AnthonyFosterPhD

We will bask in the beauty of the believer’s dream We will ask to have eyes that can see the unseen The present reality of that beauty will entice Us to forsake all we own for that pearl of great price. We will bask in the beauty of the believer’s dream We will taste perfect goodness as we see what it means The horrific and holy held in tension for now Will be changed by His glory as to beauty they bow We celebrate the vision of the power of His might Christ empowers the mission and we do what is right The truth is revealed as we walk in the light Where darkness shall flee as our faith becomes sight. We will bask in the beauty of the believer’s dream In the beauty of holiness our Lord we esteem So in high adoration and in sweet reverie We shall bask in the beauty We will bask in the beauty As we set our minds upon eternity. Anthony Foster December 29, 2010

The High and Holy One Became the meek and lowly one. The High and Holy One Became the meek and lowly one. He brings forth justice for truth And strength unto the weak A curse to those who Truth suppress And blessing to those who seek To open up blind eyes To set the captives free To confound the wisdom of the wise He comes to bridge eternity. The High and Holy One Became the meek and lowly one. The High and Holy One Became the meek and lowly one. The lion became a lamb To become a lion again That through his slaughter We may stand as he stands. He comes as servant To make us right He is the One In whom God delights. The High and Holy One Became the meek and lowly one. The High and Holy One Became the meek and lowly one. He comes to rescue and redeem He comes to reconcile He consecrates us to Himself This blessed, lowly child. Designer of our image Author of all creation Maker of the cosmos Now speaks incarnation. The High and Holy One Became the meek and lowly one. The High and Holy ...

Oh light that is the life of men Illuminate the night again Your great glory show to us Poor sinners whom you declare just. Oh light that is the life of men Darkness cannot comprehend The searing rays of glory shed Abroad to bring life to the dead. Lord rule this world with Truth and Grace Lord make a throne room of this place Lord make the nations come to confess The glories of your righteousness Lord make the nations prove The wonders of your love Lord make each creature prove The wonders of your love. Oh light that is the life of men Shine upon this world of sin And make the darkness flee Lord shine your light through me. Lord rule this world with Truth and Grace Lord make a throne room of this place Lord make the nations come to confess The glories of your righteousness Lord make the nations prove The wonders of your love Lord make each creature prove The wonders of your love. Anthony Foster December 24, 2010 Based on a verse from "Joy to the World"

Expand the horizons of my heart That I may love like you Take me beyond my uttermost parts To a world where grace rings true Increase the boundaries of my soul Far beyond any man made chart Take me to that holy goal Expand the horizons of my heart Beyond the sunset of my desire Set in me a holy fire That lights the twilight with its glow Where the Morningstar rises I'll go. A bold explorer of your grace A sojourner in your joy A traveler beyond time and space Where boundaries are destroyed Expand the horizons of my heart That forgiveness and mercy may grow Make my life a work of your art Displayed your love to show Till I live and move for your sake Lord expand my capacity Till I learn to give more than I take And your face is all I see Anthony Foster December 20, 2010

The Lord has been gentle, so gentle to me Lovingkindness is all I see He sends me love notes from heaven above And nothing shall separate us from His love. Our hearts are made of miry clay When troubles rise our souls give sway We call you Lord for fail to obey Our spirits groan our hungering need We break our lives on living stone All the truth that can be known Confronted by the seed we’ve sown Yield naught but broken reeds. But the bruised reed you will not break The smoking flax you will not quench You heal us for your glory’s sake Pouring peace on the man who repents The Lord has been gentle, so gentle to me His Lovingkindness is all I see He sends me love notes from heaven above And nothing shall separate us from His love. You enter into that violated place And shed abroad your glorious grace On eyes that have not more tears to weep A place where the brokenness is deep These gates you enter and reveal The marvelous myst’ry by which we are healed. The Lord has been gentle, so gent...

A reservoir of hurt and shame Where drowning in the dust and pain We betray our bent and bear the blame Oh Christ help us long to confess Help us receive Help us believe in your beautiful brokenness. Repentence for sin yields up peace as we yield Healing is ours if we would be healed. Give the gift of your beautiful brokenness We need your rod when our hearts fail to confess We recall the stall where holiness lies We hear the word of life as he prophesies Ponder incarnation’s mysteries How gospel truth has set us free As to the cross we lift our eyes We see the son of God arise We lift our eyes, we lift our eyes To see the glory of our God arise And see his grave as he descends The light no darkness comprehends We lift our eyes, we lift our eyes To the cross where the God of glory dies And see as glory is revealed And by his stripes now we are healed. Purge my sin for woe is me I am undone so I’m set free The grace on which my heart depends The breath of life and forgiveness of sins N...

Trust his timing, trust his plan Trust when you don’t understand The fullness of time has surely come And God sends forth his only begotten son Fulfillment of the story of Israel Messiah is our Emmanuel This is the good news that we tell Redemption comes from slavery’s chains The more sure word has splintered hell And freedom’s foundation he ordains. The more desperate our need The more joyful our joy The righteous branch from the woman’s seed Has come to us as a baby boy. The dungeon’s depth from which we are freed Reservoir of grace sees death destroyed This is the good news that we tell And so His loss becomes our gain The resurrection now has rent the veil And bold redemption Christ proclaims. Anthony Foster December 19, 2010

You arose from an obscure birth You arose through the weight of life on earth You were raised up and crucified And arose from the dust of death when you died There is nothing that can hold you Nothing that can bind the living stone No power on earth constrains you The exalted lamb upon the throne God most high came down To live among your enemies To dwell among creation’s crown And to die from hatred's dread disease. Starburst of incarnation Shine upon your creation Light of the World make the darkness flee Light of the World come reign in me. As Moses lifted up in the wilderness The serpent image of Israels’ distress Whosoever believes In the lifted one receives Healing from His wounded righteousness. So we lift up the broken bread So we lift up the crimson cup We are no longer dead And we are lifted up And we are lifted up. Starburst of incarnation Shine upon your creation Light of the World make the darkness flee Light of the World come reign in me. For our transgressions pierc...

In the third installment of the Chronicles of Narnia, we are taken up with the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. This is an archetypal questing story. At the beginning of the story, the two youngest Pevensie siblings are left with obnoxious cousin Eustace Scrubb, who generally makes life for them miserable. All three children are swept away into Narnia though the portal of a painting of the venturing ship. Finding themselves adrift in an ocean, they are conveniently rescued by the crew of the Dawn Treader which is passing by. Lucy and Edmund discover that the ship is inhabited by Narnians from a few years after their last adventure, and among them is King Caspian, who is on a journey to retrieve seven lords of Narnia who were exiled during the reign of his evil uncle Miraz. One of the weaker features of the film is that we are never quite sure about the gravity of the quest, or its clear purpose. It would have been accurate to play up some of the allegory at this point, whether is be of a K...

This verse just struck me between the marrow and the bone- He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love. My prayer is that OUR NATION will be made to prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of His love this Christmas. It has to start with my heart and your heart, one heart at a time, and it has to be perpetual.

In my wilderness a voice cries out It’s preparing my way even now It sweeps out leaven and casts out doubt Sets my face like a flint as I vow To examine my heart and enact All these lessons I’ve learned from the start I am bound in a covenant pact To the one who is searching my heart He will sing to my bones and they will dance I encounter the joy that only Christ grants Fill that God-shaped space you carved out in me Hallow this hollow heart and set me free. In the aching marrow of my soul Mystic music ascends from the deep It resounds in the uttermost flickering coal As the melody rises the embers now leap And a harmony holy and happy and true Sourced by life’s righteous fountain above Flows forth and dry bones are born anew And prove the wonders of your love. There are songs that the Spirit writes Writ on tablet of hearts that are contrite They emerge from the marrow and sing to my bones Profound praises where Christ is enthroned Deep is now crying unto deep For the glory the...