Anthem

Blacker than black in the darkness of night

And empty of all habitation.

Nothing to look on in vastness of space

With no eyes to fathom the darkness.

Alone in the void he whispered a sound

And light sprang in glad expectation.

The beginning of all from the one who conceived it,

Three persons, one God, ever living.

Mists hung like cobwebs over green-shrouded forests,

And birds winging swift o'er the meadows.

Thundering waves crashing on rocky-ribbed shores,

With rivers fast rushing to join them.

All this he spoke, hung midst the stars,

A home for his dear-loved companion,

The one in his image he stooped down to make

From the dust, his own breath imparting.

So man looked around at the wonders bestowed

Without his ever earning or asking.

His was the rule, over all he could see,

Alone in his perfect vocation.

God was his friend, but his own kind he mourned

To complete what he knew not was lacking.

He slept, as the dead, and from his own flesh

The Lord raised his mate and his helper.

Nothing denied them, with one limitation,

Yet what they could not have, they wanted.

The Tempter's advice they heeded, then sought

To hide all their shame in the shadows.

No escape from the Dear One, from fellowship parting,

They lost paradise for a meal.

Tilling the soil, raising their sons,

The murderer, the murdered, the blessed one.

Infested by sin, ignoring their God,

Generations polluted their heritage,

Till at last He proposed to bury them all

'Neath the waves, save Noah, and his generations.

From the dust, Babel rose, and confusion fell hard,

To confound mankind's high expectations.

At last came the one who committed to God

His every motive and action.

Abram to Abraham, promise receiver,

Passed to all nations the blessing.

God's chosen people sprang out of his loins

And in Israel God's presence abiding.

Through Moses delivered, through David surrendered

To heavenly rule everlasting.

Rejected as captives, yet brought back again

To the promised repose of the homeland.

In Adam all was shattered and lost,

In Jesus the Christ all was mended.

Salvation, redemption, eternal submission,

Adopted to reign with Messiah.

God's eternal plan, consummated in Man,

Plays on to its final conclusion.

Never in doubt, save the part that we play,

By our own free choice and volition.