
You’ll never be at fault. 

“Come, choose my road, in crowd stand out—
Be leader of the pack;
Your fame will make all others pout 
When they look at your back.”

About this time I looked anew  
At narrow, winding road; 
I saw it had an upward view, 
Too steep for heavy load. 

The angel there began to sing
Of people I’ll find there 
And of His Ruler, Christ the King,  
And beauty everywhere.

My heavy load His King will lift,
And His light yoke He’ll give;
That yoke a Cross, will vices sift,
As I with His King live.

Along the way I will be led
By Living Water pure
That’s mixed with wine and
Served with bread
For strength that will endure.

As pondered I which gate to take,
A voice inside of me
Told me of all that is at stake
In choices I now see.

The steps through that wide gate are smooth,
A gentle downward slope;
But something’s false there, not the truth,
Makes way there seem false hope.

I turn to narrow gate and see
A face there looking back;
It seems to be true human me,
No virtue do I lack.

Through narrow gate I step, then know
The glory that will be,
As Easter sunrise morning glow
Gives me humility.

Forget myself as on I go
With Church at Jesus side.
I never knew that love could so
In my new heart abide.

                                  

                                                                                  

ELIJAH’S CAVE


Lord, let me find Elijah’s cave
That I may hear your voice;
In Bethlehem that cave you gave
To all who make your choice.

For in that little Baby’s cry
Is your voice still and small;
While in a cattle stall you lie,
You’ve come to save us all.

Not in the rush of worldly noise
Does your voice to us speak,
But to those hearts for you are poised
And know you’re strong, not weak.

Now from that cattle stall impart
Your righteousness to us
That we may have transfigured hearts,
So we may world’s noise hush.

Your cave to all becomes a nave,
‘Tis your own Church’s womb,
A nave that leads us to your grave
And through an empty tomb.

Then lay on us your prophet’s cloak
That we will your Word teach–
A cloak that you in your Blood soak,
For it is you we preach.

Then with Elijah let us rise
From cave to heaven’s throne;
In Church’s ark ride to your sky:
Through Church to heaven’s home.

TIGGER

When Noah’s new-built ark set sail,
There were two cats aboard;
Both Tom and Tomasina bailed,
Helped Noah through the flood.

Then mommy, daddy multiplied     
And all the earth they filled;
Those purring kittens sanctified
By flood’s baptismal spill.

With purring kittens everywhere,
It comes as no surprise
To see two at that manger there
Curled up at Jesus’ side.

Then later on in years of time
Another cat begat
A little kitten who could climb;
Her name was Tigger Cat.

Now Tigger loves a little girl  
Named Katherine (Katy) K;
Our Katherine keeps her in a swirl
When she comes out to play.

But Tigger loves her none-the-less,
For she loves all so well;
Yet she loves Rick and Jenny best,
Her purring well it tells.