valley

In the valley of the shadow
we have learned to make our homes,
building with the wood we have here
on the ashes of what's gone.
We have trembled with its passions;
we have goosestepped to its drums:
How will we inhabit mansions
when the peaceful kingdom comes?

Oh, but you have set a table
where the foe looks on the foe,
where the air still rings with anger
and the ground is filled with bones.
There you take the bread of anguish,
sorrow's wine that overflows,
and you turn it into manna,
and you make this vale your home.

Lord, we know thw day is coming
when the earth and sky will blaze,
when the armies stop their drumming
and our grief at last will fade.
With this manna, sweet as honey,
teach us how to live that day;
breaking bread, we hold your promise:
Death will not steal all away.

They shall live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob,
the land where their fathers lived;
they shall live on it forever,
they, and their children, and their children’s children,
with my servant David their prince forever.
I will make with them a covenant of peace;
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them,
and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.
Ezekiel 37:21-28

And yea, though we must walk the valley here—
the road runs through the shadow of our death—
we shall not linger in the vale of tears,
but go to where the Shepherd gives us rest:

a homeland where the harvest never fails;
a city where the gates are open wide,
where peace lets out at last a long exhale;
a living spring that never will run dry;

where there are no more wars, no sword that falls;
no mothers weep to kiss their sons goodbye;
where no one trembles when the trumpet calls.
It says, The feast begins!  Come all inside!

For he has laid a table in our sight,
and there beside our foes we take our seats
where all our cups run over with new wine
and Christ himself breaks bread, that we may eat.

When shall we see the breaking of that dawn?
O, pierce the shadows!  Let us see the road.
We follow in the way all flesh has gone—
But lead us on, beyond where death can go.

Make straight the way, though all our steps may fail.
In darkness still, we shall not wander blind,
for we shall be your pilgrims in the vale:
Leave love and mercy there for us to find.

The Old Tower in the Fields (1884) By Vincent van Gogh – Christie’s, LotFinder: entry 5790823 (sale 2846, lot 267, New York, 7 May 2014), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32286355

Tag: valley

Mansions