Sostenuto



  Sostenuto

  by

  John Lowstreet

  A Sustained Poem

  copyright 2014 John Lowstreet

  ~~~~~

  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

  ~~~~~

  License Notes

  ~~~~~

  Dedication

  This poem is dedicated to all who follow the steps of Christ. May the Lord bless you.

  ~~~~~

  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