Retired Pastor Ruminates

On Easter Day, on Easter Day
     The angel rolled the stone away.
Let all good Christians sing and pray
     On Easter Day.


(Picture: Resurrection by Matthias Grunewald, Colmar, France)

They sought him by a star
  they followed from the East.
We know him in his Word
  and eucharistic feast.
For those who look to him for bread
  will find their souls are daily fed.

The nations need his light
  against the darkened hour.
Their hate and fear and might
  betray his gentle power.
But those who seek by word and deed
  will find he meets them in their need.

We walk on paths unknown
  through days of doubt and fear.
We face each day and frown,
  we struggle each new year.
But those who follow in his way
  will find his light for each new day.

And when he comes at last
  his glory will shine forth.
The world that moved so fast
  will stop to mark his worth.
And finally see the great “I Am”
  and join the Supper of the Lamb.

© 2001 Richard L. Floyd

(Photo: R. L. Floyd, “Wise Men from Ecuadorian Creche”)

He came to earth that winter night
  to share our human frame.
A choir of angels took to flight
  to glorify his name.

Some shepherds in a field nearby
  were summoned to his birth,
And heard the angels raise the cry
  of peace upon the earth.

They went to where the babe did lay,
  and found a manger bare.
Some sheep and oxen in the hay,
  and Mary, Joseph, there.

O mysteries no eye has seen,
  no human ear has heard,
That God should come to such a scene,
  and we should call him Lord.
The world's vast empires rise and fall,
  great Caesar lost his claim,
But Mary's babe is all in all,
  and Jesus is his name.

© 2001 Richard L. Floyd

(Photo:  “Adoration of the Shepherds” by Gerard van Honthorst)

In such sad times we look ahead
to futures yet unknown.
We pray amid the fear and dread:
O come, Lord Jesus, come!

We know you in our daily round,
at work and play and home.
Such advents come without a sound.
O come, Lord Jesus, come!

You meet us when we gather here
for Word and meal and song.
Your presence hallows every prayer:
O come, Lord Jesus, come!

The tasks we take on in your name
to let your will be done,
Apart from you are done in vain.
O come, Lord Jesus, come!

And at the end when life is past
and time itself is done;
We'll meet you face to face at last.
O come, Lord Jesus, come!

© 2001 Richard Lawrence Floyd

I wrote this hymn for my local church in the Advent following the 9/11 attacks.

On Easter Day, on Easter Day
     The angel rolled the stone away.
Let all good Christians sing and pray
     On Easter Day.