Beating Heart

Brothers and sisters:
As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
—1 Corinthians 12:12-30

We are your living body, Lord—
your hands and fingertips.
Your blood into our veins is poured;
your breath is on our lips,
and whatsoever we have held
you have, through all our senses, felt.

Then, Savior, empty these our hands
of all things hard and sharp,
to hold each other as your lambs
against your murm'ring heart
and feel you nothing else but this:
the “yes” of all God's promises.

Then we shall not be “yes” and “no”—
as changeable as wind
and torn and tattered as it blows—
but only, “Yes, amen”
when every echo of your heart
reverberates in every part.

And give us eyes at last to see
what prophets longed to know:
your eyes again, your hands and feet,
alive in every soul,
your beating heart in every chest—
and where we find it, there to rest.

detail study for the “Heller Altarpiece” By Albrecht Dürer – Google Arts & Culture, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21792217

This Is the Kingdom

The table set for many,
the supper where we're fed:
This is all heaven's plenty;
this is the broken bread.

The daily hidden labors,
the widow's mites we bring:
This is the love of neighbor
and worship of the king.

The candle on the table
illuming every face:
This is the light we pray for,
this ordinary grace.

The endless tasks unchanging
yet ever deepening:
This is the song of angels,
as it has ever been.

The ones we give our all to
as moments turn to lives:
This is the pearl we long for,
and seek at any price.

And they that come to seek us,
whose voices call us home:
This is the Lord, Christ Jesus;
this is the kingdom come.

4. Advent, Kerzen, Datum/Uhrzeit: 24.12.2013 18:55:59 By Dirk Vorderstraße – Adventskranz, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31871900

We Give You Thanks

For the mercies of the morning
stretching out into the day;
for the sunset westward falling
and the evening on its way;
for the stillness of the midnight;
for the ever-changing moon;
for the breaking of the dawnlight
and the morning coming soon,
	O God, we give you thanks.

For the planting and the growing;
for the sunlight and the rain;
for the sprouting and the growing
and the harvest of the grain
making gifts your people bring you;
for the table that you spread;
for the feasting in the kingdom
where your children all are fed,
	O God we give you thanks.

For the hungry and the thirsty;
for the captive and the free;
for the blind man crying “Mercy!”
saying, “Lord, I want to see”;
for the ones who are forgiving
as they, too, have been forgiv'n;
for the dead and for the living;
for the sinners welcomed in,
	O God, we give you thanks.

For the graces as we gather
and the bounty that we bless;
for the seasons and the sabbaths
and the sweetnesses of rest;
for the goodness of our labors;
for the fruits of earth and vine;
for the strangers now made neighbors
as we share the bread and wine,
	O God, we give you thanks.

Poster of cornucopia for California By http://www.library.ca.gov/calhist/images/big/cornucopia.gif, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=751696

Already Drawing Near

Though no one can say when it's coming,
for no one can see it appear,
the kingdom of God is among us.
The savior already draws near.

He hungers in all of the hungry;
in every dry throat does he thirst,
and all that we do is done to him.
In all of our wounds he is hurt.

But we have not learned how to see him—
O come, Son of Man, touch our eyes
to know you in all that we meet here.
O wisdom of God, make us wise

to weep with your children in sorrow,
to shelter your flock from the cold.
O dawn from on high, break our darkness
and light the way into your fold.

For there you will set a great table
and call us all into the feast—
but here let us feed you, O Savior,
yourself in the last and the least.

And thus, we will learn how to hear you:
O David's Son, lift up your voice
to heal us and let us draw near you.
Lord, shepherd us into your joy!

The Sarcophagus of Marcus Claudianus (ca. 330-335, Palazzo Massimo, Rome): Detail, a harvester. The figure directly to the left of the decedent’s portrait is a man harvesting wheat. Paired with the vintage on the right, this is possibly a Eucharistic reference. Photo By Dick Stracke – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31956395

Baking Bread

I have heard the earth is burning;
I can hear the tocsin ring,
but the planet still is turning—
I will see what morning brings.
For the hearth still needs its tending;
mouths are crying to be fed.
Yes, I know the world is ending,
so I stand here baking bread.

I have heard the fear that whispers,
heard the whispers turn to shouts.
I have offered no resistance
to the wisdom of my doubts.
But some other voice is calling
in the watches of the night,
saying, “Yes, the Temple's falling:
Will you offer me your mite?”

Should I so, O Christ my savior?
What I have is not enough,
but the little I can make here,
I will give the world in love.
For like Martha in her kitchen
and like Mary at your feet,
though my quiet work is hidden,
it is needed: Come and eat.

Johannes Vermeer Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, 1655 By Johannes Vermeer – fwE2zem7WDcSlA — Google Arts & Culture, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21865869

Love the Lord Your God

The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
‘He is One and there is no other than he.’
And ‘to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself’
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
—Mark 12:28b-34

Love the Lord your God o'er all things;
love your neighbor as yourself:
More than holocausts and off'rings
this the law and prophets tell.
Not by ritual's right performance,
not by sweat and sacrifice,
but by love the door is opened
to the kingdom of the Christ.

East and west will come to dine there;
north and south will meet within.
Puzzled by the ones we find there,
we shall come still marred by sin.
Yet the Lord is rich in mercy:
When he's knelt to wash our feet,
he will bid us—hungry, thirsty—
all as one to sit and eat.

We are not far from the kingdom—
Why, then, should we wait the day?
Find the neighbors now and feed them;
straighten every crooked way.
We have heard the law and prophets;
we have heard the words of Christ:
Let this love become our off'ring.
Love shall be our sacrifice.

Christ Washing the Disciples’ Feet By Anonymous 17^th century Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash over charcoal? on cream paper- This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60853459

Pilgrim Table

For All Saints Day, on which the prayer after communion reads,
“As we adore you, O God, who alone are holy
and wonderful in all your Saints,
we implore your grace,
so that, coming to perfect holiness in the fullness of your love,
we may pass from this pilgrim table
to the banquet of our heavenly homeland.
Through Christ our Lord.”

You call us from the north, O Lord,
and call us from the south.
From east afar we heard your word;
from west we sought it out.

Through deserts you have led the way
and over ocean deeps;
the forests hold you not at bay
nor any mountain steeps.

And we have travelled by your road,
have followed day and night 
in search of our eternal home,
on pathways you make right.

At every step a fest you spread:
a table where we find
your heav'nly manna for our bread;
your living water, wine.

You give us strength to journey on
in plate and chalice laid,
a foretaste of the feast to come
in your unending day.

Then at this pilgrim table, Lord,
come fill us with your grace
to seek the banquet more and more
where we shall see your face.

Fractio panis (“the ceremonial breaking of the eucharistic bread for distribution” during the meal of Holy Communion) in the Greek chapel (Capella Greca) of the Catacombe di Priscilla in Rome. Fresco of a Christian Agape feast. 2nd – 4th century. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=566562