Poets & Saints

Scripture  Luke 19:8–9 (NRSVUE)Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,  “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor;  and if I have defrauded anyone of anything,  I will pay back four times as much.”  Then Jesus said to him,  “Today salvation has come to this house.”Refrain  I am learning to turn again.Quote  Julian of NorwichOur Lord does not say, “You shall not be tempted,  you shall not be troubled,  you shall not be distressed,”  but he says, “You shall not be overcome.”

Scripture  Joel 2:12–13 (NRSVUE)Yet even now, says the LORD,  return to me with all your heart,  with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;  rend your hearts and not your clothing.  Return to the LORD, your God,  for he is gracious and merciful,  slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.Refrain  I return to what is true.Quote  Augustine of HippoRemember, you are dust.  Yet you are dust breathed upon by God.

Scripture  Psalm 103:14 (NRSVUE)For he knows how we were made;  he remembers that we are dust.Refrain  I am learning to receive my limits.Quote  Meister EckhartIf the only prayer you ever say in your entire life  is thank you,  it will be enough.

Scripture  Joshua 3:5 (NRSVUE)Then Joshua said to the people,  “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”Refrain  I am learning to return.Quote  T. S. EliotWhat we call the beginning is often the end  And to make an end is to make a beginning.  The end is where we start from.

Scripture  Psalm 4:8 (NRSVUE)I will both lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O LORD, make me lie down in safety.Refrain  Tomorrow is held.Quote  Ralph Waldo Emerson“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

Scripture  Proverbs 3:5–6 (NRSVUE)Trust in the LORD with all your heart,  and do not rely on your own insight.  In all your ways acknowledge him,  and he will make straight your paths.Refrain  I choose trust today.Quote  Charles R. Swindoll“We must cease striving and trust God to provide what He thinks is best and in whatever time He chooses to make it available. But this kind of trusting doesn't come naturally. It's a spiritual crisis of the will in which we must choose to exercise faith.”

Scripture  Isaiah 30:15 (NRSVUE)“For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel:In returning and rest you shall be saved;in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”Refrain  You are near.Quote  Thomas Merton“In a world of noise, confusion and conflict – it is necessary that there be places of silence, inner discipline and peace. In such places love can blossom.”

Scripture  Habakkuk 3:17–18Though the fig tree does not bud    and there are no grapes on the vines,though the olive crop fails    and the fields produce no food,though there are no sheep in the pen    and no cattle in the stalls,18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,    I will be joyful in God my Savior.Refrain  I trust what remains.Quote  Václav Havel“The kind of hope that I often think about…I understand above all as a state of mind, not a state of the world.Either we have hope within us, or we don’t. It is a dimension of the soulIt’s not essentially dependent upon some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation.Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well,but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”

Scripture  Psalm 62:8 (NRSVUE)Trust in him at all times, O people;  pour out your heart before him;  God is a refuge for us.Refrain  I release what I cannot carry.Quote  Richard Rohr“Religion has largely become ‘holding on’ instead of letting go. God, it seems to me, does the holding on (to us!), and we must learn the letting go.”