Tag: pilgrimage

Psalm 87: In Zion

Riffing on Psalm 87:

All our wells rise up in Zion,
flowing outward east and west
from the dwelling of the High One
to the seas that never rest.
Though we wander hill and valley,
to the end we come as one
when our days are filled and tallied,
when the river's course is run.

All our sources rise in Zion,
flowing outward north and south
from the throne of God almighty,
circling all the earth about.
Though we're borne on ceaseless currents
toward a sea we've never known,
yet our hearts have this convergence,
each one searching for a home.

As we rose at first in Zion,
there at last we'll find our rest—
heaven's glory unifying
north and south and east and west.
Let no name go unremembered
in her register of souls:
Every one of us was born there;
there at last we will be whole.

Zion (1903), Ephraim Moses Lilien (1874-1925) – Lieder des Ghetto (Book – 1903) of Morris Rosenfeld; translation from yiddish to german by Berthold Feiwel;, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18991414

Beacon

When my weary soul is aching
with the burden on me laid,
and I lose the road I'm taking
in the fading of the day,

light a beacon where you dwell here.
I'll lay down my heavy load
where you light shows me a shelter:
I will rest here from the road.

Lord, I know my way's been easy—
I'm not meaning to complain.
Nonetheless, my heart is bleeding:
Will you leave me in my pain?

For you travelled here before me
with no place to lay your head,
yet I'll find you in the morning
standing sentry by my bed.

Though I lay me down in shadow,
though I cannot find the light,
let me find your peaceful meadow
in the stillness of the night.

As you blessed the loaves and fishes
so your people could go on,
bless the coffee and the dishes
in the light of one more dawn.

Give me courage for the journey;
give me hope for journey's end.
Keep your beacon in me burning
when the darkness comes again.

Arkadi Monastery / Moni Arkadiou. Lamp in the church By Wouter Hagens – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4170241

Pilgrim Table

For All Saints Day, on which the prayer after communion reads,
“As we adore you, O God, who alone are holy
and wonderful in all your Saints,
we implore your grace,
so that, coming to perfect holiness in the fullness of your love,
we may pass from this pilgrim table
to the banquet of our heavenly homeland.
Through Christ our Lord.”

You call us from the north, O Lord,
and call us from the south.
From east afar we heard your word;
from west we sought it out.

Through deserts you have led the way
and over ocean deeps;
the forests hold you not at bay
nor any mountain steeps.

And we have travelled by your road,
have followed day and night 
in search of our eternal home,
on pathways you make right.

At every step a fest you spread:
a table where we find
your heav'nly manna for our bread;
your living water, wine.

You give us strength to journey on
in plate and chalice laid,
a foretaste of the feast to come
in your unending day.

Then at this pilgrim table, Lord,
come fill us with your grace
to seek the banquet more and more
where we shall see your face.

Fractio panis (“the ceremonial breaking of the eucharistic bread for distribution” during the meal of Holy Communion) in the Greek chapel (Capella Greca) of the Catacombe di Priscilla in Rome. Fresco of a Christian Agape feast. 2nd – 4th century. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=566562

Allwheres

It is the LORD who goes before you; he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed.

Deuteronomy 31:8
Through all the days that lie ahead
and all the nights when dawn's unsure,
along the ways laid for your steps,
remember that he walks with you.

Though cliffs rise up on every side
and mountains tumble to the sea,
yet go, for still your guard and guide
is with you, when all others flee.

With every step that you may take,
his heavens on their axis spin;
encircling you, asleep, awake,
without beginning, without end.

Awake, asleep, astray, at home:
it is his road before your feet,
and you will not step out alone.
At every turn, it's him you meet.

So go, and even when you fear,
you still are somewhere in his palm,
and every step, away or near,
allwheres you go, to him you come.

A paved Roman road in Pompeii By Paul Vlaar – http://www.neep.net/photo/italy/show.php?3390, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=173413

Days

Let your mercy rise above us in the morning;
let compassion be a light to guide our steps.
Let our memory of you be ever dawning;
let your grace be like a sun that never sets.

As we travel on the road you lay out for us,
give us all the light we need to see the way,
and be yourself the flame that goes before us,
that in the nights we see as clear as day.

As brightly as you shine, we still will stumble;
O Savior, do not let the light go dim!
But show us to ourselves when we have crumbled,
that we may see to get back up again.

And when the darkness falls so close around us,
the nights your goodness made come softly down,
come closer still, and with your love surround us,
and shelter us where midnight peace abounds.
Sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. Taken on 20 October 1968 from Apollo 7. By NASA – https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/images/apollo_image_6.htmlDirect link to image file: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/337039main_pg26_as07-08-1933_full.jpgTransferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by TheDJ using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8807776

O Christ, the Burning Light of God

But the LORD said,

“I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt

and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers,

so I know well what they are suffering.

Therefore I have come down to rescue them

from the hands of the Egyptians

and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land,

a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15

To the tune CONDITOR ALME SIDERUM (“Creator of the Stars of Night”):

O Christ, the burning light of God,
the flame of love that Moses saw,
you heard our sorrows and came down
to make of earth a holy ground.

You saw our suffering and death
and counted every tear we'd wept.
You knew the plight of all th'enslaved
and bound yourself into their chains.

Come, take us from th'enslaver's hand
and lead us into Eden's land.
Though all the desert stretch before,
Lord, walk with us forevermore.

Through nights of waiting, days of thirst,
let living springs from dry stone burst.
Let manna all our hunger fill,
and flames of love burn in us still.

Come, save our bodies and our souls:
As bread from heaven, make us whole.
O Christ, who hears his people's voice,
turn all our sorrows into joys.

O promise made to Abraham,
you saved us by your own I AM.
Let every generation bless
God-with-us in the wilderness!
Moses vor dem brennenden Dornbusch, um 1920, Diözesanmuseum Freising, Inv. D 94117 By Gebhard Fugel – Own work (fotografiert in der Ausstellung “Gebhard Fugel 1863-1939. Von Ravensburg nach Jerusalem”. Galerie Fähre, Altes Kloster, Bad Saulgau, 2014), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32072413

We Saw a Star

We saw a star that did not rise:
a comet in the night half-spent
that rested low within the skies,
and where it beckoned, there we went.

Night after night it led us on,
'til all the ways behind were lost.
Our childhood constellations gone,
new lights arose with every dusk.

How could we steer by unknown stars,
or taste what these new breezes blew?
We held our course through day and dark
by that, the only light we knew.

And soon we saw with our eyes closed
the star, a lodestone in our minds
that led us still down weary roads,
a path that ever onward winds

past temples built for gods long dead,
past hillsides drenched in angels' light,
past one child in a manger bed,
and on in us the star shines bright.

The more the pathway twists and turns, 
the more we seek to follow still;
the more we follow, more it burns
to lead beyond the cross-crowned hill.

It leads, as all roads lead, to death,
and there beneath the darkest sky
we'll stop at last and catch our breath,
then trail the comet rising high.
The three Magi (named Balthazar, Caspar and Melchior), from Herrad of Landsberg‘s Hortus deliciarum (12th century) By Made at the Hohenburg Abbey, France, 1185 by Herrad of Landsberg (c.1130 – July 25, 1195) These illustrations are from a reproduction by Christian Maurice Engelhardt, 1818 – Hortus Deliciarum, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22578096

Show Me My Neighbors

God-with-us, show me my neighbors:
I must love them as myself.
With my heart and with my labors
cherish them as my own flesh,
bear them up when I am able,
lend my strength or lend my wealth,
'til we come to your own table
where you feed us with yourself.

When I fall beneath my burdens,
when I cannot find my way,
give me neighbors on my journey;
through their efforts, give me grace.
In their kindness, show your mercy;
show yourself in every face.
Shepherd, heal me through their working
as we travel on in faith.

So shall we return to Eden
as you make a level road
through the marches of your kingdom,
bearing one another's load.
Savior, take our hands and lead us,
draw us each into your fold,
where we hold you, loving Jesus,
in each earthly hand we hold.
The good Samaritan, after Delacroix by Van Gogh, 1890 By Vincent van Gogh – 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=151850

Walk With Me

David Lee set this to music; you can find a PDF and MP3 here.

You, who walked the city streets and highways,
you, whose feet were covered in their dust,
walk with me through all my twisted byways;
take with me the steps I know I must.

You had not the shelter of the foxes;
you had not the comfort of the nest:
Walk with me the roads that lead through darkness;
be for me my shelter and my rest.

Word of God, that dwelt untouched above me,
Jesus, sinking in the mud of flesh,
walk with me and let me feel you love me.
Touch me still and fill my every breath.

You, who walked the valley of the shadow,
every step along the vale of tears,
walk with me and make this journey hallowed
through the darkened garden of my fears.

Son of God and image of the Father,
Christ Incarnate, wrapped in flesh and blood,
walk with me 'til I can walk no further.
Guide me by your never-ending love.