Descriptor:
This resource relating to Deuteronomy 30:9-14 provides a poem by Rumi (1207-1273) highlighting a search for identity and purpose and a poem by Lucy Ives meditating on the knowledge of one's body.
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Lectionary:
Revised Common Lectionary
Source:
Englewood Review
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Full Text:
*** Revised Common Lectionary ***
Lectionary Reading:
Deuteronomy 30: 9-14
CLASSIC POEM:
Who says Words with my mouth?
Rumi
All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.
This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I’ll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
I’m like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?
Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn’t come here of my own accord, and I can’t leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.
This poetry, I never know what I’m going to say.
I don’t plan it.
When I’m outside the saying of it,
I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.
*** This poem is in the public domain,
and may be read in a live-streamed worship service.
CONTEMPORARY POEM:
Poem
Lucy Ives
SNIPPET:
This isn’t a great poem.
I’m not writing this to write a great poem.
I am writing this because I am one person.
…
[ READ THE FULL POEM ]
Content Type:
Key Scriptures:
Deuteronomy 30:9-14
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RCL Lectionary Week:
Year C Proper 10 (Ordinary Time 15)
Date:
Tuesday, July 5, 2022