Poets & Saints

Scripture  Lamentations 3:22–23 (NRSVUE)  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,  his mercies never come to an end;  they are new every morning;  great is your faithfulness.Refrain  I begin again in grace.Quote / Poem  Henri Nouwen, from *The Return of the Prodigal Son*  “Returning is not a one-time event.  It is a long and painful process.  It is the continuous choice  to trust that there will be a homecoming,  even when you feel lost.  The movement of returning  is not a straight line.  It is a series of small choices,  often made in weakness,  to step toward love again and again.  The great gift of God  is that we are always welcomed home.  No matter how far we have wandered,  no matter how often we have failed,  the arms of mercy remain open.”

Scripture  Proverbs 16:9 (NRSVUE)  The human mind plans the way,  but the Lord directs the steps.Refrain  I set my heart toward love.Quote / Poem  Howard Thurman “Don’t ask what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive,  and go do it.  Because what the world needs  is people who have come alive.”

Scripture  Psalm 46:10 (NRSVUE)  “Be still, and know that I am God!  I am exalted among the nations,  I am exalted in the earth.”Refrain  This moment is where God meets me.Quote / Poem  Brother Lawrence“We can do little things for God;  I turn the cake that is frying on the pan  for love of Him,  and that done,  if there is nothing else to call me,  I prostrate myself in worship  before Him who has given me grace to work.”

Scripture  Isaiah 43:18–19 (NRSVUE)  Do not remember the former things,  or consider the things of old.  I am about to do a new thing;  now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness  and rivers in the desert.Refrain  I release what no longer gives life.Quote / Poem  Thomas Merton“To let go does not mean to get rid of.  To let go means to let be.  When we let be with compassion,  things come and go on their own.”

Scripture  Colossians 1:27 (NRSVUE)  Christ in you, the hope of glory.Refrain  Christ lives in me.Quote / Poem  Richard Rohr  “The Christ Mystery  is not something to admire from a distance.  It is something to participate in.  God has chosen to dwell  not merely among us,  but within us—  so that divine love  might continue to take flesh  in the world.”

Scripture  Matthew 1:23 (NRSVUE)  “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,  and they shall name him Emmanuel,”  which means, “God is with us.”Refrain  God is with us.Quote / Poem  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from *God Is in the Manger*  “God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings.  God marches right in.  God chooses people as his instruments  and performs wonders where one would least expect them.  God is near us—  in the midst of our lives.”

Scripture  Luke 2:6–7  While they were there, the time came for Mary to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger,because there was no place in the guest room.Refrain  God is found in the ordinary.Quote / Poem  Madeleine L’Engle, from Walking on Water“There is nothing so secularthat it cannot be sacred.And nothing so ordinarythat it cannot be filled with God.If we believe that God took on flesh,then every placewhere life unfoldsis holy ground.”

Scripture  John 1:14 (NRSVUE)  And the Word became flesh and lived among us,  and we have seen his glory,  the glory as of a father’s only son,  full of grace and truth.Refrain  God is closer than I imagined.Quote / Poem  Meister Eckhart  “God is nearer to me than I am to myself.  My being depends on God’s nearness  and God’s presence within me.  God does not come and go.  God is always here.”

Scripture  Luke 1:38 (NRSVUE)  Then Mary said,  “Here am I, the servant of the Lord;  let it be with me according to your word.”  Then the angel departed from her.Refrain  I make room for God.Quote / Poem  Jan Richardson  “This is a season  for making room—  for letting the heart  be opened  not by force  but by consent.  The Holy does not arrive  with demands,  but with an invitation  that waits patiently  to be welcomed.”