Poets & Saints

Scripture1 Corinthians 15:55 (NIV)"Where, O death, is your victory?Where, O death, is your sting?"RefrainChrist descends to where I am and brings me up.QuoteJohn Chrysostom, from Paschal Homily"Let those who have fastedand those who have not fastedrejoice today.The table is fully laden; feast sumptuously.Let no one grieve poverty,for the universal Kingdom has been revealed.Let no one fear death,for the Savior's death has set us free.Hell took a body, and discovered God.It took earth, and encountered Heaven.It took what it saw,and was overcome by what it did not see.Christ is Risen, and the demons are fallen.Christ is Risen, and life is freed.Christ is Risen,and the tomb is emptied of its dead."

Scripture1 Corinthians 15:51 (NIV)Listen, I tell you a mystery:We will not all sleep,but we will all be changed.RefrainI have a place in the family of things.QuoteMary Oliver, from Wild Geese"Meanwhile the world goes on...meanwhile the wild geese,high in the clean blue air,are heading home again.Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,the world offers itself to your imagination,calls to you like the wild geese,harsh and exciting —over and over announcing your placein the family of things."

ScriptureJohn 12:36 (NIV)"Believe in the lightwhile you have the light,so that you may become children of light."RefrainChrist is the light in whom I live and move.QuoteAthanasius"God in Christ became the bearer of flesh for a time,so that humanity could becomethe bearer of Spirit forever."

ScriptureMatthew 22:10 (NIV)So the servants went out into the streetsand gathered all the people they could find,the bad as well as the good,and the wedding hall was filled with guests.RefrainThere is room for everyone at this table.QuoteMaximus the Confessor"God made all beings to this end,to enjoy the same union of humanity and divinitythat was united in Christ."

Scripture1 Corinthians 15:13 (NIV)If there is no resurrection of the dead,then not even Christ has been raised.RefrainNothing truly good can die.QuoteRichard Rohr, from The Universal Christ"'Resurrection' is another word for change,but particularly positive change —which we tend to see only in the long run.In the short run,it often just looks like death."

ScriptureColossians 3:4 (NIV)When Christ, who is your life, appears,then you also will appear with him in glory.RefrainI am connected, and that is enough.QuoteHenri Nouwen, from Moving from Solitude to Community to Ministry"Community is not loneliness grabbing onto loneliness:'I'm so lonely, and you're so lonely.'It's solitude grabbing onto solitude:'I am the beloved; you are the beloved;together we can build a home.'"

Scripture1 Corinthians 15:28 (NIV)When he has done this,then the Son himself will be made subjectto him who put everything under him,so that God may be all in all.RefrainI am caught up in something larger than myself.QuoteThomas Merton, from No Man Is an Island"We do not exist for ourselves alone,and it is only when we are fully convinced of this factthat we begin to love ourselves properlyand thus also love others.What do I mean by loving ourselves properly?I mean, first of all, desiring to live,accepting life as a very great gift and a great good,not because of what it gives us,but because of what it enables us to give to others."

ScriptureJohn 17:21 (NIV)"…that all of them may be one,Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.May they also be in usso that the world may believethat you have sent me."RefrainWe are all in this together.QuoteRichard Rohr, from The Universal ChristWhen we carry our small suffering in solidarity with the one universal longing of all humanity, it helps keep us from self-pity or self-preoccupation. We know that we are all in this together, and it is just as hard for everybody else.