With the dawn of Advent and a new church year, we’ve revamped our weekly post of poetry that resonates with the lectionary readings for that week (Narrative Lectionary and Revised Common Lectionary).
*** Revised Common Lectionary ***
Lectionary Reading: Psalm 29
CLASSIC POEM:
Psalm 29
Isaac Watts
Give to the Lord, ye sons of fame,
Give to the Lord renown and power,
Ascribe due honors to his name,
And his eternal might adore.
The Lord proclaims his power aloud
Over the ocean and the land;
His voice divides the wat’ry cloud,
And lightnings blaze at his command.
He speaks, and tempest, hail, and wind,
Lay the wide forest bare around:
The fearful hart and frightened hind
Leap at the terror of the sound.
To Lebanon he turns his voice,
And lo, the stately cedars break;
The mountains tremble at the noise,
The valleys roar, the deserts quake.
The Lord sits sovereign on the flood,
The Thund’rer reigns for ever king;
But makes his church his blest abode,
Where we his awful glories sing.
In gentler language there, the Lord
The counsels of his grace imparts;
Amidst the raging storm, his word
Speaks peace and courage to our hearts.
*** This poem is in the public domain,
and may be read in a live-streamed worship service.
CONTEMPORARY POEM:
Angel at the Nativity
Tania Runyan
Found in:
Simple Weight
(Editor’s note: With the nativity fresh in our lectionary memories, this poem is a fitting link between that and the Psalm for this week. )
Oh, God, I am heavy
with glory. My head thunders
from singing in the hills.
This night will come once.
Enough bright lights.
Enough shouting
at the shepherds in the fields.
Let me slip into the stable
and crouch among
the rooting swine.
Let me close my eyes
and feel the child’s breath,
this wind that blows
through the mountains and stars,
lifting my weary wings.
Published here with the permission of the poet.
(c) Tania Runyan, 2010.
Published by FutureCycle Press, Lexington, Kentucky, 2010.
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