Resolve

*** Revised Common Lectionary *** Lectionary Reading: Philippians 3:17-4:1 CLASSIC POEM: Resolve Ella Wheeler Wilcox As the dead year is clasped by a dead December, So let your dead sins with your dead days lie. A new life is yours, and a new hope. Remember, We build our own ladders to climb to the sky. Stand out in the sunlight of Promise, forgetting Whatever the Past held of sorrow or wrong. We waste half our strength in a useless regretting; We sit by old tombs in the dark too long. Have you missed in your aim? Well, the mark is still shining. Did you faint in the race? Well, take breath for the next. Did the clouds drive you back? But see yonder their lining. Were you tempted and fell? Let it serve for a text. As each year hurries by let it join that procession Of skeleton shapes that march down to the Past, While you take your place in the line of Progression, With your eyes on the heavens, your face to the blast. I tell you the future can hold no terrors For any sad soul while the stars revolve, If he will stand firm on the grave of his errors, And instead of regretting, resolve, resolve. It is never too late to begin rebuilding, Though all into ruins your life seems hurled, For see how the light of the New Year is gilding The wan, worn face of the bruised old world. *** This poem is in the public domain, and may be read in a live-streamed worship service. CONTEMPORARY POEM: Who Am I? Dietrich Bonhoeffer SNIPPET: Who am I? They often tell me I stepped from my cells confinement Calmly, cheerfully, firmly, Like a Squire from his country house. Who am I? They often tell me I used to speak to my warders Freely and friendly and clearly, As thought it were mine to command. … [ READ THE FULL POEM ]