Each week we carefully curate a collection of poems that resonate with the lectionary readings for that week (Narrative Lectionary and Revised Common Lectionary).
*** Narrative Lectionary ***
Lectionary Reading: Acts 10:1-17, 34-48
CLASSIC POEM:
Easter
Edmund Spenser
MOST glorious Lord of Lyfe! that, on this day,
Didst make Thy triumph over death and sin;
And, having harrowd hell, didst bring away
Captivity thence captive, us to win:
This joyous day, deare Lord, with joy begin;
And grant that we, for whom thou diddest dye,
Being with Thy deare blood clene washt from sin,
May live for ever in felicity!
And that Thy love we weighing worthily,
May likewise love Thee for the same againe;
And for Thy sake, that all lyke deare didst buy,
With love may one another entertayne!
So let us love, deare Love, lyke as we ought,
–Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.
*** This poem is in the public domain,
and may be read in a live-streamed worship service.
CONTEMPORARY POEM:
Descending Theology:
Christ Human
Mary Karr
SNIPPET:
…
The miracle’s not just
that you became us, but also
those breathed-in instants allotted to us each
(even poor Brother Judas),
when one relinquishes self and will and want.
Then you’re laid bare in us,
and for some briefly gentle eyeblink
we bloom and are you.
[ READ THE FULL POEM ]
from POETRY magazine (December 2001)
A variant of this poem appears in
Mary Karr’s book SINNERS WELCOME.
Read the variant poem here.
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