neighbor – Kate Bluett

I am my brother's keeper,
for there is no one else
but him who keeps the sheepfold
and loves us as himself.
He comes to me for tending,
unworthy as I am.
I am my savior's shepherd,
who comes as but a lamb.

An infant in a manger,
he entered thus our world,
and walks it in the stranger,
the Christ of God returned.
No den or nest he has here,
no place to lay his head,
but helpless in our hands now
he lies as broken bread.

How can it be, my Jesus,
that I should shepherd you?
I look to you for keeping, 
but you're my brother, too.
Then let me set a table,
in spite of all my foes,
where you can rest in safety
and mercy overflows.

William Blake‘s *The Lamb* from his collection *Songs of Innocence and of Experience* – William Blake Digital Materials from the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24095348

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,’
and he says in reply from within,
‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.’
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
What father among you would hand his son a snake
when he asks for a fish?
Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him?”
Luke 11:5-13

When the knocking sounds at midnight,
and I hate to leave my bed,
may your mercy rouse me this night
when your hungry must be fed.

When I'm asked, let me be given;
when I'm sought, let me be found;
let me open high to heaven 
when the midnight knock shall sound.

For it's you who stand before me
at the doorway of my heart;
it's your voice I hear implore me,
calling me to rise and start.

And when I in turn come knocking
at the door before your throne,
Mercy, send your angels flocking
in the hands that hold me close.

Give me courage in my asking;
give me your own heart's desires,
strength for all with which you task me,
love for all from your heart's fires.

Send upon me, Lord, your Spirit;
fill my hearing and my sight.
When you call me, let me hear it
in the knocking in the night.

Tag: neighbor

Shepherd

Knocking