Category: Poetry

Jesus Draws Away: poem and prayer from Matthew 14

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inspired by Matthew 14:1-21

John the Baptizer at his highest point
spoke to soft souls of God’s rigorous way,
of the need for true repentance to join
the highway of God’s holiness today.
But now, good John, imprisoned unjustly,
caught up in the machinations of power,
is dead. A young girl’s passion-dance swiftly
brought a king’s rash vow—John’s death in an hour.
That same king’s wary eye falls on Jesus.
whose wonder-working power has drawn great crowds;
a sort of echo: John redivivus.
King Herod wants to seek and end that sound.
So, now, Jesus withdraws to the desert
to let His Father’s loving voice recenter.

* * *

A prayer of response:

Lord, give me grace
to hear Your voice of love
amidst all the sounds
and pressures of life.
Help me know when and how
to withdraw with You
that I might be recentered
by You and in You.

Epiphany: The Journey of the Magi

Matt Erickson1 Comment

epiphany.jpgEpiphany means a manifestation. In the Christian year, Epiphany is the celebration of that revelation of Jesus as Messiah in the eyes of the nations. The moments of Jesus’ life most clearly connected with Epiphany are:

Epiphany begins on the twelfth day of Christmas (you always wondered what that song was about) and continues until the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.

I love poetry and here is one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, T. S. Eliot, reading his poem “The Journety of the Magi,” to help us enter into the celebration of Epiphany.

An Angel at the Altar: Zechariah’s Encounter with Gabriel

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Blake - Zecharias and the Angel.jpeg
William Blake, The Angel Appearing to Zacharias, pen and black ink, tempera, and glue size on canvas; 1799-1800.

an angel at the altar
heaven’s glory shatters earth’s sanctity
a voice indescribable yet understandable
a promise of hope unimaginable
confusion for old Zechariah
“our age – my wife – a baby – God – now?”
his call and God’s response
no utterance or voice now
his silence itself a testimony
that speaks of the ineffable
what has happened
what is happening
the first flutter of life within Elizabeth
gestates a voice of hope for humanity

I wrote these words after reading and reflecting on Luke 1:5-25 as part of my Advent readings and shared it in my message this past Sunday. Zechariah has always struck me as a figure we all could relate to from Scripture. He encounters an angel of the Lord in the Temple, the place of all places that it seems like such a thing should happen. Yet Zechariah is so overwhelmed and confused by the message the angel brings that he doubts it could be possible. Struck dumb until the birth of the child, his silence becomes a message, even as the baby that his wife, Elizabeth, carries in her womb will be “a voice of one crying out,” directing attention to the Messiah. There is so much in here about speaking and silence, hearing and responding, as part of God’s work in relationship to humanity.

Malcolm Guite, “Our Mother-tongue Is Love” – A Sonnet for Pentecost

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Here is Malcolm Guite’s poem for Pentecost Sunday, “Our Mother-tongue is Love.” This sonnet is taken from Guite’s book Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year. Malcolm Guite is an Anglican priest, poet, and songwriter, who served as a Life Fellow and chaplain of Girton College, Cambridge.

Today we feel the wind beneath our wings
Today the hidden fountain flows and plays
Today the church draws breath at last and sings
As every flame becomes a Tongue of praise.
This is the feast of fire,air, and water
Poured out and breathed and kindled into earth.
The earth herself awakens to her maker
And is translated out of death to birth.
The right words come today in their right order
And every word spells freedom and release
Today the gospel crosses every border
All tongues are loosened by the Prince of Peace
Today the lost are found in His translation.
Whose mother-tongue is Love, in every nation.

You can hear a recording of Malcolm Guite reading this poem here.

The Chaos of Joy: Remembering Jesus’ Triumphal Entry

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“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)

Your presence breaks over the hills like a rising sun.
Zechariah’s words echo through the atmosphere,
mingled with the rustle of feet and whisper
of palm branches laid down before You. Then
the first voice rings out, “Hosanna!”, and then
another replies, “Blessed is he who comes in the Name
of the Lord!” Then more voices resound, “Hosanna!”
The journey from the Mount of Olives to the gates
of Jerusalem assumes the momentum of an avalanche
as the crowd grows to a commotion of
great celebration. “He is here,” they seem to say.
“The One who we have waited for all our lives.”