Fidelity

*** Revised Common Lectionary *** Lectionary Reading: Hosea 11:1-11 CLASSIC POEM: Fidelity G.K. Chesterton Step softly, under snow or rain, To find the place where men can pray; The way is all so very plain That we may lose the way. Oh, we have learnt to peer and pore On tortured puzzles from our youth, We know all the labyrinthine lore, We are the three wise men of yore, And we know all things but truth. We have gone round and round the hill And lost the wood among the trees, And learnt long names for every ill, And serve the made gods, naming still The furies the Eumenides. The gods of violence took the veil Of vision and philosophy, The Serpent that brought all men bale, He bites his own accursed tail, And calls himself Eternity. Go humbly … it has hailed and snowed… With voices low and lanterns lit; So very simple is the road, That we may stray from it. The world grows terrible and white, And blinding white the breaking day; We walk bewildered in the light, For something is too large for sight, And something much too plain to say. The Child that was ere worlds begun (… We need but walk a little way, We need but see a latch undone…) The Child that played with moon and sun Is playing with a little hay. The house from which the heavens are fed, The old strange house that is our own, Where trick of words are never said, And Mercy is as plain as bread, And Honour is as hard as stone. Go humbly, humble are the skies, And low and large and fierce the Star; So very near the Manger lies That we may travel far. Hark! Laughter like a lion wakes To roar to the resounding plain. And the whole heaven shouts and shakes, For God Himself is born again, And we are little children walking Through the snow and rain. *** This poem is in the public domain, and may be read in a live-streamed worship service. CONTEMPORARY POEM: Lions Sandra McPherson SNIPPET: Lions don’t need your help. In the Serengeti, For instance, one thousand like the very rich Hold sway over more than Connecticut. The mane Of the lion, like the hooked jaw of the male salmon, … [ READ THE FULL POEM ]