Each week we carefully curate a collection of poems that resonate with the lectionary readings for that week (Narrative Lectionary and Revised Common Lectionary).
Lectionary Reading:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
CLASSIC POEM:
The Law, and the Gospel
Henry Vaughan
Lord, when thou didst on Sinai pitch
And shine from Paran, when a firie Law
Pronounc’d with thunder, and thy threats did thaw
Thy Peoples hearts, when all thy weeds were rich
And Inaccessible for light;
Terrour, and might,
How did poor flesh (which after thou didst weare,)
Then faint, and fear!
Thy Chosen flock, like leafs in a high wind,
Whisper’d obedience, and their heads Inclin’d.
But now since we to Sion came,
And through thy bloud thy glory see,
With filial Confidence we touch ev’n thee;
And where the other mount all clad in flame,
And threatning Clouds would not so much
As ‘bide the touch,
We Climb up this, and have too all the way
Thy hand our stay,
Nay, thou tak’st ours, and (which ful Comfort brings)
Thy Dove too bears us on her sacred wings.
Yet since man is a very brute
And after all thy Acts of grace doth kick,
Slighting that health thou gav’st, when he was sick,
Be not displeas’d, If I, who have a sute
To thee each houre, beg at thy door
For this one more;
O plant in me thy Gospel , and thy Law ,
Both Faith , and Awe ;
So twist them in my heart, that ever there
I may as wel as Love , find too thy fear !
Let me not spil, but drink thy bloud,
Not break thy fence, and by a black Excess
Force down a Just Curse, when thy hands would bless;
Let me not scatter, and despise my food,
Or nail those blessed limbs again
Which bore my pain;
So Shall thy mercies flow; for while I fear,
I know, thou’lt bear,
But should thy mild Injunction nothing move me,
I would both think, and Judge I did not love thee.
*** This poem is in the public domain,
and may be read in a live-streamed worship service.
CONTEMPORARY POEM:
Parable of Faith
Louise Glück
Snippet:
…
Do you know
what forgiveness means? It means
the world has sinned, the world
must be pardoned—
[ READ THE FULL POEM ]
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