The Mountains Shout For Joy

For Advent, with a lot of Psalm 97 thrown in.

But when the mountains shout for joy,
oh, who could fearless stand?
Who would not tremble at a voice
erupting from the land?

For when the heights all bow their heads
and humbly kneel them down,
even the cedars fall in dread,
as matchwood on the ground.

But then the valleys lift their eyes,
rejoicing in the day.
To see the sun of justice rise,
they make a level way.

For long and long creation groaned,
but now it shall bring forth
in cataclysm, fire, and stone
to greet its God on earth.

Then let my stone heart melt like wax
before the Lord, who comes,
for every root shall feel his axe
that will not first bow down.

And let my deepest sorrows rise
to touch that level way
where he shall dry our weeping eyes
when all things are remade.

Mount Rinjani eruption in 1994, in Lombok, Indonesia By Oliver Spalt, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=141934

Are You the One?

When John the Baptist heard in prison of the works of the Christ,
he sent his disciples to Jesus with this question,
“Are you the one who is to come,
or should we look for another?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Go and tell John what you hear and see:
the blind regain their sight,
the lame walk,
lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear,
the dead are raised,
and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.
And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”
Matthew 11:2-11

Are you the one we've looked for,
or must we seek again?
If you are he, come in, Lord:
Your reign in me begin.

My hidden world come find here;
your kingdom may it be.
To all in me that's blinded,
reach out, and let me see.

To all that I have deafened,
speak your renewing word;
that I may hear your blessing,
command in me, my Lord.

Where I am weakest, strengthen;
give speech where I am dumb.
Restore where I have taken,
forgive me what I've done.

And all in me that's longing
at last to hear good news,
all poor and unbelonging,
all weary and confused,

oh, preach to that your mercy,
your peace amid my strife.
And all that's dead about me,
come, bring it back to life.

Johannes der Täufer wird ins Gefängnis geworfen By © Jörgens.mi, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31709349

Rejoice, O Daughter Mary

One for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception:

Rejoice, O daughter Mary,
O Zion, full of grace,
for in yourself you carry
the dawn of endless day.
And he who dwells within you,
who makes your darkness bright,
is all your hope's fulfillment
and heals the serpent's bite.

The shadow of the Most High
will douse the sword of flame.
Your son will be called Holy
and end the years of shame.
Then what we learned in Eden
that struck us at our roots,
with that he will redeem us:
The seed puts forth new shoots.

Our very death is hallowed,
for he will share its stings,
and we, who dwell in shadow,
shall find it is his wings.
The little one you carry
is God who hears our voice.
Rejoice with us, O Mary,
O mother of our joy!

Berthold Furtmeyr , “Tree of Death and Life”, Salzburg Missal (15th century) By Berthold Furtmeyr, Miniaturmaler des 15. Jahrhunderts – http://www.rpi-virtuell.de/arbeitsbereiche/artothek/impulse/paradies/furtmayr/furtmayr.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11425618

Let Your Rivers Flow!

The desert and the parched land will exult;
       the steppe will rejoice and bloom.
   They will bloom with abundant flowers,
       and rejoice with joyful song.
   The glory of Lebanon will be given to them,
       the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
   They will see the glory of the LORD,
       the splendor of our God.
   Strengthen the hands that are feeble,
       make firm the knees that are weak,
   Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
       Be strong, fear not!
   Here is your God,
       he comes with vindication;
   With divine recompense
       he comes to save you.
   Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
       the ears of the deaf be cleared;
   Then will the lame leap like a stag,
       then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Isaiah 35:1-10

When old woods turn to orchards
and deserts run with springs,
the wounded drop their crutches;
the silent rise and sing.

When springs turn into fountains
and famine turns to feast,
they come to climb the mountain;
they come from west and east.

From every distant corner,
from every farflung land,
come every son and daughter
with riches in their hands.

And fountains turn to rivers,
and rivers turn to wine,
and every hope delivers,
and no one stands in line!

The table's stacked with goodness,
and there are endless seats,
and no one breaks a promise,
and everyone can eat.

So come, O Christ: We're waiting.
Just say the word: We'll go!
This world needs your remaking;
come, let your rivers flow!

Death Valley Desert Gold Super Bloom By Jerry Mclaughlin – Imported from 500px (archived version) by the Archive Team. (detail page), CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73805358

The Lions In the Desert

One for today’s readings, combining Isaiah and Matthew:

The lions in the desert,
they heard the Baptist first
and swore in their repentance
no blood should slake their thirst.

The jackals in the wastelands,
the vultures in the sky,
they turn and taste the sweet rains
where once all things were dry.

For they have heard the Baptist,
and in their hearts it burns,
the embers of his message—
that even vipers turn!

Then who am I to linger
and love my crooked ways
when adders sting no longer
and wolves with lambkins graze?

No, I shall go to Jordan
and plunge into its depths
to rise alive once more, then,
with song in every breath.

Then to God's holy mountain
I'll go with wolf and lamb,
where win flows like a fountain,
to praise the Great I Am!

John the Baptist in the wilderness By Hieronymus Bosch, 1504-1505 – https://kunsthistoriened.wordpress.com/sk1516/jeroen-bosch, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=148079

Before the Heavens

Before the heavens or the earth,
before a single star,
before th'unveiling universe,
from age to age, you are.

And when the stars have all gone out,
dissolved in entropy,
the sun has gone forever down,
beyond our end, you'll be.

The wisdom spoken at the first
that let there be some light,
you played in all the newborn earth
and found in it delight.

You helped the maker shape the clay
before God breathed in us,
and then you taught us words to say,
God's breath out of our dust.

Then come again, O Word Unfurled
upon creation's scroll,
delighting in the weary world:
Come now, and make us whole.

For we were always crumbling dust,
upheld but by your work.
Come back and breathe once more in us.
Speak us again, O Word.

NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, is about 55,000 light-years in diameter and approximately 60 million light-years from Earth. By The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA)NASA Headquarters – Greatest Images of NASA (NASA-HQ-GRIN) – http://nix.larc.nasa.gov/info;jsessionid=1sl2so6lc9mab?id=GPN-2000-000933&orgid=12http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-1999-25-a-full_tif.tif, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=127019

And He Himself

And he, in the beginning,
and he himself the end,
a thread of seconds spinning,
the heaven's veil to rend:
as flesh and blood's withinning,
the highest love descends.

And he himself the sower,
and he himself the seed,
casts love still low and lower
beneath our weary feet.
Now hidden in the furrow,
he aches with winter's need.

And he himself, the spoken,
no silence now disturbs.
The hope that he betokens
seems nothing but absurd,
until the the night breaks open
with cries that have no words.

And he himself the living
is he himself the dead,
calls us into forgiving
with all we've done and said,
into the feast he's giving,
and he himself the bread.

Baptistery mosaics, Last Judgment – Christ the Judge https://duomo.firenze.it/en/discover/baptistry

Beware!

Be sure of this: if the master of the house
had known the hour of night when the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake
and not let his house be broken into.
So too, you also must be prepared,
for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.
Matthew 24:37-44

Beware! The thief is coming,
though no one knows the hour
when David's key is turning
and Jesse's root shall flow'r.
Then all your strong defenses
will crumble to the ground:
He'll come with recompenses
while mountains tumble down.

Be watchful, and be ready—
Do not, dare not to sleep!
His coming, long awaited,
th'appointed time shall keep.
Prepare yourself for testing;
stand firmly in the fight:
The plow must be your weapon,
your armor made of light.

Behold, this is the moment—
shall it e'er come again?—
the thief is on your doorstep
and knocks to be let in.
Make ready to receive him;
prepare a level way.
Get up and let the thief in:
At your house he must stay.

Christ Pantocrator By Unknown author – Unknown source, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5820582

Then

An angel showed me the river of life-giving water,
sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God
and of the Lamb down the middle of the street,
On either side of the river grew the tree of life
that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month;
the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations.
Nothing accursed will be found anymore.
The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it,
and his servants will worship him.
They will look upon his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun,
for the Lord God shall give them light,
and they shall reign forever and ever.
Revelation 22:1-7

Then all the broken promises
and all the severed ties
will be restored with all that is,
where nothing ever dies.

And all that should be but is not
shall be forevermore,
and all that was and then was lost
to us us shall be restored.

The tree of life shall grow again
in orchards, rows on rows,
and Eden's gate be opened then
to everything that grows.

The flaming sword shall plow the ground
to open every grave,
and nothing cursed shall then be found
when all has been remade.

The bodies wedded to decay
shall taste the medicine
that was in Eden locked away,
and they shall live again.

Then all the broken will be healed,
the severed mended then,
and death to endless life shall yield—
but when, my God?  But when?

Painting of life tree in interoer of Shaki Khan palace, Azerbaijan NAtional Art Museum, Usta Gambar Garabagi By Urek Meniashvili – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26760866

Lay Your Weapons Down

This is what Isaiah, son of Amoz,
saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
In days to come,
the mountain of the LORD’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain
and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it;
many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us climb the LORD’s mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may instruct us in his ways,
and we may walk in his paths.”
For from Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations,
and impose terms on many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
one nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again.
O house of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the Lord!
Isaiah 2:1-5

Come, lay your weapons down,
and plunge them in the soil.
The sword that was so sharp and proud
is humbled to our toil.
Now it shall plow the ground,
tear out the roots of war:
Prepare a place for seeds to sprout,
a harvest for our joy.

Unless the seed should fall
it would remain a seed,
but buried, it shall rise up tall,
a hundredfold to yield.
The scythe is at the stalk—
it once had been a spear—
come, now; the harvestmaster calls:
His day is drawing near!

Then let us climb at once
the mountain of the Lord,
and hand in hand declare a truce,
lay down the hungry sword.
Come, plow the fallow tombs
and let our roots take hold
to grow the grain our God shall use
to feed a hungry world!

Mosaic in the Beit Habad Gallery, Jerusalem, quoting Isaiah 2:4, with lion, spear and spade. By benito roveran from verona, Italia – IMG_4713, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36487009