Psalm 87: In Zion

Riffing on Psalm 87:

All our wells rise up in Zion,
flowing outward east and west
from the dwelling of the High One
to the seas that never rest.
Though we wander hill and valley,
to the end we come as one
when our days are filled and tallied,
when the river's course is run.

All our sources rise in Zion,
flowing outward north and south
from the throne of God almighty,
circling all the earth about.
Though we're borne on ceaseless currents
toward a sea we've never known,
yet our hearts have this convergence,
each one searching for a home.

As we rose at first in Zion,
there at last we'll find our rest—
heaven's glory unifying
north and south and east and west.
Let no name go unremembered
in her register of souls:
Every one of us was born there;
there at last we will be whole.

Zion (1903), Ephraim Moses Lilien (1874-1925) – Lieder des Ghetto (Book – 1903) of Morris Rosenfeld; translation from yiddish to german by Berthold Feiwel;, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18991414

Beacon

When my weary soul is aching
with the burden on me laid,
and I lose the road I'm taking
in the fading of the day,

light a beacon where you dwell here.
I'll lay down my heavy load
where you light shows me a shelter:
I will rest here from the road.

Lord, I know my way's been easy—
I'm not meaning to complain.
Nonetheless, my heart is bleeding:
Will you leave me in my pain?

For you travelled here before me
with no place to lay your head,
yet I'll find you in the morning
standing sentry by my bed.

Though I lay me down in shadow,
though I cannot find the light,
let me find your peaceful meadow
in the stillness of the night.

As you blessed the loaves and fishes
so your people could go on,
bless the coffee and the dishes
in the light of one more dawn.

Give me courage for the journey;
give me hope for journey's end.
Keep your beacon in me burning
when the darkness comes again.

Arkadi Monastery / Moni Arkadiou. Lamp in the church By Wouter Hagens – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4170241

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