Loaf

A single grain of wheat alone
cannot a loaf become,
but all that grew as Christ had sown
are gathered into one.
Though each is threshed by different means,
their chaff is cast away
and, gathered first or lately gleaned,
they join the harvest day.

So wide and winding is the field
where Christ has cast the seeds,
that patiently he waits their yield
who will not pluck the weeds.
But weeds and wheat together grow
that not a grain be lost,
and which is which he only knows
who bought them at his cost.

Though we are ground down day by day
as wheat is turned to flour,
yet Christ who loves each seed and grain
is with us every hour.
He gathers us to make his bread
from every seed he sows.
If one is lost, the loaf is less:
He will not let us go.

Woman baking bread (c. 2200 BC); Louvre By Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 fr, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69938567

Tongues

For Pentecost:

As a body is one though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body,
so also Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
—1 Corinthians 12:12-13

There is no language in the world
where it cannot be said,
no speech in which it can't be heard:
the hope beyond our death.
In every tongue we find the words,
in everyone the breath.
In all of them, Christ came to serve
and share the broken bread.

There is no barrier in him
to Parthian or Mede;
no man or woman's light is dimmed;
in him, all slaves are freed.
The body might deny its limbs,
but he has washed those feet
and poured himself out for our sins
who bids us sit and eat.

As one we come before him now
with all our grace and fault,
as one bring every gift and doubt
in answer to his call.
Our shepherd will not cast us out
when he is all in all,
who sends the Spirit in its hour
as tongues of fire fall.

The Pentecost depicted in a 14th-century Missal By Unknown author – National Library of Wales, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44768060

One Father

As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’
You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father;
you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called ‘Master’;
you have but one master, the Christ.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Matthew 23:1-12

One Father, one who made us
and made us to be one,
one source and one creator,
and we are all his own.
We have no other Father;
we have no other god,
no other that we honor
with all our mind and heart.

One Son who came to lead us
when we were lost and gone,
to break the chains and free us,
and bring the captives home.
We have no other master;
we have no other king,
and we shall fear no shadows
who rest beneath his wings.

One Spirit, one who knows us
and one who makes us known,
who sighs and groans out for us
before the Father's throne.
We have no other teacher;
we have no other lord,
and we are all one people:
God's own forever more.

Rublev’s famous icon showing the three Angels being hosted by Abraham at Mamre. By Eloquence – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=158610

Tears

When the Lord saw her,
he was moved with pity for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.”
He stepped forward and touched the coffin;
at this the bearers halted,
and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
The dead man sat up and began to speak,
and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Luke 7:11-17

You beheld the widow weeping—
Did you know then what would come:
at the cross her station keeping, 
Mary with belovèd John?
You stepped in and raised the sleeping,
gave the widow back her son.

Knowing how Eve wept for Abel,
Rachel for her children wept,
knowing Martha—faith unshaken—
mourned when you delayed your steps,
did you guess what Mary's fate held,
keeping vigil at your death?

Eden tore us all asunder;
life by dying was undone.
Bread of life, you knew our hunger:
Make our separation one.
Give us back to one another,
death by dying overcome.

Tears have been our bread since Eden,
since the day we took and ate.
We have had our fill of feasting,
sated since the days of Cain.
You who joined us in our weeping, 
let it be the bread you break.

Take these tears and make them hallowed;
let our weeping make us one.
Let them, then, give way to dancing;
let rejoicing come with dawn.
Let the widow's prayers be answered:
Give her back her only son.

Resurrection of the son By Wilhelm Kotarbiński – cyfrowe.mnw.art.pl, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23801336

Splinters

O Christ, your kingdom overturns the nations
and shakes them 'til the dead spill from their tombs.
You set us free to follow where you take us,
a house where you have built us endless rooms.

O carpenter, you know the boards have splinters,
and yet you build with them the Father's hall.
If there is room for me, the worst of sinners,
oh, then your house must have a place for all.

O lord of all, who walked here weak and homeless,
when you come near the mountains start to quake.
Then come and shake us, make our graves crack open,
that all who sleep in silence might awake.

O shepherd, lead us through our dying's valley
into the many mansions of your house,
and let not one be left behind in shadows,
but gather every sinner in your arms.  Amen.

This elaborate image, *Representation of a Pageant Vehicle at the time of Performance*, was commissioned as the frontispiece to *A Dissertation on the Pageants or Dramatic Mysteries Anciently Performed at Coventry by the Trading Companies of that City*, (1825) by Thomas Sharp, (1770-1841). The image was designed and executed in copper engraving by David Gee (1793-1872). It recreates a 15th-century Passion play (*The Trial and Crucifixion of Christ*) by the Smiths’ Company of Coventry. Many of the details are based on written accounts, including pageant wagon design itself and the people in the street. The audience includes men, women, and children, along with armed guards for the wagon, men who drew the wagon from station to station, minstrels, clerics and a carpenter. The scene on stage depicts Christ, with hands bound, before an enthroned Pilate. Annas and Caiaphas are shown in mitred hats, and a boy carries a bowl of water for Pilate to wash his hands. Although somewhat speculative, the image has been influential and is often reproduced. By David Gee – Beinecke Library: http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3447379, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33359094

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

From Every Tribe and Nation

I, John, had a vision of a great multitude,
which no one could count,
from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
Then one of the elders said to me,
“These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;
they have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
“For this reason they stand before God’s throne
                        and worship him day and night in his temple.
            The one who sits on the throne will shelter them.
            They will not hunger or thirst anymore,
                        nor will the sun or any heat strike them.
            For the Lamb who is in the center of the throne
                        will shepherd them
                        and lead them to springs of life-giving water,
                        and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 7:9, 14b-17

From every tribe and nation,
from every race and creed,
all kinds from all creation:
One shepherd's voice they heed.
They know him, and they follow
when Christ calls them his own,
and when they stand before him,
they worship him as one.

Their hearts have not been faultless,
but in his strength endured;
their robes were never spotless
until he made them pure.
Their languages were sundered
by pride on Babel's plain,
but now they sing in wonder
one song to praise his name.

No more shall envy take them
from Christ the shepherd's hand;
no more shall hatred shake them
who in his temple stand.
They gather in his shelter,
untouched by any fears:
The Lamb is their own shepherd,
and he will dry their tears.

Lamb of God with vexillum, Sacred Heart Church (Berlin), 1898 By WorldKnowledge0815, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70885839

The Lord Is God (Trinity)

This is why you must now know,
and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God
in the heavens above and on earth below,
and that there is no other.
Deuteronomy 4:32-34, 39-40

To the tune FINLANDIA, for Trinity Sunday:

The Lord is God, and there is not another
on earth below or heaven high above.
None but the Lord has done such signs and wonders;
none but our God such power ever proved.
We are God's own, and we shall have no other
than God alone, who made us for his love.

His word is law, who speaks us into being;
his law is love, who died on Calvary.
For this he came, from heaven once all-seeing
as God-with-us, one with ourselves to be,
to teach the way, our fallen world redeeming,
to break the chains, and set the captives free.

No other God, no other law shall save us;
no Spirit breathes, save that which breathed us first.
Then cast them down, the idols that deprave us,
that make us less and drive us to our worst.
And turn again, to worship God who made us,
to love again, God's images on earth.

Depiction of Trinity from Saint Denis Basilica in Paris (12th century) By Rebecca Kennison – Own work by user:RRKennison, croppedThis file has been extracted from another file: France Paris St-Denis Trinity.jpg, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1565468

American Pentecost

We are white and Black, my Lord,
and every color seen,
Native, or just from the port,
new money and has-been,
colonizer, unwashed horde,
and all things in-between,
yet we hear your holy Word,
and we know what you mean.

How is it that you speak to us
in every language known?
We are torn, Lord, each of us
from every other one.
When you came to preach you,
we made the cross your throne;
still you see and reach for us
through all divisions sown.

Sow again your piercing seed
and harrow up our earth;
show again the grace we glean
by springing up to serve.
Flourished wheat and sprouting weed
to you have precious worth:
Turn us all a springtime green,
the color of new birth.

By Niccolò da Bologna – http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=254371, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1977717

Not Separate Saints

To the tune ST. CATHERINE (“Faith of Our Fathers”):

Lord, you call us to holiness,
not sep'rate saints but many parts;
one body that you feed and bless,
one Christ that beats in many hearts.
But, saving Lord, we must confess,
how deeply we have drawn apart.

What if the hand should curse the eye?
Or eye refuse to love the hand?
Would not the fractured body die?
So shall we fall who lonely stand.
Boundless in mercy, God, supply
that which alone our gaps can span.

Stones of one temple built on Christ,
our work is wounded walls to heal.
Each little pebble he has prized;
each one into his flesh he seals.
For these, himself he sacrificed
and to his church his love revealed.

Joined in one body, we must be
one in the love that loved us first.
Christ in our neighbors we must see,
hearing their cries of hunger, thirst.
Serving our savior faithfully,
all of his members we must serve.