The Good Samaritan

How kind the good Samaritan
To him who fell among the thieves!
Thus Jesus pities fallen man,
And heals the wounds the soul receives.

O! I remember well the day,
When sorely wounded, nearly slain;
Like that poor man I bleeding lay,
And groaned for help, but groaned in vain.

Men saw me in this helpless case,
And passed without compassion by;
Each neighbor turned away his face,
Unmoved by my mournful cry.

But he whose name had been my scorn,
As Jews Samaritans despise
Came, when he saw me thus forlorn,
With love and pity in his eyes.

Gently he raised me from the ground,
Pressed me to lean upon his arm;
And into every gaping wound
He poured his own all-healing balm.

Unto his church my steps he led,
The house prepared for sinners lost;
Gave charge I should be clothed and fed;
And took upon him all the cost.

Thus saved from death, from want secured,
I wait till he again shall come,
When I shall be completely cured
And take me to his heav’nly home.

There through eternal boundless days,
When nature’s wheel no longer rolls,
How shall I love, adore, and praise,
This good Samaritan to souls!




--John Newton (1725-1807), former slave ship captain and investor in the slave trade who became an abolitionist and Anglican priest; he is best known as the author of the lyrics to the Hymn "Amazing Grace." The British abolished the slave trade just weeks before he died.

Scripture reference: Luke 10:25-37 (Proper 10C)

Sonnet: Emmaus 1

And do you ask what I am speaking of
Although you know the whole tale of my heart; 
Its longing and its loss, its hopeless love?
You walk beside me now and take my part
As though a stranger, one who doesn’t know
The pit of disappointment, the despair
The jolts and shudders of my letting go,
My aching for the one who isn’t there.

And yet you know my darkness from within,
My cry of dereliction is your own,
You bore the isolation of my sin
Alone, that I need never be alone.
Now you reveal the meaning of my story
That I, who burn with shame, might blaze with glory.

-- --Malcolm Guite, (1957- ) Anglican priest, poet, singer-songwriter, and philosopher, from Parable and Paradox.


Scripture reference: Luke 24:17 ‘He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast’.  Easter 3A

Lazarus

Now that he's gone
Now the world has moved on 
Since he called my name nothing's the same
As my sister cried He said, "Lazarus rise."
To love and anoint
Or just prove a point

I'm the one that he saved
I'm the one that he raised
From a dark quiet sleep from peace of the grave
I'm the one who owns much but that no one will touch
Mothers see me and cry
Dogs bare teeth as I walk by

I don't see a veil between heaven and hell
The truth is there's nothing but a warm light and singing
But here in-between a voice haunts my dreams
Martha does what she can but won't look at my hands

I'm the one that he saved
I'm the one that he raised
From a dark quiet sleep from peace of the grave
I'm the one who owns much but that no one will touch
Mothers see me and cry
Dogs bare teeth as I walk by

I love the cool mornings
I love a hot meal
The pulse of the street night jasmine and clean sheets 
I can't sleep of rest I feel lost and hard pressed 
I wander these rooms still looking for you 
Now I ought to be grateful to drink from the grail
But I don't be belong on either side of this veil
I look down at my hands that are clasped in my lap
When he left this world I thought he'd take me back...

-- Carrie Newcomer, American singer-songwriter, from the album The Geography of Light

Scripture reference: John 11:1-45, 5th Sunday in Lent 

The Skylight

You were the one for skylights. I opposed 
Cutting into the seasoned tongue-and-groove 
Of pitch pine. I liked it low and closed, 
Its claustrophobic, nest-up-in-the-roof 
Effect. I liked the snuff-dry feeling, 
The perfect, trunk-lid fit of the old ceiling. 
Under there, it was all hutch and hatch. 
The blue slates kept the heat like midnight thatch. 
But when the slates came off, extravagant 
Sky entered and held surprise wide open. 
For days I felt like an inhabitant 
Of that house where the man sick of the palsy 
Was lowered through the roof, had his sins forgiven, 
Was healed, took up his bed and walked away.

—Seamus Heaney (1939 - 2013), Nobel prize-winning Irish poet and translator, from Seeing Things: Poems, 1991

Scripture reference: Luke 5:17-39

a man who had fallen among thieves

a man who had fallen among thieves 
lay by the roadside on his back
dressed in fifteenthrate ideas
wearing a round jeer for a hat

fate per a somewhat more than less
emancipated evening
had in return for consciousness
endowed him with a changeless grin

whereon a dozen staunch and leal
citizens did graze at pause
then fired by hypercivic zeal
sought newer pastures or because

swaddled with a frozen brook
of pinkest vomit out of eyes
which noticed nobody he looked
as if he did not care to rise

one hand did nothing on the vest
its wideflung friend clenched weakly dirt
while the mute trouserfly confessed
a button solemnly inert.

Brushing from whom the stiffened puke
i put him all into my arms
and staggered banged with terror through
a million billion trillion stars.

--e. e. cummings (1894-1962), American poet, painter, and playwright



Scriptural Reference: Luke 10:25-37 (Proper 10C)

Image: Vincent Van Gogh, The Good Samaritan

Bread of Heaven (based on John 6)

O Bread of heaven,
come down.
Come down and fill us with your Spirit—
for your Spirit satisfies like no other.
We hunger and thirst for you this morning
and long to be nurtured
in your love and forgiveness.
So we come to this sacred time and place,
where our hungers are finally and fully satisfied
as only your bread can do.
We will wait and listen
for your leading in this hour.

Amen.

--Adapted from The Abingdon Worship Annual 2009, © 2008 Abingdon Press.