Merciful

To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you….
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
—Luke 6:27-38

As you are merciful, O God,
and drop down heaven's dew
on even my ungrateful heart,
let me show mercy, too.

All anyone can ask of me
is something you have given—
but none of it can set me free
and none of it is heaven.

For only you, Omnipotent
o'er all that's ever been,
when time has folded up my tent
can give me life again.

Then if a beggar claims my coat,
my shirt I freely give,
for we are in the selfsame boat
and only want to live.

And if I face an enemy,
his face is yours, O Lord.
As I would have him to do me,
let me do all the more.

For both of us are like to drown
in earthly storm and strife.
So let your mercy still drop down
and bring us back to life!

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt, 1632 – http://www.gardnermuseum.org : Home : Info : Pic, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6812612

Forest

Blessed are you who are poor,
                        for the kingdom of God is yours.
            Blessed are you who are now hungry,
                        for you will be satisfied.
            Blessed are you who are now weeping,
                        for you will laugh.
            Blessed are you when people hate you,
                        and when they exclude and insult you,
                        and denounce your name as evil
                        on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
            But woe to you who are rich,
                        for you have received your consolation.
            Woe to you who are filled now,
                        for you will be hungry.
            Woe to you who laugh now,
                        for you will grieve and weep.
            Woe to you when all speak well of you,
                        for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.
—Luke 6:20-26

How blessèd are the branches standing barren;
in silent wastelands still they call for rain.
A kingdom comes that they will yet inherit,
a fertile plain.

But cursèd are the orchard boughs now burgeoned,
who even in the drought their verdure keep,
who drink from hidden springs and buried currents,
their roots sunk deep,

for there will come a day when they must wither,
a day when all the barren ones will bloom—
a summer day for some, and others winter,
and it comes soon.

The seasons turn and turn again unending,
and they who laugh for now will someday mourn,
the proud and strong to shame and sorrow bending
and princes scorned.

But there will come a day when all will blossom:
The seasons turn 'til turning time is done,
then all shall stand before the God who wrought them,
th'unsetting sun.

As every branch is lifted to his glory,
the barren and verdant, one and all,
rejoice together, God's belovèd forest,
where no leaves fall.

Garibaldi Provincial Park, British Columbia, Photo By TheSimkin (talk · contribs) – Own work by the original uploaderTransferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Siebrand., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3957472

Mercy’s Measure

Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.
Luke 6:37-38

Come forgive and be forgiven:
Gentle Lord, I hear you tell
that the measure I have given
shall be guven me as well.
But the meager grace I offer
cannot fill my wounded soul.
Though I cling to all my profit,
it can never make me whole.

Come unbind me, O my shepherd,
from the chains I bound myself.
Come and teach me mercy's measure,
overflowing every breath.
Turn my heart from condemnation;
turn my mind from judgment's scales,
for you came to bring salvation
even to the soul that fails.

Come and show me, Christ my savior,
love that does not count the cost.
That same love teach me to render,
for I, too, am blind and lost.
Oh, how infinite your treasure,
yet how little I can see!
God of love beyond all measure,
measure mercy out to me!

By Work Projects Administration Poster Collection – Library of CongressCatalog: http://lccn.loc.gov/98517015Image download: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3f00000/3f05000/3f05500/3f05508v.jpgOriginal url: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3f05508, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31925246

Seeing

Jesus told his disciples a parable,
“Can a blind person guide a blind person?
Will not both fall into a pit?
No disciple is superior to the teacher;
but when fully trained,
every disciple will be like his teacher.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’
when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?
You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.”
Luke 6:39-45

O God, who from high heaven gazes down,
all things to your observant gaze are shown:
The mountain peaks, the trenches most profound,
and all of humankind by you are known.

I cannot see myself, perceiving Lord;
I cannot see the beam that fills my eye,
but you who healed the blind with but a word,
you see, and you alone can give me sight.

Let me not reach to guide another's way—
no, take my hand and lead me in your own.
The shadows I have seen lead me astray:
Send out your light and show me where to go.

Then when my eyes are healed, my vision clear,
oh, then shall I see others as you see
and with your light reach out to draw them near,
as you in endless mercy have drawn me.

By mogelijk B. Picart, Jan Luyken of G. Hoet – Nederlands Bijbel Genootschap, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8368894

Forgive and Be Forgiven

But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.
Luke 6:27-38

To the tune AURELIA:

Forgive and be forgiven,
and love your enemy:
The laws of earth and heaven
are this simplicity.
So everything I measure
is measured back to me,
and all that I have treasured
from my hand must go free.

O Father, can I do this
and love as you have done?
We stole an apple from you,
and you sent manna down.
You blessed us with your fullness
when we had cursed the ground.
In shame we took up tunics;
you clothed us with the Son.

Teach me to give the thirsting
the water that I crave,
t'anoint the ones who hurt me
with heaven's healing salve.
You bless as I am cursing;
my littleness you save,
so I must offer mercy,
for that is I all I have.

Sankt Matthæus Kirke, Copenhagen, Denmark. Camera location 55° 40′ 10.2″ N, 12° 32′ 52.8″ E View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMap Altarpiece – “Sermon on the Mount” By Henrik Olrik – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2980809

Now Weep For Sorrow, O My Soul

“But woe to you who are rich,
                        for you have received your consolation.
            Woe to you who are filled now,
                        for you will be hungry.
            Woe to you who laugh now,
                        for you will grieve and weep.
            Woe to you when all speak well of you,
                        for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”
Luke 6:20-26

Now weep for sorrow, O my soul,
and tremble, you who have been filled,
for I will lose my grasp on gold
and nothing answers to my will.

If I have laughed, I still shall weep;
if I am loved, the world will turn.
There is no promise I can keep,
no certain hope that I can earn.

Then come, O Lord, and take my hands:
Unwind my fingers from their grasp,
for someday I must empty stand
with nothing but your hand to clasp.

And all the mercies you have sent
of love and life, I do not scorn,
but let me hold them lightly yet
that from my hands shall yet be drawn.

Whatever you shall send me then,
still stand beside me to receive,
if I before the storm must bend
or stand again in its reprieve.

As naked as I was at birth,
unshielded into death I'll go,
and all I hold upon this earth
I thank you for and watch it go.

Beatitudes, Russian Orthodox Icon (detail) By unknown, originally uploaded by User:Alex Bakharev – http://www.belygorod.ru/img2/Ikona/Used/0IkonaZapovediBlazhenGIM.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4186105

Lamplight

Jesus said to the crowd:
“No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel
or sets it under a bed;
rather, he places it on a lampstand
so that those who enter may see the light.
For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible,
and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.
Take care, then, how you hear.
To anyone who has, more will be given,
and from the one who has not,
even what he seems to have will be taken away.”
Luke 8:16-18

You know our hidden secrets, Lord;
our silence echoes in your word.
Our quiet desperation shouts
to you all our unspoken doubts.

No shadow hides us from your sight.
You know our darkness in your light,
and in the paths we fear to tread,
we find you walking on ahead.

In questions we had feared to ask,
in tears you held within your flask,
uncertainties we cannot know,
you wait for us, if we will go.

In every bushel overturned,
unknown to us, your lamplight burns,
and if we sink into the deeps,
the rising wave your ember keeps.

Your light is there within my dark,
though I may not perceive the spark.
Though I may never feel your hands,
you walk with me through unseen lands.

Until I know the dark as light,
I seek you in the fearful night.
Oh, hear the words I cannot say
until I, too, can see your day!