Where angels catch fire

Lord Jesus set me all aflame,

I would by thee, emblazoned be,

a small flame shining forth your light

into this present threatening night.

Unshod I stand on holy ground 

and gaze upon your shining face,

your purifying quickening love

consuming my proud selfishness.

Heavenly wind breath into me

your life renewing love

and send me out, fresh made 

to feed your hungry world with bread.

Sunset over Lee Bay

I am the God of sunsets, the God of the moment.
I am the God of the horizon, where sky meets sea.
I am the horizon where love meets truth.
I am the God who paints the sunset
in ever changing hues of blue and cloud, layer upon layer of rose tinted pastel hues.
I am the God of a million shades of green darkening into night.
I am the God who meets you in this moment of perfect peace

Lazarus

I am the resurrection and the life. John 11:25

I did not hear the rumbling stone,
As it was slowly rolled away
I was not disgusted by the smell of rotting flesh disolving back to clay.

I did not see the tears stream down
His grief contorted face
Nor feel the deep distress of Martha.
Angry Mary's broken faith, passed me by, untouched.

But then the death awakening cry
Rattled round the cold tombs wall
The hand that moulded Adam out of clay
Gently awakened me back to life again

Still bound  like swaddled babe
I strugled forth  to dazzling day
Into the strong but tender arms
Of the man who is my resurrection

Post script

But jade green jealousy aroused
Demands again my life and His
So He must die to rise again triumphant
to greet me, once again, with open arms
Into the Father's everlasting bliss.

I am alive

I am alive

The body that was sunk in mortal earth has been reborn.

Grabbed gently, by nail-scarred hands that made the world,

Reborn in water and Spirit; raised up joyfully,

To have a personal relationship with the God who made me.

Breathed into with a holy fire, that gave me power to speak,

To tell the world of one who made, then remade me,

Rescued from a million deaths and reborn into His immortal presence.

I sing, I breath, I live His life, my Saviour, friend, eternal lover

Ian Hempshall 5 6 2019  

Inspired by a sermon by Steve Daughtery 2 6 2019 https://trinitylewes.org/media/talks/

Resurrection joy.

Beethoven's " Ode to Joy" tune from his ninth Symphony must be one of the most joyful tunes in history, so I thought I would add my own lyrics.

Sing loud songs of exaltation, Christ is risen from the grave.

Gladly bring your adoration, Jesus Christ has power to save.

Satan’s power has been defeated,

Death and hell have lost their sting

Christ’s redeemed rise up together

Joyful alleluias bring.

Now there is no condemnation, Christ has taken all my sin

Gladly on the cross he bore it, fallen humankind to win

Now we have the living Spirit

Giving life to mortal flesh

Filling us with full assurance,

Clothed with Jesu’s righteousness

We are filled with Christ’s own Spirit, clothing us with risen power.

We shall walk the road with Jesus, day by day and hour by hour

We proclaim the gospel message:

"We are saved by Jesus’ love"

Bringing many souls to Jesus,

Linking earth with heaven above.
Tune: Ode to Joy, Beethoven

Water into wine

...here and now, amidst your daily  living,

Where you can taste and touch and feel and see,

The spring of love, the fount of all forgiving,

Flows when you need it, rich, abundant, free.

Better than waters of some outer weeping,

That leave you still with all your hidden sin,

Here is a vintage richer for the keeping

That works its transformation from within.

‘What price?’ you ask me, as we raise the glass,

‘It cost our Saviour everything he has.’

Malcolm Guite.Epiphany at Cana

...I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly John 10:10

This morning Mary and I were awoken bleary eyed by the alarm, Mary raised the blind to reveal a beautiful wonder; two planets between a sickle moon, shining resplendent against a sky of the clearest darkest blue.     

Such moments of revelation point us to the beauty and generosity of a God who not only created the world but enters into it, to bring an abundance of life and joy to all who want to enter into a loving relationship with a generous and all giving Saviour.

The first sign that John reveals in his gospel is the turning of water into wine at the wedding at Cana.

It is indeed a signpost to everything that follows in his gospel.

As Steve said in one of his recent sermons, if we think that Christianity is just about "going to heaven when we die" we have totally lost the plot of what living life as a Christian is all about.
Living the Christian life is entering into that wonderful, outrageously self-giving love that exists between the three persons of the Trinity. It is about living life on a totally new dimension in a love feast with an all giving, all loving Saviour.
The miracle of turning water into wine is a expression of the outrageous generosity of God's love, we are talking in the region of a thousand bottles of wine. This is all about a God who can never be out-given; there is no possibility of a reciprocal gift, only the humble acceptance of Grace given.

In the gospel of John there is no retelling of the final love feast that Jesus had with His disciples which we celebrate as the last supper, but the message is played out all through the gospel and is very present here at this first recorded celebration. A thousand bottles of wine do have a cost and it was the sacrificial love of the blood of Jesus, which was freely given for us, flowing freely, at the greatest price of all for Jesus.   

So how do enter into this wonderful life of abundance which Jesus freely offers? As we gaze in awe at what Jesus has done for us, our only response can be to fall into a reckless love affair with Him. A love affair which is life consuming but also totally life transforming, being a Christian is nothing about outward purification with the cold waters of religion but all about being totally intoxicated and transformed by a life lived in love with our beautiful Saviour.

Emmanuel: God with us.

Loves furnace in a little room.

Forget not Trinity holy and glorious

That heaven’s bright prince came down to bestow on us

His love, as babe, into Mary’s fair womb

For nine months, he who is angels lord

Was hidden, love’s furnace, in a little room

Humbler than all, who all adored.

A pure lamb, he stole down to earth

To free us from our sin so blind .

No city home will shield his birth

His mother a stable for bed must find;

There poorest of the poor she lay

Nor wine nor meat for hungers sting

In the rude confines of the cattle bay

Where God was born apostle’s king.

Cold and exile He did not scorn

In the donkey’s manger that holy morn.

Tadg Gaelach O Suilleabhain.

 Time zero, matter zero, energy zero, a darkness of nothing.

Yet there was everything, an eternal caring community of mutual worship and love.

A pent-up furnace of beauty and joyful creativity, waiting to pour themselves into the dark chaotic meaningless nothingness.

The loving shout of command went out. Light poured into darkness. Rainbow colours of joy creating and illuminating our dark world.

The dark nothingness hated the light, but the light was joyfully triumphant.

So, this light created every one of us but we did not have the loving enlightening knowledge of this light in our hearts, many people had had glimpses; many prophets right up to the time of John the Baptist, but we were still living in the oppressive darkness, unaware of the light.

So that furnace of creative love was hidden as a tiny embryo in Mary’s womb.  We carried on oblivious to the miracle of uncreated light, living and breathing amongst us. We were unaware of the person of the creator, living in the world that he had created.

He was living in our street, just down our road and we were too busy and preoccupied to notice He was there.

Quieten your heart this Christmas you may hear him knocking on your door wanting to come in, to your life, demanding your heart, reclaiming the life he created to fill it with peace love and light.

Listen carefully He is here, even now.

 John 1 paraphrase

I wish everyone reading this blog a very blessed, peaceful and Christ filled Christmas