in search of the lost chord

The Word for today:
Psalm 103

I'm a writer. But should I write a God-zillion psalms, I will never write anything as exquisite as this. So we keep on writing.

I'm a Christian. But from my gushing love for Christ will never spring praise so perfect as this. So we keep on praising.

A chord was lost, so we keep on searching. We heard it in a fragment of a dream, so we've sought it ever since. It sounded forth the inexpressible: the absolute, the infinite, the divine.

I searched for a lifetime until I found it here, in the blood and poetry of Passovers long ago:

The sacrificial lamb lived in the household for four days. It was observed over that time, inspected. There could be no flaw, no spot or blemish. The kids, no doubt, considered it their pet--little Fluffy or Tuffy or Snowball. They were about to find out the cost of sin.

After four days their Father took the lamb, slit its throat, and the blood poured out into a basin on the floor at the door. Then a hyssop branch was taken and the blood was daubed on the door posts and on the lintel, above the doorway.

The points of blood if connected form perpendicular lines--a cross.

At the intersection of that cross, God met man in Jesus Christ: fully human, fully divine.

Spreading outward from the intersection was the offer of God's grace to all people; to every point of the compass, to the four winds.

Outward from the intersection, an infinite vertical proclaims his love:
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;

Outward from the intersection, an infinite horizontal proclaims his mercy:
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

In a life passed away, I heard it. In the life which shall not pass away, I will sound it forth:

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases;
Who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Bless the LORD, you his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
Bless you the LORD, all you his hosts; you ministers of his, that do his pleasure.
Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.

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