Go to Dark Gethsemane

Go to dark Gethsemane,
Ye that fell the tempter's power;
Your Redeemer's conflict see;
Watch with him one bitter hour;
Turn not from his griefs away:
Learn from him to watch and pray.

See him at the judgement hall,
Beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned;
See him meekly bearing all;
Love to man his soul sustained.
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss:
Learn of Christ to bear the cross.

Calvary's mournful mountain view;
There the Lord of glory see,
Made a sacrifice for you,
Dying on the accursed tree.
"It is finished," hear his cry:
Trust in Christ and learn to die.

~James Montgomery (1771-1854)

To be a pilgrim

Who would true valour see,
Let him come hither:
Here's one will constant be,
Come wind, come weather.
There's no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent
To be a pilgrim.

Whoso beset him round
With dismal stories
Do but themselves confound:
His strength the more is.
No lion can him fright,
He'll with a giant fight,
But he will have the right
To be a pilgrim.

Since, Lord, thou dost defend
Him with thy Spirit,
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies fly away!
I'll fear not what men say,
But labour night and day
To be a pilgrim.

~John Bunyan (1628-1688) and others

Dear Lord and Father...

Dear Lord and Father of mankind,
Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind;
In purer lives thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard,
Beside the Syrian sea,
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word
Rise up, and follow thee.

O sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with thee
The silence of eternity,
Interpreted by love!

Drop thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace.

Breath though the heats of our desire
Thy coolness and thy balm;
Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire:
Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire,
O still small voice of calm!

~John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)

Fire of God

Fire of God, thou sacred flame,
Spirit who in splendour came,
Let thy heat my soul refine,
Till it glows with love divine.

Breath of God, that swept in power
In the pentecostal hour,
Holy breath, be thou in me
Source of vital energy.

Strength of God, thy might within
Conquers sorrow, pain, and sin:
Fortify from evil's art
All the gateways of my heart.

Truth of God, thy piercing rays
Penetrate my secret ways.
May the light that shames my sin
Guide me holier paths to win.

Love of God, thy grace profound
Knoweth neither age not bound:
Come, my heart's own guest to be,
Dwell for evermore in me.

~Albert Frederick Bayly

Elizabethean songs

Author of light

Author of light, revive my dying spright,
Redeem it from the snares of all-confounding night.
Lord, light me to thy blessed way:
For blind with worldly vain desires I wander as a stray.
Sun and moon, stars and underlights I see,
But all their glorious beams are mists and darkness being compared to thee.

Fountain of health, my soul's deep wounds recure,
Sweet showers of pity rain, wash my uncleaness pure.
One drop of thy desired grace
The faint and fading heart can raise, and in joy's bosom place.
Sin and death, hell and tempting fiends may rage;
But God his own will guard, and their sharp pains and grief in time assuage.

by Thomas Campion

So Beauty on the Waters Stood

So Beauty on the waters stood,
When Love had sever'd earth from flood,
So when he parted air from fire,
He did with concord all inspire,
And then a motion he them taught,
That elder than himself was thought,
Which thought was yet the child of earth,
For Love is elder than his birth.

by Alfonso Ferrabosco

Always--Matt Dusk

Can I have a moment of your time
And leave this far behind
Can you find the time to take a chance
Just walk with me tonight

Even though the rain must fall
Baby that will pass
Listen to the words I say
I've saved them just for you

You're safe with me tonight
And Always
As sure as this full moon
And Always

Lets sit around and shed those lonely tears
While days turn into years

Even though the rain must fall
Baby that will pass
Listen to the words I say
I've saved them just for you

You're safe with me tonight
And Always
As sure as this full moon
And Always

Nothing lasts not the good times or the bad
They all just become the past
Sometimes your heart can turn on dime
What made you cry will one day make you smile

You're safe with me tonight
And Always
As sure as this full moon
You're safe with me tonight
And Always

While on the subject of being given things, I should include these lyrics which come from a song of the same name, on a CD entitled "Two Shots" by the Toronto Jazz singer, Matt Dusk.
I was really blue, in a real "Mood Indigo," one night, feeling lonely and teary and everything a single girl feels when she's overtired and awake at one in the morning. I was sitting on my bed, watery-eyed (and I don't cry that often, if you would believe it!), and listening to Matt Dusk's rather melancholy CD. I was asking God for help to go on, wondering why I was/am still single and feeling oh-so-lonely, when this song came on. Now I'd listened to this CD quite a few times before and never particularly noticed this song, but that night, it became mine, my love song from God.
God was asking for me to really spend time in relationship with Him and reminding me of His constant protection. The assurance and love was overwhelming and I just broke down in full out sobs of gratitude (and I don't cry that often, remember). And I have to remind myself that His love is surer than the "full moon" since He is the one who created it in the first place.
Even now I can feel the love, the true LOVE, that came to me through this song. It was one of the most moving experiences of my entire life!