Hold Fast to What You Know

My child, conduct your affairs with humility,
and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts.
Humble yourself the more, the greater you are,
and you will find favor with God.
What is too sublime for you, seek not,
into things beyond your strength search not.
The mind of a sage appreciates proverbs,
and an attentive ear is the joy of the wise.
Water quenches a flaming fire,
and alms atone for sins.
Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29

My child, hold fast to what you know
through worlds of mystery:
The seed into the ground must go;
the river to the sea.
The sacrifice goes on the pyre;
the ash flies on the wind,
then water quenches flaming fire
and alms atone for sins.

The rich and mighty hold their sway;
the oxen pulls the plow,
but still the poor will have their day
and kings to time will bow.
Then love your neighbor as yourself
and worship God alone,
for flowing streams the flames will quench
and alms for sin atone.

The seed will spring up from the ground;
the seas will fall as rain.
The sun will rise and then go down,
and we will live again.
The sacrifice upon the pyre
will rise and lead us home,
as streams of mercy quench the fire
and living waters flow.

The Altar of Incense, Altar of Burnt-Offering, and Laver from the biblical Tabernacle; illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible By illustrators of the 1890 Holman Bible – http://thebiblerevival.com/clipart/1890holmanbible/bw/altarofincensealtarofburnt-offeringlaver.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9424389

Journey

Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority
over all demons and to cure diseases,
and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God
and to heal the sick.
He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey,
neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money,
and let no one take a second tunic.
Luke 9:1-6

You set me on a journey,
but take all I'd prepared
and send me out with nothing
to go I-know-not-where.
Without my sure provisions
and all my careful plans,
I go about my mission
with only empty hands.

I meant to scale the mountains
but had no rod or staff,
to sail the ocean's fountains,
but had no mast or raft,
so when I fell, I shattered,
and when I sank, I drowned,
and all my dreams were scattered
as ashes on the ground.

What is it, then, you've asked me?
(No money in my sack.)
With what, then, have you tasked me?
(No tunic for my back.)
There's nothing I can give you,
no glories for your name.
I am not worthy of you:
This is my constant shame.

But still your journey beckons,
and, sandal-less, I go
with nothing I had reckoned,
by roads I do not know.
You do not ask for wonders,
but only that I walk.
Then barefoot, let me blunder
along the road you've marked.

The *Calling of Matthew* by Vittore Carpaccio, 1502 – Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9770918

You Are the Long-Awaited Christ

He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the gospel will save it.”
Mark 8:27-35

You are the long-awaited Christ,
and we would hail your name
not as the victim sacrificed,
but as the cleansing flame.

And yet you bid us speak no word
until your work is done,
lest all the joys of Christ the Lord
o'ershadow Christ the Son.

You will not shelter in our shouts
acclaiming you as Lord
until you are yourself cast out
and crowned with bloody thorns.

'Tis not the throne of David's reign
that marks you as our king,
but 'tis the bearing of your pain
that our salvation brings.

And you have bid us bear it, too,
the cross that is your throne,
until you come to make all new
and bring us safely home.

Then when we fall beneath its weight
and lose what made us proud,
and garner no reward but hate
or scorn before a crowd,

let us remember you as man,
not victor and not king,
who came to take the sinner's hand
and rules in everything.

*Domine quo vadis?* (1602) By Annibale Carracci – http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/annibale-carracci-christ-appearing-to-saint-peter-on-the-appian-way National Gallery, London, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=326162

In Every Age Our Refuge

Based on Psalm 90, and following it pretty closely. It *almost* fits GREENSLEEVES.

In every age our refuge, Lord,
through every generation.
Before the mountains upward soared,
you were the world's foundation.
A thousand years are nothing more
than one brief night's duration,
and Adam's offspring, dust before,
return to desolation.

The grass in one day sprouts and fades,
and we like grasses wither:
Your anger sweeps up all away,
and oh! Its touch is bitter!
You set our guilt before your face—
shall nothing, Lord, acquit us?
Teach us the number of our days,
that we may gain your wisdom.

For who can understand your pow'r?
Not we, whose days are dying,
who labor here a single hour
and pass away like sighing.
Your fury all our hope devours—
oh, can you hear us crying?
Turn back, oh Lord, our shield, our tow'r,
your joy once more supplying!

Fill us at daybreak with your love;
we'll live in exultation
with joy to crown the mem'ries of
our years of ruination.
Rain down your pow'r on us, mere dust,
to every generation
who all their works to you entrust,
our refuge and salvation!