Each week we carefully curate a collection of poems that resonate with the lectionary readings for that week (Narrative Lectionary and Revised Common Lectionary).
*** Revised Common Lectionary ***
Lectionary Reading:
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
CLASSIC POEM:
Those Things Which Defile
Charlotte Mason
Nay , then, perceive ye not, e’en ye, My friends,
Why nought a man consumes defilement lends?
These things pass from him and their mischief ends:
Wherefore all meats are clean for whoso eats
Discerning,—cleanness cometh not of meats;
Nor washings, purgings, cleanse the soul of heats:
Are ye so blinded by mere touch and sight
That ye hold a man no more than in the light
Of common day appears to all men’s sight?
I tell you, man is more than all those things
He takes and uses; from himself he brings
The worth he finds in these; he lavish flings
The glory of his praises on poor stuff
Not worthy nor unworthy, nor enough
To make his passing hours or smooth or rough:
Riches and poverty be lodged in him;
Nought from without his purity may dim;
From him comes all defilement—howe’er grim:
’Tis not the meat his mouth takes in defiles;
Out of him issues that his soul beguiles,
Odious uncleanness, soul-destroying wiles.
’Tis evil thoughts defile, not casual soil;
His evil is within him; all that moil
Of simmering ill-thoughts that in him boil;
All strife and bitterness, all wrath and hate,
The dull resentment that knows not to abate—
In a man’s heart these, murders, propagate.
All lust, corrupting heart, destroying flesh,
Lasciviousness,—soul-enervating mesh,—
These things from man’s heart issue, old yet fresh.
The eye which looks on others’ wealth with spite,
The railing tongue which embitters all delight,
The furtive theft, contrived in dark of night,—
The arrogance, the folly, spoils a man;
All wickedness which mars the perfect plan
Of lovely living set for every man;—
’Tis these things from within a man defile:
There issues from him every evil wile
Which doth to wickedness his heart beguile.
“This, a hard word, O Lord! wherewith shall we
Cleanse th’ poisoned spring that pure its waters be,
Draw love and sweetness from foul heart for Thee?”
*** This poem is in the public domain,
and may be read in a live-streamed worship service.
The Vocation
Sheryl Luna
SNIPPET:
Lit with strange carpentry magic —
they build time-shares in her head.
…
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C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
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