Poetry

Lectionary Poetry – 17th Sunday After Pentecost ( Year B )


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 8:27-38

 
 

CLASSIC POEM:

Concerning Jesus
XVII
George Macdonald

Holy of holies, my bare feet draw nigh:
Jesus, thy body is the shining veil
By which I look on God, nor grow death-pale.
I know that in my verses poor may lie
Things low, for see, the thinker is not high!
But were my song as loud as saints’ all-hail,
As pure as prophet’s cry of warning wail,
As holy as thy mother’s ecstasy—
He sings a better, who, for love or ruth,
Into his heart a little child doth take.
Nor thoughts nor feelings, art nor wisdom seal
The man who at thy table bread shall break.
Thy praise was not that thou didst know, or feel,
Or show, or love, but that thou didst the truth.

*** This poem is in the public domain, 
  and may be read in a live-streamed worship service.
 
 

CONTEMPORARY POEM:

The Messiah Reconsidered
Myra Sklarew

SNIPPET:

How often
and in what detail
we have imagined you.

Like the fine blades
of grass, the attention
to each wing petal
of the angel da Vinci made.

This is the way
we have counted off
the years
of your absence.

READ THE FULL POEM ]

 
 

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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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