Peace

Combining Psalm 85 and Mark 6:

The place where truth and kindness meet
and justice joins itself to peace,
where truth springs up and right rains down,
is in your body, pierced and crowned.

For you made the divided one;
all earth and heaven in you join.
In you, O Lord, our peace is made.
Help us in making peace today.

With walking stick and sandal-shod,
we go to seek the reign of God.
Our money will not pave the road,
so free our shoulders from that load.

O Shepherd, lead us on the way
and give us words to tell your praise.
Give us still more the grace of tears
to name our weaknesses and fears.

And give us mercy over all:
Forgive us as we fail and fall,
then lift us, ever lift us up
to drink again the saving cup.

You are the way; you are the road,
but we have still so far to go.
Help us to choose the better part
and draw yet closer to your heart

for there alone does justice meet
and kiss its sister, truest peace.
Lord, show us mercy once again,
and grant salvation's sweet Amen.

Justitia et pax – Brescia – Pinacoteca Tosio-Martinengo – 13-4-2002 By anonymous – Own work, Giovanni Dall’Orto, 13-4-2002, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=641316

Vineyard

Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard:
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I had not done?
Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes,
did it bring forth wild grapes?
Now, I will let you know
what I mean to do with my vineyard:
take away its hedge, give it to grazing,
break through its wall, let it be trampled!
Yes, I will make it a ruin:
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
but overgrown with thorns and briers;
I will command the clouds
not to send rain upon it.
The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah are his cherished plant;
he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed!
for justice, but hark, the outcry!
Isaiah 5:1-7

When justice turns to bloodshed,
when outrage does not cease,
when we fear not your judgement,
how can we speak of peace?

We claim to be your vineyard
while trampling down your vines,
but you will tread the vintage
we have so long denied:

To shatter all our strongholds
and leave us in the ruins,
unless we turn from bloodshed
and let ourselves be pruned.

The vines that we have trampled,
that should have been our feast,
were you, O gentle master,
in all your last and least.

Do not destroy the vineyard—
We still can bear good fruit!—
but teach us your new vintage.
Train us to grow anew.

So may our hearts be grafted
into your holy vine
that we become your branches
and bear your holy wine.

The Red Vineyard, 1888 by Vincent van Gogh, is the only van Gogh painting sold during his lifetime By Vincent van Gogh – History of the Red Vineyard by Anna Boch.com, 2nd upload: wikipaintings, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3073079

Make a Light

Thus says the LORD:
Share your bread with the hungry,
shelter the oppressed and the homeless;
clothe the naked when you see them,
and do not turn your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
If you remove from your midst
oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
if you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday.
Isaiah 58:7-10

Make a light for us in darkness;
make a way when we are lost.
Bring us back, when we have wandered;
strike the debt, despite the cost.

You who shine as bright as noonday,
give us your unfailing light.
Let us echo all that you say,
Word who makes the darkness bright.

Fill us, Lord, when we are hungry;
shelter us beneath your cloak.
So, we learn to shelter others,
feeding them the bread you broke.

Free us from the years' oppression;
touch our eyes to see our chains.
Let us not make others wear them;
let us freely tend their pains.

Lift us from our dust and ashes,
we will fly as burning sparks.
Light our hearts with your compassion:
Make us beacons in the dark.

Not our light but yours, O Jesus;
not our love but your own heart
is the flame that lights and frees us,
shining ever in the dark.

Eerie Night By Ngphotography, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53123868

My Life Shall Praise the Lord

From today’s readings, especially Psalm 146:

My life shall praise the Lord—
I sing, and I will live—
who wrought me with a spoken Word.
Each breath I take, he gives.

And God shall be my hope,
my saving help his name,
who made the heavens in their scope,
the depths of earth he made.

If I have bread at all,
it came but from God's hand,
and from my hand it must go on
to feed a hungry land.

If I stand up unbowed,
it's God secures my right,
and I must work for justice now,
that others stand upright.

If I do anything,
make any good on earth,
it is the Lord who works in me—
in God alone, my worth.

I sing: It is his breath,
and when it ends, I die.
And God, who lays me in the earth,
will raise me to the skies.

Crispijn van de Passe (I), Maerten de Vos – Lazarus in the home of the rich man 1589 – 1611 RP-P-1908-5618 – https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/RP-P-1908-5618, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76254085

As Children, We Inherit

Hear this, you who trample upon the needy
and destroy the poor of the land!
“When will the new moon be over,” you ask,
“that we may sell our grain,
and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat?
We will diminish the ephah,
add to the shekel,
and fix our scales for cheating!
We will buy the lowly for silver,
and the poor for a pair of sandals;
even the refuse of the wheat we will sell!”
The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Never will I forget a thing they have done!
Amos 8:4-7

How long, O Lord, your patience?
How long will this go on?
Swear by the pride of Jacob:
Remember what we've done!

We buy and sell the needy
to throw their lives away.
Look down, O God, and see them:
How long will you delay?

But still you offer mercy,
and still our hearts and turn.
Take our dishonest earnings
and comfort the forlorn!

For if we are the stewards
who tally your accounts,
let justice make us true ones
who pay back every ounce.

But if we are the beggars
in need around your door,
let mercy make us gen'rous,
for we ourselves are poor.

All that we hold and cherish
we never could afford:
As children, we inherit—
so may we share it, Lord.

Woodcut of the Parable of the Unjust Steward: the rich man and his housekeeper seated at a desk on which a calculating table has been drawn. Printed in Basel by Adam Petri. By Hans Schäufelein – Digitised image, British Museum, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92275892

Damascus Road

For the feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. To the tune PASSION CHORALE:

“Why do you persecute me?”
a voice from somewhere sounds;
unsettling and unsoothing,
a blinding light surrounds.
Lord, bring us to that moment,
confounding all we know,
renewing us in conscience:
our own Damascus road.

We cannot know our blindness
while we have eyes to see,
the depths of our unkindness
'til we are in the deeps.
Let mercy's waves wash o'er us;
from death we may yet rise
and seek the light before us
as scales fall from our eyes.

The men and women shackled
in chains that we have forged,
the children left abandoned:
Help us to free them, Lord.
For they are you, O Savior,
imprisoned by our ways.
Come blind our hearts to hatred
to see your endless day.

The conversion of St Paul by Caravaggio. Church of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome Photo By Alvesgaspar – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44143233

The World We Know Is Changing

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested,
he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea,
in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet
might be fulfilled:
Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
the people who sit in darkness
have seen a great light,
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
light has arisen.
From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,
“Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:12-17

The world we know is changing;
compassion's long defeat
is shifting, rearranging
the ground beneath our feet.

Now every step's a crossroads,
and endlessly we choose
to set aside our crossloads
or bear them through the gloom.

The sky is growing dimmer,
and hope slips fast away,
but there is yet a glimmer,
a light that shows the way.

This is the night we walk in
by faith, if not by sight,
and we are made the beacons
who never can be bright.

O Christ, the sun of justice,
come strengthen our poor eyes
to see you in each other
and see your morning rise.

Come, Son of God, renewing
the ground beneath our feet.
Help us each step we're choosing
that peace and justice meet.

The Light of the World – 1853-54 By William Holman Hunt – Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6452048

Too Many Places Empty

I thought I saw, on Instagram, a quote saying that what George Floyd’s family really wanted was not Derek Chauvin convicted, but George Floyd home, sharing dinner with them. I can’t find the quote now. But the idea is what inspired this. To the tune PASSION CHORALE (“Oh Sacred Head Surrounded”):

Too many places empty
around our tables, now,
though here we dwell in plenty
where bread and wine abound.
Our brothers are prevented;
our sisters are cut down.
O God of righteous sentence,
where is your justice found?

The mothers weep who bore them
into a world of woes—
Your cup of healing pour them
until it overflows!
You set this feast before them
in sight of all their foes;
O God, come stand here for them
'til streams of justice flow!

Your table laid in heaven
has seats enough to fill:
Lord, gather all our brethren
and let them feast there still.
Cast out the impure leaven
that drives us on to kill;
O God, give us repentance
and bend us to your will!

Oh, Christ, You Pour the New-Pressed Wine

For white, American Christians (myself included) in the year of Our Lord 2021, to the tune EIN FESTE BURG (“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”):

 Oh, Christ, you pour the new-pressed wine,
 the cup of our salvation,
 our joy for years of hard-wept brine
 and strength against temptation.
 But we this wine have poured,
 against your grace, oh Lord,
 into the skins of old,
 of empire and of gold—
 oh, see their devastation!
  
 You bid us wash each other's feet,
 but we, instead, have trampled.
 You gave to us your flesh to eat,
 but we strange fruit have sampled.
 You crushed the serpent's head
 to free us from his dread,
 but we have crushed th'oppressed,
 have burdened those distressed,
 against your own example.
  
 Our hardened hearts make soft again
 and give us true repentance.
 Give grace to mend what we have rent;
 press out your saving vintage.
 And where we have been blind,
 come, touch our eyes and mind
 that we may see the right
 and join the ancient fight
 ere you pass righteous sentence!

The *Washing of Feet* and the Supper, from the *Maesta* by Duccio, 1308–1311. Peter often displays amazement in feet washing depictions, as in John 13:8. By Duccio di Buoninsegna – The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=150330

Micah 6

That whole “Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God” that shows up on mugs and T-shirts? That’s one verse in a chapter of God telling his people their sins, and what he’s going to do to them because of it. This one goes to the tune HEINLEIN (“From the Depths We Cry to Thee”):

 Hear, you mountain majesties!
 Listen, all you amber waves!
 God has seen your travesties,
 knows what fills your whitewashed graves!
  
 You whose wealthy thirst for blood,
 you who scheme to cheat the poor,
 shall you pay this coin to God?
 Shall you dupe th'all-seeing Lord?
  
 Though you tramp the vintage out,
 you have not a drop of wine.
 Though unstinted gorge and glut,
 naught you eat can satisfy.
  
 Will you make him holocausts,
 wine and oil pour out in flood?
 This is not his grace's cost;
 God has told you what is good:

Only justice to enact;
 mercy wholly to adore;
 humbly with the Lord to walk:
 This he charges evermore.