O God of Growth and Greening

For today’s readings, to the tune THAXTED:

Thus says the Lord GOD:
I, too, will take from the crest of the cedar,
   from its topmost branches tear off a tender shoot,
and plant it on a high and lofty mountain;
   on the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it.
It shall put forth branches and bear fruit,
   and become a majestic cedar.
Birds of every kind shall dwell beneath it,
   every winged thing in the shade of its boughs.
And all the trees of the field shall know
   that I, the LORD,
bring low the high tree,
   lift high the lowly tree,
wither up the green tree,
   and make the withered tree bloom.
As I, the LORD, have spoken, so will I do.
Ezekiel 17:22-24

O God of growth and greening,
awake in every spring,
new leaves cry out your meaning:
new life in everything!
But winter's withered weeping
your glory also sings:
the stormwinds in their keening,
the tears that nightfall brings,
they tell of love's redeeming,
embracing mortal stings,
who rose from death's own keeping
at dawn's awakening!

So withered trees shall blossom,
and budding branches break,
and summer sink to autumn,
and dusk to night shall fade.
The rising of the dawn sun 
shall vanquish gloom and shade;
the vine shall wind its burden
around the barren stake;
and Christ, the crowned and cross-hung,
shall all dominion take:
the living fall to bless him,
and every sleeper wake!

Mature trees in w:Cedar Rapids, Iowa severely damaged by the w:August 2020 Midwest derecho. By David Amelotti – National Weather Service (Quad Cities Office) – https://www.weather.gov/dvn/summary_081020, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93582353

Barren Gardens

The days are coming, says the LORD,
…I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts.
Jeremiah 31:31-34

Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
John 12:20-33

One for today’s readings, about hearts and seeds, to the tune O WALY WALY (“Take Up Your Cross”):

The days are coming, says the Lord,
when God will plant within our hearts
the seed itself, the living Word,
in barren gardens, worked and scarred.

Bring on those days, we pray, O God:
Take all we are and e'er have been.
Dig out the stones and break the sod;
transform us into Eden's green.

For you alone can make good ground,
that, when the springtime sounds its call,
within our hearts might love abound
if that one grain of wheat should fall.

If it should fall, if it should die,
if it should lie within the earth—
O God, may you be glorified
when grain to springing green gives birth!

Let grace and mercy in us toil,
a brand new Eden here to start,
then plant your seed within our soil.
Oh, write your Word upon our heart!

*Parable of the Sower*, 1557. By Pieter Brueghel the Elder – 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=148461

How Many Are Your Wonders

Send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.
Psalm 104:30

For Pentecost, tune the tune ES IST EIN ROS ENTSPRUNGEN (“Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”).

How many are your wonders,
the world your works unfold:
Heaven your glory thunders;
by stars your tales are told,
but we in darkness bold
are tearing all asunder
your wonders manifold.

You, Lord, have made us mighty;
indeed, we fear no fall.
Proud clamor of our fighting
drowns out the orphan's call.
But you, who made us all
call us to be uniting
our pow'r to serve the the small.

Come, Spirit, world renewing;
come, touch us with your grace,
creation reimbuing,
your light on every face.
And all through time and space,
reach out, our hearts pursuing:
Catch us in your embrace!