A Misrepresented Christ

A carpenter’s Son!  No, no, not that One.

Though of Joseph’s wife He was born.

Though a chisel He knew,

And when He used it chips flew,

He was to more than lumber adorn.

 

Nazareth, you say!  The answer is nay!

Though He lived there as a mere boy,

Though His sandals and feet,

Left their prints in its street.

Bethlehem was the city of first joy.

 

Joses’ Brother!  No, He’s some Other.

Though that is how it’s made to seem,

Though they had common blood,

One’s dad came from Adam’s “mud,”

The Other’s Father from beyond stars’ gleam.

 

An unlearned Rebel!  Nay, He was able

(Though He never sat in their schools

Though from doctor He’d not,

Learned their tittle and their jot)

He, time after time, corrected their rules.

 

Trials and a slur, contributions were,

Though Christ’s life had a constant tone,

Though anguished in His soul,

He held to His only goal,

And let false opinions die on their own.  –eab, 12/78

 

Written when I was working with Christ College and Christ Academy in Blount Co., TN.

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A B (Albert Benjamin) Simpson – birth, Dec. 15, 1843

“The Mercy of God Is an Ocean Divine”   (stanza 1 and refrain)

The mercy of God is an ocean divine,
A boundless and fathomless flood.
Launch out in the deep, cut away the shore line,
And be lost in the fullness of God.

Launch out, into the deep.
Oh let the shore line go.
Launch out, launch out in the ocean divine,
Out where the full tides flow.

A B Simpson was born 12/15/1843 on Prince Edward Island in Canada.  It was my privilege to see the spot where his family home was.  His dad had a mill and would cut lumber, place it on a small boat and float it down the narrow creek that boarded their land to a ship building yard.  Simpson was a lad who grew up with the sea – this song reflects this boyhood scenes.  He died 10/29/1919 in Nyack, NY. 

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