Thursday, March 01, 2007
Meditation on Matthew 5:6
O Bread of Life,
Teach me to hunger for you,
To realize the empty gnawing I feel
When separated from you,
To know that you are the answer
To the darkness that threatens my life.
O Bread of Life,
Help me to hunger for your ways,
The ways of peace that come from only you,
The ways of light in a world of darkness,
The ways of hope in a world of despair.
O Bread of Life,
Help me to hunger for you,
Help me to thirst for your presence,
Help me to know your ways all the days of my life,
to yearn to walk with you,
live for you,
be with you
in small things and in large,
this day, and always.
Amen.
Susan E. Stone, 2007
Teach me to hunger for you,
To realize the empty gnawing I feel
When separated from you,
To know that you are the answer
To the darkness that threatens my life.
O Bread of Life,
Help me to hunger for your ways,
The ways of peace that come from only you,
The ways of light in a world of darkness,
The ways of hope in a world of despair.
O Bread of Life,
Help me to hunger for you,
Help me to thirst for your presence,
Help me to know your ways all the days of my life,
to yearn to walk with you,
live for you,
be with you
in small things and in large,
this day, and always.
Amen.
Susan E. Stone, 2007
Labels: Bread of Life, Christian Living, Discipleship
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Meditation on Matthew 5:5
Help me O Lord
to learn that spirit of quiet love,
the meekness that sees you shining in the eyes of the needy,
the gentleness that knows that "ME' is not what the world is about,
the kindness that comes from love, and being loved, and loving in return,
the peace that comes from you, unbidden.
Help me, O Lord,
to learn, like you did in Gethsemane,
to say, "Not my will, but Yours, O Father,"
in loving submission,
not based on angry desire to have my way,
or in self-righteous indignation,
but in the love that reaches out,
takes the blows,
heals the wounds,
shows the light of Heaven's love,
this day, and always.
Amen.
Susan E. Stone, 2007
to learn that spirit of quiet love,
the meekness that sees you shining in the eyes of the needy,
the gentleness that knows that "ME' is not what the world is about,
the kindness that comes from love, and being loved, and loving in return,
the peace that comes from you, unbidden.
Help me, O Lord,
to learn, like you did in Gethsemane,
to say, "Not my will, but Yours, O Father,"
in loving submission,
not based on angry desire to have my way,
or in self-righteous indignation,
but in the love that reaches out,
takes the blows,
heals the wounds,
shows the light of Heaven's love,
this day, and always.
Amen.
Susan E. Stone, 2007
Labels: Christian Living, Discipleship
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Teach Us
And I saw, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider's name was Death,
and Hades followed him;
and they were given power over a fourth of the earth,
to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence
and by wild beasts of the earth.
Revelations 6:8 RSV
Bombs that rock the crowded streets
fuel of hate that feeds the beast,
red of maw and black of heart
that longs to tear your soul apart,
Pale the horse that finds us here,
wrapped in anger, wrapped in fear.
Teach us, Lord the way to go
When we face this bloody foe,
To break the chains of hate and blight
To bring with us your own pure light
To still the crying in the night.
When anger blinds the heart of man
And hardness strides across the land,
Fields unplowed and hunger stalks
while Satan laughs at endless talks
how hard to find the ways of peace
to let the endless fighting cease.
Pale the horse that finds us here,
wrapped in anger, wrapped in fear.
Teach us, Lord, the way to see,
To be the tool of your mercy,
Fill us with your truth and might
That we might always choose the right
That stills the crying in the night.
The pale horse rides across the land
Death by gun and fire and hand,
Cain's dark madness sweeping wide
Brothers killed for greed and pride
Done for country, God and gold
The story is so very old.
Pale the horse that finds us here,
wrapped in anger, wrapped in fear.
Teach us Lord, to be your tool
Though others think we are the fool,
Walking with you in your light
Through sword and fire and angry fight
To still the crying in the night.
Susan E. Stone, 2007
Labels: Christian Living, Discipleship, man's inhumanity, scripture
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Sermon in a Loaf of Bread
Flour white as winter snow,
White as purity, you know,
Take six cups measured well,
And keep some more at hand to go.
Yeast that makes soft bread to grow,
Mix with water warm, you know,
Two cups will do to start the brew,
And next, two spoons of sugar go.
Take some salt, a spoon or so,
Salt gives savour, I'm sure you know,
Preserves the good like holy life,
Into the flour it must go.
Oil, two spoons, will so
Add richness to the bread, you know,
Richness to remind us of God's loving touch,
Into the yeast water it must go.
Half the flour, watch it flow
Into the mixing bowl you know,
Remember how God rewards the giving,
As you watch it whitely go.
Now comes the yeast to make it grow,
Yeast lets the air in, you know,
Like God's grace to a sin-sick world,
Into half the flour it must go.
With spoon and then with hand also
Stir flour and yeast. You know
How hard hearts are made soft through strife
So push the dough where it must go.
Add more flour to make it grow,
Like children growing up you know,
Soon all the flour gets added in,
To your kneeding board the dough must go.
Now you get to beat the dough,
Kneed it long, for you must know
That bread, like hearts, needs lots of work.
To the rising bowl it must go.
Now the hard part - watch that dough
double in size with time, you know.
Taking it early will make it heavy.
Like the prodigal's Father, let it go.
Double it twice, then shape that dough,
Like God letting us live our lives, you know,
He gives us freedom to suffer and joy,
Then pushes us where he wants us to go.
In your pans let your bread loaves grow,
As God wants us shaped his way, you know.
As they rise one last time, heat the oven hot,
Then into bake they do go.
Lovely the smell of bread from dough
Like growth in holiness, you know.
You know they will be done when they thump true,
Then to their proper end they'll go!
Susan E. Stone, 2007
White as purity, you know,
Take six cups measured well,
And keep some more at hand to go.
Yeast that makes soft bread to grow,
Mix with water warm, you know,
Two cups will do to start the brew,
And next, two spoons of sugar go.
Take some salt, a spoon or so,
Salt gives savour, I'm sure you know,
Preserves the good like holy life,
Into the flour it must go.
Oil, two spoons, will so
Add richness to the bread, you know,
Richness to remind us of God's loving touch,
Into the yeast water it must go.
Half the flour, watch it flow
Into the mixing bowl you know,
Remember how God rewards the giving,
As you watch it whitely go.
Now comes the yeast to make it grow,
Yeast lets the air in, you know,
Like God's grace to a sin-sick world,
Into half the flour it must go.
With spoon and then with hand also
Stir flour and yeast. You know
How hard hearts are made soft through strife
So push the dough where it must go.
Add more flour to make it grow,
Like children growing up you know,
Soon all the flour gets added in,
To your kneeding board the dough must go.
Now you get to beat the dough,
Kneed it long, for you must know
That bread, like hearts, needs lots of work.
To the rising bowl it must go.
Now the hard part - watch that dough
double in size with time, you know.
Taking it early will make it heavy.
Like the prodigal's Father, let it go.
Double it twice, then shape that dough,
Like God letting us live our lives, you know,
He gives us freedom to suffer and joy,
Then pushes us where he wants us to go.
In your pans let your bread loaves grow,
As God wants us shaped his way, you know.
As they rise one last time, heat the oven hot,
Then into bake they do go.
Lovely the smell of bread from dough
Like growth in holiness, you know.
You know they will be done when they thump true,
Then to their proper end they'll go!
Susan E. Stone, 2007
Labels: Christian Living, Discipleship
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Blood and Light
The sword falls,
exposing a thin red line separating life and death,
today and forever,
goodness in a neighbor's eyes and the face of evil in human form.
See it cut,
that first blow,
brother against brother,
opening a red stream pouring out over the earth,
a river of grief and loss,
and sorrow and confusion,
exhilaration,
adulation,
oppression,
the mark of Cain ever with the human race,
as men see themselves
as more worthy,
more deserving,
more needy,
more right,
wallowing in the river
no matter the price
as demons howl.
The whip rips the flesh,
the thorn pierces he scalp,
the hammer rends as nail pierces muscle and nerve.
This blood trickles down like all the other blood,
yet where it touches,
light grows to combat the dark,
light to heal the anger in the neighbor's eyes,
to heal the hurt of the lost and bereaved,
to stand with the homeless,
the oppressed,
the needy.
All you who are touched by this light
offer up your hands,
hands for the light to use.
Pass it on,
this light given to us in blood,
in love,
in redemption.
Pass it on,
hand to hand,
word by word,
to heal the mark of Cain,
the death march of time,
and quell that demon howling,
the song of grief that has been mankind's birthright
since the fall.
Pass it on,
and one day, you will see it come back to you,
in the loving smile and shining eyes
of him who says, "Well done."
Susan E. Stone, 2006
exposing a thin red line separating life and death,
today and forever,
goodness in a neighbor's eyes and the face of evil in human form.
See it cut,
that first blow,
brother against brother,
opening a red stream pouring out over the earth,
a river of grief and loss,
and sorrow and confusion,
exhilaration,
adulation,
oppression,
the mark of Cain ever with the human race,
as men see themselves
as more worthy,
more deserving,
more needy,
more right,
wallowing in the river
no matter the price
as demons howl.
The whip rips the flesh,
the thorn pierces he scalp,
the hammer rends as nail pierces muscle and nerve.
This blood trickles down like all the other blood,
yet where it touches,
light grows to combat the dark,
light to heal the anger in the neighbor's eyes,
to heal the hurt of the lost and bereaved,
to stand with the homeless,
the oppressed,
the needy.
All you who are touched by this light
offer up your hands,
hands for the light to use.
Pass it on,
this light given to us in blood,
in love,
in redemption.
Pass it on,
hand to hand,
word by word,
to heal the mark of Cain,
the death march of time,
and quell that demon howling,
the song of grief that has been mankind's birthright
since the fall.
Pass it on,
and one day, you will see it come back to you,
in the loving smile and shining eyes
of him who says, "Well done."
Susan E. Stone, 2006
Labels: Christian Living, current evils, Discipleship
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Setting Sun
In this moment between moments, when I see what I have done
In this pausing, as if to catch my breath, while I watch the setting sun,
A lacuna in the quiet,as my race in nearly run
Some things I leave with sad regret, for others there is none.
Pain and sorrow, loss and gain, the human road goes on,
More good I hope I leave behind than pain when I am gone,
A word or two I've woven well, a dream of golden dawn
God's hand upon the lost and lone when hope feels all withdrawn.
Soon shall this race be finished and my road will cease to climb
And then I'll wake in that fair morn that is not bound by time,
And the words that I have gathered will grow there more sublime
Where my clumsy tongue, unbounded, will find a truer rhyme.
In this pausing, as if to catch my breath, while I watch the setting sun,
A lacuna in the quiet,as my race in nearly run
Some things I leave with sad regret, for others there is none.
Pain and sorrow, loss and gain, the human road goes on,
More good I hope I leave behind than pain when I am gone,
A word or two I've woven well, a dream of golden dawn
God's hand upon the lost and lone when hope feels all withdrawn.
Soon shall this race be finished and my road will cease to climb
And then I'll wake in that fair morn that is not bound by time,
And the words that I have gathered will grow there more sublime
Where my clumsy tongue, unbounded, will find a truer rhyme.
Labels: Christian Living, Last things
