O Father of time, Glory to you
Your Blessed Monarch is enthroned forever
Your Wing you gather from the ends of the earth

All the tree are naked
All their branches tremble
They tremble with the touch of your breath, O Holy One

Glory to you, the God of all
The tapestry of leaves now fall into your earth
Longing to begin again and die with you

All the trees are somber as we shed our pretense
All our days grow dim as we wait for you
We wait for you to clothe us with yourself

And in my soul, O Lord my God!
I longed for your light
Rescue me from the darkness of my sin!
Do not reveal me to myself unless you transfigure these ashes–
once burning bright with a thousand flames,
now dead and lifeless on the forest floor–
for I cannot bear the stark winter of my soul
I will struck dead by a mountain of ice
and I will freeze to death

Come, Lord Jesus Christ

O Immaculate King, glory to you
You who have carried all things by the Word of your power
And filled all things with the Breath of your life

All leaves of Autumn
All beaten grass
You enlighten the will of man with the colors of your love

Glory to you, O Holy One
O Majestic Creator
You who have fashioned before us the heavens and the trees that reach for you

All the branches lift up their holy hands to their Maker
All the leaves dance and sing and weave themselves into the earth
You still the distress of man’s heart with gentle joy

And for a moment, O Lord my God!
You gave me a glimpse of creation’s groan
It lurched out from within me, deep inside
The longing to be clothed with the New Man
The longing to be filled with all the fullness of life in you
O Glory which I take in with every breath!
How marvelous is your throne O God!
“All the earth is your bride, waiting for the Immortal Bride groom.”

Come, Lord Jesus Christ

I have long desired to tell of my journey to the slums of Cairo and my journey since then. However, the journey I have been on since coming back into the States has been extremely difficult. My friend Jon told me the culture shock that I would experience on my way back into America would be way worse than going there. He was right.

But before I get to that point, I want to go back to the beginning and attempt, with God’s help, to tell the important points of this story.

I went to Cairo hoping that I would have some incredible “spiritual experience” just like all those high school mission trips with a bunch of tears and yet another “born again” experience where everyone had a face to face encounter with Jesus and wept together. I was hoping that God would rock my world is some new way and I was really excited to meet Him in Egypt.

But He wasn’t there. For about the first 3 weeks I experienced a total absence of God. He was gone. I couldn’t feel Him, pray to Him, worship Him, because He was absent.

We all have our devotions as Christians. We have our prayers or readings or simply our dispositions towards life that cause us to feel and experience God. Many of us have routines or special rituals that are unique to us that connect us with God. I am no different.

But everything that I used to do in America—as I was doing these things to seek God in Egypt—He wasn’t there! I couldn’t understand it, it freaked me out! It wasn’t that I felt that He didn’t exist, it was as if He had literally left and gone away and I was left alone without Him. Why had He done this? What had I done? What was going wrong? I thought this was supposed to be a spiritual high. Where is God?

My hopes for a great “spiritual experience” were being dashed very quickly.

On top of this, our whole team was experiencing extreme fatigue all the time and at least one of us was sick each day (the first day of work three people were in the hospital). I only worked about 3-4 hours a day and I was exhausted all the time! How could this be? Where was God in all this? This was not what I had hoped for…

And then there was the food: we ate three square meals a day, and lunch was the big one. The bad part was that Breakfast and Dinner were exactly the same. Every day.

Pita Bread

Three Cheeses – Buffulo, Goat, and Cow

Plain Yogurt

Jam

Goat’s meat

(most of the time) tomatoes and cucumbers

So what you’d do is you’d take the Jam and put it in the plain yogurt to make it taste good, then scoop the cheese into the Pita Bread with veggies and dip it into the Jam-Yogurt (I refrained from the goat meat).

Sounds good right?

Maybe the first or second time it was good.

After that, I was sick of it. That got really old really quick. I hated getting up in the morning and eating that pita and yogurt! We’d assemble around the table and solemnly pronounce a prayer of thanks over the meal.

But I was not thankful.

All I wanted was Cracklin’ Oat Bran. Did we really have to eat this for breakfast? I didn’t really think that this would be something that I would really struggle with—but I did. It was probably the biggest struggle for me.

Do I sound snobbish? Perhaps gluttonous or selfish?

Yes.

It hit me: am I such an American glutton that I can’t even thank the God who gave me life for such a portion, when thousands will starve today? Am I such a wretch that when we bow our heads to the Almighty I am muttering under my breath! Oh My God! I’m so selfish, my God is gone, I’m tired as ever and I’m NOT having a spiritual high at all but I’m miserable. When will this end? And I miss my family so much…

]]> http://vaselessuedirect.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/cairo-1-the-fast-and-the-absence/feed/ 0 tim http://vaselessuedirect.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/naked-2/ http://vaselessuedirect.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/naked-2/#comments Thu, 01 Nov 2007 03:26:01 +0000 tim http://vaselessuedirect.wordpress.com/2007/11/01/naked-2/ ]]>

My skin burns with the covering I place upon the circumcision of my mind and body together retracting in pain from the burn of your holy rain upon the surface salt of my tears burning wet, weary, wholly fear that have not yet been quenched by the warming sun of life but nay, wrenched as Abraham’s son from the knife out of the mouth of the river that feeds into the divine will of my house the seed you ask me to kill the laughter from Sarah’s womb, why did you cause me to rise from this tomb? You say to me “give” and I say, “to whom?” I have nothing left, not a thing of worth. I am naked right from the time of my birth—screaming cries, hellish hailing, storming skies, weeping wailing—are such things gifts of me? If so, are they to or from thee? I have nothing more to give, nothing more to say: my naked body lives lying lonely like that day and I cry cry cry—
I hear not a sound and I look low and high but you are nowhere to be found so here I lie! Do I rise from the ground? Am I too low for you to reach me? Like a cripple with a shove I fight the angel of your spirit people speak of your love and cannot even hear it I search with searing eyes above cuz I can no longer fear it—am
I too high for you to teach me?
God of sting, God of sword, King of Kings, Lord of Lords,
God of sheep, God of ram, what do you reap, great I AM?
God of peace, God of wraith, make it cease, make it pass,
God of Love, God of Mercy, look from above, I am thirsty
O my God.
Oh my God! Oh my God!
You have NOT spared me the rod! Though I listen to the whisper of your voice to trod and to trace the choice of your grace and to follow your face my God! Have I not come into this place? naked as I am, nothing left to give, I am only a man, I have chosen to live, but what have I left to give? Only this body…
—to you, my Lord, My Father and My Mother it is naked just how you made it. It is my last possession and I send it back from whence it came back to you from all things have their name and a place in your world of darkness and light of death and of life, of day and of night, of hate and of love, of hope and despair, or tree and of land, of sea and of air, of peace and of blood, of shout and of song, of water of mud, of grass and of cud, of right and of wrong, must we walk so far and suffer so long?
Dear God! return to us that we may return to you and give ourselves back submit what is due Dear Jesus! Lamb of God, Emmanuel, let not our bodies pass through the flames of hell unless YOU walk beside us and preserve our lives from burning away in the furnace LORD we are yearning for that day, return to us for we are lost: sheep who have gone astray
Dear Jesus have mercy on us.

Γετοίδη: Hey man, you were talking to Julie earlier about liturgical Latin

Πάνυμενουν: Yeah…?

Γ: Are you Catholic?

Π: Yeah, I’m actually converting to Catholicism

Γ: Or really?

Π: Yeah, I used to be a protestant…I just couldn’t take it any more

Γ: Hmm, really

Π: Yeah, it came to a point when the Holy Spirit just gave me a direct order to join the Catholic Church

Γ: Tell me more about that

Π: Well, I’m a history major, and I just…there’s just no tradition in these Protestant schisms all over the place. The Catholic Church has been there from the beginning. Peter was given the ‘Keys to the Kingdom’ and upon that rock Jesus ordained the Church, that was what he set up from the very beginning.

Γ: So you’re saying it’s the one true Church

Π: Not exactly, like it’s not like we would call protestants not “Christians,” but they’re definitely…just confused at least because they’ve chosen disunity over unity and refused to acknowledge the authority that Jesus established on earth to be his church.

Γ: You say authority, what do you mean by that?

Π: Well, Jesus told the apostles ‘what you bind will be bound in heaven, and what you loose will be loosed in heaven.’ Christ gave the apostles that authority to establish the Church on earth.

Γ: Hmm, okay, so what does this authority entail exactly? What do you mean by binding and loosing exactly?

Π: I mean what the apostles set up, what they built, has authority because they were given authority to build it.

Γ: What do you mean ‘build?’

Π: I mean the hierarchy of Church, the establishing of Bishops and Priests and the Papacy. The apostles were given authority to appoint these people to hold these positions of authority in the Church–the papacy going all the way to the ‘rock’ Jesus established: Peter, the bishop of Rome.

Γ: Right, okay. So when you say they have authority you’re saying they have power over people?

Π: Well, not exactly, more like guiding people in the true way, telling people what is right.

Γ: Hmm, so you’re saying that their power is the power to bind and loose, meaning establish sound doctrine, and no one else has that power within the church.

Π: Exactly.

Γ: Man, I just think that’s oppressive.

Π: Oppressive? What do you mean?

Γ: Well, anyone having power means that they are more free than those with less power.

Π: I’m not following you

Γ: To say that you have power is to say that you have authority to effectively force someone to do something, regardless of their choice to. So one individual is free to choose, another is not.

Π: The Catholic Church doesn’t force anyone to do anything, though, anyone who does not want to consent to the teachings of the Church can very well leave. It’s based on consent, that’s a choice.

Γ: But tell me, O Πάνυμενουν, are you as a Catholic, free to interpret what it means to follow Christ, or is that up to the Church?

Π: I have to follow what the Church teaches, but that’s only because I’ve examined it and consented to what it teaches.

Γ: Even further teachings that will come about through counsels and papal declarations?

Π: Well, if I disagree with that, I could just leave the Catholic Church, but I wouldn’t because it would just cause another schism in the long, sad, line of disunity within the church.

Γ: Hmm, I think I understand what you mean. I guess it’s just that the Catholic Church does not allow for personal deliberation, personal study, because it has power over you when you give it that. It’s like you’ve consented to someone outside of yourself telling you what the bible says.

Π: Well, how could I presume to understand it right? That’s what I hated about protestantism, it was so stressful to try to figure it out on my own.

Γ: But it shouldn’t be that way! You shouldn’t be alone in that! See, I view the Church as a community: a group of Christians all wrestling together, as one, in what it means to follow Christ. A leader or Shepherd will have a word, and then the rest of them will ‘judge carefully what is said.’ It’s not meant to be a lecture, it’s meant to be prompting for thought and deliberation within the heart and within the community.

Π: Well, surely you don’t suppose that the same thing does not happen in Mass?

Γ: Surely not, for I haven’t been to mass in about 7 years, I don’t even remember. I guess I’m saying that the Church is not based on one individual or oligarchy having power or authority over anyone else, but the community as a whole, seeks to love one another in brotherly love and affection, learning from one another as equals, with equal authority given to them by Christ, to share their feelings about anything. Like the Master says, ‘Do not call anyone on earth Father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.’

Π: Yeah, okay. I think I dig what you mean, it’s just that Jesus gave authority to Peter and the apostles

Γ: Not everyone?

Π: No, not everyone.

Γ: So we are not all ‘one in Christ?’

Π: Well, each person has their different role to play, ‘one body, many parts.’

Γ: Certainly, but do we presume that one person has more authority to meditate, think, ponder on scripture through the Spirit than another person in Christ?

Π: Surely not!

Γ: Then why can the Pope make a declaration on faith and morals and be infallible? Or why does the Catholic catechism even exist?

Π: Well, it’s meant to be something to look into, learn from, wrestle with, and ponder on, not just to accept at face value.

Γ: That’s my exact view. I agree completely.

Π: Alright then.

Γ: I believe that if two people are both submitting themselves not to any man or man’s teachings, but fully to God alone, then they can never disagree on anything, because they will approach each other loving God and each other, and thus would seek to learn from each other, and not impose anything on another person on the presumption that they knew better. Considering others better than themselves, this is the humble Jesus way I think.

Π: Well, yeah

Π: Okay, here, let me tell you what I think. There’s two different “kingdoms:” the kingdom of the world, and the kingdom of God. The Kingdom of the world cares about how you act, and so imposes laws and carries the sword to coerce submission to these based on a threat of violence; inso it creates order. It’s essentially the act of having power over someone. The Kingdom of God acts the opposite: The kingdom of God is concerned not just with one’s actions, but with one’s intentions, emotions, and the state of one’s heart when committing those deeds. Through love and humility, a Christian will seek to bring a person to a higher understanding of their own nature, not by overpowering them, but by underpowering them: this is humility.
So there’s basically government and the Church. The real big danger to the world is Religion: it’s like government because it overpowers, but this time it has ‘god’ on its side, so it can never be disobeyed and uses the ultimate sword of fear (hell) to coerce submission. See, Jesus works the complete opposite. He humbles himself before another in love, dying a humiliating and painful death to liberate another through love, and not through coercion, but by seeking understanding and peace, winning submission out of love, not out of fear.
When the Church turns into something where Christians tell other Christians what to do, or have any power over their brothers, then it has ceased to reflect Christ’s love and humility, but has conformed to the world. See the world is all about power, it seeks it constantly, because it thinks that it will fill it. But we know that this is false; we know that the only thing that will fill it is love.
Jesus himself.

Notes:
‘Keys to the Kingdom’ and ‘bind…loose’ from Matt. 16:19, 18:18
‘upon this rock’ 16:18 [my view would lean towards Jesus as the bedrock (cf. Is. 8:1, Ps. 118:22)]
‘judge carefully what is said’ see 1 Cor. 14: 26-39 and also chapter 3 concerning the authority of leaders and the ‘foundation’ v. 10 and 11.
‘do not call anyone Father on earth’ Matt. 23:8-11 please read this.
‘one body, many parts.’ 1 Cor. 12:12-31
‘considering others better than yourself’ Phil. 2.

Much of the thinking in the last paragraph is coming out of a sermon series Greg Boyd preached in 2004 called “the cross and the sword.” It can be found at http://www.whchurch.org/content/page_726.htm, accessed October 14th, 2007.

Γετοίδη: I’ve been thinking about foreign policy

Πάνυμενουν: foreign policy?

Γ : yeah, the foreign policy of the Israelites

Π: do you mean the ancient Israelites?

Γ: exactly

Π: why do you think modern Israelis are called Israelis and not Israelites?

Γ: I donno. Listen: first temple, is was strictly God-commanded isolationism.

Π: a constant struggle

Γ: no doubt, think of the Angel of the Lord at the Bokim, the weeping

Π: as a result of not destroying the foreign nations, but making covenants with them.

Γ: yeah, you might call it a “destructionist” turned “isolationist” or “protectionist.”

Π: I’ve been thinking about the concept of purification and genocide in Canaan. Think about the reasons God states for this: ‘otherwise you’ll turn away from me.’ God is protecting Israel.

Γ: hmm, then the protection ceases at the Bokim, and Israel is given over to Nations time and again.

Π: true, but God is surely not indifferent, don’t forget Deborah and all that.

Γ: surely, but it seems that after Solomon there is very little respite from decadence.

Π: isn’t there Jehoiakim who finds the book of the law?

Γ: hmm, I guess I’m not very well versed in the King period. But listen: if the 1st temple period was a filled with the thorns and snares of other nations, then what is the exile?

Π: God’s purification of his own; ta idia. ‘Those who are left in Tzion will be called holy.’

Γ: so then why does God send them away to a foreign nation? And he tells them to prosper there!

Π: ‘for I know the plans I have for you.’

Γ: what was once a strict “destructionist-isolationist” policy is now a “yeild to your attackers and be conquered,” and more than that, “settle down and have families.”

Π: but don’t forget Ezra, those who married strange wives.

Γ: true, but think about it: Daniel is written in Aramaic, God shows himself to Nebachudnezzar and his son, doesn’t he?

Π: don’t they speak Aramaic in Gibson’s film?

Γ: yeah

Π: hmm, Daniel, that’s interesting.

Γ: and then Alexander, the septuagint?

Π: and the New Testament

Γ: written in Greek.

Π: hmm.

Γ: could the Goyim have even heard any of it if it were in Hebrew?

Π: hmm. So you’re saying the Exile was kind of God’s interevention like the tower of Babel, making his purposes done with or without you, ‘to the ends of the Earth.’

Γ: yeah, I guess, it just seems that God makes his people become minded of the others, able to speak their language, and so the knowledge of Adonai spreads.

Π: it’s an interesting change from pre-exilic Israel to second Temple

Γ: Second temple, that’s one period I would like to learn more about.

Π: considering your whole argument is based on that

Γ: and considering that was the time when Messiah came.

["Bokim" - Judges 2,
"destructionist-isolationist" - Exodus 23:20-33 (original covenant command, esp. vv. 32, 33) Deuteronomy Ch. 7, esp. vv.3-6
"those who are left in Tzion..." Isaiah ch. 4
"strange wives" - end of Ezra.
"settle down and have families" - Jeremiah's letter to the Exiles, ch. 29.
"to the ends of the Earth." Psalm #22]

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: but  as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

“He did not call them Abraham’s children, but a “brood of vipers” [Matt. 3:7]. Oh, that was too insulting for the noble blood and race of Israel, and they declared, “He has a demon’ [Matt 11:18]. Our Lord also calls them a “brood of vipers”; furthermore in John 8 [:39,44] he states: “If you were Abraham’s children ye would do what Abraham did…. You are of your father the devil. It was intolerable to them to hear that they were not Abraham’s but the devil’s children, nor can they bear to hear this today. “

—Martin Luther from “The Jews and their Lies”

***

[Luther was following the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua, annointed by the God of the Jews, Adonai, and coming to, healing, teaching, loving, judging, rebuking, listening, conversing with...the Jews: his audience, his followers, his critics, among the Goyim.]

***

[Quick note on the text in John's Gospel: The word translated "Jews" in english is the greek word "Ioudaioi," which can mean just simply "Judeans." Most of the Christian English translations have "the Jews" rendering, but the messianic Jew David H. Stern renders "Judeans" in his "Complete Jewish Bible" and makes a good case for this in his commentary on John 1:19 (Jewish New Testament Commentary, Stern) based on past antisemitism (see above and below)]

***

“Therefore be on your guard against the Jews, knowing that wherever they have their synagogues, nothing is found but a den of devils in which sheer self-glory, conceit, lies, blasphemy, and defaming of God and men are practiced most maliciously and veheming his eyes on them.
However, they have not acquired a perfect mastery of the art of lying; they lie so clumsily and ineptly that anyone who is just a little observant can easily detect it. But for us Christians they stand as a terrifying example of God’s wrath. “

—Ibid.

***

[it really makes me wonder on the context in which Luther is writing. Were the Jews actively finding Christians and trying to make them reject Jesus? Did Luther see them as a serious threat?
it reminded me of the accusations of deceit in the Qur'an, the saying of Jews knowingly transforming their texts and ascribing its words to Allah. "They knowingly speak a lie concerning Allah." (Al-'Imran: 75) here is an article on it: http://mideastoutpost.com/archives/000022.html

***

"What shall we Christians do with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews? ...With prayer and the fear of God we must pratice a sharp mercy to see whether we might save at least a few from the glowing flames...First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians..." [Luther then goes on to suggest a total of seven suggestions on dealing with the Jews, including destroying their homes, seizing their scriptures and forbidding teaching, and restricting them from public highways] (1)

—ibid.

***

[for my History of the Holocaust class, we read a fascinating article concerning the trends of antisemitism from Christian religious sentiments to the late 19th century racial antisemitism arising in central Europe. The article talked about the way that the Christian church first attempted conversion with Jews, and when that didn't work, they expelled them, and pogroms (mass killings) were not uncommon. In fact, the only thing uncommon about Hitler's methods were that they involved the complete extermination of the Jewish race (based on racism, not religious hatred) whereas the Christian church, although guilty of many Jewish deaths, never advocated genocide. (2) My question is this: when and why did the Church cease being a Jewish phenomenon?

***

"The Jews’ rotten and unbending stiffneckedness deserves that they be oppressed unendingly and without measure or end and that they die in their misery without the pity of anyone.”

From “Ad Quelstiones et Objecta Juei Cuiusdam Responsio” by John Calvin, The Jew in Christian Theology, Gerhard Falk, London, 1931.

***

[Do Christians forget who they are following? Do they forget that they believe that the God of the Jews speaks to them? Do they forget that "salvation is from the Jews" (Jn 4)? The Prophets are very clear that the days are coming when all nations will turn to Adonai:

"Adonai Tzva-ot says, 'When that time comes, ten men will take hold--speaking all the languages of the nations--will grab hold of the cloak of a Jew and say "We want to go with you, because we have heard that God is with you."'"

(Zechariah 8, Complete Jewish Bible)

I've heard that there are 1600+ verses within the Bible concerning "all nations" or "all peoples" and the like. I have been thinking lately just at the amount of people who have now turned towards Adonai, through Yeshua.

"...the mountain of Adonai's house will be established as the most important mountain...and all the Goyim (Gentiles) will stream there. Many peoples will go and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of Adonai, to the house of the God of Jacob! He will teach us about his ways and we will walk in his paths"

(Isaiah 2, CJB)

"...the root of Yishai--which stands as a banner for the peoples, the Goyim will stream to him, and the place where he rests will be glorious."

(Isaiah 11 CJB)

Do Christians see what has happened and is happening?

My heart is in the Lordship of God's anointed as the glory of Adonai and the splendor of his temple in the hearts of all peoples, reaching to even the ends of the earth, all nations, all peoples. I believe the world is turning to Adonai through his Messiah, Yeshua, who is called the Christ. This is why I praise God, for through Avraham's offspring, the world is being filled with the knowledge of Adonai. I believe that God's desire to ultimately reconcile the entire world to himself, so that "they will not hurt or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain, for the earth will be as full with the knowledge of Adonai as water over the seas." (Is. 11)

It just begs me to question: we don't all have to be missionaries, we don't all have to move to another country, do we? I don't know, I don't think so, but should we think of missionaries more? Whether you are called to go, or to stay, would we then have a heart for those who have went? Support them?

I'm just following what seems right, for God has led me to GVSU and now I'm up in arms with Greek and considering abroad next year in Athens. What's next? I don't know... but I trust that God will show me, and it will become clear. I'm just learning.

Thanks be to God.

tim

(1) you can read the entire document Luther, On the Jews and their Lies at http://www.humanitas-international.org/showcase/chronography/documents/luther-jews.htm

(2) "article" is actually the first chapter of Holocaust: Origins, Implementation, Aftermath [Bartov, Omer, NY] written by Raul Hilberg

the same small shout that pierced beyond the stagnating trials of woes clung to the inside of my head as I stood swimming in my chest to grapple with this constriction panting enough peace to grow a day into a year vexing enough vice to throw away every last tear God damn my body it works for the woes of my soul may God damn my mind for it races even at night trying to bring me to your absence LORD just damn my fingers they crawl across the longest stretches of a stray and God damn my eyes they peer into nothing but greed asphyxiating your good creation
But Holy God you refuse the inclinations of my heart prone to violence and attrition feeding on a fire that burns to destroy a destructive perdition (a pole of Asher) God! you have mercy when I have wraith on myself you give me grace when all I give is vengeance you let me into your house when all I desire is to be without a home You invite me to your table as I constrict my esophagus why is my heart against me if you come after me? Why do I shiver if you take up your cross? My heart is evil, it cannot let you in. You must break open my doors I cannot unlock them You must bind up the strong man and clear this temple with a whip dear Jesus, loose the evil in my body and renew my spirit so that I may remain in you and you in me dear Spirit of God. burn all of the fat from this marrow and let me stand if see me thou dost and to me is turned thy ear.
then let all fear melt as Easter rises and let every tear press light and sun and Let all praise to thou be sung and let all breath turn to your grace and let all eyes still seek your face and let all mouths voice their allegiance to the Lamb most holy led upon the altar to be slain in majesty and crowned with glory by the good creation for whom he saves and shed his lifeblood. Let us find our life in this death Let us be renewed by God’s holy breath Let us stand and proclaim Jesus is Lord
and know that his name is
Emmanuel