I've Seen
By: Jeanne Jones
I've seen places in this world that are so beautiful it hurts the eyes to wonder at it.
I've seen waterfalls so high you want to stand beside the flowing water, just to feel the power of it's movement.
I've seen deep forest pools shrouded in the mists of time.
I've seen tall trees swap places with the clouds.
I've seen eagles soar and float on highways in the sky.
I've seen wide rivers strewn with rocks, creating a path to cross.
I've seen paths vanish around a bend.
I've seen mountains so tall you could wait all day for the clouds to part and be disappointed you didn't see the summit.
I've seen a blown-out mountain where the only living things were bugs and native wild flowers.
I've seen the rainbow in a field of Tulips.
I've seen desert sands create a painter's palette.
I've seen the sky reflected in a lake so vast that I wanted to walk across the sky.
And everything belonged to God!
A Hymn to God the Father
By: John Donne
Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallow'd in, a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, thou hast done;
I fear no more.
Hymn to God, my God, in sickness
By: John Donne
Since I am coming to that holy room,
Where, with thy choir of saints for evermore,
I shall be made thy music; as I come
I tune the instrument here at the door,
And what I must do then, think here before.
Whilst my physicians by their love are grown
Cosmographers, and I their map, who lie
Flat on this bed, that by them may be shown
That this is my south-west discovery,
Per fretum febris, by these straits to die,
I joy, that in these straits I see my west;
For, though their currents yield return to none,
What shall my west hurt me? As west and east
In all flat maps (and I am one) are one,
So death doth touch the resurrection.
Is the Pacific Sea my home? Or are
The eastern riches? Is Jerusalem?
Anyan, and Magellan, and Gibraltar,
All straits, and none but straits, are ways to them,
Whether where Japhet dwelt, or Cham, or Shem.
We think that Paradise and Calvary,
Christ's cross, and Adam's tree, stood in one place;
Look, Lord, and find both Adams met in me;
As the first Adam's sweat surrounds my face,
May the last Adam's blood my soul embrace.
So, in his purple wrapp'd, receive me, Lord;
By these his thorns, give me his other crown;
And as to others' souls I preach'd thy word,
Be this my text, my sermon to mine own:
"Therefore that he may raise, the Lord throws down."
Hymn on the Morning of Christ's Nativity
By: John Milton
No War, or Battails sound
Was heard the World around,
The idle spear and shield were high up hung;
The hooked Chariot stood
Unstain'd with hostile blood,
The Trumpet spake not to the armed throng,
And Kings sate still with awfull eye,
As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.
But peacefull was the night
Wherin the Prince of light
His raign of peace upon the earth began:
The Windes with wonder whist,
Smoothly the waters kist,
Whispering new joyes to the milde Ocean,
Who now hath quite forgot to rave,
While Birds of Calm sit brooding on the charmeed wave.
The Stars with deep amaze
Stand fixt in stedfast gaze,
Bending one way their pretious influence,
And will not take their flight,
For all the morning light,
Or Lucifer that often warn'd them thence;
But in their glimmering Orbs did glow,
Untill their Lord himself bespake, and bid them go.
And though the shady gloom
Had given day her room,
The Sun himself with-held his wonted speed,
And hid his head for shame,
As his inferiour flame,
The new enlightn'd world no more should need;
He saw a greater Sun appear
Then his bright Throne, or burning Axletree could bear.
But see the Virgin blest,
Hath laid her Babe to rest.
Time is our tedious Song should here have ending,
Heav'ns youngest teemed Star,
Hath fixt her polisht Car,
Her sleeping Lord with Handmaid Lamp attending:
And all about the Courtly Stable,
Bright-harnest Angels sit in order serviceable.
When in our music, God is Glorified
By: Fred Pratt Green
When in our music God is glorified,
and adoration leaves no room for pride,
it is as though the whole creation cried
Alleluia!
How often, making music, we have found
a new dimension in the world of sound,
as worship moved us to a more profound
Alleluia!
So has the Church, in liturgy and song,
in faith and love, through centuries of wrong,
borne witness to the truth in every tongue,
Alleluia!
And did not Jesus sing a psalm that night
when utmost evil strove against the Light?
Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight,
Alleluia!
Let every instrument be tuned for praise!
Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise!
And may God give us faith to sing always
Alleluia!
Let us build a house of worship
By: Margaret Clarkson
Let us build a house of worship
To the God heaven and earth,
Where His Church may bow before Him,
Hear His Word and sing His worth.
Hearts and lives with bricks and mortar
Gladly to our God we raise:
He will set His Name forever
On such building to His praise.
Let us build to teach our children
All the glories of God's grace;
Let us build to bring our neighbors
God's good news for every race.
Let us build to tell all nations
Life and health are theirs in God---
Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior!
Sound His saving Name abroad!
I Don't Look Back
Anonymous Hymn/Reflection
I don’t look back; God knows the fruitless efforts, the wasted hours, the sinning, the regrets
I leave them all with Him Who blots the record
And mercifully forgives, and then forgets.
I don’t look around me; then would fears assail me, The tumult of earth’s restless seas
So dark the world, so filled with woe and evil;
So vain the hope of comfort and of ease.
I don’t look in me, for then I am most wretched; My self has nothing on which to stay my trust
Nothing I see save failures and shortcomings,
And weak endeavors crumbling into dust.
But, I look up— into the face of Jesus, And there my heart can rest, my fears are stilled;
And there is joy and love and light for darkness,
And perfect peace, and every hope fulfilled.
My Prayer
By: P.P.Bliss
More holiness give me, More strivings within;
More patience in suff'ring, More sorrow for sin;
More faith in my Saviour, More sense of His care;
More joy in His service, More purpose in prayer.
More gratitude give me, More trust in the Lord;
More pride in His glory, More hope in His word;
More tears for His sorrows, More pain at His grief;
More meekness in trial, More praise for relief.
More purity give me, More strength to o'ercome;
More freedom from earth-strains, More longings for home;
More fit for the kingdom, More used would I be;
More blessed and holy, More, Saviour, like Thee.
Another Soldier Fallen
(words by Eben E. Rexford)
Written in Memory of P.P. Bliss
Another soldier fallen In the rank and file of God;
A life's grand record ended, An earthly pathway trod;
Safe in the home he sung of Till hardest hearts were stirred,
Among the songs eternal His own sweet voice is heard.
Oh, faithful armor bearer, How many eyes are dim,
Because you join no longer Earth's mighty battle hymn;
True heart, loved as a brother, Your friendly hand we miss,
But think with heart exultant, He knows what heaven is.
Oh, comrade in God's army, The battle trumpet ring;
The dear old flag you fought for Upon the winds we fling;
The thought of you will strengthen The weak heart in the fray,
And this the word we send you, We'll "hold the fort" today!
In Christ Alone
By: Stuart Townsend. Keith Getty
In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone! who took on flesh
Fulness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.
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