The Lord is here! He stands among us now
In risen glory and with smiling grace
He speaks His peace, He breathes His Spirit's power,
And warms us with the light of Love's embrace.
We see the hands that nails have pierced and torn,
The marks of grief upon His feet and side:
These victory scars with joy are gladly worn,
They say with triumph this day death has died.
The night is gone and daylight is restored,
Our fears are banished by the hope He brings:
With trembling knees we bow before our Lord
To be raised also by our King of kings.
So now we stand with songs of rising praise
And sing the anthem which can know no end:
Confessing Jesus ever and always
Our Lord, our God, our Saviour and our Friend.
After St John 20.26-28
Tune: Woodlands 10 10 10 10
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Overture
Overture
A gathering crowd is a great thing. People pushing past to get to their seat (and always, always that empty seat in the middle of the row belongs to the last person to arrive); your view is great till the person in front sits down and they have either the most enormous hair, or despite being five foot nothing "tall", this is due to remarkably short legs and their upper body is freakily blocking the view for three rows back...
The band is tuning up. Random notes and runs and trills send anticipatory thrills through the assembled throng. Then the lights start to dim.
I love this moment. Sheer expectancy. And I cannot believe how many people miss it! Last night I was in Cardiff for "The Rat Pack Live!" (a great show) and as the lights go down, there are people talking, shifting around, opening toffees - missing one of the best experiences a human being can have: the almost time, the time before the time, the nearly there time, the about to begin time.
Which is where we all live all the time if only we could see it. The Lord is about to do something amazing. We are almost at heaven's door. Salvation's Song is about to sound out. And we eat crisps or talk to our neighbour or ourselves or think of the supper slowly cooking in the oven or watch TV or do any ordinary thing that prevents our eyes seeing and our ears hearing and our souls soaring because the Overture is about to begin.
A gathering crowd is a great thing. People pushing past to get to their seat (and always, always that empty seat in the middle of the row belongs to the last person to arrive); your view is great till the person in front sits down and they have either the most enormous hair, or despite being five foot nothing "tall", this is due to remarkably short legs and their upper body is freakily blocking the view for three rows back...
The band is tuning up. Random notes and runs and trills send anticipatory thrills through the assembled throng. Then the lights start to dim.
I love this moment. Sheer expectancy. And I cannot believe how many people miss it! Last night I was in Cardiff for "The Rat Pack Live!" (a great show) and as the lights go down, there are people talking, shifting around, opening toffees - missing one of the best experiences a human being can have: the almost time, the time before the time, the nearly there time, the about to begin time.
Which is where we all live all the time if only we could see it. The Lord is about to do something amazing. We are almost at heaven's door. Salvation's Song is about to sound out. And we eat crisps or talk to our neighbour or ourselves or think of the supper slowly cooking in the oven or watch TV or do any ordinary thing that prevents our eyes seeing and our ears hearing and our souls soaring because the Overture is about to begin.
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