The Kingdom of God

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This resource relating to Mark 12:28-34 provides a poem by Francis Thompson highlighting God's presence in the mundane and a poem by Malcolm Guite highlighting the challenge of loving others.
Paid Resource: 
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Lectionary: 
Revised Common Lectionary
Source: 
Englewood Review
Related to Children or Youth: 
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Audio/Video: 
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*** Revised Common Lectionary *** Lectionary Reading: Mark 12:28-34 CLASSIC POEM: The Kingdom of God Francis Thompson “In no strange land” O WORLD invisible, we view thee, O world intangible, we touch thee, O world unknowable, we know thee, Inapprehensible, we clutch thee! Does the fish soar to find the ocean, The eagle plunge to find the air— That we ask of the stars in motion If they have rumour of thee there? Not where the wheeling systems darken, And our benumbed conceiving soars!— The drift of pinions, would we hearken, Beats at our own clay-shuttered doors. The angels keep their ancient places;— Turn but a stone, and start a wing! ‘Tis ye, ‘tis your estrangèd faces, That miss the many-splendoured thing. But (when so sad thou canst not sadder) Cry;—and upon thy so sore loss Shall shine the traffic of Jacob’s ladder Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross. Yea, in the night, my Soul, my daughter, Cry,—clinging Heaven by the hems; And lo, Christ walking on the water Not of Gennesareth, but Thames! *** This poem is in the public domain, and may be read in a live-streamed worship service. CONTEMPORARY POEM: Your Neighbor as Yourself Malcom Guite SNIPPET: My neighbour as myself? I cannot learn To love myself at all. I look away, The dark glass only shames me and I burn At what should never see the light of day. … [ READ THE FULL POEM ]
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Primary Author
Author: 
Francis Thompson
role: 
Primary Author
Author: 
Malcolm Guite
Content Type: 
Key Scriptures: 
Mark 12:28-34
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RCL Lectionary Week: 
Year B Proper 26 (Ordinary Time 31)