Lyrical Riffs The Good Shepherd
The one who gives rest,
strength, sustenance and guidance.
Protector and comforter,
ever present and close beside us,
the one we will live with forever.
Psalm 23
The Alpha and Omega
There at the beginning,
and the one who has opened
the door to new life.
One who is with us all the time.
Each moment, each day, each night.
He was there when we began,
he brought us through the wardrobe door
to eternal things,
and he is with us as we turn each page of time.
The Ancient of Days
Wisdom beyond words,
Understanding beyond measure.
He knows us inside and out,
Knows why we do what we do,
How we think and how we worry,
How we hope and dream.
Ancient but not old,
Endless but never weary.
Always vital and intensely interested in us.
The Door
When he spoke to a criminal on a cross,
Promising paradise and a future,
He opened a door no one can close.
And he made a way for us.
The going may be at times uphill,
Winding and rocky,
But it’s a road to freedom and peace,
A precious way of rescue.
Friend of Sinners
Not a Creator who only befriends the great and the good,
Far from it, he befriends those of us who
Keep on getting things wrong.
Not worried about being seen in the best company,
He is with us, on the side of the losers,
With those who fail and fall and stumble along.
He spends time with the weak and the impoverished,
With the small and those who lack influence.
Favouring those invisible to the rest of the world.
The Truth
Reality is the road that starts to set us free,
and gracious truth is the best kind of truth.
Kindness is integrity wrapped in compassion,
no hidden agendas, no concealed manipulation.
Freedom comes one step at time,
one courageous breath after another.
The Gate
Some gates lead nowhere.
Some gates lead to wide open spaces.
Some gates lead down dead ends.
Some gates lead to possibilities.
One gate is like no other.
One gate offers a way to life, peace and hope.
Wonderful Counsellor
A listening ear and a shoulder to cry on,
Full of wisdom and understanding,
One to whom we can bring everything,
The great and the small, the serious and silly.
The joys and the sorrows,
The questions and hopes and fears.
We can tell him everything.
Light of the World
The shadows and shade often cover our gaze,
And darkness fills the headlines,
But there is a light which never goes out,
A global light which millions look to,
A light that shines in your darkness,
A light for your path and with you every place you go.
Everlasting Father
We hear about many fathers
But there is one who is unlike any other,
One full of patience and understanding,
Kindness, strength and compassion,
One who is always interested in us,
Always has time for us, and whose motives are pure,
The father of all time, the father of the ages,
The everlasting father of Creation.
Man of Sorrows
When we get stuck in the troughs,
When the walls close in,
When the tunnel seems endless,
You get that, you’ve been there.
You know the loss and frustration and pain.
And to let this out to you is just as faith-filled
As songs of praise and joy.
You lament with us, you speak the language of sorrow.
The Life
We hope for a life filled with ease and laughter,
And are constantly wrongfooted by reality,
It seems that life has room for tears beside smiles,
And questions as much as wonder.
And so we find life is full of faith, doubt, light, darkness,
Loneliness and friendship, silence and noise.
Life is what happens to us while we make plans,
And Jesus is the life that inhabits us,
While we continue to make our plans.
The Road
We may stand at many crossroads and wonder
About the best way to go,
We may have travelled many roads and been disappointed,
But there is another way.
A way of forgiveness and new starts,
A way embedded in love and cloaked in a higher power.
A road for the weak and the strong, the well and the sick,
Where all are welcomed by the Galilee man who walks beside us.
For he is the road and the way to travel it,
He is our quest and our constant companion.
The Creator
Endlessly imaginative, bristling with ideas,
With a storeroom full of sunsets and dawns,
And a menagerie of creatures we’ve never seen,
And vistas that take our breath away.
A teeming world way too big for us,
A universe that will not be tamed or boxed,
And yet a creator who has made himself small enough,
To walk in our shoes on the earth he has formed.
The One Who Sees Us
Not made of stone or wood or plastic,
Not a tree or flower or rainbow,
But rather a living, loving being,
Who sees us as we really are,
And has genuine compassion for us,
With kindness in his heart for us,
And a future in his mind for us.
Prince of Peace
A leader who comes armed with calm,
Dressed in the clothes of humility,
One who embodies harmony and reconciliation.
A prince who has come to offer us peace
In a world restless with discontent,
A world where criticism and anxiety reign.
So here comes one who offers another way,
A different kind of peace,
A lasting peace that we can hold deep within.
Alive
He makes us alive
so that we might see that he is alive.
His life gives us life.
With no expiry date.
He opens our senses, our minds, our hearts
to a whole new way of being,
to a whole new reality.
Life not as we may make it
but life as he has crafted it.
The Resurrection
Three days of travelling,
From the empty depths of loss
To the dawn of a full new day.
Reviving hope where there is despair,
Reviving truth amongst the fakery,
Reviving light when darkness prevails,
Reviving strength when ours has gone.
Reach us today we pray,
With your resurrection compassion,
and what it means for each of us.
Rest
We chase our tails, grasp our worry,
About others and their thinking,
Trying to look good, to achieve more,
Make ourselves successful and acceptable.
And a quiet voice comes to us,
To bring our pressure and stress,
And lay them down beside still waters,
An invitation to step aside from the rushing
Of our minds, to grasp a moment of grace.
Saviour
How we need him,
This rescuer who can bring hope,
And meaning, and strength, and courage,
One who understands frustration and despair,
Who knows our emptiness and terror,
No one more able to help us walk through today.
King
A king like no other,
Not chasing pomp and pageantry,
No armed guards or itinerary,
A king amongst his people,
And looking very much like them,
Risking everything for the world he made,
Unafraid of insults and embarrassment,
Concerned instead for his people,
And the lands that need reviving.
Warrior
Fighting battles with compassion,
Fighting darkness with light,
Conquering hatred with deep love,
And overcoming cynicism with warm humility.
Laying down his life so that we may find ours,
Building bridges instead of barriers.
Wrongfooting arrogance and tribalism
With his open hands of welcome.
Everlasting One
Beyond time and space,
Unrestricted by the clock,
Moving beyond earthly dimensions,
Never growing old or weary,
Forever vibrant and alive,
Eternally loving and kind,
And always interested in us.
Bread and Honey
The Living Bread, the bread of life,
Food that can feed us,
Deeply satisfy the longings we live with.
The longings that we have – to be known
And to be understood and to be inspired.
And the Living Word that comes to us
Like honey on our lips, active and nourishing,
Comforting, challenging and sustaining.
The Cornerstone
He is the solid foundation we can lean on,
The rock we can cling to as the storms rage,
Inside and out.
The place to build the house of our lives,
Reliable and vital in a world where fakery looms,
The strong tower standing for truth and grace,
Like a beacon in the haze, now and always.
Beyond Compare
Like nothing we have encountered before.
No leader, teacher, guru, or counsellor
Is like the one who carried a cross for us,
Entrusts himself to us,
Befriends and encourages us.
The supreme being who made himself small,
Approachable, accessible and always near.
The one who created the beauty of the stars
And yet knows the depths of every human heart.
Faithful One
Though we struggle and wander,
And our loyalties become divided,
Though we are weak and easily distracted,
He remains faithful,
He remains full of grace and truth.
His mercy and forgiveness are endless,
And Love is his very nature.
God with Us
Nowhere forsaken, nowhere empty,
Unafraid of the dirt and the dark he is here,
Knowing we are dusty and frail,
Knowing we wander into the shadows,
His light shines on,
His presence is greater,
Though the world may hurt and demean us,
He never does, he is on your side.
Unchangeable
We may swing back and forth,
Our moods dictating our well-being,
Little things sending us off track,
Big things knocking us for six.
The good days making us smile,
The bad ones ushering a scowl.
But he is not like that.
He is reliable, solid, embedded in hope,
Never changing with the weather or the winds,
He is beyond time, our ever present rock.
The one constant in life.
Our Source
For those times when empty is our middle name,
When life demands more than we can offer,
When we wake weary and overwhelmed,
When we crash under the weight of living.
He is a well that never runs dry,
Our source of energy and purpose,
Well-being and life.
Name Above All Names
We hear your name often,
Not always as a mark of respect or trust.
But your name is like no other,
Etched in the wounds of life,
And written in the glorious skylines,
Ever present in your people,
In the dusk and the dawn of each life,
Please remind us to call on you in our joy and worry.
The Lifter of your head
Though the world may weigh heavy upon us,
Though we are distracted by so much down here,
Though looking up can be hard,
Though hope seems marred by the clouds of despair…
You are a shield around me,
My hope and glory, and the lifter of my head.
The Lion and the Lamb
This extraordinary, ultimate power,
Fragile yet supreme,
Vulnerable and victorious.
The lion comes as a lamb,
Stretched out, looking weak and lost,
And yet in doing so,
Comes with strength and salvation,
With rescue, kindness and greatness.
Son of the Universe
As the dawn rose on time itself,
He began putting things together
The very essence of life, every atom,
Every colour, every note, every idea,
A rainbow cascade of creativity,
The hues of life coming together.
And his creativity goes on,
Bringing fresh starts each day for us.
Yesterday, Today and Forever
Bring your past, bring this moment,
Bring everything you’re doing this week,
Bring your regrets, your feelings right now,
Your concerns about what’s upcoming.
Bring the good, bad and ugly things,
The tiny, the big and everything in between,
Bring it all to the one who cares.
Gracious and Compassionate
He comes, not with a list of don’ts,
But with the promise of a way of life,
Not with orders and instructions,
But an invitation – ‘Follow Me.’
Not with a brutal command,
But with a beckoning hand,
‘Come to me if you are tired,
If you are weighed down by burdens,
Find a new way with me,
A new purpose and a fresh rhythm of life.’
Full of Grace and Truth
Reality, nothing false,
Truth that sets us free,
No shifting sands here,
Goodness in human form,
Kindness in open hands,
Favour, mercy and dignity
Sealed with a cross.
Unknown
He walks alongside us,
And at times we have no idea.
As we wake, work, rest, play,
Fret, wonder, hurry, tire and amble.
He stays with us.
Known and unknown,
Our quiet, gentle companion.
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