Prayer Answered by Crosses

 

I ask’d the Lord, that I might grow

In faith, and love, and ev’ry grace,

Might more of his salvation know,

And seek more earnestly his face.

‘Twas he who taught me thus to pray,

And he, I trust has answer’d pray’r;

But it has been in such a way,

As almost drove me to despair.

I hop’d that in some favour’d hour,

At once he’d answer my request:

And by his love’s constraining pow’r,

Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this. he made me feel

The hidden evils of my heart;

And let the angry pow’rs of hell

Assault my soul in ev’ry part.

Yea more, with his own hand he seem’d

Intent to aggravate my woe;

Cross’d all the fair designs I schem’d,

Blasted my gourds*, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this, I trembling cry’d,

Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?

“‘Tis in this way,” the Lord reply’d,

“I answer pray’r for grace and faith.

“These inward trials I employ,

“From self and pride to set thee free;

“And break thy schemes of earthly joy,

“That thou mayst seek thy all in me.”

     --John Newton (1725-1807); author of "Amazing Grace" and many other poems & hymns  

*Book of Jonah:  God dried things up to prove a point to Jonah about Jonah's hardness of heart towards the Ninevites

Perfect Love

     This is another year that Valentine's Day falls on Ash Wednesday.  A real reminder of the sacrificial love of all the Saint Valentines.  (See also my other blog for some Valentine's thoughts)

Here Between Ass & Oxen Mild

 

1. Here between ass and oxen* mild,

Sleep, sleep, sleep my little Child.

Thousand seraphim,

Thousand cherubim

Keeping watch above 

This Mighty God of Love. 

 

 

2.  Here within Mary's sweet embrace

Sleeps, sleeps, sleeps this Fruit of Grace. 

Thousand seraphim,

Thousand cherubim

Keeping watch above 

This Mighty God of Love.  

 

3. Here between rose and lily sweet**

Sleep, sleep, sleep, my Son petite.

Thousand seraphim,

Thousand cherubim

Keeping watch above 

This Mighty God of Love.

 

4.  Here between the shepherds wondering

Sleep, sleep, Jesus, newborn King.

Thousand seraphim,

Thousand cherubim

Keeping watch above 

This Mighty God of Love.  

 

  

5.  On this holy day which God chose well

Sleeps, sleeps, sleeps Emmanuel.

Thousand seraphim,

Thousand cherubim

Keeping watch above 

This Mighty God of Love.  

 

-- developed from the 13th century French carol, “Entre le bœuf et l’âne gris” ["Between the Ox & Grey Donkey"]; this version (c) C. Marie Byars, 2023

 

*The "ox and ass" portrayals go beyond assuming what might be in a stable. Medieval Roman Catholic churchmen and songwriters were adding their interpretation of Isaiah 1:3-- "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s feed trough [manger, crib], but Israel does not know; My people do not understand."

 

 A donkey may or may not have conveyed the pregnant Mary to Bethlehem. The Bible doesn't say.  An otherwise hale and hearty Mary may have walked the 90 mile journey.

 

What Child Is This   Also features ox and donkey.  

 

**The lily was a symbol of the Virgin Mary's purity.  (Though not used for old Christmas symbolism, it's a nice way to remember the story of Good Friday & Easter were already embedded into the Christmas account.)   The rose has variously been a symbol of Mary and of Jesus.  For both, it is a symbol of purity.  When used as a symbol of Jesus, it hearkens back to then Old Testament Rose of Sharon (which was actually a crocus in Hebrew, a small, early spring bulb flower!).  The Rose of Sharon was the one who pursued His beloved in the Song of Solomon.  

 

(There are various myths about winter roses and Mary's searching and struggles, also, which cropped up over the centuries.)

 

The Nativity in the photos is our own.  It is a composite of a couple different Italian sets.   We wait until closer to Epiphany (January 6) to put out the Wise Men.

An Easter Carol

               

                Spring bursts to-day,
For Christ is risen and all the earth's at play.

                Flash forth, thou Sun,
The rain is over and gone, its work is done.

                Winter is past,
Sweet Spring is come at last, is come at last.

                Bud, Fig and Vine,
Bud, Olive, fat with fruit and oil and wine*.

                Break forth this morn
In roses, thou but yesterday a Thorn**.

                Uplift thy head,
O pure white Lily through the Winter dead.

                Beside your dams
Leap and rejoice, you merry-making Lambs.

                All Herds and Flocks
Rejoice, all Beasts of thickets and of rocks.

                Sing, Creatures, sing,
Angels and Men and Birds and everything.

                All notes of Doves
Fill all our world: this is the time of loves.    

                                                 -Christina G. Rossetti (1830-1894)

  

*Habakkuk chapter 3
**Compares the flowerless rose, all thorns "just yesterday", to the contrast between Good Friday, when the Lord died, to the blossom of His resurrection on Easter.

Autumn Violets

 

Keep love for youth, and violets for the spring:
Or if these bloom when worn-out autumn grieves,
Let them lie hid in double shade of leaves,
Their own, and others dropped down withering;
For violets suit when home birds build and sing,
Not when the outbound bird a passage cleaves;
Not with dry stubble of mown harvest sheaves,
But when the green world buds to blossoming.
Keep violets for the spring, and love for youth,
Love that should dwell with beauty, mirth, and hope:
Or if a later sadder love be born,
Let this not look for grace beyond its scope,
But give itself, nor plead for answering truth—
A grateful Ruth tho' gleaning scanty corn*. 

  --Christina Rosetti; Macmillan's Magazine; NOV, 1868 

*Book of Ruth.  Landowners were required not to glean (gather grain crops) overly zealously; they were supposed to leave something behind for the poor.  Ruth, who moved from her home in Moab to Israel with her Israelite mother-in-law Naomi (after both were widowed), gleaned to support both of them.  The landowner eventually fell in love with her and married her; she became an ancestress of Christ.

Imagine

 

Imagine...

love that embraces the enemy

grace that preaches repentance

joy that strengthens during depression

peace that accompanies the conflicted

hope that enlivens the dying

Jesus gives this.  --Rev B.T. (c) 2021

Sledding

2006, Northern Arizona

2012, East of Albuquerque

2017, Yellowstone

Snowcoaching

Jan, 2019 near Grand Canyon

Feb, 2019 N. AZ

Sledding in summer clothes?  Fooled you.

2009, White Sands, NM

Now Winter Nights Enlarge

[for winter, nature & Valentine's Day]

Now winter nights enlarge

The number of their hours;

And clouds their storms discharge

Upon the airy towers.

Let now the chimneys blaze

And cups o’erflow with wine,

Let well-turned words amaze

With harmony divine.

Ft. Tuthill, Northern Arizona

Now yellow waxen lights

Shall wait on honey love

While youthful revels, masques, and courtly sights

Sleep’s leaden spells remove.

This time doth well dispense

With lovers’ long discourse;

Much speech hath some defense,

Though beauty no remorse.

All do not all things well;

Some measures comely tread,

Some knotted riddles tell,

Some poems smoothly read.

The summer hath his joys,

And winter his delights;

Though love and all his pleasures are but toys,

They shorten tedious nights.

     --By Thomas Campion; ~1601

b.12 February 1567, d. 1 March 1620 

The Word

[repost]

THE WORD "became Flesh and so-journed among us..."

(John 1:14)

THE WORD was spoken at Creation, 

 And all things came into being.
In the beginning,
All Nature resounded with THE joyous WORD.

THE WORD was recorded by the prophets,
God's Holy Men of old.

"In the beginning was THE WORD,
And THE WORD was with GOD,
and THE WORD was God.
This One was with God in the beginning." (John 1:1-2)

THE WORD was spoken to the Virgin Mary,

And she received THE WORD by the Spirit's power.
She conceived and bore a Son,
For in the fullness of time, 

God sent forth His Son to be born of a woman.

(Galatians 4:4)

She wrapped Him in Infant's clothes
And laid Him in a feed trough,
For there was no place else for Him.

Shepherds heard THE WORD from Angels,

So they themselves came to examine THE WORD for themselves.

They gave thanks for THE WORD

     and spoke THE WORD to others.

Wise men came to view THE WORD,
Led by their star's bright light.
THE WORD gives men wisdom,
For THE WORD is, itself, WISDOM. (Proverbs 8)
The Wise Men gave THE WORD gifts,
But THE WORD gave them greater gifts.
Though they left Bethlehem,
THE WORD never left them.

THE WORD has been handed down now
Through countless number of ages.
But THE WORD still stays among us,
Speaking as plainly to people as ever.
So, we, too, have seen His glory,
The glory of the One-and-Only-Begotten from the Father,
Full of grace and truth. . .
"Your WORD is TRUTH." (John 17:17)

THE WORD still illumines the walk of the saints,
As it has from time immemorial. . .
"Your WORD is a Lamp unto my feet
And a Light unto my path." (Psalm 119:105)
THE WORD brightens and cheers the walk
And leads us to Himself.

---C. Marie Byars, 1989
St. Louis, Graduate School
(original Bible Translations)