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Prayers and Poems
The Cross Road He died The way The Chalice Wounds Amazing April Rain
The Cross Road
He chose. He chose the cross road. Darkness, desertion and desolation Pierced him like the thorns on his chosen way. In his broken, bleeding body, Through the heat and dust and mockery, Through the heaving crowds of feeble men He stumbled with his death tree. Up, up, up the steep and cruel high road To the skull place of the outcast Where the cross road had its end. In the nailing and the piercing, In the searing suffocation, In the bearing of the whole world’s filth His cross road set me free. Daphne Kitching
He died
He died that we might be forgiven, He died to make us good, That we might go at last to heaven, Saved by his precious blood. Cecil Frances Alexander
The way
When Jesus bowed his head, And dying took our place, The veil was rent, a way was found To that pure home of grace. John Elias
The Chalice
Bud, blossom, full-blown bloom Fragile flower brushed with dew.
Velvet petals opening up Gently, silently, Responding to the warmth Of the morning sunshine.
Light and life-giving rays stream down To fill your upturned cup – A chalice waiting to be filled, Filled and spilling over.
Receiving – giving – Pouring out your life in fragrant beauty, Colour, shape, design, texture, Blessing all who draw near To breath your sweet perfume.
A simple flower, Being what you’re meant to be, A thought within the mind of God Expressed as a reality. Kathleen Gillum
Wounds
O Saviour Christ, thou too are man; Thou hast been troubled, tempted, tried; Thy kind but searching glance can scan The very wounds that shame would hide. Henry Twells
Amazing
Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were an offering far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all. Isaac Watts
April Rain
It isn’t raining rain to me, It’s raining daffodils; In every dimpled drop I see Wild flowers on the hills. The clouds of grey engulf the day And overwhelm the town – It isn’t raining rain to me, It’s raining roses down. Robert Loveman
The Josephs (Luke 23:50-56)
It began and it ended With a Joseph, The life of Jesus.
One laid him in a manger, The other laid him in a tomb.
One named him Jesus And brought him up. The other asked for Jesus, And brought him down from the cross.
They were both men Who stood firm When life said, Run.
They both turned disappointment and despair Into stepping stones of trust, And walked on, as witnesses That to God, Darkness is a light switch.
New Creation (2 Corinthians 5 v16-6v3)
God thinks you into being, Plans you, Draws in all your details, Every part intended to be As you are. The master of creation, His loving preparation Takes patient years Of workmanship and waiting, Until, at the exact Time and day of his favour, He looks at your black and white image. Love looks at you, And if you turn your eyes towards him, Christ colours you in.
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