I Worked for Chaff

*** Revised Common Lectionary *** Lectionary Reading: Luke 3:7-18 CLASSIC POEM: I worked for chaff Emily Dickinson I worked for chaff, and earning wheat Was haughty and betrayed. What right had fields to arbitrate In matters ratified? I tasted wheat, — and hated chaff, And thanked the ample friend; Wisdom is more becoming viewed At distance than at hand. *** This poem is in the public domain, and may be read in a live-streamed worship service. CONTEMPORARY POEM: St. John the Baptist Thomas Merton SNIPPET: When, for the fifteenth year, Tiberius Caesar Cursed, with his reign, the Roman world, Sharing the Near-East with a tribe of tetrarchs, The Word of God was made in far-off province: Deliverance from the herd of armored cattle, When, from the desert, John came down to Jordan. But his prophetic messages Were worded in a code the scribes were not prepared to understand. Where, in their lexicons, was written: “Brood of vipers,” Applied, that is, to them? … [ READ THE FULL POEM ]