Poets & Saints

ScripturePsalm 46:10a (NRSVUE)Be still, and know that I am God!RefrainI set all else aside. There is room for God.QuoteThe Cloud of Unknowing“Just as the cloud of unknowing lies above you,between you and your God,so you must fashion a cloud of forgetting beneath you,between you and every created thing....But I tell you that everything you dwell upon during this workbecomes an obstacle to union with God.For if your mind is cluttered with these concernsthere is no room for him.”

ScriptureExodus 20:21 (NRSVUE)Then the people stood at a distance,while Moses drew near to the thick darknesswhere God was.RefrainBy love God may be touched and embraced.QuoteThe Cloud of Unknowing“A man may know completely and ponder thoroughlyevery created thing and its works, yes, and God’s works, too,but not God himself.Thought cannot comprehend God.And so, I prefer to abandon all I can know,choosing rather to love him whom I cannot know.Though we cannot know him we can love him.By love he may be touched and embraced, never by thought.”

A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on John 14:2-3, with a reading from Brian Zahnd's Unseen Existences. Day 55 of the Unseen Existences series.ScriptureJohn 14:2-3 (NRSVUE)In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.If it were not so,would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you,I will come again and will take you to myself,so that where I am, there you may be also.RefrainGod alone suffices.QuoteBrian Zahnd, from Unseen Existences“There are sorrows, but there are also joys.There are heartaches, but there are also healings.There are woes innumerable,but there is also a peace that passes understanding.There are adversaries, but there is also a Helper.There are accusations, but there is also an Advocate.There is anguish, but there is also a Comforter.And so we press on.We will find our way homebecause the One who calls us homewill make a way even when there seems to be no way.Be of good cheer, pilgrim. You’re on the right path.You will make it.No one who loves the way of grace ever comes to a bad end.Buen camino.”

A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on James 1:2-4, with a reading from Alan Kreider's The Patient Ferment of the Early Church. Day 54 of the Unseen Existences series.ScriptureJames 1:2-4 (NKJV)My brethren, count it all joywhen you fall into various trials,knowing that the testing of your faithproduces patience.But let patience have its perfect work,that you may be perfect and complete,lacking nothing.RefrainPatience obtains all things.QuoteAlan Kreider, from The Patient Ferment of the Early Church“Patience was not a virtue dear to most Greco-Roman people....But Christian writers called patience ‘the highest virtue,’‘the greatest of all virtues,’the virtue that was ‘particularly Christian.’The Christians believed that God is patientand that Jesus visibly embodied patience.And they concluded that they, trusting in God, should be patient:not controlling events, not anxious or in a hurry,and never using force to achieve their ends.”

A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on Isaiah 40:8, with a reading from Peri Zahnd's Every Scene by Heart. Day 53 of the Unseen Existences series.ScriptureIsaiah 40:8 (NRSVUE)The grass withers; the flower fades,but the word of our God will stand forever.RefrainAll things are passing. God never changes.QuotePeri Zahnd, from Every Scene by Heart“This is the Meseta,that middle section of life,that sometimes boring, sometimes tedious section of life,but we realize in hindsight how beautiful it all wasand that we wouldn’t have skipped it for anything!...And then you leave the Meseta and cross more mountains.You realize the end is nearer, but that it’s really just a beginning....It’s a mystery, but a mystery I now approachmore trustingly, more willingly,surrendering myself to the purposes of God.”

A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on Philippians 4:6-7, with Teresa of Ávila's prayer known as Saint Teresa's Bookmark. Day 52 of the Unseen Existences series.ScripturePhilippians 4:6-7 (NRSVUE)Do not worry about anything,but in everything by prayer and supplicationwith thanksgivinglet your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God,which surpasses all understanding,will guard your hearts and your mindsin Christ Jesus.RefrainLet nothing disturb me. Let nothing frighten me.QuoteTeresa of Ávila, “Saint Teresa’s Bookmark”Let nothing disturb you.Let nothing frighten you.All things are passing away.God never changes.Patience obtains all things.Whoever has God lacks nothing.God alone suffices.