Lenten Devotional: Day 43

Simon The Cyrenian Speaks

Countee Cullen

He never spoke a word to me,
And yet He called my name;
He never gave a sign to me,
And yet I knew and came. 
At first I said, “I will not bear
His cross upon my back;
He only seeks to place it there
Because my skin is black.”

But He was dying for a dream,
And He was very meek,
And in His eyes there shone a gleam
Men journey far to seek.

It was Himself my pity bought;
I did for Christ alone
What all of Rome could not have wrought
With bruise of lash or stone. 

Pray: Psalm 8

When I look at the stars,
the skies,
the heavens…
 
I think, “Who am I?”
 
Who am I that You
 
Creator of the ends of the universe
 
Notice me?
 
Think of me?
 
Care about me?
 
Who am I?
 
I am Yours.
Yours.
Yours.
 
Thank You…
Thank You…
Thank You…
For caring about me.

Lenten Devotional: Day 42

One Crown That No One Seeks

Emily Dickinson
 
One crown that no one seeks
And yet the highest head
Its isolation coveted
Its stigma deified

While Pontius Pilate lives
In whatsoever hell
That coronation pierces him
He recollects it well.  

Pray: Show Me

Show me,
Gracious Lord,
     the peace I should seek,
     the peace I can keep,
     the peace I must forgo,
     and the peace I must give,
For Your kingdom’s sake.

Lenten Devotional: Day 41

Magdalene

As soon as night descends, we meet. 
Remorse my memories releases. 
The demons of the past compete, 
And draw and tear my heart to pieces, 
Sin, vice and madness and deceit, 
When I was slave of men’s caprices 
And when my dwelling was the street. 

The deathly silence is not far; 
A few more moments only matter, 
Which the Inevitable bar. 
But at the edge, before they scatter, 
In front of Thee my life I shatter, 
As though an alabaster jar. 

O what might not have been my fate 
By now, my Teacher and my Saviour, 
Did not eternity await 
Me at the table, as a late 
New victim of my past behaviour! 

But what can sin now mean to me, 
And death, and hell, and sulphur burning, 
When, like a graft onto a tree, 
I have-for everyone to see- 
Grown into being part of Thee 
In my immeasurable yearning? 

When pressed against my knees I place 
Thy precious feet, and weep, despairing, 
Perhaps I’m learning to embrace 
The cross’s rough four-sided face; 
And, fainting, all my being sways 
Towards Thee, Thy burial preparing.Rumi
 
Today, like every other day,
we wake up empty and frightened.
Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading.
Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. 

Pray: Savior, In This Quiet Place

Fred Pratt Green 1974
 
O Savior
in this quiet place
where anyone may kneel
I also come
to ask for grace
believing You can heal.

Lenten Devotional: Day 40

I called through your door

Rumi
 
I called through your door,
“The prayerful ones
are gathering in the street.
Something huge is
happening.
Come out!”
 
You called back,
“Leave me alone.
I’m ill.”
 
I yell in return,
“I don’t care if you’re dead!
Come out!
Jesus is here.
And he wants
to resurrect somebody!” 

Pray: How Great Thou Art

Carl Gustav Boberg 1885
English Version Stuart K. Hine 1953
 
O Lord my God
when I
in awesome wonder
consider
all the works
Thy hands have made
 
I see
the stars
I hear
the rolling  thunder
Your power throughout
the universe displayed…
 
Then sings my soul
my Savior God
to Thee
how great Thou art!
how great Thou art!

Lenten Devotional: Day 39

Our journey had advanced

Emily Dickinson
 
Our journey had advanced.
Our feet were almost come
To that odd fork in Being’s road
“Eternity” by term.
 
Our pace took sudden awe.
Our feet reluctant led.
Before were cities, but between
The forest of the dead.
 
Retreat was out of hope,
Behind, a sealed route,
“Eternity’s” white flag before,
And God at every gate. 
 

Pray: God Be With Me

God be with me,
 
before me,
behind me,
in me,
beneath me,
above me,
on my right,
on my left,
where I lie,
where I sit,
where I rise,
in my heart,
in my mouth,
in my ears,
in my eyes,
 
God be with me.

Lenten Devotional: Day 38

Poem

Wendell Berry
 
Willing to die
you give up
your will, keep still
until, moved
by what moves
all else, you move. 

Pray: John 12:27-28

Father,
my soul is troubled,
What shall I say?
“Save me from this hour?”
 
No.
 
Your purpose is lived out
in this moment.
 
For Your purpose,
I have come to this place,
this time,
this moment.
 
I,
 
Here,
 
Now,
 
for You.
 
Glorify Your Name
in me.

Lenten Devotional: Day 37

Lost

David Wagoner
 
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you. 

Pray: Psalm 40

I waited for You,
and You heard my cry.
You picked me up
from the mire I was in,
from the bog that was my life.
 
You picked me up
and put me on solid ground.
 
You put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to You.
 
I will sing a new song,
for You,
to You,
because of You.

Lenten Devotional: Day 36

A Great Pilgrimage

Kabir
 
I felt in need of a great pilgrimage
so I sat still for three
days
 
and God came
to me. 

Pray: Guide Me

William Williams, 1745
 
Guide me
O Thou
Great Jehovah.
 
I am a pilgrim
in a barren land. 
 
I am weak
but Thou art mighty.
 
Hold me
 
with Your
powerful hand. 

Lenten Devotional: Day 35

Riveted

Robyn Sarah
 
It is possible that things will not get better
than they are now, or have been known to be.
It is possible that we are past the middle now.
It is possible that we have crossed the great water
without knowing it, and stand now on the other side.
Yes: I think that we have crossed it. Now
we are being given tickets, and they are not
tickets to the show we had been thinking of,
but to a different show, clearly inferior.
 
Check again: it is our own name on the envelope.
The tickets are to that other show.
 
It is possible that we will walk out of the darkened hall
without waiting for the last act: people do.
Some people do. But it is probable
that we will stay seated in our narrow seats
all through the tedious dénouement
to the unsurprising end — riveted, as it were;
spellbound by our own imperfect lives
because they are lives,
and because they are ours. 

Pray: As The Rain

Alistair MacLean
 
As the rain
hides the stars,
as the autumn mist
hides the hills,
as the clouds veil
the blue of the sky,
so the dark
happenings
of my life
hide the shining
of Your face
from me.
 
I am reaching out to You.
 
If You will let me
take hold of Your hand,
though I may stumble,
I will not fall,
because    You,
unfailing,
never falter.

Lenten Devotional: Day 23

The Way It Is

William Stafford
 
There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change.  But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread. 

Pray: I Believe

I believe
You are real
though
I cannot
see You.
 
I believe
You are near
though
I cannot
sense You.
 
I believe
You care for me
though
I cannot
feel You.
 
Draw me closer
so that I may
see You,
feel Your presence,
sense Your love.
 
I believe,
Help my unbelief.

Lenten Devotional: Day 22

This we have now

Rumi
 
This we have now is not imagination.
 
This is not grief or joy.
 
Not a judging state, or an elation, or sadness.
 
Those come and go.
This is the presence that doesn’t. 

Pray: For Everlasting Love

Henri Nouwen
 
Dear God,
 
I am so afraid
to open my clenched fists!
 
Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to?
Who will I be when I stand
before you with empty hands?
 
Please help me
to gradually open my hands
and to discover
that I am not what I own,
but what you want to give me.
And what you want to give me
is love,
unconditional,
everlasting love.
Amen.

Lenten Devotional: Day 21

The Three Kings

Muriel Spark
 
Where do we go from here?
We left our country,
Bore gifts,
Followed a star.
We were questioned.
We answered.
We reached our objective.
We enjoyed the trip.
Then we came back by a different way.
And now the people are demonstrating in the streets.
They say they don’t need the Kings any more.
They did very well in our absence.
Everything was all right without us.
They are out on the streets with placards:
Wise Men? What’s wise about them?
There are plenty of Wise Men,
And who needs them? -and so on.
 
Perhaps they will be better off without us,
But where do we go from here? 

Pray: Isaiah 6:8

Here am I,
send me.

(Repeat prayer as many times as necessary.)
 

 

Lenten Devotional: Day 20

Reading Moby-Dick at 30,000 Feet        Tony Hoagland

 At this height, Kansas
is just a concept,
a checkerboard design of wheat and corn
 
no larger than the foldout section
of my neighbor’s travel magazine.
At this stage of the journey
 
I would estimate the distance
between myself and my own feelings
is roughly the same as the mileage
 
from Seattle to New York,
so I can lean back into the upholstered interval
between Muzak and lunch,
 
a little bored, a little old and strange.
I remember, as a dreamy
backyard kind of kid,
 
tilting up my head to watch
those planes engrave the sky
in lines so steady and so straight
 
they implied the enormous concentration
of good men,
but now my eyes flicker
 
from the in-flight movie
to the stewardess’s pantyline,
then back into my book,
 
where men throw harpoons at something
much bigger and probably
better than themselves,
 
wanting to kill it,
wanting to see great clouds of blood erupt
to prove that they exist.
 
Imagine being born and growing up,
rushing through the world for sixty years
at unimaginable speeds.
 
Imagine a century like a room so large,
a corridor so long
you could travel for a lifetime
 
and never find the door,
until you had forgotten
that such a thing as doors exist.
 
Better to be on board the Pequod,
with a mad one-legged captain
living for revenge.
 
Better to feel the salt wind
spitting in your face,
to hold your sharpened weapon high,
 
to see the glisten
of the beast beneath the waves.
What a relief it would be
 
to hear someone in the crew
cry out like a gull,
Oh Captain, Captain!
Where are we going now? 

Pray: Take Me

God,
 
My heart is not large enough,
enlarge it.
 
My vision is not clear enough,
enlighten it.
 
My will is not tough enough,
strengthen it.
 
I can’t get there on my own,
take me.

Lenten Devotional: Day 19

The Infinite a sudden guest

Emily Dickinson
 
The Infinite a sudden guest
Has been assumed to be,
But how can that stupendous come
Which never went away? 

Pray: Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise

Walter Smith, 1876

Immortal
Invisible
God only wise
 
In light
Inaccessible
Hid from my eyes
 
Most blessed
Most glorious
Ancient of Days
 
Almighty
Victorious
 
Your great name
I praise.

Lenten Devotional: Day 18

Joseph

Unknown
 
Joseph,
sitting at the bottom of a well,
cast there by his brothers,
listened ahead to the end
of his story.
Listeners like him,
travelers on the way,
understand success and
un-success both
as part of the story.
They are one. 

Pray: Nearer My God to Thee

Sarah F. Adams 1805-1848
 
Nearer
my God
to Thee.
 
Nearer
my God.
to Thee.
 
Even though
it be a cross
that raiseth me,
 
Nearer
my God
to Thee.

Lenten Devotional: Day 17

Psalm 23

from The Bay Psalm Book
 
  The Lord to me a shepherd is,
     Want therefore I shall not,
  He in the folds of tender grass
     Doth make me down to lie   
  To waters calm he gently leads
     Restore my soul doth he
  He doth in paths of righteousness
     For his names sake lead me.   
  Yea though in valley of death’s shade
     I walk none ill I’ll fear,
  Because thou art with me, thy rod,
     and staff my comfort are.   
  For me a table thou hast spread
     In presence of my foes;
  Thou dost annoint my head with oil
     My cup it over-flows.   
  Goodness and mercy surely shall
     All my days follow me;
  And in the Lord’s house I shall dwell
     So long as days shall be. 
 

Pray: Psalm 23

Lord,
You are my shepherd.
 
You guide me
down the right path,
to green pastures,
by quiet waters,
where You restore my soul.
 
I trust and am not afraid,
even in the darkest valley
where death seems all around
I trust and am not afraid
because You comfort me.
 
You prepare me a table,
You anoint my head,
You fill my cup.
 
I trust and am not afraid,
because in Your house
I will dwell forever.
 
Lord,
You are my shepherd.

Lenten Devotional: Day 16

The Peace of Wild Things

Wendell Berry
 
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
 
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. 

Pray: For the Beauty of The Earth

Folliott Sanford Pierpoint 1864
 
For the beauty
of Your earth
for the beauty
of  Your skies
for the beauty
of Your love
which from my birth
over and around me lies…
 
Lord of all to You I raise
this my prayer of grateful praise.
 
For the beauty
of each hour
of the day
and of the night
hill and vale
tree and flower
sun and moon
stars of light…
 
Lord of all to You I raise
this my prayer of grateful praise.

Lenten Devotional: Day 15

The Scattered Congregation

Tomas Tranströmer
I
We got ready and showed our home
The visitor thought: you live well.
The slum must be inside you.
 
II
Inside the church, pillars and vaulting
white as plaster, like the cast
around the broken arm of faith.
 
III
Inside the church there’s a begging bowl
that slowly lifts from the floor
and floats along the pews.
 
IV
But the church bells have gone underground.
They’re hanging in the sewage pipes.
Whenever we take a step, they ring.
 
V
Nicodemus the sleepwalker is on his way
to the Address. Who’s got the Address?
Don’t know. But that’s where we’re going. 

Pray: Just As I Am

Charlotte Elliott 1834
 
Tossed about
with many conflicts
many doubts
just as I am
to You I come.
 
Fightings and fears
within and without
just as I am
to You I come.
 
You will receive
You will welcome
pardon cleanse relieve
just as I am
to You I come.
 
Your promise
I believe
just as I am
to You I come.
 
Just as I am
to You I come.

Lenten Devotional: Day 14

Is My Soul Asleep?

Antonio Machado
 
Is my soul asleep?
Have those beehives that labor
at night stopped? And the water-
wheel of thought,
is it dry, the cups empty,
wheeling, carrying only shadows?
No, my soul is not asleep,
It is awake, wide awake.
It neither sleeps nor dreams, but watches,
its clear eyes open,
far-off things, and listens
at the shores of the great silence.
 

Pray: Psalm 8

When I look at the stars,
the skies,
the heavens…
 
I think, “Who am I?”
 
Who am I that You
 
Creator of the ends of the universe
 
Notice me?
 
Think of me?
 
Care about me?
 
Who am I?
 
I am Yours.
Yours.
Yours.
 
Thank You…
Thank You…
Thank You…
For caring about me.

Lenten Devotional: Day 13

I Love Jesus
Antonio Machado
 
—I love Jesus, who said to us:
Heaven and earth will pass away.
When heaven and earth have passed away,
my word will remain.
What was your word, Jesus?
Love? Forgiveness? Affection?
All your words were
one word: Wakeup.

Pray: Take Thou My Mind

William H. Foulkes 1918
 
Take Thou my mind
dear Lord
I humbly pray.
 
Give me
the mind of Christ
each passing day.
 
Teach me
to know the truth
that sets me free.
 
Grant me
in all my thoughts
to honor Thee.