Poets & Saints

ScripturePsalm 42:1-2 (NRSVUE)As a deer longs for flowing streams,so my soul longs for you, O God.My soul thirsts for God,for the living God.When shall I come and beholdthe face of God?RefrainI reach for God with longing love.QuoteThe Cloud of Unknowing“But in the real contemplative work you must set all this asideand cover it over with a cloud of forgetting.Then let your loving desire, gracious and devout,step bravely and joyfully beyond itand reach out to pierce the darkness above.Yes, beat upon that thick cloud of unknowingwith the dart of your loving desireand do not cease come what may.”

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 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.

A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on Jeremiah 6:16, with a reading from Brian Zahnd's Unseen Existences. Day 51 of the Unseen Existences series.ScriptureJeremiah 6:16a (NRSVUE)Thus says the LORD:Stand at the crossroads and look,and ask for the ancient paths,where the good way lies,and walk in it,and find rest for your souls.RefrainBuen camino. May my way be good.QuoteBrian Zahnd, from Unseen Existences“Dear pilgrim, may your way, though not easy, still be blessed.Despite blistered feet, sore knees, and bone-weary fatigue,may you find what you are looking for.May you reach that holy aspiration you are pressing on toward.And as we both know, our holy aspirationis much more than arriving at a cathedralin the city of Santiago.”

A five-minute Christian meditation and lectio divina practice on 1 Kings 19:5-8, with words from the Iona Community communion liturgy. Day 50 of the Unseen Existences series.Scripture1 Kings 19:5-8 (NRSVUE)Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep.Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him,“Get up and eat.”He looked, and there at his headwas a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water.He ate and drank and lay down again.The angel of the LORD came a second time,touched him, and said,“Get up and eat,otherwise the journey will be too much for you.”He got up and ate and drank;then he went in the strength of that foodforty days and forty nightsto Horeb the mount of God.RefrainWhen my strength is gone, I am fed for the journey.QuoteFrom the Iona Community communion liturgy“This is the table, not of the church, but of the Lord.It is made ready for those who love him,and for those who want to love him more.So come, you who have much faith, and you who have little;you who have been here often, and you who have not been here long;you who have tried to follow, and you who have failed,come! Because it is the Lord who invites you.It is his will that those who want him should meet him here. Amen.”