Shadows Yet Unseen

Entered in a contest; did not win. To the tune CONDITOR ALME SIDERUM (“Creator of the Stars of Night”):

Creator of the stars of night
and of the sunbeam daily bright,
of every glint and grade between,
all the shadows yet unseen,

we praise you for the light of day,
for colors bright and shades of gray.
We praise you for each shining star
and all the darknesses there are.

Beyond all colors though you dwell,
each one some hint of you can tell.
Teach us to read the mystery
in every glimmer that we see.

And when all vision falls behind,
still more your glories we shall find
where all our words to silence fall,
for we could never name them all.

Yet here and now your mercy's this:
You show yourself in all that is.
This wondrous multiplicity
is one in your infinity.

Praise God dividing night from day,
and God who on the waters played,
and God who in creation dwells,
more praise than we can ever tell!

The image is from the European Space Agency. It is listed as the LH 95 star forming region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The image was taken using the Hubble Space Telescope. By ESA/Hubble, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8788068

Endless Wonder

Based on Psalm 8, to the tune ODE TO JOY:

Endless wonder here beholding
underneath a sky of stars,
each a world of your unfolding
and a treasure of your heart:
What am I that you should love me?
Dust that barely speaks your name!
Yet the stars are dust above me,
shining with the brightest flame.

God, you made us like the angels,
though as animals we bleed.
In a world we make or mangle,
you put all things at our feet.
Teach us, then, to tread more softly
on the ground from which we spring,
and to help eachother upwards,
altogether there to sing.

We are feeble in our limits,
oh, but limitless your love!
It's a sea and we swim in it,
though we cannot hold a drop.
Still we revel in the wonder,
drawn forever to your flame,
joining every voice in thunder
as we sing your glorious name!

*July* Palace of Poitiers By Limbourg brothers – R.M.N. / R.-G. Ojéda, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=108569

Calming the Storm

As Jesus got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea,
so that the boat was being swamped by waves;
but he was asleep.
They came and woke him, saying,
“Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
He said to them, “Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?”
Then he got up, rebuked the winds and the sea,
and there was great calm.
The men were amazed and said, “What sort of man is this,
whom even the winds and the sea obey?”
Matthew 8:23-27

Then we were terrified
and begged to see your power
when storm-flung waves crashed o'er the side
and panic ruled the hour.

What did we hope to see,
O we of little faith?
Not God, who caused the world to be,
commanding wind and wave.

More than the storm of fear,
this silence shakes our souls.
The louring skies begin to clear
of clouds your word controls.

As we, who feared our death
as if it were the end,
now shrink before a height and breadth
we cannot comprehend.

What sort of man are you,
who slumbers in the storm?
It disappeared at your rebuke,
and left us weatherworn.

O more than we can know,
sail with us through the world,
and if you sleep when tempests blow,
yet save us still, O Lord!

*The Storm on the Sea of Galilee* by Rembrandt, 1632. – http://www.gardnermuseum.org : Home : Info : Pic, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6812612

Nothing But Wonder

I ask you to show me what has never been hidden,
for eyes to behold what has always been there.
In the world you created, unbound and unbidden,
you have set there the seal of the love that you bear.

So I open my eyes but without comprehending
that you are the light which alone lets me see,
that my heart is too finite for love neverending,
that all I behold is a fraction of real.

But you fill every fragment with all of your nature,
and the little I hold has your presence complete,
so each minute creation contains the creator
as he kneels down before them to cherish their feet.

And I nothing but wonder at love I can't fathom,
and the eyes of my heart will forever be blind
as the maker of all somersaults in an atom,
while the ears of my heart hear him say he is mine.