Poem: from "The Echoes Return Slow"
There are nights that are so still
that I can hear the small owl calling
far off, and a fox barking
miles away. It is then that I lie
in the lean hours awake, listening
to the swell born somewhere in the Atlantic
rising and falling, rising and falling
wave on wave on the long shore
by the village, that is without light
and companionless. And the thought comes
of that other being who is awake, too,
letting our prayers break on him
not like this for a few hours,
but for days, years, for eternity.
--------R. S. Thomas (1913-2000) Welsh poet and Anglican priest, from Collected Later Poems, 1988-2000, p. 51.
Proverb:
“Between God and soul there is no between.”
----------Dame Julian of Norwich (1343-@1416) , English anchorite, theologian, and author
Painting: Prayer in Church, Gerard Sekoto, 1947
Prayer: A Time for Embracing
Lord Jesus,
whose arms are eternally stretched wide to embrace us,
be with us this day, and teach us.
Teach us to embrace your call to repentance and renewal,
that we may be brought before You as little children.
Teach us to embrace this day and its beauty,
rather than worrying about tomorrow.
Teach us to embrace the poor and the outcast,
for we are one in body and spirit.
Teach us to embrace love,
regardless of the cost.
Teach us to embrace obedience,
to empty ourselves so that You may fill us completely.
Teach us to embrace those
who do not understand us or reject us,
and to love them wholeheartedly anyway.
Precious Savior,
place your hand of blessing over those we now name,
drawing them to You in your mercy.
Amen.
----------Leslie Barnes Scoopmire, March, 2021
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