Righteousness Applied

Thy righteousness, O God, extendeth
Far o’er the loftiest mountain height,
Ev’ry bright star beyond ascendeth,
Finding its zenith in thy light,
Where all thy servants praise thy judgments,
Blessing thy ways as all aright.

Mine own iniquity was sinking
Deeper than any ocean trench,
Still I had dug my grave, unthinking
Justice was waiting me to wrench
Into Gehenna’s terrors finally:
There worm undying, flame unquenched.

Thy lovingkindness, Jesus, sought me
Past heights of heav’n to deepest hell,
With thine atoning blood hast bought me,
Bondage to sin in me to quell,
Fitted in holy, righteous linen
That I may ‘neath thy glory dwell.

In thy great power, Savior, keep me
Till thy redeeming work is done;
Sanctify with thy grace completely;
Give thine endurance, race to run
Unto thee, Jesus, source, perfecter,
Unto thee, Father, Spirit, Son.

—To “Fragrance.” Finished 3/29/25.

Alive in Christ:
Spin me around like one of those tops,
The cheapy plastic ones,
The ones that never stop.
Let all the sin fly off
Like when you lean too far off a merry-go-round;
The gravity of joy overcome me
Like when you lean far enough in
And find yourself in the center of a star,
Massive, crushing—alive!
Spin me around, O life-giving Christ;
Whirl me with your righteous love and power,
That I may never stop.
—3/13/25

When golden rays my bleary eyelids bless,
When nature’s cheerful waking waketh me,
I meditate on all thy faithfulness
And raise anew extolling melody,
For as thy mercies rise again each morn,
I will praise the Lord who breaks the dawn.

When trial presses in upon my soul,
When guilt unto despair me doth entice,
When all thy calling deeps above me roll,
When most I feel a living sacrifice—
Although the storm be filled with nought but pain,
I will praise the Lord who sends the rain.

From youth thy word hath guarded all my ways;
Thou’st saved me from each folly I have loved,
Blessed with thy lovingkindness all my days,
My rocky cleft, my hiding place hath proved,
So as the shadows grow and dims the light,
I will praise the Lord until the night.

When from corruption’s bondage I am free
And pass from fruit to infiniter gain,
When mortal puts on immortality
And sown in dust, I rise the stuff of heav’n,
When crown of life I gain to throneward cast,
I will praise thee perfectly at last.

—2/9/25

Not Yet Already

O God, we are roaches:
The closer your light, the faster we flee to darkness.
O Lord, we are moths:
The brighter your radiance, the closer we long to fly.
O God, we are a stiff-necked people:
Grafted into the tree of those whose fathers stoned the prophets.
O Lord, we are penitents:
Naked before the throne of mercy, pleading the blood.
O God, we are slaves,
Sold under sin, bought with righteousness,
O Lord, we are sons,
Not by our merit but your adoption,
Not by right but grace.

Conjugation Exercise

I.
O LORD, be my shepherd,
Then I shall not want.
Make me to lie down in green pastures:
Lead me beside the still waters.
Restore my soul:
Lead me in the paths of righteousness for thy name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
Let me fear no evil:
Be thou with me;
With thy rod and thy staff comfort me.
Prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
Anoint my head with oil;
Overfill my cup.
Cause thy goodness and mercy to follow me all the days of my life:
And let me dwell in thy house for ever.

II.
Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom is coming,
Thy will shall be done
In earth, as it is in heaven.
Thou givest us day by day our daily bread.
Thou forgivest us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
Thou leadest us not into temptation
But deliverest us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom,
And the power, and the glory,
For ever. Amen.

—8/24/24

Confession

Jesus, I apply to thee:
Dire the plague that ails my soul,
Other succor do not see,
None but thou canst make me whole.
And thou know’st I’ve tried my best
Other remedy to find,
Yet in none save thee is rest.

Mercy on a sinner take;
Hear, O Lord, my feeble prayer.
Do not me to hell forsake,
Though a seat I’ve earned in there.
Naught in me can claim thy grace,
Yet I sorely pardon crave;
Leave me not to my disgrace.

Inward, what I quail to find
Is the old man thou hast slain,
Dark of heart, of futile mind—
‘Cept if thou restore again.
Faithful Jesus, cling to me;
Spirit right within renew;
Let the new creation be.

See the penitent: he stands
Ere the mercy-seat above.
Let the blood from Jesus’ hands
Sprinkle in atoning love
Over every wicked thing
That I’ve ever entertained.
If thou cleanse me, I am clean.

Clothe me, Lord, in righteous white;
Fire in thy refining grace;
Fit for beatific sight
Of thy blazing, holy face.
Then at last my heart can raise,
Free, amazed, and full of love,
Perfect, pure, eternal praise.

—8/9/24 (probably based on Psalm 51)

Do you think Jesus fantasizes

About life with the Beloved?
Does he dream of forehead kisses;
Of falling asleep on the couch,
Her head on his shoulder while a movie runs;
Of holding hands at the store;
Of telling her about his day?
Does he think about the nice clothes he will get her
(For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints)?
Does he wait expectantly to show her a new heaven and a new earth:
“Babe, check out this place I built for you;
You’re really gonna love it.”

I Had the Weirdest Dream Last Night

I dreamt of heaven, which somehow
Was a Whataburger that let out into my backyard.
It had a few booths on a covered, lit outdoor patio
With space in the backyard for a bonfire,
And I knew eventually there would be a boombox;
It was that kind of yard.
A couple sheds for the kids to poke around in too.
It was late late afternoon,
And Dad was there, among other believers.
(I’ve never dreamed of heaven before,
And I was sorry to wake up.)
Jesus was there, easily the best part.
He was so happy we were there,
And we were so happy to see him.
Then he went to judge the earth.
He wasn’t playing the news out back,
But every time someone wandered out there,
We were overjoyed they’d made it
And asked them what had happened,
How bad it was out there,
To get a general sense of how far along Jesus was.
Someone who should have been there earlier came out,
And we wondered they hadn’t been called sooner,
But Jesus tapped the order screen
(We had one out back for this part
And he was back for a moment I guess?),
And the note on the fries said something like,
“We have spent a lot of time on this,
And now you are ready.”
It was so happy that Jesus had the order up.
(I know this person as a believer already,
So it was just a dream, and nothing real,
But it was illustrative, if you like.)
I dreamt on my way to the back, earlier,
I’d begged you to come with
And given you my Bible so you’d know the way later.
I kept looking to see if you’d made it to the back yet,
If Jesus had called you.
But I remember as twilight fell,
We were all most concerned—
Me too—
When Jesus would come back to start the party.

Daily Bible Reading

(Intercession for a friend.)

O bless the reading of thy word
As we attend unto it, Lord.
Let it not void return to thee,
But let thy will accomplished be.

Instill the humble, contrite fear
That trembles when thy voice is near
But moreso quails a way to know
Whereon thou choosest not to go.

Engrave thy statutes on our hearts,
From stone reviving inmost parts.
As we behold thy glorious face,
Conform us to thy glory’s grace.

The corn of faith within us sow
And tend it till it richly grow,
Nor let the devil choke, nor cares
Evince it to be naught but tares.

Inside us living water spring;
Our fruit upon thy vine O bring;
Enleaven in us living bread,
Thine ev’ry word a feast bespread.

As servant for his master waits
And watchman morning on the gates,
As handmaid holds to mistress see,
E’en so, O Lord, we look to thee.

The Maverick

sunset.
In a house without
a name, he stares down the
edge of the keenest blade he knows,
pointing now at them for whom he would
destroy his soul; turns; sighs; recedes into
the