LOVE BADE ME WELCOME

Poem by George Herbert

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back
guiltie of dust and sinne.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
from my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
if I lacked anything.

A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:
Love said, You shall be he.
I the unkinde, ungrateful? Ah, my deare,
I cannot look on thee.
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
Who made the eyes but I?

Truth, Lord, but I have marr’d them: let my shame
go where it doth deserve.
And know you not, sayes Love, who bore the blame?
My deare, then will I serve.
You must sit down, sayes Love, and taste my meat:
So I did sit and eat.

NEW BORN CHILDREN OF GOD

All in Christ’s body, all parts of the same,
Led by his teaching and linked by his name.
We in the church, be our roles what they may,
Members or officers, clergy or lay:

(Chorus)

We are new born children of God,
Born of the Spirit, we.
We are daughters and sons, babes every one,
And bonded eternally.

Pillars and buttresses, movers and sparks,
Nurturers, servers, and workers of works,
Critics and catalysts, gov’nors and guards,
Founders, creators, enhancers and bards:

(Chorus)

We, still so different in talent and taste,
Often apart in the lives we’ve embraced.
Only in spirit we truly are met,
Only in spirit we can not forget:

(Chorus)

TO BECOME OURSELVES IN YOU

God, in you our lives are founded,
and in you our futures lie.
All our hopes in you are grounded,
and to you our longings fly.
May we never lose the vision,
or believe it less than true,
That we hold one common mission:
to become ourselves in you.

As a parent oft we love you,
you we honor and obey,
Then we cast ourselves above you
as we learn to make our way.
May this freedom that you give us,
that we cling so fiercely to,
Be a freedom that will lead us
to become ourselves in you.

You, the deepest depth within us,
you, our fullest life to come.
You, whose will is to extend us,
you, our goal and you, our home.
By your grace sustain our growing
till our journey here is through.
May our end then be our going
to become ourselves in you.

TWO LOVES HAVE WE

Two loves have we of bounteous worth:
Our love of God, our love of all on earth.
And though these loves be not opposed,
One often falters as the other grows.

The love of God must reign supreme
For many minds, though sad that love would seem
If from the world our care were turned,
And all our striving here on earth were spurned.

The love of earth and earth to come
Is love enough and passionate for some.
To look beyond they call escape,
And irresponsible a heav’n-ward gape.

Between two loves we may be caught,
And feel to choose between these loves we ought.
Or else, to keep our conscience clear,
Uphold them both, with neither held too dear.

Two loves have we. May each endure
And make fulfillment of the other sure.
The love of God our work here prod;
The love of earth express our love of God.

TO LIVE BEYOND OURSELVES

 

To live beyond ourselves: a promise and a call
Into a kingdom waiting for us, and for seekers all.
No heavenly reward for lives carefully led,
But our existence anchored here
In God’s own power, instead.

To live beyond ourselves: this longing has its start
Within the very core of us, within the human heart.
An opening to God we cannot prove, but feel,
A living in relationship,
Intangible and real.

To live beyond ourselves: this is no simple choice,
Nor is it an ideal to which we suddenly give voice.
There always is a turn, a wrenching from our past,
A knowing that our life must change,
And that this change must last.

To live beyond ourselves: to live for others, too,
And care for their well-being through the kinds of work we do.
Empowered by a love received from God in trust,
And open to receive the love
That others have for us.

To live beyond ourselves: this is to follow Christ
And know his kingdom is a treasure of the highest price.
A treasure we can lose when love of self compels.
Then surely must we turn again,
To live beyond ourselves.

 

WE BY HOPE ARE SAVED (After Reinhold Niebuhr)

We by hope are saved from a futile race with time.
From the fear of failing the goals we think sublime.
Goals that, in our life-time, can never be achieved.
By its grace and by its longing, we by hope are saved.

We by faith are saved from the need for certainties.
From the fight to fathom life’s deepest mysteries.
Beauty, truth and goodness transcend how they’re portrayed.
By its grace and by its longing, we by faith are saved.

We by love are saved from a life of one alone.
From the pride of striving for stature on our own.
All our best achievements bear other names engraved.
By its grace and by its longing, we by love are saved.

And forgiveness plain, which is love’s most cherished form,
Sees the layered motives behind all we perform.
Sees through eyes of others what we ourselves evade.
By its grace and longing, we’re by love’s forgiveness saved.