Hosea 13: 2-10; Psalm 81: 6-17; Mark 12: 28-34

spirit upon us
like the dewfall
we hear
love God
first
with all
your heart
and mind
and soul
let no strange God
come among you
and take
the love
of neighbor
from you
forgive
let love
blossom
as freely
as the lilies
casting
as wide
a fragrance
as the cedars
and splendor
of the olive branch

Has a strange God come among you to take the love of your neighbor?

Jeremiah 7: 23-28; Psalm 95: 1-9; Luke 11: 14-23

God says
listen
to my voice
harden not
your hearts
gather
with me
into Goodness
into Love
where demons
of greed
and hatred
and lies
and violence
have been cast out
and a song
of Joy
is heard

How do you listen to God’s voice?
To what do you harden your heart?

Dt 4: 1, 5-9; Psalm 147: 12-20; Matthew 5: 17-19

Jesus
you come
to fulfill
a law
written
in statutes
and stone
to one
that lives
in hearts
of flesh
breath
and bone
Spirit
of love
once given
to a chosen few
now
lives in
all

How do you experience God’s law in your heart?

2Kings 5: 1-5; Psalm 42: 2,3; 43: 3-4; Luke 4: 24-30

blinded
by familiarity
wealth
and power
yet longing
for healing
and thirsting
for the living God
we dare
to enter
our poverty
relinquishing
all
we enter
the light
and love
of God
seeing
God’s face
we are healed
and sing
in our gladness
and joy

Do you dare relinquish all for the mystery of God’s love?

Exodus 20: 1-17; Psalm 19: 8-11; 1Cor 1:2-25; John 2:13-25

Christ crucified
God’s folly
to we who long for
power and wealth
signs and wisdom
yet hearts swept clean
see his death
reveals
the true temple
of God
not made
of human hands
but Spirit of God
in Love
forged
in human flesh
and beating heart
do we dare
believe
who we are
law revealed
in Spirit
setting us free
to love God
to love one another
above all
freed from the marketplace
freed from lies
freed from murder
freed from stealing
freed from unfaithfulness
eyes ever fixed on
Christ crucified
love beyond
our greatest fear
of death
we hear the words
of everlasting life

What do you hear in God’s law?
What do you see in Christ crucified?

Micah 7: 14-20; Psalm 103: 1-12; Luke 15: 1-32

lost
from our
squandering
we return
with
a servant’s
hope
yet find
instead
the wide embrace
of love
that pardons
and heals
and crowns us
with kindness
and compassion
even as it
offends
the self-righteous
nothing
can stop
it’s flow

Does your God delight in clemency?

Genesis 37: 3-28; Psalm 105: 16-21; Matthew 21: 33-46

in the darkness
of our heart
possessed
by jealousy
and envy
a plot
unfolds
against
our brother
ignoring
all pleading
selling him
to an enemy
losing sight
of who provides
we claim
what is not
ours to claim
and issue
murder
upon the
rightful one
the one
who will
draw fruit
from our
famine

For what are you entrusted?

Jeremiah 17: 5-10; Psalm 1: 1-6; Luke 16: 19-31

trusting
completely
in you
our eyes
are opened
to Lazarus
and we know
our need
grounded
in the dark root
of your love
nourished
by waters
unseen
there is
nothing
not of you
impassable
chasms
disappear
the poor
are lifted up
as we
see you
there

Do you see Lazarus at your doorstep?

Jeremiah 18; 18-20; Psalm 31: 5-10; Matthew 20: 17-28

suffering—
servant—
slave—
we recoil
from these words
in our desire
for the comfort
of high places
yet something
calls us
as Goodness
unfolds
devoted
and guided
to its cause
we serve
and strangely
our slavery
to its influence
becomes
our freedom
as we surrender
to the one
we trust
knowing
our spirit is
ever safe
in God’s hands

How do you hear the words servant and slave?