Scattered Flock

For today’s readings on bad shepherds, the Good Shepherd, and the 23rd Psalm:

Good Shepherd, we have scattered in our fear,
and, troubled by our shadows now, we balk.
Come find us in the wilds and draw us near
and gather us again into your flock.

Worn out, for every step we took was wrong,
we hunger for the pastures of your rest.
Our weary hearts have thirsted for so long:
Oh, lead us to the waters that refresh!

Lord, spread your table near our enemies,
and make it long, for we ourselves are foes,
then bid us all sit down with you and feast
on broken bread, and wine that overflows.

And when the meal is finished, lead us out
forever in the pathways of your peace,
the road that winds at last up to your home.
Let love and mercy follow at our feet.

Then even in the valley of our death,
though once we fled we will no longer fear,
for you are with us, every pulse and breath.
Our Shepherd, you will stay forever near.

Woodcut of Christ carrying the Lamb, illustration from the prayerbook of Martin Luther By Sebald Beham – British Museum, [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32907633

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

Empty Hands

After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,
Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret
and tied up there.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.
They scurried about the surrounding country
and began to bring in the sick on mats
to wherever they heard he was.
Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered,
they laid the sick in the marketplaces
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak;
and as many as touched it were healed.
Mark 6:53-56

You came from distant glory

to walk upon our shore.

In city or in country,

we scramble to come forward,

for if your shadow touch me

it mends what I have rent,

and what do you ask of me

but only to repent?



You crossed the seas from heaven

and landed on our sands

to tell us of forgiveness,

a kingdom close at hand.

I come to you with nothing

to beg your grace, O Christ—

and you accept the offer,

for nothing could suffice.



I cannot work you wonders—

such powers I hold not.

I cannot speak like thunder

or seek and save the lost.

My hands are weak and empty,

without a gleam of gold,

but when you pass they stretch toward

the tassel of your robe.

jesus-healing-the-sick-by-gustave-dore-1832-1883 Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14764413

Come Away

The apostles gathered together with Jesus
and reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them,
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”
Mark 6:30

One for today’s readings, to the tune TANTUM ERGO (“Down In Adoration Falling”):

Come away from all your labor;
come from your relentless tasks.
Come, lay down your shield and saber;
set aside your many masks.
Come away with Christ the Savior:
Rest awhile, just as he asks.

Come away from restless hunger;
come from ever thirsting greed.
Come: Through all the strife and thunder,
Christ alone his flock shall feed.
Come be filled with hope and wonder
where the shepherd knows your need.

Come: The wedding feast is ready
and the sacrifice prepared.
Come, and leave no places empty;
come, the angels' bread to share.
Christ the Lamb his flock is tending;
he shall all your burdens bear.

Come, for Christ, who walks beside you,
sees and knows your weariness.
He, who left the flock to find you,
is your shelter in distress.
Come, and leave all else behind you;
with your loving Savior, rest.

James Tissot, *The Exhortation to the Apostles* – Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2007, 00.159.129_PS2.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10957411

If Christ Should Stand Among Us

Jesus departed from there and came to his native place, accompanied by his disciples.
When the sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue,
and many who heard him were astonished.
They said, “Where did this man get all this?
What kind of wisdom has been given him?
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?
And are not his sisters here with us?”
And they took offense at him.
Mark 6:1-6

On prophets only being without honor in their native places, to the tune FINLANDIA:

What would we do, if Christ should stand among us
and speak the word, the wisdom we have sought,
not as a god, a mighty voice that thunders,
but one of us, our own, or so we thought?
Would we accept the gift of signs and wonders
if we knew well by whose hands they were wrought?

So we can look upon our own, our brothers
and never hear the gospel words they say,
refuse to see our sisters and our mothers
when they reach out to guide us on the way.
We know them well and run to search for others
to be God's voice and hear us when we pray.

Emmanuel, the son of God and Mary,
you stand here still and dare to lift your voice
in those who weep, who share the cross you carry,
who call us, too, to make the cross our choice,
and when they speak, those whom contempt would bury,
oh, give us ears to hear them and rejoice.

Synagogue in Capernaum By Unknown author – Scan aus: Rudolf Lehr –- Landes-Chronik Oberösterreich, Wien: Verlag Christian Brandstätter 2004 S. 79 ISBN 3-85498-331-X, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6633986

Talitha, Koum

Another one from yesterday’s readings, to the tune NETTLETON (“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”):

I will praise you, faithful savior,
for you drew me from the grave.
When my courage cracked and wavered,
you stretched out your hand to save.
For the fallen cannot praise you,
nor the damned your love proclaim,
but as God the Father raised you,
you have raised me just the same.

You had blessed me with your goodness,
but I fell in dark and gloom.
Though I called you in my sickness,
still I sank into my tomb.
When you came, I lay in silence,
shrouded in my aching wounds,
yet I rose again to brightness
when you said, “Talitha, koum.”

Now your joy is dawning on me,
and your voice I start to hear:
all the answers to my longing,
and the end of all my fear.
Take this sackcloth and ashes;
take this night awash with tears;
change my mourning into dancing:
Take my hand and draw me near!