Victory

Do days get any better?

Does news get any more profound?

He's alive!

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Post by Mary Schieferstein.

Victory
by Mary Schieferstein
©2014 Mary Schieferstein

The word spreads like fire through the city -
Best news I've ever heard, if it is true.
When the women went to prepare the body,
All they found was an empty tomb.

Is it really as the prophets spoke?
Has death been swallowed up in victory?
Oh, where are its plagues?
Where is its sting?

I really have to see this with my own eyes,
So I run as fast as I can go,
I lay eyes on the abandoned graveclothes
And set my hand on the rolled-away stone.
  
Is it really as the prophets spoke?
Has death been swallowed up in victory?
Oh, where are its plagues?
Where is its sting?

This Jesus, even death can't hold Him down!
This Jesus has conquered and He walks among us now!
I've heard it spoken from the lips of those who've seen,
I've been given all the evidence I need.

Because of this Jesus, His death, His Glorious Name,
Repentance and forgiveness can be proclaimed.
Never before have I felt such joy and such relief -
I'm in love and I am free!

And it's really as the prophets spoke,
Death's been swallowed up in victory!
Oh, where are its plagues?
Where are its plagues?
Where are its plagues?
Where is its sting?

And what kind of Glory has been revealed -
That God would be Just
And we'd be healed?



2014 Easter Songs Series:
Palm Sunday - Hosanna
Monday - House of Prayer
Tuesday - No One Ever Spoke Like This Man
Spy Wednesday - Who He Claims to Be
Maundy Thursday - Seder
Good Friday - What Have I Done?
Holy Saturday - This Wait
Easter Sunday - Victory



 

This Wait

Holy Saturday.

How to write of the impossible wait,

Of not knowing what would come next?

Reaching high for this one,

And faltering often.

Post by Mary Schieferstein.

This Wait
by Mary Schieferstein
©2014 Mary Schieferstein

Shabbat morning and I can't even rise,
But I hear rumors of what's going on outside.
They say His disciples have locked themselves away,
All of them understandably afraid.

Soldiers stand guard where He was laid,
So His followers won't slip into His grave,
Steal His body and claim He's alive.
Word is, He promised after three days He would rise.

This Man Who healed the sick and raised the dead,
The innocent One Who was condemned -
Dare I hope and dare I pray
For such an end to this wait?

Most people just go on with their lives,
A few sit and whisper of sacrifice,
How we offer again and again.
Can we really ever pay off this debt?

They tell how the prophet speaks
Of One whose wounds can really bring us peace.
They wonder what it means to say
That this Savior will prolong His days.

This Man Who healed the sick and raised the dead,
The innocent One Who was condemned -
Is it possible the wrath that I should get
Could somehow fall on another's head?
Can such a peace really exist -
That would lift the crushing wight off my chest?
Dare I hope and dare I pray?
Dare I hope and dare I pray?
Dare I hope and dare I pray
For such an end to this wait?



2014 Easter Songs Series:
Palm Sunday - Hosanna
Monday - House of Prayer
Tuesday - No One Ever Spoke Like This Man
Spy Wednesday - Who He Claims to Be
Maundy Thursday - Seder
Good Friday - What Have I Done?
Holy Saturday - This Wait
Easter Sunday - Victory



 

What Have I Done?

Oh, this one,

This song for Good Friday.

I may be telling a story,

But my heart feels the weight -

That this song's really about me.

Do songs get any harder to sing than this one?

Thank You, God, for Grace.

Post by Mary Schieferstein.

What Have I Done?
by Mary Schieferstein
©2014 Mary Schieferstein

I wake to chaos and commotion.
I dress and run to see what's going on.
A crowd has gathered before Pilate.
I spot Jesus, bound and beaten, near the front.

Pilate refuses to condemn Him.
The mob won't settle for less than their demands.
Their words resound throughout the courtyard,
"Crucify Him!"

And I find the same cry
Coming from my mouth and my heart.
This Jesus, He changes everything,
And I just want things to stay the way they are.
It hurts less.
I can't take this.

They drag Him through the streets to Golgotha.
He is so weak that He can barely stand.
I can hardly watch but feel compelled to follow,
So I go up to the place of death.

I see His agony as they hang Him,
Yet my heart sits like a stone within my chest.
The Rabbis and the soldiers all mock Him,
"If He's the Son of God, let Him save Himself from this!"
 
And I find the same cry
Coming from my mouth and my heart.
This Jesus, He changes everything,
And I just want things to stay the way they are.
It hurts less.
I can't take this.

I can barely hear that He is speaking,
But, I swear, His eyes pierce me right through.
He prays to God in heaven,
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

And my heart shatters apart,
I fall to the ground, utterly undone.
I find that it's not the government,
But it's my self that I need saving from.
What have I done?
What have I done?

I hear Jesus take His last breath,
I feel the earth tremble under me.
My tears wet the bloodstained ground.
Truly, this Man was Who He claimed to be.


2014 Easter Songs Series:
Palm Sunday - Hosanna
Monday - House of Prayer
Tuesday - No One Ever Spoke Like This Man
Spy Wednesday - Who He Claims to Be
Maundy Thursday - Seder
Good Friday - What Have I Done?
Holy Saturday - This Wait
Easter Sunday - Victory