Posts Tagged ‘Peter’


 
FAULTLESS LAMB

I Peter 1:18–20
 

Not with things that pass away
Like silver or gold
Were you redeemed from the empty way of life.
But by the precious blood of Christ,
A lamb without fault.
He was chosen before the world began.

Not with silver, not with gold.
A higher price was paid to redeem your soul.
It was a treasure greater than
Anything conceived by man;
It is the blood that flowed
From the faultless Lamb.

When shepherds keeping watch were told
A child is born. They could not know
That they would leave their sheep to kneel before a Lamb.
That the baby on the straw
Would someday die to save us all.
That was the meaning of his birth in Bethlehem.

Not with silver, not with gold.
A higher price was paid to redeem your soul.
It’s nothing we do on our own;
Only one thing can atone:
It is the blood that flowed
From the faultless Lamb.

Not with silver; not with gold.
A higher price was paid to redeem your soul.
Not with any earthly thing,
But a costly offering.
Forever we shall sing
Of the blood that flowed
From the faultless Lamb.
 

© 2011 by Dennis Dale Kemper

BREAK THOU THE BREAD OF LIFE  I

Confession of Simon Peter as recorded in the final chapter of the gospel of John

 

Built on the seashore, a charcoal fire
Roasts a few fish and warms some bread.
Eagerly, hungrily I swim ashore. Yes, I
Accept your invitation to eat with you. I
Knew it was you, Lord! Especially after we
Threw the nets back into the sea.
How many fish did we haul in?
One hundred fifty-three!
Unheard of!
Lord, the way you
Take the bread in your hands, just now,
Holding it up to heaven…‘as often as you
Eat this bread’…yes, I remember.
I…I remember that I
Betrayed you! Three times I lied
Rather than admit I even knew you!
 
Enough! Enough of my pretensions. No longer so
Arrogantly will I blithely boast, “I will
Die for you, though all others desert you!”*
Oh, Lord where else can I go?
Other than you, who else can I
Follow? It is you who have the Words of
Life!** Yes, Lord. You know that
I love you; I will tend to your lambs. I will
Feed your sheep with the Words of
Eternal life—Living Bread that satisfies forever.
 
_______
* Matthew 26:35

** John 6:68

 

© 2011 by Dennis Dale Kemper