Counted

“For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me,
namely, He was counted among the wicked;
and indeed what is written about me is coming to fulfillment.”
—Luke 22:14-23:56

We had Eden, but we lost it,
and our lives as leaves are flown.
Now a chasm—Lord, you crossed it—
lies between us and your throne.
You are counted with the fallen,
flesh of flesh and bone of bone.

Now into creation's burden
you have come to bear its griefs,
and at last to crush the serpent
died, a leaf among the leaves.
You were counted with the worthless,
as a thief among the thieves.

Knowing this would mean your slaughter,
still you filled the wounded world.
Even the rope that Judas knotted
had you woven in the cord.
You were counted with the godless,
and you took their death as yours.

Even the leaf by winter withered
clinging empty to the vine
you will draw into your kingdom
when you drink the brand-new wine.
You were counted with the sinners:
Count us, Lord, with the divine.

Ecce Homo, Nuno Gonçalves, 15th century By Unknown author – [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6014228

You Could Have Walked the Jordan

You could have walked the Jordan
as once you walked the waves
like solid ground before you
above our countless graves,
and steadfast on the waters
you had no need to dive.
Though all before had faltered,
you could have stayed alive.

For since the days of Noah
we had been deep in flood;
since Eden, even older,
our ways have drowned in blood.
Yet Jordan's waters cleansed us
and freed us from our sin.
But death is still relentless:
We swim and sink again.

Though Jordan would have parted,
laid dry land at your feet,
you sank like Pharaoh's army
where Adam lies with Eve
and all their sons and daughters
since Satan fell from heav'n—
and up out of those waters
you bring them back again.

The Baptism of Christ, Aert de Gelder, c. 1710 – http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6893009

When Adam’s Sons Lay Drowning

After all the people had been baptized
and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying,
heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him
in bodily form like a dove.
And a voice came from heaven,
“You are my beloved Son;
with you I am well pleased.”
—Luke 3:21-22

When Adam's sons lay drowning,
the rushing flood their grave,
came God's son deeper sounding
beneath the rising wave
to sink below Eve's daughters
all lost in storm and strife
and lift us from the waters,
to bring us back to life.

For we are dust and ashes
and cannot breast the tide.
So deep is his compassion
Christ jumps in at our side,
and plunging into Jordan
with nothing to repent,
accepts what lies before him
and plunges into death.

Come up, O sons of Adam,
come up out of your graves:
He reaches out his hand now
to bear you on the waves.
Come up, all you Eve's daughters;
stand with him on the foam,
for he has walked these waters
and he will bring you home.

Eastern Orthodox icon By Unknown author – http://www.svetigora.com/node/906, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3752815

Prayer to Mary

In the beginning, God did shape
the sun, the moon, the stars,
and in the end he'll recreate
this weary world of ours,
but now the one who made all things
stares wide-eyed as he he hears you sing.

O Mary, here you hold the word
that makes creation new,
and holding him you hold the world—
Let us draw near to you
to shelter with him in your cloak,
for he is all our life and hope.

The son of heaven has come down
to bear with us the hurt:
The one who sleeps in your arms now
has joined us in the dirt,
then in the strength of your embrace
enfold us, too, into his grace.

And here beneath the stars he made,
teach us the song you sing
that waits for his eternal day
and trusts him in all things.
And pray for us, that we might be
his own in bright eternity.

Mary nursing the Infant Jesus. Early image from the Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome, c. 2nd century By Unknown author – adapted from the quoted page., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=507221

We Count the Generations

Brothers and sisters:
Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and forgiving one another,
if one has a grievance against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do.
And over all these put on love,
that is, the bond of perfection.
And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,
the peace into which you were also called in one body.
—Colossians 3:12-17

We count the generations
and trace the family line 
from Abraham to David—
but oh, what shame we find.

Yet this our God has chosen,
our littleness and sin:
His mercy new each morning
makes God himself our kin.

The glorious son of heaven
on earth has come to live
that we may be his kindred—
our broken bread is his.

Then may I cast off hatred
as he cast off his crown
and bend to serve my neighbor
as he himself knelt down,

and put on over all things
the perfect bond of love,
For God so loved our smallness
he knit himself thereof.

As Jesus Christ our brother
put on our very dust,
so may we love each other
and rise to where he was.

A typical Jesse Tree of the Late Medieval period, detail of the Spinola Hours of Ludwig by the Master of James IV of Scotland, (1510-20) Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29732235

Christ Our Light Is Dawning

How beautiful upon the mountains
       are the feet of him who brings glad tidings,
   announcing peace, bearing good news,
       announcing salvation, and saying to Zion,
       “Your God is King!”
Hark! Your sentinels raise a cry,
       together they shout for joy,
   for they see directly, before their eyes,
       the LORD restoring Zion.
   Break out together in song,
       O ruins of Jerusalem!
   For the LORD comforts his people,
       he redeems Jerusalem.
   The LORD has bared his holy arm
       in the sight of all the nations;
   all the ends of the earth will behold
       the salvation of our God.
—Isaiah 52:7-10

How beautiful the footsteps
and steady-beating heart 
that bring to us a good word
and say, “Here is your God!”

Now see what he is doing,
that never yet was seen.
Break into song, you ruined,
for you have been redeemed!

Our sentinels have told it—
O, hearken to their cry!—
and we, too, shall behold it,
the dawn that greets our eyes.

The empty places in us
where shadows made their home,
shine out as morning fills us,
for lo! Our light has come!

For all the days we hungered,
new feasts will fill our lack.
All that was taken from us
will someday be led back.

Stand up and greet the morning,
the promise coming true.
For Christ our light is dawning
and mercy is made new!

Aci Castello Sicily Italy – Creative Commons by gnuckx By gnuckx, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53170013

The Song of Elizabeth

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”
–-Luke 1:39-45

Behold, my love comes o'er the hills
as softly as the deer steps forth,
as sweetly as the trickling rills
come bless the winter-laden earth.

As yet he hides behind the wall,
but love is coming to the door
to bring me to his banquet hall—
So comes the mother of my Lord.

And now I hear the true dove's voice
that says the winter days are past,
and this within me leaps for joy 
to recognize its spring at last.

Who am I, that this love should come
when God has done such things for me?
And she who said,“Let it be done,”
oh, blest is she who has believed!

And now he grows within her womb.
The barren fig tree puts forth buds;
the desert wakes and greens and blooms
when he tells me, “Arise, my love!”

These leaves survive from what must have been an extraordinarily rich book of hours. Stylistically, the illuminations relate to the workshop of Henri d’Orquevaulx, a documented Metz manuscript painter. Little is known about d’Orquevaulx’s life or career. Compositionally, structurally, and stylistically, the miniatures suggest strong links to Netherlandish illumination. By Henri d’Orquevaulx – https://clevelandart.org/art/2003.172, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77719154

You Promised Once and Once Again

When Christ came into the world, he said:
   “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
       but a body you prepared for me;
   in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.
   Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,
   behold, I come to do your will, O God.’“
—Hebrews 10:5-10

You promised once and once again
to send to us a son,
and never, never mentioned when
but let the moments run.

And into hours and into days
they run and still run on,
and into nights whose sleepless gaze
still waits to see the dawn.

Then into months and into years
and into age on age,
and all the while he's drawing near
while yet we flow'r and fade.

How long, O Lord, 'til waiting ends?
O, say, when will it be
that every bloody sword shall bend
and every slave go free?

But even now a form you limn;
you weave it thread on thread.
A body you prepare for him,
to crush the serpent's head.

And now we count the seconds past
as once we counted days.
How soon he comes—he comes at last!
And we shall see his face!

Eastern Christian fresco of the Visitation in St. George Church in Kurbinovo, North Macedonia By Unknown author – http://faq.macedonia.org/images/embrace.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9976800

Let Us Go

For God has commanded
   that every lofty mountain be made low,
and that the age-old depths and gorges
   be filled to level ground,
   that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God.
The forests and every fragrant kind of tree
   have overshadowed Israel at God’s command;
for God is leading Israel in joy
   by the light of his glory,
   with his mercy and justice for company.
—Baruch 5:1-9

A voice is crying in the desert:
“Make straight the path! Prepare the way,
that children may return from exile
and those in darkness see the day.

“The frail and foolish shall not falter;
the strong shall not oppress the weak,
but all come streaming to the altar
where kings bow down before the meek.”

But God it was made these rough places,
with plumb and line laid out the earth.
He comes, remaking this creation,
preparing hearts to know his birth.

And lo! The mountains bow to greet him;
the valleys rise to offer praise.
They know our God has come to meet us,
and all the earth shall see his face.

The narrow way grows wide and even
and shaded o'er by every tree.
No heights now block the way between us;
no gorges gape before our feet.

Then let us go along his highway
with all who come from east and west.
A light is breaking forth to guide us
into the pastures of his rest.

The Preaching of St. John the Baptist by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1566 – Google Arts & Culture: Home – pic Maximum resolution., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122059315

Bone of Our Bones

So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man,
and while he was asleep,
he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib
that he had taken from the man.
When he brought her to the man, the man said:
   “This one, at last, is bone of my bones
       and flesh of my flesh;
   this one shall be called ‘woman, ‘
       for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh.
—Genesis 2:18-24

We come from the dust of the earth,
and back to the dust we shall go
as naked at death as at birth;
our hands shall be empty once more.

So Adam from Eden came forth
to live by the sweat of his brow,
to wrestle with thistle and thorn
until he was laid in the ground.

But, oh, not alone shall he lie,
nor Eve shall not lie there alone,
for sprung from them both came the Christ:
In him all their sorrows are known.

He came to be shaped of the dust
and born of his mother in blood,
to share all our striving with us
and go back again to the mud.

For he is the bone of our bones,
and he is the flesh of our flesh.
No more do we walk on unknown,
but he bears our life and our death

to open the eyes of our hearts
and raise us again to new life
as sinless as back at the start,
to make us forever his bride.

Adam and Eve depicted in a mural in Abreha wa Atsbeha Church, Ethiopia, Photo By Bernard Gagnon – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27934949