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.

Lenten Devotional: Day 12

The Vacation

Wendell Berry
 
Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.
He went flying down the river in his boat
with his video camera to his eye, making
a moving picture of the moving river
upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly
toward the end of his vacation. He showed
his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,
preserving it forever: the river, the trees,
the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat
behind which he stood with his camera
preserving his vacation even as he was having it
so that after he had had it he would still
have it. It would be there. With a flick
of a switch, there it would be. But he
would not be in it. He would never be in it.

Pray: Open My Eyes

Clara Scott

Open my eyes
that I may see
glimpses of truth
Thou hast for me.
 
Place in my hands
the wonderful key
that shall unclasp
and set me free.
 
Silently now
I wait for Thee
 
Ready my God
Thy will to see
 
Open my eyes
illumine me,
 
Spirit divine!
 

 

Lenten Devotional: Day 11

Selling your donkey

Rumi
 
Imagine a man selling his donkey to be with Jesus.
Now imagine him selling Jesus to get a ride on a donkey.
This does happen. 

Pray: God, Give Me to Abide in Thee

Dag Hammarskjold
 
God,
 
Give me a pure heart
that I may see Thee,
 
a humble heart
that I may hear Thee,
 
a heart of love
that I may serve Thee,
 
a heart of faith
that I may abide in Thee.

Lenten Devotional: Day 10

Four things

Antonio Machado
 
—Mankind owns four things
that are no good at sea:
rudder, anchor, oars
and the fear of going down. 

Pray: Take My Life

Frances Ridley Havergal 1874
 
Take my life
and let it be
consecrated
Lord to Thee.
 
Take my silver
and my gold
not a cent
do I withhold.
 
Take my moments
and my days
let them flow
in ceaseless praise.
 
Take myself
and I will be
ever only
all for Thee.

Lenten Devotional: Day 9

Just Be Ready

William Stafford
 
You can’t tell when strange things with meaning
will happen. I’m [still] here writing it down
just the way it was.
“You don’t have to prove anything,”
my mother said. “Just be ready
for what God sends.”
I listened and put my hand
out in the sun again. It was all easy. 

Pray: Breathe on Me

Edwin Hatch

Breathe on me
Breath of God
 
Fill me
with life anew
 
I want to love
as You love
and do
as You want me to do.
 
Breathe on me
Breath of God
until I
am wholly Thine
until this
earthly part of me
glows with
Your fire divine.

Lenten Devotional: Day 8

Foolish one

Hafiz
 
Foolish one,
do something,
or else you’ll just be
standing there, looking dumb.
 
If you are not traveling
 and on the road,
how can you call yourself a guide?
 
 

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 7

Confluents

Christina Rossetti
 
As rivers seek the sea,
  Much more deep than they,
So my soul seeks thee
  Far away:
As running rivers moan
On their course alone
  So I moan
  Left alone.
 
As the delicate rose
  To the sun’s sweet strength
Doth herself unclose,
  Breadth and length:
So spreads my heart to thee
Unveiled utterly,
  I to thee
  Utterly.
 
As morning dew exhales
  Sunwards pure and free,
So my spirit fails
  After thee:
As dew leaves not a trace
On the green earth’s face;
  I, no trace
  On thy face.
 
Its goal the river knows,
  Dewdrops find a way,
Sunlight cheers the rose
  In her day:
Shall I, lone sorrow past,
Find thee at the last?
  Sorrow past,
  Thee at last? 

Pray: Psalm 42

As a deer
thirsts for a stream,
so my soul
thirsts for You.
 
I start to weep,
I begin to moan,
then I say to my soul,
“Soul, why so cast down?
“Trust God,
“Hope again.”
 
As a deer
thirsts for a stream,
so my soul
thirsts for You.

Lenten Devotional: Day 6

Today, like every other day

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 5

The Day Millicent Found the World

William Stafford
 
Every morning Millicent ventured farther
into the woods.  At first she stayed
near light, the edge where bushes grew, where
her way back appeared in glimpses among
dark trunks behind her.  Then by farther paths
or openings where giant pines had fallen
she explored ever deeper into
the interior, till one day she stood under a great
dome among columns, the heart of the forest, and knew:
Lost.  She had achieved a mysterious world
where any direction would yield only surprise…
 

Pray: Be Thou My Vision

Mary E. Byrne, 1905

Be Thou my vision
O Lord of my heart.
Naught be all else to me
save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought
by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping
Thy presence my light.