Poets & Saints

Scripture 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NRSVUE) For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. Refrain The truth dazzles gradually, so that I may see. Quote Emily Dickinson, "Tell All the Truth but Tell It Slant" "Tell all the truth but tell it slant— Success in Circuit lies Too bright fo...

Scripture 1 John 4:7–8 (NRSVUE) Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. Refrain Love is my refusal of cynicism. Quote WHEN I AM AMONG THE TREES by Mary Oliver When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locust, equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,...

Scripture Genesis 1:3 (NRSVUE) Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. Refrain I was called out of the darkness. Quote David Bentley Hart, from You Are Gods "From eternity, God has brought forth spiritual creatures into existence in the only way that such creatures could be formed: by calling them to ascend out of the darkness of nonbeing into the infinite beauty of the divine na...

Scripture James 1:17 (NRSVUE) Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. Refrain It's all a gift. Quote Julian of Norwich, from Revelations of Divine Love "And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as a ball. I looked upon it with the eye of m...

Scripture Genesis 15:5 (NRSVUE) He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be." Refrain Hope returns when I look up. Quote J.R.R. Tolkien, from The Return of the King "Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and...

Scripture Psalm 19:1 (NRSVUE) The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Refrain The world will never starve for want of wonders, but only for want of wonder. Quote Wendell Berry, from The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays "The Bible is best read and understood outdoors, and the farther outdoors the better. Passages that within walls seem improba...

Scripture Romans 13:13–14 (NRSVUE) Let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. Refrain I want to spend my life knowing you. Quote Brian Zahnd, from Unseen Existences "Lord, as much as I can mean anything,...

Scripture Deuteronomy 6:4–5 (NRSVUE) Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Refrain Even here, the prayers hold. Quote Jürgen Moltmann "When we encounter insoluble problems and despair, we must remember that the Shema of Israel and the Lord's Prayer were prayed in Auschwitz." Hosted o...

Scripture John 1:50–51 (NIV) Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that." He then added, "Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Refrain God is nearer to me than my own soul. Quote Julian of Norwich, from Revelations of Divine Love "God is nearer to us t...

Scripture John 1:47–49 (NIV) When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit." "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel." Refrain I was seen before I was found. Qu...

Scripture 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 (NRSVUE) Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Refrain Prayer is keeping company with God. Quote Mother Teresa "Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts." Hosted on Acast. See a...

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. Poem Brian Zahnd, Blessed Are the Patient A woman in the kitchen baking bread A farmer in the field sowing seed Both know they must trust to Tiny miracles of fermentation and germination Jesus says— This is how the kingdom o...

Scripture Mark 2:15 (NRSVUE) And as he sat at dinner in Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. Refrain There is a place at the table, and it is mine. Quote Henri Nouwen, from Behold the Beauty of the Lord: Praying with Icons "To live in the world without belonging to the world summarizes the essence of the...

Scripture Hebrews 13:2 (NRSVUE) Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Refrain I welcome everything that comes to me today. Quote The Welcoming Prayer Mary Mrozowski "Welcome, welcome, welcome. I welcome everything that comes to me today because I know it's for my healing. I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, perso...

Scripture Genesis 18:1 (NRSVUE) The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. Refrain The present of our life looks different under trees. Quote Wendell Berry, from A Timbered Choir "I go among trees and sit still. All my stirring becomes quiet around me like circles on water. My tasks lie in their places where I left them, asleep...

Scripture Hebrews 11:8 (NRSVUE) By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he set out, not knowing where he was going. Refrain I set out without knowing. Faith is what I carry. Quote Søren Kierkegaard, from Fear and Trembling trans. L.M. Hollander "Through the urging of his faith Abraham left the land of his forefathers and becam...

Scripture Luke 24:30–32 (NIV) When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?" Refrain My heart burns as I walk with him. Qu...

Scripture 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV) For we live by faith, not by sight. Refrain I make the path by walking it. Quote Antonio Machado, trans. Betty Jean Craige "Wayfarer, only your footprints are the path, and nothing more; wayfarer, there is no path, you make the path as you walk. As you walk you make the path, and as you turn to glance behind you see the trail that you never shall return to tread a...

Scripture Philippians 3:12–14 (NRSVUE) Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own, but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call o...

Scripture Matthew 7:13–14 (NRSVUE) "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it." Refrain Truth is a road, and I am walking it. Quote Brian Zahnd, from The Last Train Out of Monkey Town "Truth is not a laminated card y...

Scripture Acts 9:2 (NIV) ...and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. Refrain I belong to the Way. I am on the road. Quote Jack Kerouac, from On the Road "As we crossed the Colorado-Utah border I saw God in the sky in the form of huge gold sunburning clouds abov...

Scripture John 1:14 (NIV) The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Refrain The Word became flesh. This is the greatest wonder. Quote Brian Zahnd, from Unseen Existences "In that numinous moment I whispered a prayer: God, I want to spend the rest of my life in a constant state...

Scripture 1 Corinthians 15:51 (NIV) Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed. Refrain Mystery is where all knowing begins. Quote Albert Einstein "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Scripture Matthew 18:3 (NIV) And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Refrain I am learning to see like a child again. Quote George MacDonald "To cease to wonder is to fall plumb-down from the childlike to the commonplace — the most undivine of all moods intellectual. Our nature can never be at home among things...

Scripture Lamentations 5:15–16 (NIV) Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Refrain God has never grown tired of making the world. Quote G.K. Chesterton, from Orthodoxy "But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, 'Do it again' to the sun; and every ev...