Death in Battle, a song

Open the gates for me
Open the gates of the peaceful castle
Rosy in the west
In the sweet, dim Isle of apples
Over the wide sea’s breast
Open the gates for me

Open the gates for me, open the gates for me

Sorely pressed have I been
And driven and hurt beyond all bearing
On this summer day
But the heat and the pain are all disappearing
Suddenly fallen away
All’s cool, all’s cool and green

But a moment agone
Among men cursing in fight and toiling
Blinded I fought
But the labor passed with a sudden recoiling
Like a passing thought
And now I’m all, I’m all alone

Open the gates for me, open the gates for me
Open the gates for me, open the gates for me

Ah, to be ever alone
In the flowery valleys among the mountains
And the silent wastes untrod
In the dewy uplands near to the fountain
of the Garden of God
This would, would this atone?

O Country of Dreams
Out beyond the tide of the ocean
Hidden and sunk away
Away from the sounds of smoke and commotion
Near to the end of the day
Full of dim woods and bright streams

Open the gates for me, open the gates for me
Open the gates for me, open the gates for me

What's So Amazing Advent? Week 1: Amazing Announcements

This week marks the start of the Advent season, our four week journey of preparing for the coming of the Lord Jesus. This year at our church, our theme for Advent is: "What's so amazing about Advent?" As a bit of an advent devotional, I thought I'd post the readings we're using each week at our church as we light our advent wreath. Here is this week's reading, on the amazing announcements of advent.

***

Whatever else it is, Advent is a season for great amazement,

as we wait for the coming of our Lord.

In his account of the birth of Jesus, for instance
Luke keeps saying things like
“they were amazed,”
“they were filled with wonder”
and “they pondered these things in their heart,”
to describe everyone’s reaction
to the inexplicable events of that first Christmas season.

A Virgin conceived and bore a child…
A heavenly host announced it…
Shepherds welcomed him…
Magi worshipped him …
and little baby John the Baptist leaped in the womb for joy
when he drew near.

Be amazed.

Amazement is sometimes hard for us to come by
in this sordid, cynical, scientific age,
Where every whim can be met with the click of a button,
and every mystery, it seems,
has been inspected and dissected
and charted and exposed.

We have become a people who have forgotten how to stand amazed.

And if we are, perhaps we need the advent season more than we realize,

to remind us that one of the best responses we can have to our Lord and Savior,
when he shows up unexpectedly in our lives,
is just to be amazed.

But what’s so amazing about advent?

Asks the cynic in the crowd.

Well for starters, let’s remember
That advent is a season for amazing announcements.

“Your barren wife will conceive a child,
who will be the forerunner for the Christ,”
is what the angel Gabriel announced to John the Baptist’s Dad,
before the story was even underway.

Amazing!

“You will conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit,”
is what he later announced to the Virgin Mary,
who had never been with a man but had found favor with God.
“And he will be great and will be called the son of the Most High.”

Amazing!

And unto you is born this day in the City of David,
a savior who is Christ the Lord,
is what the herald angels announced
to certain poor shepherds, on that first noel long ago.

Absolutely Amazing!

[Light Candle]

And so we light this first candle to remind us never to stop being amazed
At the Good News of this majestic Christmas God
Who announced it to the whole world in the Birth of his Son:
That we are loved, and he is always with us.

Glory to God in the Highest
And on earth peace, good will to men and women
On whom his favor rests.