ANGER AND RESENTMENT

I

ANGER AND RESENTMENT

DO NOT A HAPPY PERSON MAKE

BUT IF YOU TAKE SOMEONE BY THE HAND

AND HOLD ON TIGHT

YOU MIGHT FIND THAT ALL THAT BAD FEELING

WILL DISAPPEAR OVERNIGHT.

THAT SOMEONE’S HAND MIGHT BE IN TOUCH WITH GOD

SO KEEP HOLDING ON

UNTIL THE ANGER IS GONE.

II

GOD KNOWS HOW MUCH YOU ACHE

AND FEELS YOUR PAIN FULL WELL

BUT HOLD HIS HAND AND BE PATIENT

HE’LL BEWORKING ON YOU FOR A SPELL.

III

SHARE YOUR HEART WITH OTHERS

UNTIL YOU CAN LET GO

AND THEN ANGER AND RESENTMENT

WILL BE BURIED IN WINTER’S SNOW.

BURIED OUT OF SIGHT

YOU CAN’T EVEN SEE IT

THE SNOW HAS PURIFIED IT AND

RELEASED YOU FROM ITS SIGHT.

SO CLEANSE YOUR HEART AND MIND

TILL ALL IS LEFT BEHIND

YOU’LL BE A BETTER PERSON

WITH CLEAN HEART AND MIND.

j.p. neale

written after experiencing another person's anger and resentment.

Credo

I can only tell you what I believe; I believe:

I cannot be saved by foreign policies.

I cannot be saved by the sexual revolution.

I cannot be saved by the gross national product.

I cannot be saved by nuclear deterrents.

I cannot be saved by aldermen, priests, artists,

plumbers, city planners, social engineers,

nor by the Vatican,

nor by the World Buddhist Association,

nor by Hitler, nor by Joan of Arc,

nor by angels and archangels,

nor by powers and dominions,

I can be saved only by Jesus Christ.

 
 
Daniel Berrigan (born 1921)

LOUISA

Louisa will help.



Words have dried up



In this desert of paper



Will I ever awake



And find the next caper?



Of course , it will come



You have Louisa to help



Your brain isn’t numb



And the files are not vapor.



So busy yourself



Get your fingers typing



Get down from the shelf



Take Louisa in hand



She will guide you back home



To finish Fruitlands.




JANE NEALE


Written while writing about an imaginary visit with Louisa May Alcott

The Place Where We Are Right

From the place where we are right

Flowers will never grow

In the spring.



The place where we are right

Is hard and trampled

Like a yard.



But doubts and loves

Dig up the world

Like a mole, a plow.

And a whisper will be heard in the place

Where the ruined

House once stood.


Yehuda Amichai

WANDERING THOUGHTS

ONE OF THE LASTING IMPRESSIONS I HAVE

OF THE HOLOCAUST

IS A SHORT FILM

OF A YOUNG BOY

SITTING ON A TABLE

SHAKING

SHIVERING

HE WAS BEING SUBJECTED

TO REPEATED BLOWS

ON THE HEAD

TO STUDY THEIR EFFECTS

HE WAS A JEW

A NON-PERSON

USELESS AS A STONE

THROWN IN A LAKE

RINDS OF MELON

THROWN IN THE GARBAGE

TOOLS TO BE USED

TILL THEY BREAK

THEN DISCARDED

IT WOULD BE NICE TO THINK

THAT IT HAPPENED

IN ANOTHER PLACE

IN ANOTHER TIME

BUT IT’S HAPPENING NOW

AND HAS HAPPENED NOW

WHILE DIVES DINES

LAZARUS DIES

LIKE A PIECE OF PAPER

A TOY OF THE WIND

PLAYED WITH

THEN FORGOTTEN

WHEN WILL YOU COME

LORD JESUS

WHEN WILL YOU COME

TO RESCUE US FROM OURSELVES

TO GIVE DIGNITY TO DIRT

WATER TO DRY LAND

VISION TO THE BLIND

DREAMS TO THE DUNG HEAP

AWARENESS OF THE NEEDS OF OTHERS

AND A HELPING HAND

FRANK A VOLLMER

THINK ABOUT IT

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. Mother Teresa

We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. Mother Teresa

BRAIN ON VACATION?

NO MOTIVATION?



LOOK OUT THE WINDOW



AVOID THE BLACK SHADOW



GET OUT OF THAT BLOCK



JOIN THE FLOCK



FLY UP TOWARD THE SUN



DON’T MISS THE FUN



GET THE WORDS FLOWING



THE POEM IS GROWING



LET’S WRITE TO THE END



THEN SEND IT TO A FRIEND.







BLOCK IS GONE!!

 
JANE NEALE

The Place Where We Are Right

From the place where we are right

Flowers will never grow

In the spring.



The place where we are right

Is hard and trampled

Like a yard.



But doubts and loves

Dig up the world

Like a mole, a plow.

And a whisper will be heard in the place

Where the ruined

House once stood.



Yehuda Amichai

SOUL LOST

A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO LOSE

A SOUL IS EVEN WORSE

BUT LOSING A MIND

IS A SOUL’S REMORSE

TEARS FALL

CHEEKS AWASH

EYES SWELL

TEETH GNASH

BUT THROUGH THE TEARS

WE SEE A SOUL

THAT CARRIES ALL OUR FEARS

AND OUR MIND RETURNS.

JANE NEALE

BALLOONS

BALLOONS ARE:

HELIIUM-FILLED MARBLES.

THEY LOVE FRESH AIR,

AND NEWLY-WASHED HAIR

CLEAN FINGERNAILS.

AND CHOCOLATE-FILLED PAILS

DANCING FEET

AND CLOTHES THAT ARE NEAT

RUNAWAY SNEAKERS

AND HOLIDAY SEEKERS

CHOCOLATE CAKE

AND THINGS THAT AREN’T FAKE.

NEWLY MOWN LAWN

THEY CAN LAND UPON

TO BE PICKED UP BY US

AND SAVED FOR A TREASURE

TO CONTINUE OUR PLEASURE.

AWAY THEY GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
 

JANE NEALE

in the shape of a diamond a new way to write.

Foot steps

Swift and quiet

On the lawn in the grass

Cooling, sinking in the green

Ready to run and catch the dogs

Only two

Got ‘em.

jpn 7/10/2010

DISCIPLESHIP (Luke 14:25-33)

WHEN DIETRICH FELT THE NOOSE TIGHTEN

HE KNEW THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

WHEN PETER AND PAUL

WENT TO EXECUTION

THEY KNEW THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

WHEN DAMIAN SAID WE LEPERS

HE KNEW THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

WHEN PASTOR KING MARCHED IN SELMA

AND BIRMINGHAM

HE KNEW THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

FOR MOST OF US

THE NEED TO BE HEROIC IS MINIMUM

BUT THE NEED TO BE KIND TO A SLOW CLERK

TO LISTEN TO THE THRICE TOLD TALE OF THE OLD

TO SPEAK WHEN SOMEONE NEEDS DEFENDING

TO KEEP AWAY FROM THE HORN

WHEN THE PERSON AHEAD

IS SLOW AT THE LIGHT

TO BE A CHRISTIAN IN PRACTICE

SEEMS TO BE HARDER FOR US THAN SUFFERING

WHEN JESUS SAYS

YOU MUST LEAVE FATHER AND MOTHER

TO FOLLOW ME

HE’S USING NORMAL EASTERN HYPERBOLE

HE’S REALLY SAYING

NOTHING SHOULD PREVENT YOU FROM DOING RIGHT

HOW MANY MEN HAVE SAID

I DIDN’T SPEAK UP OUT OF FEAR FOR MY FAMILY

AND IN THAT SILENCE EVIL GROWS

JESUS SAYS

SERVE

DON’T COUNT THE COST

NEITHER PARENT

NOR NEEDS OF THE DEAD

NOR LOOKING BACK

SHOULD WEAKEN ONE’S RESOLVE TO SERVE

WE ARE WEAK AND FAIL

BUT REPENTING

WE SHOULD RETURN TO THE FIRST PRINCIPAL

WHO IS MY PARENT

HE WHO DOES MY WILL

FRANK A VOLLMER

Sometimes, when everything goes wrong

" Sometimes, when everything goes wrong;

When days are short and nights are long;

When wash-day brings so dull a sky

That not a single thing will dry.

And when the kitchen chimney smokes,

And when there's naught so ' queer' as folks!

When friends deplore my faded youth,

And when the baby cuts a tooth.

While John, the baby last but one,

Clings round my skirts till day is done;

And fat, good-tempered Jane is glum,

And butcher's man forgets to come.

Sometimes I say on days like these,

I get a sudden gleam of bliss.

Not on some sunny day of ease,

He'll come ... but on a day like this! "
 
 
anon

WOMB/TOMB

FROM THE BLACK VELVET OF THE WOMB

TO THE OBLIVION OF A TOMB

HE ROSE AND WALKED THE DUSTY ROAD

AMONG UNBELIEVING MEN.

HE CARRIED A LANTERN

WHOSE LIGHT WAS FROM A NATAL STAR

THAT BECAME A BEACON TO THE PEOPLE

WHO JOINED HIM ON HIS JOURNEY

TO HIS FATHER IN HEAVEN GOD.

OURS/LIFE

WHEN WE MET, OURS WAS HAPPY AND AS LIFE PROGRESSED

OURS WAS THE WATCHWORD.

WE WORKED TOGETHER

READ TOGETHER

LAUGHED, YES EVEN CRIED TOGETHER.

ALL THE WHILE, A QUIET SOMETHING

HAD AN ARM AROUND OUR SHOULDERS.

UNAWARE BUT AWARE

WE ACCEPTED THAT LIFE AS OURS BUT WAS IT?

WE WERE GIVEN THAT WORD TO FULFILL A VACUUM

WE DID NOT KNOW EXISTED

BUT AS WE AGED, THE VACUUM FILLED WITH

LOVE AND APPRECIATION

ONE FOR THE OTHER. BUT THAT BUBBLE BURST

AND OURS BECAME HIS AND HERS WITH AN EMPTY CHAIR IN THE SITTING ROOM.

NOW OURS IS ONLY EMPTY SHOES IN A CLOSET, A COLLECTION OF BALL CAPS

PENCILS IN A DESK DRAWER AND A GHOST WHO COMES TO VISIT ONCE IN A WHILE.

BUT OURS NEVER FADES, THE WORD IS STILL HERE.

Jane P. Neale

2010

GULLS SOAR

GULLS SOAR

OH LOOK THERE ARE FOUR

GULLS DIVE

THEN THERE ARE FIVE

GULLS LAND

ON THE SAND

SCAVENGING THE BEACH

FOR A SEA-WASHED PEACH

OR A SCALLOP IN ITS SHELL

THEY ALWAYS TELL

WHEN THAT GULL LANDED

THE DENIZEN OF THE BEACH.

JANE NEALE

(Humility)

(Humility)

Parentheses enclose humility

To keep it in our hearts

They are like a hug that warms us up and keeps our thoughts enclosed.

Jane P. Neale 2010

why i'm agnostic

Since 1994, David Bazan has put sharp questions about faith, justice, and his Pentecostal-evangelical upbringing front and center in his songs. Like many doubters who came before, from Augustine to Mother Teresa, he wrestled with God while still counting himself as a believer. However, on his most recent solo album, Curse Your Branches, released last September, Bazan’s forceful, prodding lyrics find him still grappling with the big questions, but no longer counting himself as a Christian. With his trademark candor and thoughtfulness, Bazan, former front man of Pedro the Lion and Headphones, spoke with Sojourners assistant editor Jeannie Choi in the musty green room of The Black Cat, a music venue in Washington, D.C.




Jeannie Choi: How did your faith journey move from a place of belief to disbelief?

When I was in eighth grade, my mom got this book called The Light and the Glory; it was one of the first in the wave of Christian revisionist histories of the United States. It claimed things like the founders were born-again Christians just like we are. It just dawned on me—I couldn’t really trust the leaders of this movement to be intellectually honest. They were just trying to stack the deck so that they could get a leg up in the cultural battle.

For the longest time, I was concerned with reform more than anything, because I felt like the ship of the church was way off course. The church’s desire for political power and its relationship with wealth and the wealthy seemed to me to be unbiblical. But when I really started looking at the foundations to try to get those things right, I realized there were all of these fundamental assumptions that I’d made—from the inerrancy and authority and inspiration of scripture, to just the mere existence of God—and I started to think, “Well, if you’re really going to make this your own, then you can’t begin with these assumptions. You have to go below them.” And I just don’t really see a lot down there.

How much of your agnosticism is a result of your disdain for the evangelical subculture rather than the tenets of Christianity?

There isn’t, at this point, anything I find unique to Christianity that isn’t a first principle or a core idea. I really think that within natural revelation—which is, of course, a Christian way of putting it—there is enough to know how to live in harmony with the people around you and with the land and our environment. For me, that’s just enough.

When I think about the tyranny of the afterlife, and how people live in such a way because the possibility of the afterlife distracts them from doing good to others and living at peace with one another, the less it’s even plausible to me that a being who created the genome or DNA or our bodies or the ecosystem—things so elegant and finely tuned—would use the blunt instrument of physical violence as a way of getting people to stay true to the system. It just doesn’t seem compatible to me. I think that living for the here and now, fully committed to one another with no “escape hatch” of Jesus coming back anytime soon, is more compelling to me.

Is there anything still attractive to you about Christianity?

On a song on the new record I talk about these “beautiful truths”—justice and honesty and the belief that who you are when you’re alone is who you truly are. These basic principles of fairness I feel I understood thorough my Christian upbringing. So one of the themes I still feel like I have in common with Christians is when Jesus is asked to sum up the law, and he says, “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now, ironically, these same principles have pulled me out of Christianity and caused me to reject it. Believing the right things and not doing any of the right things is the norm in evangelical Christianity, and it’s really perplexing. I’m flabbergasted every time I run into this, because basically there’s this whole movement of people who ostensibly believe the right thing, but are the pawns of the military-industrial complex, and that’s just too bad. It seems like high comedy, like a very twisted joke.

In a song on your new record, you wonder how your mom is going to react to your rejection of Christianity. What was her response?

She really liked the record, but it’s hard for her and my dad. I sent them that song—“When We Fell”—as soon as I wrote it and said, “I’m not necessarily asking for permission, but I just wanted you to hear this, and if it’s just not going to work for me to sing this tune, then I want to know.” They wrote back and said, “This is perplexing, of course, but this is your tune.”

My mom said something really sweet not too long ago. She said, “I just want to clarify that the only reason I taught you to follow your heart was because I thought Jesus was in your heart.” And, well, I thought that too. And I told her that I learned to follow my heart just from watching her. She’s where I learned compassion for the underdog, and my sense of justice comes from my mom and her impulse to lift every voice. So, I worry about my parents, and it makes me feel a little bit of sadness, but at the same time I hope that they can see that all of this is honest, not just messing around.

Many of your songs are declarations about what you see as wrong with this world. Are you writing those for yourself or do you hope they’ll cause your listeners to also question?

I always think of it like I’m back in school and in class. If the extrovert raises their hand and asks the question, the five or six introverts think, “I’m really glad that person asked that question because I really wanted to know that too.” For me, so many times a way of thinking is opened up just because somebody spoke truthfully about something.

You’ve described “introvert” Christians as unable to ask questions about faith. Why do you think that is?

Well, I can understand the impulse to have a cultural identity that is defined and that you can broadcast easily. I empathize with that impulse, but it strikes me as fundamentally misguided.

I have to go with my gut about these things and try to figure out what I think is right and true, and I’m really encouraged when I see other people doing that, even if we come to different conclusions.

Return to roots

especially Christians who have turned their backs on Jesus’ teachings about peace, justice, and the poor. Bazan nailed it when he said: “Believing the right things and not doing any of the right things is the norm in evangelical Christianity.” Fortunately, there is a movement away from the Christianity that aligns itself with wealth and political power and toward a Christianity that aligns itself with the heart of the Person the faith is named after.

David Bazan

OURS/LIFE

WHEN WE MET, OURS WAS HAPPY AND AS LIFE PROGRESSED



THAT WAS OUR WATCHWORD



WE WORKED TOGETHER



READ TOGETHER



LAUGHED, YES EVEN CRIED TOGETHER.



ALL THE WHILE, A QUIET SOMETHING



HAD AN ARM AROUND OUR SHOULDERS.



UNAWARE BUT AWARE



WE ACCEPTED THAT LIFE AS OURS BUT WAS IT?



WE WERE GIVEN THAT WORD TO FULFILL A VACUUM



WE DID NOT KNOW EXISTED



BUT AS WE AGED, THE VACUUM FILLED WITH



LOVE AND APPRECIATION



ONE FOR THE OTHER. BUT THAT BUBBLE BURST



AND OURS BECAME HIS AND HERS WITH AN EMPTY CHAIR IN THE SITTING ROOM.



NOW OURS IS ONLY EMPTY SHOES IN A CLOSET, A COLLECTION OF BALL CAPS



PENCILS IN A DESK DRAWER AND A GHOST WHO COMES TO VISIT ONCE IN A WHILE.



BUT OURS NEVER FADES, THE WORD IS STILL HERE.



JANE NEALE

GANDHI

Pericope Snickersneed Indeed!

"Pericope?"

Yes, yes, I see --

You disagree

respectfully

with its presentee.



So "pericope"

will now flee

back to committee

a refugee

of poetry's

great reportee

(no guarantee

it will not flee

its conferees!)



Who could forsee

the great jubilee

of such a word spree?



Doug Behm

GREATNESS

During the reading of Susan Cheevers' American Bloomsbury, one phrase stayed with me. In the presence of greatness. And so, the obvious comes to mind. Greatness in my mind is first manifested in GOD but it also recently came to my attention when, as we drove into the yard today, we discovered a ‘new’ bird eating the Flowering Crabtree’s apples. Helen said she thought it was a Cedar Waxwing. What a thrill! we had not seen one for years and to think he was eating his lunch at our old tree. Speaking of being in the presence of greatness, Yes to see a simple bird in a tree makes one realize that at that moment greatness is with us. Just as the red berries on the Barberry Bush are there to cheer us each time we step out the front door; I am in awe each time I see the Great Blue Heron ease himself up from the little pond below the barn. I could think of lots more but you probably get the idea. When one is in the unencumbered position of concentrating on one great thing it pushes all the unimportant frivolities to one side. Awe is a good word to describe these feelings of another presence. I think we all have at one time had an awestruck happening in our lives. And, if we think about it we might be able to reach into a corner of memories and find one or two.




So greatness instills in us a feeling of awe and wonder. In trying to find other examples, I came upon the mountains, and glaciers of Switzerland and our own Alaska. I might even include man-made wonders the designers of which must have felt they were in the presence of greatness when the designs were developing. And too, our great authors, especially those who established a writing tradition in our country. They also believed they were in the presence of greatness. Ralph W. Emerson, his friends Thoreau, Hawthorne, Bronson Alcott, and Louisa. And so we arrive at that place in our personal world for isn’t it that greatness that guides our thinking and writing and communication with one another? Thanks be to GREATNESS.


JANE NEALE

Music and its charms

What better beginning for a short essay on music? Coined by William Congreve, in the Mourning Bride, 1697:

“Musick has charms to sooth a savage breast,
to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak?”



Do we realize all the things about music that we love? Maybe, but I was thinking about it yesterday and wondered if any of us realize the thoughts and talents that are necessary to compose or conduct a symphony or a concerto or even an oratorio. The words of direction that give music its personhood are also a large part of our enjoyment, Piano, pianissimo, andante, largo forte all Italian words that make our music what it is. I discovered this year why an early piano was called a pianoforte. It is because it was capable of playing piano and forte soft and loud.

How in the world did Beethoven know what he was creating? He had lost his hearing; did he know the notes so well that he heard them in his head? The Moonlight Sonata, in his head, what a blessing and even his Ninth Symphony that we sing in church as Joyful Joyful, we adore thee. And little old Mozart the genius at such an early time in his life. He remains a favorite to this day. It would be difficult to mention his name and not have it recognized. And the film Amadeus brought even more interest to the general public. And many other stories surround the lives of the composers. F or instance I did not know that Robert Schuman died in a mental hospital. He had tried from an early age to commit suicide so requested to be hospitalized. And Franz Joseph Haydn’s head was stolen after he died Chopin died of pulmonary turberculosis.



Do you leave classical music playing all night? It is a good way to unclutter a brain; making room for ideas that have lain dormant for too long. ..The saying, “music hath charms” was coined by William Congreve, in theMmourningBride, 1697:



What better beginning for an essay on music?

classical music as we know it has been invaded by some real genius. Stravinsky, Copeland* and some of the raucous modern stuff that we have had to learn to accept. The Beatles did make compositions that were more musical than noisy definitely contrasting with what I call noise of the present day. Speaking of Copeland, his Fanfare for the Common Man comes to mind with its trumpets so pure. What is your favorite instrument? I think woodwinds are purer as are the trumpets. Must admit to influence of wynton and Ellis Marsalis and their brasses who have almost brought American Jazz into the classical sphere.

Copeland’s *Ballet Rodeo. And Appalachian Spring too have almost made it. We also know that the film industry borrows regularly from the old composers for its background music in many films.

Speaking of jazz, it is a little tough to take unless you can hear the engineering it takes to play the instruments. There are many devotees of this branch of music and perhaps it is well-earned. Having roots in our country in the New Orleans tradition many of us have learned to appreciate it to a great degree particularly for the talents it exhibits.

The closed door

at the departure gate. 2006



A door closed.



A friend left.



How final was that closed door-



How sad to see the blank wood.



I knew it might be the last view of my friend,



And I hoped that the door would open; if not immediately then as if the friend had re-considered a departure.



But later that friend did not return to the empty space left in my life.



I became a friend without. But, I was ready;



No return, that door closed forever.

 
 
Jean Neale

The sinister minister from Westminster

The sinister minister from Westminster



Prayed heartily for our souls



He had no idea what he was doing



Our souls were contained in our minds and our bodies



But he was sure we were failing our duty to god



But what we were doing did not work for him



So he kept on with his spell



For sinister minister was not working for God



But worked for the devil in hell.



So we decided to take things in hand



And solve this old man’s dilemma



We fell to our knees rather than stand



And we prayed for him to be healed.



His ideas were confusing most of all to him



We had our hearts in our work



But he resisted he knew no better



He was sure our fate was sealed.



The sun came out and a miracle happened



He knew he was being defeated



We won the battle we were secure



The old devil in hell was unseated.



So the sinister minister lost his title



And now walks the straight and narrow



We are leading him away from



the way he got lost



And his eye is now on the sparrow[1]



JANE NEAL

Patterns in the River

Water over stone

Patterns ever changing



Sunshine and shadows

Blue sky reflections.




Wild mint by the shoreJoe Pye weed color



Cardinal flower adds a pleasing red

And rarity.




Blue bottle gentian

Respectfully nodding

From under the sweet fern



And the river still tumbles over stones

Unchanged and unchanging.


And they say, don’t look back .


but we always take one more look.


Jane Neale



May 16, 2004

THERE WAS A KNIGHT OF BETHLEHEM

THERE WAS A KNIGHT OF BETHLEHEM



WHOSE WEALTH WAS TEARS AND SORROWS



HIS MEN AT ARMS WERE LITTLE LAMBS,



HIS TRUMPETERS WERE SPARROWS;



HIS CASTLE WAS A WOODEN CROSS,



WHEREON HE HUNG SO HIGH;



HIS HELMET WAS A CROWN OF THORNS



WHOSE CREST DID TOUCH THE SKY

 
HENRY NEVILLE MAUGHAN

ON WORKS

Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905- 1987)



Faith is a movement of the entire person away from himself,

through the gift of grace; thereby he lays hold of the mercy of

God given to him in Christ-in the form of the forgiveness of

sins, justification and sanctification. In this movement away

from himself man has done all that he, through grace, can do; he

has done all that God requires of him. Since his intention is to

leave himself, without reservation, and hand himself over entirely,

this movement implicitly' contains all the "works" he will

eventually do. They are not some second entity beside faith; if

they are performed in a Christian spirit, they are only forms in

which faith expresses itself. .

As an •act 'of the whole person, faith travels in a direction away

from itself and toward God. That is why reflection on itself and

any attempt to make itself secure are foreign to it. The gospel

may promise a "reward in Heaven" to a faith that is rightly lived

out, but faith itself is very far from calculating any "merit" that

may bring about such a reward. "

The word "merit" insofar as it concerns some value conferring

a right to something, is theologically an unhappy term that would

be better dropped. (In tradition it very often has a quite different

sense, namely, "being found worthy" by God: tu quae meruisti

portare ... >.We need have no qualms about dropping the word,

for there is a biblical word ready to replace it: fruitfulness. God

responds. to Abraham's faith in this way: "I will make. you

exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you" (Gen 17:6).

The Lord is always using the word in his parables. In John it is

the grain of wheat, which dies in the earth, that brings forth much

fruit. The metaphor of the vine is even clearer. Apart from Jesus

a man can do "nothing", but if he abides in-him he brings forth

"much" fruit. If he fails to do this, he is removed; if he succeeds,

he is "cleansed", cut back in order to produce even more fruit.

Clearly, this does not mean externally quantifiable results. As far

as the Kingdom of God is concerned, Mary, sitting at the feet of

Jesus, is more fruitful than the busy Martha. When Mary anoints

the Lord's feet at the meal in Bethany and Judas protests at this

"waste" and thinks how much money the ointment would have

yielded, he is rebuked: the fruitfulness of this prodigal gesture

that takes no account of "merit" is far more important to Jesus

than some work of charity. .

In the Fullness of Faith

OSCAR ROMERO

Even when they call us mad, when they call us subversives and communists and all the epithets they put on us, we know we only preach the subversive witness of the Beatitudes, which have turned everything upside down.




- Archbishop Oscar Romero, an advocate for the poor and marginalized, was assassinated thirty years ago today while giving Mass in El Salvador.

We Shall Overcome

People cannot contribute to the nation if they are never taught to read or write, if their bodies are stunted from hunger, if their sickness goes untended, if their life is spent in hopeless poverty just drawing a welfare check. So we want to open the gates to opportunity. But we're also going to give all our people, black and white, the help that they need to walk through those gates.




- Lyndon B. Johnson, from his speech, "We Shall Overcome," given to Congress on March 15, 1965, after racial violence broke out in Selma, Alabama

The Prayer of Saint Patrick

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through a belief in the Threeness,

Through confession of the Oneness

Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today

Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,

Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,

Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,

Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today

Through the strength of the love of cherubim,

In obedience of angels,

In service of archangels,

In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,

In the prayers of patriarchs,

In preachings of the apostles,

In faiths of confessors,

In innocence of virgins,

In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today

Through the strength of heaven;

Light of the sun,

Splendor of fire,

Speed of lightning,

Swiftness of the wind,

Depth of the sea,

Stability of the earth,

Firmness of the rock.

I arise today

Through God's strength to pilot me;

God's might to uphold me,

God's wisdom to guide me,

God's eye to look before me,

God's ear to hear me,

God's word to speak for me,

God's hand to guard me,

God's way to lie before me,

God's shield to protect me,

God's hosts to save me

From snares of the devil,

From temptations of vices,

From every one who desires me ill,

Afar and anear,

Alone or in a multitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,

Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,

Against incantations of false prophets,

Against black laws of pagandom,

Against false laws of heretics,

Against craft of idolatry,

Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,

Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ shield me today

Against poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against wounding,

So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,

Christ in the eye that sees me,

Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through a belief in the Threeness,

Through a confession of the Oneness

Of the Creator of creation.

ISAIAH 55:1-13

1 Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come! Buy and eat; come, buy wine and milk without money, free!


2 Why spend money on what cannot nourish and your wages on what fails to satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.

3 Pay attention, come to me; listen, and you will live. I shall make an everlasting covenant with you in fulfilment of the favours promised to David.

4 Look, I have made him a witness to peoples, a leader and lawgiver to peoples.

5 Look, you will summon a nation unknown to you, a nation unknown to you will hurry to you for the sake of Yahweh your God, because the Holy One of Israel has glorified you.

6 Seek out Yahweh while he is still to be found, call to him while he is still near.

7 Let the wicked abandon his way and the evil one his thoughts. Let him turn back to Yahweh who will take pity on him, to our God, for he is rich in forgiveness;

8 for my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways, declares Yahweh.

9 For the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways, my thoughts above your thoughts.

10 For, as the rain and the snow come down from the sky and do not return before having watered the earth, fertilising it and making it germinate to provide seed for the sower and food to eat,

11 so it is with the word that goes from my mouth: it will not return to me unfulfilled or before having carried out my good pleasure and having achieved what it was sent to do.

12 Yes, you will go out with joy and be led away in safety. Mountains and hills will break into joyful cries before you and all the trees of the countryside clap their hands.

13 Cypress will grow instead of thorns, myrtle instead of nettles. And this will be fame for Yahweh, an eternal monument never to be effaced.

ISAIAH 2:1-5

1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2 It will happen in the final days that the mountain of Yahweh's house will rise higher than the mountains and tower above the heights. Then all the nations will stream to it,

3 many peoples will come to it and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths.' For the Law will issue from Zion and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

4 Then he will judge between the nations and arbitrate between many peoples. They will hammer their swords into ploughshares and their spears into sickles. Nation will not lift sword against nation, no longer will they learn how to make war.

5 House of Jacob, come, let us walk in Yahweh's light.

MEANING WHAT YOU SING

Caesarius of ArIes (470 - 542)


Above all, strive by holy thoughts, as well as by prayers, to fulfill

in daily life what you profess orally; and may the Holy Spirit

who speaks to you upon your lips also deign to dwell in your

hearts. It is truly good and pleasing enough to God when the

tongue devoutly chants the Psalms, but it will be better still if

your life is in harmony with the words on your tongue. Our words

and our lives should be in agreement. Let not our words bear

testimony against our evil habits, and let not our tongue refute

our lives. If one thing is uttered with our mouth, and something

else appears in our actions, what the tongue seems to build up

our evil life immediately destroys. For your part, dear Christians,

may the sense of a Scripture passage hold your attention as well

as the pleasantness of the sound. If, when a person chants the

Psalms, he only pays attention to the sweetness of the sounds and

the arrangement of the words, but does not heed what should be

understood in them, his ears receive passing nourishment, but

the Word of God does not reach his heart. In a certain sense, such

a one chews on pure wax, but does not taste the sweetness of the

honey at all.

Sermon 75

PSALM 22

 [For the choirmaster To 'the Doe of the Dawn' Psalm Of David]

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The words of my groaning do nothing to save me.


2 My God, I call by day but you do not answer, at night, but I find no respite.

3 Yet 
4 in you our ancestors put their trust, they trusted and you set them free.

5 To you they called for help and were delivered; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

6 But I am a worm, less than human, scorn of mankind, contempt of the people;

7 all who see me jeer at me, they sneer and wag their heads,

8 'He trusted himself to Yahweh, let Yahweh set him free! Let him deliver him, as he took such delight in him.'

9 It was you who drew me from the womb and soothed me on my mother's breast.

10 On you was I cast from my birth, from the womb I have belonged to you.

11 Do not hold aloof, for trouble is upon me, and no one to help me!

12 Many bulls are encircling me, wild bulls of Bashan closing in on me.

13 Lions ravening and roaring open their jaws at me.

14 My strength is trickling away, my bones are all disjointed, my heart has turned to wax, melting inside me.

15 My mouth is dry as earthenware, my tongue sticks to my jaw. You lay me down in the dust of death.

16 A pack of dogs surrounds me, a gang of villains closing in on me as if to hack off my hands and my feet.

17 I can count every one of my bones, while they look on and gloat;

18 they divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.

19 Yahweh, do not hold aloof! My strength, come quickly to my help,

20 rescue my soul from the sword, the one life I have from the grasp of the dog!

21 Save me from the lion's mouth, my poor life from the wild bulls' horns!

22 I shall proclaim your name to my brothers, praise you in full assembly:

23 'You who fear Yahweh, praise him! All the race of Jacob, honour him! Revere him, all the race of Israel!'

24 For he has not despised nor disregarded the poverty of the poor, has not turned away his face, but has listened to the cry for help.

25 Of you is my praise in the thronged assembly, I will perform my vows before all who fear him.

26 The poor will eat and be filled, those who seek Yahweh will praise him, 'May your heart live for ever.'

27 The whole wide world will remember and return to Yahweh, all the families of nations bow down before him.

28 For to Yahweh, ruler of the nations, belongs kingly power!

29 All who prosper on earth will bow before him, all who go down to the dust will do reverence before him. And those who are dead,

30 their descendants will serve him, will proclaim his name to generations

31 still to come; and these will tell of his saving justice to a people yet unborn: he has fulfilled it.

Tears of Blood...................a 9/11 poem

I closed my eyes,

When I opened them

I couldn't close them again.

How could I?

Is humanity dead?

Is peace dead?

Is violence the way?

Lord, have pity on us.

We have let you down.

We have made you cry.

Fire, smoke everywhere.

What did they get?

Nothing but innocent lives

and tears of blood.


Bikki Gautam of Nepal

JOEL 2:12-18

12 'But now -- declares Yahweh- come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning.'

13 Tear your hearts and not your clothes, and come back to Yahweh your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in faithful love, and he relents about inflicting disaster.

14 Who knows if he will not come back, relent and leave a blessing behind him, a cereal offering and a libation to be presented to Yahweh your God?

15 Blow the ram's-horn in Zion! Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,

16 call the people together, summon the community, assemble the elders, gather the children, even infants at the breast! Call the bridegroom from his bedroom and the bride from her bower!

17 Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, stand weeping between portico and altar, saying, 'Spare your people, Yahweh! Do not expose your heritage to the contempt, to the sarcasm of the nations! Why give the peoples cause to say, "Where is their God?" '

18 Then, becoming jealous over his country, Yahweh took pity on his people.

early in the morning I cry to you.

O God,

early in the morning I cry to you.

.Help me to pray,

and to concentrate .my thoughts on you:

I cannot do this alone.

In me there is darkness,

 But with you there is light;

I am lonely, but you do not leave me;

I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;

I am restless, but with you there is peace.

In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;

I do not understand your ways,

'but you know the way for me ...

Restore me to liberty,

And enable me so to live now

that I may answer before you and before me,

Lord, whatever this day may bring,

Your name be praised.

Amen.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906 - 1945)

- Isaiah 11:6-9

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox ... They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

- Isaiah 11:6-9

Oh, turn me, mold me, mellow me for use!

Oh, turn me, mold me, mellow me for use!


Pervade my being with Thy vital force,

That this else inexpressive life of mine

May become eloquent and full of power,

Impregnated with life and strength divine....

I cannot raise the dead, nor from this soil

'Pluck precious dust, nor bid the sleepers wake,

Nor still the storm, nor bend the lightning back,

Nor muffle up the thunder,

Nor bind the Evil One, nor bid the chain

Fall from creation's long-enfettered-limbs;

But I can live a life that tells on other lives, and makes

This world less full of evil and of pain-

A life, which like a pebble dropped at sea,

Sends its wide circles to a hundred shores.

Let such be mine! Creator of true life!

Thyself the life Thou givest, give Thyself,

That Thou mayst dwell in me, and I in Thee.

Amen.

Horatius Bonar n808 - 1887)

Your Law, 0 Lord,

Your Law, 0 Lord,


written on men's hearts,

inscribed and learned

by multitudes of men,

seeping through a thousand crevices

into the remote corners

of our world___

Your Law has reared

not only the huge symmetries of justice,

those marred majesties,

but even these little

complexities of discipline

that make the grit of life

less grinding,

the collision of will on will

less violent:

yellow lines on roads,

meters on the curb,

patrol boys at crossings,

lights that guide us with bright control

or blinking warn us in our hastiness.

.Teach us, 0 Lord,

to see in them a refraction from flashing Sinai,

to see Your moving finger in their work,

to give them our 'ready and quick assent,

to delight in them

as men made new

in Your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Through Him we pray.

Amen.

Martin H. Franzmann (1907 - 1976)

NIGHT PRAYER

Tired now, I go to rest,


Jesus, Savior, ever blest,

In Thy name I close mine eyes;

Watch Thou by me till I rise.

Thou my best and kindest friend

Thou wilt love me-till the end!

Let me love Thee more and more,

Always better than before.

Amen.

J. K. Wilhelm Loehe (1808 - 1872)

Jesus, You came not to be ministered unto

Jesus,

You came not to be ministered unto

but to minister.

Your ministry was your presence,

and it still is.

So we thank you for your presence

among us and within us.

Since we are most ourselves

when we are most attentive to you

and obey you,

Help us to go about our daily business

with your spirit

and to know that when we pray"

it is you praying within us.

So may we carry out our ministry

and yours.

Amen.

John B. Coburn (1914-

FATHER, FORGIVE

The hatred which divides nation

from nation, race from race,

class from class,

Father, forgive.

The covetous desires of men and

nations to possess what is not

their own,

Father, forgive.

The greed which exploits the

labors of men, and lays waste

the earth,

Father, forgive.

Our envy of the welfare and

happiness of others,

Father, forgive.

Our indifference to the plight of

the homeless and the refugee,

Father, forgive.

The lust which uses for ignoble

ends the bodies of men and

women,

Father, forgive.

The pride which leads us to trust

in ourselves and not in God,

Father, forgive.

Amen.

Coventry Cathedral (1962)

In me there is darkness,

In me there is darkness,


, But with you there is light;

I am lonely, but you do not leave me;

I am feeble in heart, but with you there is help;

I am restless, but with you there is peace,

In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience;

I do not understand your ways,

but you know the way for me...

Restore me to liberty,

And enable me so to live now

that I may answer before you and before me,

Lord; whatever this day may bring,

Your name be praised.

Amen.

"Via Dolorosa"

Toyohiko Kagawa (1888 -1960)


With sorrowful heart,

Yet for the joy of atonement,

You went, 0 Christ, to Calvary.

o Christ,

That a thousand and a thousand years

Have passed since Golgotha you braved;

And still men gasp with fear

And grasp with greed-and suffer:

Let us swing into the orbit of your love.

If the stars ceased to twinkle

And the sun forgot to shine,

The ever-increasing rays of God's love

Would find an earthward passage

Through you.

Hasten the day

When we can forget the borders of countries.

The hues of the skin;

When we-all of us together-

Can praise in harmony your love.

0, let us see more vividly

Your blood of love from Calvary,

Streaming like ever-increasing rays...

Earthward.

.

O SACRED HEAD

.


O sacred head, now wounded,

With grief and shame weighed down,

Now scornfully surrounded

With thorns, your only crown.

O sacred head, what glory

And bliss did once combine;

Though now despised and gory,

I joy to call you mine!


How pale you are with anguish,

With sore abuse and scorn!

Your face, your eyes now languish,

Which once were bright as mom.

Now from your cheeks has vanished

Their color once so fair;

From loving lips is banished

The splendor that was there.

What language can I borrow

To thank you, dearest friend,

For this your dying sorrow,

Your mercy without end?


Bind me to you forever,

Give courage from above;

Let not my weakness sever

Your bond of lasting love.

Amen.

Paul Gerhardt (1607 - 1676)

ONE SOLITARY LIFE

: Anonymous


He was born in an obscure village,

the child of a peasant woman.

He grew up in still another village, where he worked

in a carpenter shop until he was thirty.

Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book. He never held an office.

He never had a family or owned a house. He didn't

go to college. Be never visited a big city.

He never traveled two hundred miles from the place

where he was born. He did none of the things

one usually associates with greatness.

He had no credentials but him elf. He was only

thirty-three when the tide of public opinion

turned against him. His friends ran away. He was

turned over to his enemies and went through

the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross

between two thieves. While he was dying,

his executioners gambled for his clothing,

the only property he had on earth.

When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave

through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today

he is the central figure of the human race

and the leader of mankind's progress.

All the armies that ever marched, all the navies

that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat,

all the kings that ever reigned, put together,

have not affected the life of man

on this earth as much as that

Communion Hymn (Fifth Century)

Because for our sake you tasted gall, may the


Enemy's bitterness be killed in us.

Because for our sake you drank sour wine, may what

is weak in us be strengthened.

Because for our sake you Were spat upon, may we be

bathed in the dew of immortality.

Because for our sake you were struck with a rod, may

we receive shelter in the last.

Because for our sake you accepted a crown of thorns,

may we that love you be crowned with garlands

that never can fade.

Because for our sake you were wrapped in a shroud,

may we be clothed in your all-enfolding

strength.

Because you were laid in the new grave and the tomb,

may we receive renewal of soul and body.

Because you rose and returned to life, may we be

brought to life again...

Amen.

Communion Hymn (Fifth Century)

"The Touch Of The Master's Hand"

Anonymous


'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer

Thought-it scarcely worth his while

To waste much time on the old violin,



But he held it up with a smile;

"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried

"Who'll start the bidding for me?"

"A dollar, a dollar, now two, only two

Two dollars, and who'll make it three?

"Three dollars once, three dollars twice

Going for three." But no-

From the room far back, a gray haired man

Came forward and picked up the bow.

Then wiping the dust from the old violin

And tightening up all the strings

He played a melody pure and sweet,

As sweet as the angel sings.

The music ceased and the auctioneer

With a voice that was quiet and low

Said, "What am I bid for the old violin?"

And he held it up with the bow.

"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?

Two thousand and who'll make it three?

Three thousand once, three thousand twice

And going, and gone," said he.

The people cheered, but some of them cried,

"We do not quite understand-

What changed its worth?" Swift came the reply,

"The touch of the master's hand."

And many a man with life out of tune,

And battered and tom with sin

Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd,

Much like the old violin.



A mess of pottage, a life of shame,

A game and be travels on.

He's going once, and going twice,

He's going and almost gone.

But the Master comes and the foolish crowd

Never can quite understand

The worth of a •soul and the change that's wrought

By the touch of the Master's hand.

GRACE AT MEALS

Our table now with food is spread;

O God, who givest daily bread,

Bless these Thy gifts unto us so

That strength of body they bestow.

O feed the hungry, God of love,

Who sigh for bread to Heaven above;

Give to each land prosperity,

And bless the earth, the sky, the sea!

O may this day for Thee be spent,

And give us all a mind content;

O grant our souls the heavenly food

Which Jesus purchased with His blood.

Thomas Kingo (1634 - 1703)

A tender child of summers three

A tender child of summers three


Seeking her little bed at night,

Paused on the dark stair timidly.

"0 Mother, take my hand," said she,

"And then the dark will all be light."

We older children grope our way

From dark behind to dark before;

And only when our hands we lay

Dear Lord, in Thine, the night is day,

Reach downward to the sunless days

Wherein our guides are blind as we,

And faith is small, and hope delays;

Take Thou the hands of prayer we raise,

And let us feel the light of Thee.

Amen.

J. G. Whittier (1807 -.1892)

"You Are Needed!"

Anonymous


Someone has imagined the Carpenter's tools holding a conference.

Brother Hammer presided. Several suggested he leave the

meeting because he was too noisy. Replied the Hammer, "If 1

have to leave this shop, Brother Screw must go also. You have

to turn him around again and again to get him to accomplish

anything."

Brother Screw then spoke up. "If you wish, I'll leave. But

Brother Plane must leave too. All his work is on the surface. Hi

efforts have no depth."



To this Brother Plane responded, "Brother Rule will also have

to withdraw, for he is always measuring folks as though he were

the only one who is right."

Brother Rule then complained against Brother Sandpaper: "You

ought to leave too 'because you're so rough and always rubbing

people the wrong way."

In the midst of all this discussion, in walked the Carpenter of

Nazareth. He had arrived to start His day's work. Putting on His

apron, He went to the bench to make a pulpit from which to

proclaim the Gospel. He employed the hammer, screw, plane,

rule, sandpaper, and all the other tools. After the day's work

when the pulpit, was finished, Brother Saw arose and remarked:

"Brethren, I observe that all of us are workers together with the

Lord."

God is a God of variety. In nature, what a diversity of animals!

Every snowflake is different, every fingerprint, every face, Likewise,

God is a God of variety in His church. What a diversity of

gifts He has bestowed on believers to equip them for service!
.

O Christ, you take upon yourself

O Christ,


you take upon yourself all our burdens so that,

freed of all that weighs us down,

we can constantly begin anew to walk,

with lightened step,

from worry towards trusting,

from the shadows towards the clear flowing waters,

from our own will

towards the vision of the coming Kingdom.

And then we know,

though we hardly dared hope so,

that you offer to make every human being

a reflection of your face. Amen.

Roger Schutz (1915-

God's Trombones

James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)


And now, 0 Lord, this man of God,

Who breaks the bread of life this morning -

Shadow him in the hollow of thy hand,

And keep him out of the gunshot of the devil.

Take him Lord - this morning -

Wash him with hyssop inside and out,

Hang him up and drain him dry of sin.

Pin his ear to the wisdom-post,

And make his words sledge hammers of truth -

Beating on the iron heart of sin.

Lord God, this morning -

Put his eye to the telescope of eternity,

And let him look upon the paper walls of time.

Lord, turpentine his imagination,

Put perpetual motion in his arms,

Fill him full of the dynamite of thy power,

Anoint him all over with the oil of thy salvation,

And set ills tongue on fire.

And now, 0 Lord-

When I've done drunk my last cup of sorrow -

When I've been called everything but a child of God -

When I'm done traveling up the rough side of the

mountain -

0 Mary's Baby-

When I start down the steep and slippery steps of

death -

When tills old world begins to rock beneath my feet -



Lower me to my dusty grave in peace

To wait for that great gittin' up morning-

Amen.

Byzantine Vespers

The Lord my Creator took me as dust from the earth,

and formed me into a living being, I

breathing into me the breath of life. . ) ,.

God honored me,

setting me as ruler upon earth over all things visible,

and made me companion of the angels.

But Satan the deceiver,

using the serpent as instrument,

enticed me by food- ,

patted me from the glory of God,

and gave me over to the earth and to the lowest depths

of the earth.

But in compassion, 0 Savior, call me back again!



o paradise, garden of delight and beauty,

dwelling-place made perfect by God,

unending gladness and eternal joy,

the hope of the prophets and the home of the saints:

By the music of your rustling leaves

beseech the-Creator of all to open to me the gates

which my sins have closed,

that I may partake of the Tree of Life

which was given me in the beginning. Amen.

Civil War Soldier

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve...

I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.



I asked for health, that I might do great things...

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.


I asked for riches, that I might be happy...

I was given poverty, that I might be wise.


I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men...

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of

God.


I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life...

I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.


I got nothing that I asked for...

But everything that I hoped for.


Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were

answered...


I am among all men most richly blessed. Amen.



Found in the clothing of an unknown dead Civil War soldier

Lord, let me hunger enough

Lord, let me hunger enough that I not forget the world's hunger.

Lord, let me hunger enough that I may have bread to share.

Lord let me hunger enough that I may long for Bread of Heaven.

Lord, let me hunger enough that I may be filled.

But, 0 Lord, let me not hunger so much that I seek after that

which is not bread, nor try to live by bread alone. Amen.

Banquet of Praise