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

Ascending

So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.
—Mark 16:15-20

The Son of God, who for our healing fell,
once lifted up, islifted up again,
who sank and rose up from the depths of hell;
the one who came from heav'n to heav'n ascends.

But all the world is different in his wake:
The light from light that could not be put out
shines brighter now in every candle flame;
our hearts still burn with fire no tears can douse.

For death has been undone, and night is bright,
and little loaves a hungry world can fill.
Though heav'n on earth is hidden from our sight,
yet heav'n is here, for he is with us still.

Now we descend, who watched him going up;
now we can take the downward running road
and eat the bread and drink the selfsame cup
and die and rise and follow still our Lord.

Ascension of Christ and Noli me tangere, c. 400, ivory, Milan or Rome, now in Munich. Photo: Andreas Praefcke – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3576630

Witnesses

He said to them,
“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,
that everything written about me in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
And he said to them,
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.”
Luke 24:35-48

We saw, but could not understand,
the works you did before,
until we saw your wounded hands
reach out to us once more.

We knew what every human knows,
that death would be our end,
but now we know you rose.  You rose,
and reach for us again.

And in this hour, your life and death
rewrite the world we knew.
Your peace has touched us with your breath,
and all things are made new.

So we become your witnesses
who have received your peace,
who know what your forgiveness is,
who shared your paschal feast.

And we will go, who are sent out,
to tell what we have seen:
that every tomb is open now,
and we have been redeemed!

Jesus giving the Farewell Discourse (John 14–17) to his disciples, after the Last Supper, from the Maestà by Duccio, 1308–1311By Duccio di Buoninsegna – Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7922656

Down Every Trail

For the Feast of the Ascension:

The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:16-20

Come with us, Lord, down every trail
and walk with us by day and night,
our compass when the stars have failed,
our lantern making dark ways bright.

You send us out into the world
to baptize all things in your name,
but in them all your embers burn
and wait to rise in glorious flame.

And in us, too, your Spirit shines,
a fiery pillar in our hearts.
Within ourselves your road unwinds;
with every step, new mercies start.

Give us the eyes to see your spark
and by its glow to find the way,
that love may guide us in the dark
and lead us into brighter day.

And so with us, within, without,
show us the pathway straight and clear
through night and day, through hope and doubt:
You will not leave us orphaned here.

End of the trail, Boynton Canyon, Sedona, Arizona

What Voice?

As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers,
Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew,
casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen.
He said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along from there and saw two other brothers,
James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets.
He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father
and followed him.
He went around all of Galilee,
teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness among the people.
Matthew 4:12-23

What voice could call them from the waves,
those eager fishermen,
but yours, O Christ, the voice that saves,
and make them cast again?
Not in the shallows of the sea
or in its stormy depth,
but in the crowded city streets
for souls that gasp for breath.

What words could call them from their lives,
the pattern of their days?
The living Word of God, the Christ:
For you they left their ways.
Not for a net of knotted rope
to trap their prey within,
but for your words of love and hope
they followed to the end.

What call could lure us after them,
with echoes ringing true?
O Savior, call us once again!
Draw us to folow you!
Not by the rule of iron rod
or by threat of hell,
but by the living love of God
draw us, Emmanuel!

Tissot, James, The calling of Peter and Andrew. – Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2007, 00.159.56_PS1.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10195832

We Plowed the Fields and Planted

“Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’?
Would he not rather say to him,
‘Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished’?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded,
say, ‘We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'”
Luke 17:5-10

We plowed the fields and planted;
we waited for the rains.
We did as you commanded—
O God, what have we gained

but dirt beneath our fingers
and sunburns on our backs,
an even fiercer hunger
for all the world yet lacks?

We worked on, even knowing
the harvest still could fail.
We labored through the growing—
O God, to what avail

but tenderness for seedlings,
and hope for future years,
and mercy in our weeding,
despite the weight of fears?

The seasons stretch out farther
than all our days gone past,
to threshing after harvest—
O God, when shall we rest

but when the bread is broken
and laid before the least?
God, help us in the working
and call us to the feast.

Brooklyn Museum – The Sower (Le semeur) – James Tissot – overall – Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2006, 00.159.119_PS1.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10195964

You Send Lambs

Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter, first say,
‘Peace to this household.’
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.
Luke 10:1-12, 17-20

You set us barefoot in the world
to walk along its dusty streets,
not hunters sent to slay the wolves,
but lambs sent out to bring them peace.

The sheep are safely in your fold,
but all the ark must yet be filled
so you send lambs and make them bold
to call the beasts of wood and field,

of mountain height and open air,
of darkness under stone and sea.
To all you say, The kingdom's here,
through lambs your word has taught to speak.

To shorn and unshorn all alike
give us the courage, then, to go
that clean and unclean fill the ark
and all the world your mercy know.

We must not go out clothed in gold
or carried high above the dust,
but as you came into the world:
You walked the road as one of us.

To all who walk the dusty earth
or crawl or fly or swim its miles,
O loving shepherd, send us forth,
each one your peaceful kingdom's child.

Icon of the Seventy Apostles By Ikonopisatelj – http://chattablogs.com/aionioszoe/archives/70Apostles.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3536332

Creator Spirit

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky
a noise like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
Acts 2:1-11

Creator Spirit, God's outrushing breath,
the mighty wind that stirs our little dust,
blow once again and lift us out of death.
Breathe in us still, the very air we trust.

In you we live; in you we move and are,
and yet you move in us: You fill our lungs.
You fire our minds.  You thunder in our hearts.
We breathe you out as music on our tongues.

You fill our bodies: Fill the one we make
as hands and feet of Christ sent to the field.
Come, blow in every breath his body takes.
Renew the whole, and let each part be healed.

O gift of God, come sanctify our gifts.
As we present them, may we be transformed.
Come make of us Christ's hands that upward lift;
we will become Christ's bread for all the world.  Amen.

Ingeborg Psalter 02f 1200 (cropped) Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106666589

Staring At the Heavens

When they had gathered together they asked him,
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”
When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, “Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”
Acts 1:1-11

To the tune AURELIA:

We're staring at the heavens
to see the Lord's return,
but to the earth we're given,
to serve as he has done:
Not with the wings of angels
or soul's unbodied flame,
but with th hands he made us
to labor in his name.

For Jesus came incarnate
from heaven to the earth:
like ours, his human body;
like ours, his helpless birth.
Though heaven witnessed to him,
his suffering and death,
it's here on earth we knew him
who gave us life and breath.

So let us not stand staring
and watching empty skies,
but let us go forth daring
to witness to the Christ:
our feet in faithful roving,
our hands in mercy's work,
our hearts and minds in loving
God's images on earth.

*Ascension of Christ* by Adriaen van Overbeke, c. 1510–1520 – https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/antwerp-school-circa-1510-1520-the-ascension-of-5790472-details.aspx, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=83155533

Peter II

You said that you would serve me,
the cleansing water poured
though I could not deserve it—
but wash me now, O Lord.

While you awaited Judas,
I laid me down and slept,
but I have heard the rooster,
and bitterly I wept.

For I have failed my tempting;
my own heart I denied,
and now my nets are empty,
though I have fished all night.

You call out from the shoreline
beyond the night of grief.
I plunge into the ocean
let it wash me clean.

You ask me if I love you;
you ask it yet again.
Three times your ask it of me,
as you foretold my sin.

And three times I have answered,
and will a thousand more
through all the years advancing:
You know I love you, Lord.