Unidentified stonemason
Rego du Tomond, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56146
Proverbs 8:1–4, 22–31
All This Mommixity and Foofaraw
"All this mommixity and foofaraw,"
The book I'm reading said about a place*
Where people of all nations and all stripes
Once lived in harmony, all interlaced.
It was so cosmopolitan you could
Not let yourself be proud, too serious,
But rather, see the humor in each day,
That none might find themselves imperious.
Pride has its place; and yet anxiety,
When stoked, can fan a fire, and heartache give;
Instead, rejoice in neighbors, and delight—
True wisdom's cry still comes—so all may live.
Oh, who can understand "The Trinity?"
Be honest, does it baffle or confuse?
All doctrine, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, too,
Still points to peace and joy it's wise to choose.
Scott L. Barton
(*Istanbul, in Louis de Bernières: Birds Without Wings, Vintage, 2005)
Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights, beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
“To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all that live.
The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth—
when he had not yet made earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.
When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.
+ + +
Romans 5:1–5
Since We Are Justified By Faith
Since we are justified by faith,
We are at peace, through Christ, our Lord,
That is, he shows that grace is ours
And hope of glory, our reward;
Why boast in hope—or suffering?
Well, it's for others, don't you see?
God's glory means God gives, and gives,
And even suffers, willingly—
Endures although endangered—that's
The character we might impart,
When through the Holy Spirit, God
Keeps pouring love into our hearts.
Scott L. Barton
(The phrase, "Endures although endangered" is from Thomas John Carlisle’s poem Ad Infinitum, in Invisible Harvest, W. B. Eerdmans, 1987. http://lectionarypoems.blogspot.com/2013/03/resurrection-of-lord-march-31-2013-luke.html)
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
+ + +
John 16:12–15
The Truth
“I still have many things to say to you,
but you can’t bear them now;”
Perhaps you were once told this sort of thing
When age would not allow
The ones who loved you, then, to tell the truth,
And cause you young distress;
But later, with more confidence in love,
You would their kindness bless.
Thus, Jesus knew the truth that can’t be known
Until, although bereft, our fear’s o’erthrown
When Christ, who knew the Father’s love, but died,
Still by the Spirit with us yet abides.
Scott L. Barton
“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you...."
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