WHERE HEAVEN BENDS TO TOUCH THE SOUL

 

To river Jordan, still and wide,
Jesus walked with humble stride.
John the Baptist, hands aspace,
Poured water upon Living Grace.

Waters stir, heavens sigh,
Holy Spirit as dove draws nigh:
God's Voice declares from realms above,
This is God's Son, Whom all must love.

Yet more than this the moment gave,
Not only Christ, the world to save.
For in that stream, so pure, so deep;
Our hidden souls were stirred from sleep.

For there began a mystery bright,
Re-creation bathed in light; 
A seed was sown in human frame, 
Holy spark, a living flame.

A new potential, softly laid,
Within hearts that sin had swayed.
New freedom born post Fall so grim,
Now drawing souls to turn to Him.

No longer bound by shadowed chain,
Nor captive to old weight of stain,
The will once bent and turned aside,
Finds strength to face the healing tide.

For grace does not the soul compel,
But teaches where true freedoms dwell.
It lifts the gaze, it clears the sight,
To meet our God in living light.

A person meets the Person true,
No distant law, but Love in view;
And deep within, a quiet flame 
Wakens to call God by Name.

This gift is not for some alone,
Nor locked behind a guarded throne;
To every heart the grace is given,
Path renewed, a door to heaven.

And faith - O faith! - that sacred fire,
The soul's response, the heart's desire,
Takes what is hidden, still, unknown,
And makes the seed of life full-grown.

Then through the waters, pure and mild,
Each soul is born a living child;
In Baptism grace descends anew,
And makes the ancient promise true.

What lay as gift becomes our breath,
A rising life from sin and death;
The turning heart, the opened eye,
Now meets our God, no longer shy.

On Jordan's stream, still speaks today,
Of freedom found in mercy's way -
Where Christ first stood, we too may stand,
Re-made by Love's eternal Hand.

Poem inspired by article "Baptism and Co-existence by GMA Jansen (Fr Norbert OP) 

https://sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/archive-files/PvApr67.pdf

With thanks to Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1-cJ_mDf94