Poets & Saints

Scripture  Genesis 2:7 (NRSVUE)  Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground,  and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;  and the man became a living being.Refrain  I return to the breath.Quote / Poem  George Herbert“Teach me, my God and King,  In all things Thee to see;  And what I do in anything,  To do it as for Thee.  A servant with this clause  Makes drudgery divine.”

Scripture  Matthew 2:12 (NRSVUE)  And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod,  they left for their own country  by another road.Refrain  I walk by the light I have been given.Quote / Poem  Teresa of Ávila  “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.”

Scripture  Psalm 139:1–5 (NRSVUE, abridged)  O Lord, you have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I rise up;  you discern my thoughts from far away.  You search out my path and my lying down,  and are acquainted with all my ways.  Even before a word is on my tongue,  O Lord, you know it completely.Refrain  I am seen and known by God.Quote / Poem  George Herbert“Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,  Guilty of dust and sin.  But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack  From my first entrance in,  Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,  If I lacked anything.”

Scripture  Luke 24:30–31 (NRSVUE, abridged)  When he was at the table with them,  he took bread, blessed and broke it,  and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him…  and he vanished from their sight.Refrain  My eyes are opening.Quote / Poem  Emily Dickinson  “The Soul should always stand ajar,  That if the Heaven inquire,  He will not be obliged to wait,  Or shy of troubling her.  Depart, before the Host has slid  The bolt unto the Door—  Then will the Soul return her trust  Without distrust or more.”

Scripture  Exodus 3:1–6 (NRSVUE)  Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian;  he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush;  he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.  Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight,  and see why the bush is not burned up.”  When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see,  God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!”  And he said, “Here I am.”Refrain  I am learning to see.Quote / Poem  William Blake, from *Auguries of Innocence* (c. 1803)“To see a World in a Grain of Sand  And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,  Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand  And Eternity in an hour.  A Robin Red breast in a Cage  Puts all Heaven in a Rage.”

Scripture  Isaiah 60:1–2 (NRSVUE)  Arise, shine; for your light has come,  and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.  For darkness shall cover the earth,  and thick darkness the peoples;  but the Lord will arise upon you,  and his glory will appear over you.Refrain  God’s light meets me where I am.Quote / Poem  Charles Wesley“Christ, whose glory fills the skies,  Christ, the true, the only Light,  Sun of Righteousness, arise,  Triumph o’er the shades of night;  Day-spring from on high, be near;  Day-star, in my heart appear.”

Scripture  Micah 6:8 (NRSVUE)  He has told you, O mortal, what is good;  and what does the Lord require of you  but to do justice, and to love kindness,  and to walk humbly with your God?Refrain  What I offer is enough.Quote / Poem  Dorothy Day“We cannot love God  unless we love each other,  and to love we must know each other.  We know Him in the breaking of bread,  and we are not alone anymore.  He has given us each other.”

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.”