Poets & Saints

Scripture   Isaiah 43:2 (NRSVUE) When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;   and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;   when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,   and the flame shall not consume you. Refrain   I am not alone in this. Quote   Thomas Merton “You do not need to know precisely what is happe...

Scripture   Psalm 13:1-2…5-6 1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?     How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts     and day after day have sorrow in my heart?     How long will my enemy triumph over me? … 5 But I trust in your unfailing love;     my heart re...

Scripture   Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Refrain   God is forming me, even now. Quote   Eugene H. Peterson , “There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a lon...

Scripture   1 John 4:12 (NRSVUE)    No one has ever seen God;   if we love one another,   God lives in us,   and his love is perfected in us.   Refrain   There are no ordinary people.   Quote / Poem   C. S. Lewis “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, c...

Scripture   Lamentations 3:22–23 (NRSV)    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   Lord, your mercies are enough for today.   Quote / Poem   Henri J. M. Nouwen    “Each day holds a surpri...

Scripture   Matthew 6:26–29 (NRSVUE)    Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,   and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.   Are you not of more value than they?   And which of you by worrying   can add a single hour to your span of life?   And why do you worry about clothing?   C...

Scripture   Luke 16:10 (NRSV)    Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much;   and whoever is dishonest in a very little   is dishonest also in much. Refrain   In every small thing, love can shine. Quote / Poem   St. Teresa of Ávila    “If you would progress a long way along this road,   the importan...

Scripture   Psalm 92:1–2 (NRSVUE)    It is good to give thanks to the Lord,   to sing praises to your name, O Most High,   to declare your steadfast love in the morning   and your faithfulness by night.   Refrain   God meets me in the everyday.   Quote / Poem   Brother Lawrence  “That we ought not to be...

Scripture   Colossians 3:17 (NRSV)    And whatever you do, in word or deed,   do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,   giving thanks to God the Father through him.   Refrain   God is present here.   Quote / Poem   Thomas Merton    “Life is this simple.   We are living in a world that is absolu...

Scripture 1 Kings 19:11–13 (NRSV)    11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, 12 and after the earthquake a f...

Scripture Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11 (NRSV)    For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.   He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Refrain Teach us to trust, O God,   the work you are doing in us....

Scripture Mark 4:26–29 (NRSV)   He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,   and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow,   he does not know how.   The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.   But when the grain is ripe, at o...

Scripture Psalm 131:1–2 (NRSV)    O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,   my eyes are not raised too high;   I do not occupy myself with things   too great and too marvelous for me. Refrain Here I am, O God.   I make room for you. Quote Julian of Norwich   Revelations of Divine Love “For I saw truly that God does all things, however small th...

Scripture Job 33:4 (NRSV)    The spirit of God has made me,   and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. Refrain God of breath and nearness,   you are closer than our next inhale. Quote Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection    *The Practice of the Presence of God*   “There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of...

Scripture   Lamentations 3:31–33 (NRSVUE, abridged)    For the Lord will not reject forever.   Although he causes grief,   he will have compassion   according to the abundance of his steadfast love;   for he does not willingly afflict   or grieve anyone. Refrain   I return again and again. Quote / Prose   Jon...

Scripture   Psalm 23:4 (NRSVUE)    Even though I walk through the darkest valley,   I fear no evil;   for you are with me;   your rod and your staff—   they comfort me. Refrain   I stay with what is. Quote / Prose   Pema Chödrön , from *When Things Fall Apart*   “To stay present with pain and not run away fro...

Scripture   1 Corinthians 6:19 (NRSVUE, abridged)    Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,   which you have from God…   and that you are not your own? Refrain   God meets me in my body. Quote / Prose   Bessel van der Kolk “The body keeps the score:   if the memory of trauma is encoded in the v...

Scripture   Psalm 46:10 (NRSVUE)    “Be still, and know that I am God.” Refrain   I notice without fixing. Quote / Prose   Jon Kabat-Zinn , from *Wherever You Go, There You Are*   “Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives.   It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness   of each moment.   We also gain imme...

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...

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...

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 i...

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 So...

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. &nb...

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...

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...