Poets & Saints

ScriptureRomans 8:18 (NIV)I consider that our present sufferingsare not worth comparingwith the glory that will be revealed in us.RefrainThere is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in.QuoteC.S. Lewis, from The Problem of Pain"We can ignore even pleasure.But pain insists upon being attended to.God whispers to us in our pleasures,speaks in our conscience,but shouts in our pains:it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

ScriptureGenesis 1:31 (NIV)God saw all that he had made,and it was very good.And there was evening, and there was morning —the sixth day.RefrainI am held in a world that was made for me.QuoteThomas Traherne, from Centuries of Meditations"You never enjoy the world aright,till the Sea itself floweth in your veins,till you are clothed with the heavens,and crowned with the stars:and perceive yourself to be the sole heir of the whole world,and more than so,because men are in itwho are every one sole heirs as well as you.Till you love men so as to desire their happiness,with a thirst equal to the zeal of your own:till you delight in God for being good to all:you never enjoy the world."

ScripturePsalm 139:1–4 (NIV)You have searched me, Lord,and you know me.You know when I sit and when I rise;you perceive my thoughts from afar.You discern my going out and my lying down;you are familiar with all my ways.Before a word is on my tongueyou, Lord, know it completely.RefrainGod receives me fully. I am redeemed in being seen.QuoteRichard Rohr, from The Universal Christ"God is a mirror big enough to receive everything,and every single part of you,just as it is,rejecting nothing,adjusting nothing.Whatever is fully received in this Mirroris by that very fact 'redeemed.'God always sees and loves God in you.It seems like God has no choice.This is God's eternal and unilateral contract with the soul."

Scripture1 John 4:16 (NIV)And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.God is love.Whoever lives in love lives in God,and God in them.RefrainI am known in relationship and held in love.QuoteRichard Rohr, from The Universal Christ"If that mirror is withdrawn for any reason,it causes sadness, emptiness, or even anger.We are normally disoriented,even heartbroken for a while.We die in some way. But why?Because we only know ourselves in another's eyes.We receive our identity — all of it — good and bad,from another.The other both creates us and saves us.The universe is relational at every level,and even between levels.Relationship is the core and foundational shape of Reality."

ScriptureGenesis 1:27 (NIV)So God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God he created them;male and female he created them.RefrainIn God's gaze, I come alive.QuoteRichard Rohr, from The Universal Christ"When we learn to love anyone or anything,it is because they have somehow,if just for a moment,mirrored us truthfully yet compassionately to ourselves.And we grab on to it! Why wouldn't we?In this resonance, we literally 'come to life.'But have no doubt, it is an allowing from our side.And such pure, unfiltered Presenceis accessed only by presence in return.Nothing more is needed."

Scripture1 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV)For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;we see only a part,but then we shall see face to face.Now I know in part;then I shall know fully,even as I am fully known.RefrainGod sees me clearly and loves what God sees.QuoteRichard Rohr, from The Universal Christ"A mirror receives and reflects back what it sees.It does not judge, adjust, or write commentary.We are the ones who do that.A mirror simply reveals.And invites responsibility.A mirror, the sun, and God are all the same.They are all there, fully shining forth.Their very nature is light, love, and infinite giving.You can't offend them or make them stop shining.You can only choose to stop receiving and enjoying.As soon as you look, you will see they are there.And fully radiating.And always have been."

ScriptureColossians 1:16–17 (NIV)For in him all things were created:things in heaven and on earth,visible and invisible,whether thrones or powersor rulers or authorities;all things have been created through him and for him.He is before all things,and in him all things hold together.RefrainI am a willing traveler in something larger than myself.QuoteRichard Rohr, from The Universal Christ"That the way things workand Christ are one and the same.This is not a religionto be either fervently joined or angrily rejected.It is a train ride already in motion.The tracks are visible everywhere.You can be a willing and happy traveler,or not."

ScriptureRomans 8:22 (NIV)We know that the whole creationhas been groaningas in the pains of childbirthright up to the present time.RefrainThe pattern of death and rising is everywhere.QuotePierre Teilhard de Chardin, from How I Believe"I believe the universe is an evolution;I believe evolution proceeds towards spirit;I believe spirit, in human beings,completes itself in the personal;I believe the supreme personalis the Universal Christ."