Poets & Saints

Scripture Psalm 8:3–4 (NIV) When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? Refrain Wonder is the arrow pointing me home. Quote Brian Zahnd, from Unseen Existences "In the pilgrimage of the soul toward the homeland where we've never been, wonder is one of...

Scripture Revelation 21:2–4 (NRSVUE) And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more;...

Scripture Philippians 3:20 (NIV) But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Refrain I am not yet myself. I am becoming. Quote Pope Benedict XVI, from Introduction to Christianity "Human persons are beings en route, beings characterized by transition. They are not yet themselves; they must ultimately become themselves." Hosted on Acast. See ac...

Scripture John 14:2–3 (NIV) My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. Refrain I press on — further up and further in. Quote C.S. Lewis, from The Last Battle "I have come home at last! This is my re...

Scripture Hebrews 11:13 (KJV) These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Refrain I am an animal en route to another native land. Quote Gregory of Nazianzus, from an Easter Sermon "The great Architect of the universe conceived and produced a...

Scripture 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV) So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Refrain I am latent with unseen existences. Quote Brian Zahnd, from Unseen Existences "Once we acknowledge the reality of a spiritual world, we can understand life as a pilgrimage of the soul toward our true telos — our true aim, our true...

Scripture Song of Songs 2:4 (NIV) Let him lead me to the banquet hall, and let his banner over me be love. Refrain I welcome the stranger who is myself. Quote Derek Walcott, from Love After Love "The time will come when, with elation, you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror, and each will smile at the other's welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the st...

Scripture Revelation 21:5 (NIV) He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." Refrain What was broken has become the ground of something new. Quote Fyodor Dostoevsky, from The Brothers Karamazov "Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light...

Scripture Exodus 3:14 (NIV) God said to Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I am has sent me to you.'" Refrain Simply that you are. Quote Richard Rohr, from The Universal Christ "Anything is a sacrament if it serves as a shortcut to the Infinite, but it will always be hidden in something that is very finite." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inform...

Scripture Romans 8:18 (NIV) I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Refrain There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in. Quote C.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...

Scripture Genesis 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. Refrain I am held in a world that was made for me. Quote Thomas 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 perc...

Scripture 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV) And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is Spirit. Refrain Heaven begins now, in being fully seen. Quote Richard Rohr, from The Universal Christ "Any loving gaze that we can dare to receive can start the Flow: creation itself, animals, humans...

Scripture Psalm 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 tongue you, Lord, know it completely. Refrain God receives me fully. I am redeemed in being seen. Quote Richard Rohr, from The Universal Christ "God i...

Scripture 1 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. Refrain I am known in relationship and held in love. Quote Richard 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...

Scripture Genesis 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. Refrain In God's gaze, I come alive. Quote Richard 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!...

Scripture 1 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. Refrain God sees me clearly and loves what God sees. Quote Richard Rohr, from The Universal Christ "A mirror receives and reflects back what it sees. It does not judge, adjust, or write co...

Scripture Colossians 1:16–17 (NIV) For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or 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. Refrain I am a willing traveler in something larger than myself. Quote Richard Rohr, from The Universal Chr...

Scripture Romans 8:22 (NIV) We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Refrain The pattern of death and rising is everywhere. Quote Pierre 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;...

Scripture John 12:24 (NIV) "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds." Refrain In letting go, I find what truly lives. Quote C.S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity "The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become — because He made us. He invented us. He invented all the diffe...

Scripture Philippians 1:21 (NIV) For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Refrain Jesus is the path. I choose to follow. Quote Richard Rohr, from The Universal Christ "If Christ represents the resurrected state, then Jesus represents the crucified/resurrecting path of getting there. If Christ is the source and goal, then Jesus is the path from that source toward the goal of divine unity wi...

Scripture Matthew 5:3 (NIV) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Refrain The way down is the way in. Quote Francis of Assisi, from The Peace Prayer "O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,...

Scripture James 2:17 (NIV) In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. Refrain My faith is alive when it is lived. Quote Howard Thurman, from Jesus and the Disinherited "The religion of Jesus says to the disinherited: 'Love your enemy. Take the initiative in seeking ways by which you can have the experience of a common sharing of mutual worth and value. It may be...

Scripture Colossians 1:17 (NIV) He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Refrain I am awake to God in all things. Quote Mechtild of Magdeburg, from The Flowing Light of the Godhead "The day of my spiritual awakening was the day I saw — and knew I saw — all things in God and God in all things." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scripture Exodus 3:5 (NIV) "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Refrain God comes to me disguised as my life. Quote Thich Nhat Hanh, from The Miracle of Mindfulness "Wash the dishes relaxingly, as though each bowl is an object of contemplation. Consider each bowl as sacred. Follow your breath to prevent your mind from str...

Scripture Romans 5:3–5 (NIV) We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Refrain Love and suffering are teaching me. Quote Richard Rohr, from The Universal Christ "In the...