The Creation

Elohim bara, the Spirit, the Word
Spoke light and dark,
The ending and the beginning.
Spoke sea and sky,
The ending and the beginning.
Spoke land, fruit, and seeds,
The ending and the beginning.
Spoke the sun, moon, and stars,
Filling up the light and dark.
The ending and the beginning.
Spoke fish in depths, the birds to fly,
Filling up the sea and the sky.
The ending and the beginning.
Spoke living creatures and fashioned man,
Filling up the vastness of land.
The ending and the beginning.
Spoke of goodness and working hand,
Of joining spirit and matter in man,
Then sighed in content at creation’s span.
The ending and the beginning.
Elohim bara, the Spirit, the Word,
Movement erupts when Your voice is heard,
Hearts, hands, and dust joyfully stirred,
Returning to earth in the virgin birth.
The ending and the beginning.

- part of "The Christmas Spirit" released December 25, 2006

The Gospel

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord
wrestled daily with strongholds of shame.
We, drenched in sin, rich in the stick
and the stench of regret.
We abide outside yet, in a rain of lament,
not rinsing in Your garden rain.
Deep purple sunsets burn out,
doused by the darkening clouds,
beauty and royalty covered by pain.
Proclaim release from disgrace,
for us prisoners pitifully dark.
Your grace had to know this dim place,
but how absent the blood on Your hands.
How, bringing garments of praise,
have you grappled the depths of shame?
Where, without wrong, did you battle despair
from a wrong that You could not change?
How many years did you pass,
bluntly biting your lip, shrouded in ash,
beneath worries that will build humility,
that will start the movements of the weak?
Mourning for a mother, for a father,
for obedience, for suffering in reverence;
mourning for the will of Your Father,
still sprinkling the oil of gladness.
Planted in such a situation, brought
through such a background, blushing
at the thoughts of the unknowing,
crushed by every mental stoning.
From this soil, its texture and feel,
sprung this spirit of poverty and zeal.
Oh, how the roots that bring life
to the towering tree influence
the waving and brightness of leaves.
Yet only when sting of winter enters
the stems does true color blaze.
And under what sting did this rose
begin blooming, what imminent pain
did Christ ever sense looming, ever so
closely, ever more reddening
the tint and temperament of family cheeks?
And the effect of the whole tree afire
With branches directed with righteous desire?
My broken heart cries, through empty field,
through autumn nights, wisps like smoke
though the tree of life. My heart known,
it was His own, now it is His to bind.
And all shame my soul shall find,
He will now push aside, and instead
rebuild, restore, renew, once-ruined life.

- part of "The Christmas Spirit" released December 25, 2006