By Adam Smith
March 26th, 1538 – Easter Sunday, Geneva
My dear William,
It’s me, John Calvin.
As I write to you now, I hear a mob at my door
An army of people calling, I can’t ignore
They want silence. They want me gone, William;
A pack packed with pitchforks and torches and clubs
Angry at truth, and calling for blood.
I came to Geneva, after your relentless pursuit
I accepted your offer and came to be absolutely firm in my conviction
To preach the gospel of Christ, and Christ alone.
But against your prediction, and depiction of this city, I’ve felt nothing but friction against the good news I bring, and now here I am threatened with eviction.
They don’t want to hear it. They don’t want a part.
They’ve put up a wall of hostility around the void in their heart
For once in the past, an intervention divine,
when God subdued and made a teachable heart of mine
I saw in that moment all power and glory
The majesty of God revealed in the story
Of God and his people, in scripture complete
revelation of who he is and how to know him
Man creates a model of God, in one single plane
That is put in a containable box and constrained
To our weak definition, a flawed exposition
That fails to capture even a glimmer of God’s awesome composition
There are not enough words in all the languages on earth
To capture the magnitude of the glory of our God
So we need to look to the book that lays it all out
The testament of God that cries with a shout:
“ehyeh asher ehyeh”, “I am who I am”
At once, my dear William, I knew my place
Mere grass when compared up and down, face to face
With my Lord, my God, creator of all
The gap between man and God is not small
The ideas of men come and go,
Like chaff in the wind, when the breath of God blows
The grass withers and the flowers fall
But the word of our God endures through it all
So hear this truth and hear it clear:
In Jesus we know we can seek our salvation
In Jesus we see God’s complete incarnation
Indulgence and purity in his Gestation
Acquittal and pardon in his condemnation
In his blood we find mercy and purification
In his death we see God’s profound reconciliation
Of us and him, creator and creation
Brought from death to life not by our causation
But by his. This is God’s Grace.
In his rising again we see immortality
A new nationality, a guarantee
of our citizenship to heaven, free for all who believe
Therefore, since it is from him that all blessings flow out
Since through him to heaven, there’s no other route
Let us draw a full supply from this fountain, no doubt
Because in him we’re filled, there’ll never be drought.
This is my conviction, from which I will not part
As I’ve preached from the start there’s no counterpart
To the Gospel, no amendment to the Lord that I see revealed in the word
And if your city can’t take it, like they’ve refused to have heard,
Then I’m left with no choice, for this town needs reforming
An awakening to the dawning of the majesty of God they can know for themselves
Maybe I’m not the person for that anymore
I’ve tried my best, William, I’ve given it my all.
But I must leave Geneva. Tonight.
Your friend through it all, fellow soldier in the fight
John Calvin
What am I doing? Did I pen this just now?
Am I really going to be so easily scared out of this town?
No, Jean, No, don’t go back on your word
That’s absurd, to give into the pressure handed down
For it says don’t conform to the ways of this world
But be transformed as his grace is unfurled
Over all of us. We were brought at a price, our sin decimated,
We were consecrated and dedicated to God
To live a life for him, so it follows that:
We are not our own, as such our life is affected
We are not our own, our old self disconnected
From the way that it was, exchanged for the way it is now
We live for God alone, mine own life be for thou
We are Gods, therefore let us live and die to him
We are God’s therefore, let his wisdom ring out
Over all of our being, through every fibre of our soul
and since we are God’s, the dot’s I’ve connected
The expected response to the grace I’ve been subjected;
To him let every part of my life be directed
I came to this city with one simple aim
To represent Christ, his gospel proclaim
For Scripture is clear, we add nothing in,
We bring nothing before him to deal with our sin
Except faith in the cross of the Son of our Lord
It’s Jesus alone, all else is a fraud
In scripture we have all we need to possess
The knowledge of God, his mercy, personally addressed
To the heart of each person who seeks him
So I will preach tomorrow, like from when I began
Because the good news of the Gospel is far too important
To risk being forgotten and diluted
by a concoction of artisan truth, created by man
The ideas of men come and go,
Like chaff in the wind, when the breath of God blows
The reed withers and the flowers fall
But the word of our God endures through it all
Let them come at me,
Whatever may pass,
I will not fear them,
for my confidence is in glory. Not grass.
When can we have this poem performed again; across all services?
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Brother, that I am afraid that is a question for your church to answer!
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