Poets & Saints

2 Peter 1:4 (NRSVUE)

Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.

I am a participant in the divine nature.

Athanasius

"God was consistent in working through one man to reveal himself everywhere, as well as through the other parts of His creation, so that nothing was left devoid of his Divinity and his self-knowledge... so that the whole universe was filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters fill the sea."

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John 8:58 (NRSVUE)

Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am."

Before I knew God, God knew me.

Richard Rohr, from The Universal Christ

"Christ is the light that allows people to see things in their fullness. The precise and intended effect of such a light is to see Christ everywhere else. In fact, that is my only definition of a true Christian. A mature Christian sees Christ in everything and everyone else."

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Hebrews 12:2 (NRSVUE)

Looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

I am accepted, just as I am.

Paul Tillich, from The Shaking of the Foundations

"Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted. If that happens to us, we experience grace. After such an experience we may not be better than before, and we may not believe more than before. But everything is transformed."

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Romans 6:4 (NRSVUE)

Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that,

 just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, 

so we too might walk in newness of life.

I carry resurrection into this day.

Wendell Berry, from Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

"Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. Practice resurrection."

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John 20:19–21 (NRSVUE)

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, 

and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear, 

Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." 

After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. 

Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

Peace be with me, even here.

St. Seraphim of Sarov

"Acquire inner peace and thousands around you will find their salvation."

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Luke 24:30–31 (NRSVUE)

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.

Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.

Open my eyes to what is already here.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, from Aurora Leigh

"Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God, but only he who sees takes off his shoes; the rest sit round and pluck blackberries."

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Luke 24:13–16 (NRSVUE)

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

Even in disappointment, You are near.

Frederick Buechner

"Resurrection means that the worst thing is never the last thing."

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Luke 24:1–6 (NRSVUE)

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb,

taking the spices that they had prepared.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

but when they went in, they did not find the body. 

While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them.

The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, 

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen."

The tomb is empty. Everything is different.

N.T. Wright, from Surprised by Hope

"Resurrection is not the reversal of death. It is the defeat of death. Not undoing what happened, but transforming it into something that opens onto a new world."

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Philippians 3:13–14 (NRSVUE)

Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

I press on toward what is ahead.

Frederick Buechner, from Wishful Thinking

"The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It's for you I created the universe. I love you. There's only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.”

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Philippians 3:10–11 (NRSVUE)

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

In my suffering, Christ is with me.

Nicholas Wolterstorff, from Lament for a Son

"God is not only the God of the sufferers but the God who suffers. The one who suffers beside us."

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