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Bless These Hands

O maker of the garden, hold these handsGive them the patience that they needto press the tiny seeds into the dirtand wait … wait … for new life to show God, you turn a burial into a seed’s new chance at lifeYou draw us from the darkness to the light O life within the garden, […]

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Sewing

You were sewing for mebolts and bobbins, scissors, fabric, bright debrisNo other project could fiton the table of my life while your work covered it You hold a dream, in colors you conceived for meimagined long agoAnd your thread holds across eternity — You were looking at meDid I see some mischief in your smile, some […]

March 29, 2013

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Mary and Mary

Mary and Mary cried through that long, hellish nightAt last day was dawning, the grey dissolved in the lightThey ran to the grave. …where they were shocked by an angelwho shook the ground with his newsHis face sparked like lightning, flashing & blindingHe said, Don’t be afraid: Jesus lives, he lives – let his life […]

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Words of Life

The starving were crowding him, he spoke of eternal breadHis very own blood and flesh – shocked, people leftBut he turned to the twelve to ask how they feltWould they leave like the rest? Then Peter confessed: You have the words of eternal lifeWhere else would we go? He left the crowds by boat, asleep […]

March 27, 2013 John

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You Set My Heart Free

I used to think the rules were thereTo save me from my freedom and make me goodTo keep my feelings in their place, and never let my will escapeTo never choose, but just obey – I thought surrender was that way. I used to think that freedom meant to leave the trail and wander by […]

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Psalm 42

I say to God my rock, “Why have you forgotten me?Why must I go about taunted by my enemy?”Voices question me, saying, Where is your God?Where is your God? Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfallsAnd all of your waves have swept over meNo piece of myself is the way that it […]

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Kristina’s Song

Tomorrow is your day—sleep tonight and know you’re safeAnd as you fall asleep, the angels who protect you will be singin’ … Kristina is loved, she is lovedKristina is loved, she is loved. Tomorrow you will meet the people in your familyAs you take your first big breath, the angels who surround you will be […]

March 24, 2013

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The Canvas

Let’s make a day that we will never forget – out on the riverYou be the sailor, and I’ll be the blueof the sky in the summer at noon. Honey, you be the water, and I’ll be the sunYou’ll be my canvas, and before the wind we’ll runYou be the waves that everyone can seeand […]

March 23, 2013

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Grounded by the bare copper cross (Lent)

Candle and copper cross

I have a vivid memory of being shocked when I was 11 or 12 years old. We’d just shampooed the livingroom carpet, and it was evening. In my bare feet, in the dark, I shuffled across the wet carpet to a lamp. I fumbled with the switch, but the light didn’t come on. Maybe there […]

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If I repair a little of myself

“…Those wounds stay with you, and you turn them into a language and a purpose.” Gesturing toward the band onstage, he said, “We’re repairmen—repairmen with a toolbox. If I repair a little of myself, I’ll repair a little of you. That’s the job.” —Bruce Springsteen, as quoted in The New Yorker.* When my aunt Marjorie […]

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