Sostenuto
by
John Lowstreet
A Sustained Poem
copyright 2014 John Lowstreet
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Also by John Lowstreet, available at ebook retailers:
How To Be Blessed By Christ
How To Be Blessed By Jesus
In Cadenced Thought
The Power of His Christ
Looking Askance
How to Pray Like Jesus
Evangelism in Verse
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License Notes
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Dedication
This poem is dedicated to all who follow the steps of Christ. May the Lord bless you.
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Linked Index to Sostenuto
Stanzas 1 -20
Stanzas 21-40
Stanzas 41-60
Stanzas 61-80
Stanzas 81-100
Stanzas 101-129
Sostenuto
A Sustained Song of the Kingdom of God
1
I sing of the kingdom of heaven and earth,
Of the King who has power in both,
Whose arrival to save was a holy birth
Sustained and proclaimed by an oath.
For Jesus, says God, begotten are You
By Me, the Father of angels and men.
Many are sons of God, not a few,
But only You begotten have been.
All who call on Me are received
And loved with My Fatherly care,
But of none but you is it ever believed
That a child of Me any woman did bear.
Covered was Mary, My faithful handmaiden,
A virgin I sent by My angel, Gabriel,
A message explaining how she would be laden
With blessing beyond what women are able.
Covered, I say, with heavenly power
To conceive a son unlike any other,
A redeeming king from a virgin’s bower,
With God as His Father and Mary, His mother.
To her cousin, Elizabeth, the angel had sent her
To rejoice with her at the goodness of God,
To believe more strongly, to receive from a mentor
The courage to walk where no maid ever trod.
For Elizabeth was old and barren so long
That sorrow had smothered her strong belief.
But she carried a child who danced to the song
Of the kingdom of God that relieves all grief.
John the Baptist leaped in her womb
At the voice of Mary who’s carrying Jesus.
The mother of Christ in pregnancy’s bloom,
Described to her cousin how God shall ease us.
“My soul shall rejoice in God, My Savior.
The proud cast down, the poor exalted-
The rejected, discouraged, receive God’s favor;
Injustice, violence, divinely halted.”
Now the princes of men required to be paid,
In gold, a tax to live on the earth,
A tribute from all at their feet to be laid
For the right to have had a simple birth.
Since God made the earth and made man in His image,
Then, He, alone, has the power of life.
For the pilgrims of earth this life is a passage
To heaven, their home, and their refuge from strife.
But the nations were ordered by families to come
To the tables of government and pay,
For the privilege to live, a princely sum,
Into hands that held, over nations, the sway.
So from Nazareth to Bethlehem the holy child
Was borne on the journey in the womb of Mary
Through the small villages, across the wild,
And beside the vineyards the mule did carry
The Prince of Peace in an infant mold,
Unborn, but the ruler of God’s nation, Israel.
It was thus that the Sons of David of old
Were carried on mules according to Samuel.
The horse is for battle, but the mule is for peace
And the donkey is little and lowly.
And the Son of Man makes wars to cease,
Though the ages oppose Him, and peace comes slowly.
So slow are men to believe that God
Is revealed by tenderly coming down
That the unborn child can pass through the wild
More safely than to enter a town.
Born to endure the wrath of kings,
The infant prince is greeted by angels.
While the faithless are mute, a seraph sings,
“Peace on Earth”, God’s loving evangels.
Slumbering shepherds in desert pastures
Wake to tremble at the news.
An angel swathed in shining vestures
Heralds the birth of the King of the Jews.
The chorus swells as messengers of glory
Combine in harmony to fill the night.
The shepherds hear redemption’s story
Echo in the valleys from heaven’s height.
The God of grace has come to save
His people from their sin and death.
In peace He brings what most you crave:
To eternally draw life’s joyous breath.
21
The shepherds go where the angels sent them.
In awe they bow to the shepherd of men.
His humble dwelling doesn’t prevent them
Continuing adoring where angels begin.
A star in the east leads kings of wisdom
To inquire of the birth of the Prince of Peace,
Alarming Herod, the king from Edom,
Arousing suspicion in this murderous beast.
The wise men rejoice to follow God’s star
To His cradle, and to Mary, who holds in her heart
Such joy and such awe that nothing can mar
Her delight in the miracle in which she has a part.
The gifts they bring to the newborn King
Foreshadow His place as heaven’s own Prince:
Gold for His glory, myrrh for death’s sting,
For His intercession, sweet frankincense.
The wise men flee when counseled by God
To take a route by Herod unknown.
Wise Joseph keeps faithful, fatherly guard.
He knows that to violence old Herod is prone.
By Gabriel he’s warned to protect the child
From that murderer who sits on an evil throne.
So to Egypt they flee over rocky wild
With the babe who in the beginning created all stone.
In Egypt they dwelled where slavery held
The fathers of faith in bondage cruel.
The Author of freedom sovereignly willed
To call His Son where idolatry’s duel
Was lost by Satan in Moses’ day.
To remind that darkling his final doom
Shall come, and now he must surely pay
For all that he caused of pain and gloom.
By the river of Egypt in a carpenter’s shed
The Son of God grew tall and waited.
His would-be murderer soon was dead,
Though Satan grew frantic and raged unabated.
He who sits on heaven’s throne
Calmly watched and bided His time
For an eternal purpose that He alone
Intended to enact for His plan sublime.
His Son He had sent to earth to unwind
The clock of doom whose ominous pall
Held death and ruin for all mankind.
He sent Him to save us from our original fall.
That fall was rebellion aga
inst our God
Who made the world and all things good.
That fall enslaved us under sin’s dark rod,
And broke the covenant in which we stood.
A new covenant He brings that brings us life,
A promised redemption so full of grace,
Making peace where once was strife,
Showing God’s love and tender face.
The face of Christ matured and sweetened.
So full of grace and glory was He
That, like His Father, His countenance brightened
With love and peace that all could see.
But the blind see nothing but what they want,
Ignoring the hand of God around.
In poverty of soul, sin-sick and gaunt,
They refuse God’s grace, so easily found.
God’s Christ, the source of life and light,
Walks with men and reveals all truth,
Lives all truth, is all truth, everything that’s right,
Pure, uncorrupted by a world uncouth.
He shall not fail, Isaiah said,
Nor shall He ever be discouraged.
Wait for Him, He is the head.
In the devil’s weak lies His truth is wedged.
His power splits the mountain of sins.
He breaks the iron gates of mortal misery.
Evil flees; it reels and spins
And fearfully hastens to hide its knavery.
Christ comes to the Jordan to John the Baptist.
In the waters of truth He refreshes His soul.
He obtains the key to release the captives,
To fulfill all righteousness, His holy goal.
The power that comes is His Father’s Spirit.
The anointing that falls is His Father’s word.
The hem of His robe has healing near it.
The truth from His lips is a blazing sword.
41
Called to the wilderness to engage in battle
With Satan, who in frantic panic and haste
When alarmed, resorts to religious prattle
And flees the field defeated, disgraced.
Blow the Shofar! The king has come.
Let all the land bow low before Him.
Come to the throne; Let your requests be made known.
Enlist in the ranks of the Lord and serve Him.
His gospel is preached; the poor are enriched
With access to God and blessings untold.
His scepter of justice is in anyone’s reach
At His throne of grace. To Him, come. Be bold.
He
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