Poems of Faith by the parishioners of Trinity Episcopal Church Concord, Massachusetts

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Poems of Faith by the parishioners of Trinity Episcopal Church Concord, Massachusetts
“…and the Spirit gave them utterance.”   ACTS 2:4

          Poems of Faith
            by the parishioners of
          Trinity Episcopal Church
          Concord, Massachusetts
                 September, 2007
Poems of Faith by the parishioners of Trinity Episcopal Church Concord, Massachusetts
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Poems of Faith by the parishioners of Trinity Episcopal Church Concord, Massachusetts
INTRODUCTION
We are thrilled to present this collection of poetry from parishioners of Trinity
Episcopal Church in Concord, Massachusetts. We are grateful to the authors
here represented for their honesty and daring to allow us to include their work.
We are thankful to the parishioners of Trinity for funding this project and to the
staff for its completion and support. In particular, great thanks are due to Susan
MacDonald for her work with design and publication. It is with many voices
that we praise God.
The idea for this publication first came to me (Brian) while traveling by airplane
in February 2007 to Oregon to celebrate my father’s retirement. Although I
had been an avid writer of poetry in an earlier phase of life, it had been sixteen
years since I had been able to compose anything even approaching a poem
worth sharing – a long writers block indeed. While flying somewhere over
New York the poem, “Flight School” emerged from the clouds in that fast and
furious, better-write-it-down-before-it-vanishes kind of way.            Without
knowing where the poem was going, I committed it to paper. When it was
finished, it was followed quickly by the idea to create an opportunity at Trinity
to find out what others were writing and to work out a way to share our
poetry. As this project has moved forward, we have continued to have the
strong sense that God is calling something forward, into our midst.
Ellie Morris graciously agreed to collaborate on this project as co-editor. A
longtime poet herself, she has contributed poetry to this collection and has
helped greatly both in shepherding this project along and in working directly
with the poems and their presentation. The poetry in this collection was
solicited over three months in the spring of 2007. We published an
advertisement for the project in the Sunday bulletin and on the church’s website
that invited parishioners to contribute their original poetry in response to the
question, “Where do you find God?” The poetry that we received addresses this
question in myriad ways. In this collection you will find poems from a wide
range of experience, representing diverse perspectives on faith and God. There
are poems herein that speak of our shared worship life and also of the most
private and intimate moments when we feel the presence of God with us.
It is our hope that this amalgam of voices mirrors the diversity of our collective
experience of the presence of the Spirit. It is our hope that through sharing
these voices with you we have created an opportunity for enrichment for the
reader and provided, for the authors, a new avenue at Trinity for the expression
of the Holy Spirit. As we continue to grow together in faith, we pray that we
may continue to gain a sense of God’s purpose for us and action in our lives.
                        Brian Litzenberger and Ellie Morris
                                                                                3
Poems of Faith by the parishioners of Trinity Episcopal Church Concord, Massachusetts
ABC’s FOR LIVING
    A is for God ALMIGHTY
    B each day is a BLESSING
    C doing acts of CHARITY
    D stands for the DEITY
    E “Deliver us from EVIL”
    F that we all may have FAITH
    G to others showing GOODNESS
    H having and giving HOPE
    I in others stimulating INSPIRATION
    J to all showing JUSTICE
    K doing acts of KINDNESS
    L “the greatest of these is LOVE”
    M to others being MINDFUL
    N being a bearer of glad NEWS
    O at all times showing OBEDIENCE
    P stands for PEACE
    Q may seeking God be your QUEST
    R treating all with RESPECT
    S praising Jesus our SAVIOUR
    T to all people and creation being THOUGHTFUL
    U at all times trying to be USEFUL
    V holding high your beliefs so you will be a VICTOR
    W the road to religion is WORSHIP
    X your goal in life is to eXCEL
    Y stands for encouraging our YOUTH
    Z doing everything with ZEAL
    As you go through life,
    Here are some ABC’s to keep in mind
    But the greatest thing to remember is
    That Jesus said, “LOVE one another.”
    -- Trinity Think Tank 2007

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Poems of Faith by the parishioners of Trinity Episcopal Church Concord, Massachusetts
THE BOOK
  Pages bright, Pages yellow
  Pages with color spreads, Pages that mellow
  With age.

  Books are friends we've yet to discover
  Thin books with promises of a new lover
  Or Sage.

  Big books with stories of madness and fevers
  Turn out to be butchers emboldened with cleavers.
  Out rage.

  I like a good book, with romance believing
  Passionate heaving, practically leaving
  The page.
  -- Ruth Eifert

A CINQUAIN- TRINITY WINDOW
  Renewal of the Word
  Green grows from central circle
  Touching light of life
  Christ’s promise, life eternal
  He Lives! Done is death
  -- Wini Ferguson

DAYBREAK
  Waking early
  prayer time I take
  For one more day of life
  My thanks to make.
  For family, friends
  and this embattled world
  I pray,
  Silently and resting in His love
       I start my day.
  -- Dean Hall

                                                      5
Poems of Faith by the parishioners of Trinity Episcopal Church Concord, Massachusetts
DE PROFUNDIS
    (Mixed metaphors from the summer of 1974, after contemplating the Georgi Kepes
    stained glass window in Trinity Church, Concord, and discovering a monkey wrench
    in its center.)

    Amos, Amos, come down from the hills once more
    and bring your wrench. The Carpenter
    has been and long since gone.
    The house is sound but the plumbing’s full of bugs

    Wretched we are, we retch and choke, dry-heaving.
    The pipes are clogged. The water,
    the cleansing flow, the flood
    flush out, release. Open the watergates.

    For three transgressions of Israel and for four
    the hand of judgement struck.
    Today again for silver
    righteous are sold and the heads of the poor are trod.

    I hate, I despise their feasts, their parades, their pride
    in prisoners freed. Pry loose
    the blockage, pray let gush
    justice like waters, righteousness like a stream.

    Oh, throw your wrench in the works and make things work.
    Monkey with their business,
    screw it and thread it right.
    Amos, come down. The plumb line must hang anew.
    -- Nancy B. Beecher

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Poems of Faith by the parishioners of Trinity Episcopal Church Concord, Massachusetts
EQUINOX
  They were still pirates.
  I thought,
  That fall day
  In the park.
  A perfect day
  For the dogs
  As the smells, the scent
  Of animals
  And dying vegetation,
  Reached a peak
  Before it became too
  Cold.
  It was still warm enough
  For the light jackets
  They wore as the three of them
  Rode two bikes
  Up
  And over
  The bark mulch pile
  Waiting to protect
  Or adorn the plantings
  Around the memorial
  For those
  Who had died
  And now were casually
  Ignored
  As these boys
  Discovered their day
  And it was midday,
  Still early enough
  To allow for the comfort
  Of casual affection,
  Not yet clouded or
  Prevented
  By the demands of
  Evening.
  -- Brian Litzenberger

                                   7
EVENSONG
    The quiet restful service Evensong
    Is sung throughout the world at close of day
    The sound of prayer and praises heard ‘ere long
    Invite us with the reverent to pray.

    My soul doth magnify the Lord
    And my spirit hath rejoiced
    In God my Savior.

    The Magnificat is sung with voices bright
    The Psalms are heard, the prayers of people read
    The litany of Evensong, a rite
    The words we use engage our heart and head.

    Lord, now let thou thy servant depart in peace
    According to thy word
    For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.

    The night descends, we hear the evening bell
    Our final prayers to end the day we led
    The Gloria resounds our thoughts to dwell
    On all that we have heard, felt, sung and said.
    -- Ruth Eifert

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EXERCISES
Ballykissangel   Sympathetic, poor, without
                 Car, with only bus or slower
                 Bike, young priest befriended man,
                 Got four wheels in compensation.
Cartoons         Brothers, sister, cousins, friends –
                 Watching, reading, chanting, singing;
                 Mice were jumping, rabbits hiding,
                 Pigs pursuing; sailor swam.
Quatrains        The elegiac brings the greatest balm:
                 It soothes both grief and outrage; and can bring
                 To shock and awe, delight and order; stand
                 Up with Pity; release it; make it sing.
More             The Venus and Adonis stanza’s six-
                 line rhyme-scheme came to Wordsworth in the Lakes:
                 Ababcc: this formal fix
                 can lead one into sonnetry; it takes
                 an octave, then; but first, another rhyme
                 to close each stanza ‘ere the longer climb.
Untitled         You: always near
                 when I remember You:
                 despite night blear;
                 You: always near:
                 Your presence comes anew
                 on highway or in pew;
                 You: always near
                 when I remember You.
Two Quarters     Autumn moments: Fall
                 to darkest day, longest night:
                 incomplete progress.

                 Winter fragments: dance
                 of lightness, light of sunshine;
                 light flakes of feathers.
And finally      A dove of peace? No:
                 a tiny crane, folded, then:
                 delivered – by whom?
                                                    -- Anne Colman

                                                                      9
FLIGHT SCHOOL
     Flight attendants please prepare for take-off,
     He said,
     As if I were not also
     Attending:
     Aware of falling –
     I mean flying –
     Or its potential.

     But it was also to me
     He spoke,
     Though he pretended
     Not to,
     Letting me know,
     As if on the sly,
     To prepare.

     But it was a little late for that,
     Buckled in as I was,
     Having prepared
     – Although not enough so that I didn’t fumble as I showed the boarding
     pass to the security guard at the check point.

     But it was for take-off.
     He said,
     Prepare for take-off.
     It almost looks Japanese as I write it:
     Take off –
     Here in international air space,
     Reminding me of the other times I have flown
     Alone.

     But it wasn’t about that.
     He did not warn me about
     Flying:
     Flight attendants prepare for
     Flight –
     I mean –
     How could you
     Prepare
     To be
     Hurtled
10
At that
  Speed
  At that
  Height

  Except
  Through

  Prayer.
  -- Brian Litzenberger

FOR TERRY MCCALL
  After we had sailed with Reepicheep
  To the Utmost East
  Where the water under our boat
  Turned into lilies
         We emerged from the story,
         Made paper filters into white lilies
         And brought them with us
         Into the sanctuary
         Where
         Without artifice
         With only love and hope
         You led us, young and old,
         In laying them on the altar.
  You came into our lives
  Like the white lilies,
  Approaching each of us
  Without pretense, lifegiving
  In your support.
  The spirit shone in you
  Listening to our stories,
                 Reaching out,
                 Encouraging
  And always helping us
  To grow…
  -- Liela Rea

                                                11
HAIKU TRINITY WINDOW
                ADVENT
           Gathered by Trinity
         Minute Diverse particles
           Gathered for power
                    ~
         The trumpets praise Him
        Beneath the dazzling golden
             Light of Trinity
                    ~
          The Light of the world
          Cornerstone of Trinity
             Shines eternally

           CHRISTMAS EVE
            All life is shattered
       Born again in splintered light
           That will not expire
                      ~
          Christmas Eve, central
          fusion of light eternal
           Christ is born again
                      ~
            Father, Son, Spirit
         Golden pyramid of light
        Reaches and saves the earth
                      ~
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Trinity crowned with
  Diamonds, kindled fire below
      Spirit spread o’er all

         GOOD FRIDAY
       Four blood red nails
Drilled into our hearts, hands, feet
       His death for our life
                 ~
  God’s tears and Christ’s Blood
 The water and Word made flesh
     Such love tears the heart

           AT NIGHT
     Web of life, grey roots
  Reach out to gather our hearts
    Through the cross of Love
                ~
     The hand of God whose
   Boney fingers grasp our lives
    Through faith, hope, Love

 EASTER—RESURRECTION
        Crown of victory
   Blazes forth above thy cross
    Death holds no dominion
                 ~
White blossoms reach heav’nward
  Seeking Trinity’s golden light
     Christ is Risen indeed!

          PENTECOST
    The hand of God beckons
   Reaching out from Trinity
     ‘Spirit’s flame descends
                  ~
    Palm facing heavenward
  Makes us channels of thy peace
     Thy Power, our power!
          -- Wini Ferguson

                                       13
JOY
     Sunday, December 31, 2006

     To Nick

     Even in bareness
     Spring’s buds are in the boughs
     Happiness in things may be dead
     But joy bursts into song
     In deep places where Jesus is
     That is why I live beyond mere functioning:
     Jesus is real
     And I dwell in his heart
     -- Ellie Morris

HANDCRAFTS
     We come together to knit shawls and blankets, hats and sweaters,
     But leave having knit together those parts of us which have begun to
     unravel.

     We come together to weave in the unfinished ends of these, our
     expressions of love,
     But leave having rewoven those parts of us which have become thread
     bare.

     We come together to stitch a flower or a dove,
     But leave having stitched together the very fabric of another's life.

     In connecting we create,
     In connecting we sustain,
     In connecting we repair,

     In connecting we see God.
     -- Barbara Carvey

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I AM
                            I am the wall, low and crumbing,
                    that you rest on, when you visit my pasture.
                                I am the grass you walk on,
                                 lifting every step you take.
                         I am the wind, curling and sweeping,
                   but on my moodier days I am harsh and brittle.
                       I am the oak, tall and majestic, worn by
                               weather and age, yet I stand.
                               I am earth, in endless supply;
                                time has no meaning to me,

                            I am you, the one who does,
                         the one who moves, stands and sits;
                                  the one who is .
                      I am never alone, for I am in everything.
                                   -- Calvin Coffin

THE KISS
  The look
  The smile
  The touch
  The lips
  The sigh

  The arms
  The back
  The neck
  The nape
  The need

  Caress, embrace, a touch of heat, desire
  The kiss of love becomes a passion pyre.
  -- Ruth Eifert

                                                                    15
LENTEN RETREAT
     Emerging from my cave
     of cold winter,
     I blink in the strong sun.
     The field before me
     is hollow stubble
     of burnt umber.

     Birds appear,
     only to seek cover
     in meager, brittle branches.

     Are you here, Lord,
     here in this quiet place?

     I imagine flocks of birds
     slicing through the sky.
     I fly with them,
     first straining
     then sailing.

     I continue staring, imagining.
     I want to keep flying.

     I am flying to you, Lord.

     Thank you.
     -- Candace Temple

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MIGRATION
  Squinting, then blinking north,
  I see the cormorants' black silhouettes
  traverse the clear autumn air
  in sloppy V formation.

  One flock, two, five,
  rowing the air.

  Another day:
  Mount Watatic, hiking to the top.
  Again, specks appear
  and my eyes enter the whorl
  of broad-winged hawks
  settling into kettles
  then gliding on--
  a graceful ballet southward
  as the wind hands them over
  to another continent
  and we lose them for a time.

  And at night,
  lying in bed,
  I sense them moving--
  silhouettes
  lit only by the moon;
  wings creaking or fluttering
  high above me,
  moving as the earth breathes.
  -- Candace Temple

                                            17
MY GRACIOUS LORD
     My lovely
         My lively
                  My gracious Lord Jesus
     You hover around me
         You hold me up
                  You always keep me safe
     Where could I go without you?
         When I am sick
                  You soothe me
         When hysteria hits
                  You calm me
         When my memory fails me
                  You pick up the pieces
                           And then I remember
                                    Just enough to get by
         When I am lost
                  You always find me
                           Even when I don’t know it
     You are with me always,
         To the end of the world
     My dear Lord Jesus
         What would I do without you?
                  A question I don’t need to answer
                           Because you are with me
     And I thank you
         From the bottom of my heart and soul
                  My dear Lord Jesus
     -- Ellie Morris

ON HOLDING HURT, ONCE SPOKEN
     Let it go, let it go,
             Let it be,
                     Let it be –

     Let the small, pesky bird
     Fly off from the tree –

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So the nest
  Doesn’t form
  And the gripe
  Doesn’t stay;

  Let the tree stand in peace
  While the bird
  Flies
  Away…
  --Liela Rea

PENTECOST
  Pascha rosatum
  A mighty wind
  Doves, fiery tongues, Paraclete
  Church’s birthday
  -- Barbara Carvey

PRAYER
  Lord,
  let
  your
  Spirit
  fall
  gently
  on me
  like
  red maple wings
  settling
  to earth
  on a
  clear
  autumn
  day.
  -- Candace Temple

                                    19
PROMISE, O PROMISE
     Spring bud swells
     and brave
     bird breasts pulse.
     Dawn chorus
     serenades
     the red gold sun.

     Foretells….

     The leaf unfurls
     and all
     of nature waits,
     prepared
     to bud forth spring.
     -- Eleanor Spinney

SIGNS OF SPRING
     Snow has melted down to the ground
     And is dimpled with little holes
     Which look up like eyes.
     New spring grass pokes up through them
     As if the snow-eyes were growing lashes.
     I look, I look, I feast with my eyes
     On these tiny traces of green,
     On the promise held in each new blade of grass,
     On the promise pulling it upward, even as it pushes toward the sky,
     So tentatively, so steadily.
     Its growth could be so easily twisted by ice,
     So easily blocked by just one grain of sand.
     Yet it grows –
     -- Ellie Morris

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SINGING
  I like to sing a litany, I like to sing a song
  I like to sing at Epiphany, I like to sing, is it wrong?
  To want to sing, from the bottom of your heart,
  From within your soul, just to grab a part
  Whether soprano, tenor or alto?
  I could even sing a bit of contralto!
  If forced.
  But don't make me sing, with a soundtrack
  No. Please,
  Just an organ and nice choir around me
  I could sing through the night, I don't even need sight
  Just teach me the tune and I'll wing it
  'Cause I like to sing, And I'm going to sing
  And when age takes my teeth I'll just Thing it!
  -- Ruth Eifert

THE SOUND OF BELLS
  On a crystal clear Sunday morn
  A new beginning comes to be born.
  The stillness in the land
  Is broken by something grand.

  It is the sound of the church bell
  Telling the world all is well.
  At the ringing of the bell’s sound
  It tells the people to gather around.

  With each bell ringer’s mighty lurch
  The peal says it is time for church.
  Following the service our spirits are lifted
  And now we all feel greatly gifted.

  The time has come to look at each other
  And to consider one’s neighbor as his brother.
  Just think what the sound of a bell can do
  Our lives are beautiful and this is so true.
  -- Currier Smith

                                                             21
STAY NEAR
     Be near to me, dear Lord, I pray
     And when I stray
     lead me back to you and to your Way.
     -- Dean Hall

SUNDAY
     The church, the pew, the mind in inner sight
     The altar bathed with pure white candle light
     The penitent on bended knee begin
     The music soars, the voices joining in
     Our litany of prayer and praise to Thee

     The body politic an offering
     Ourselves to God the Father, Triune King
     Receive the Peace, given by one to one
     We seek the comfort from His only Son
     The people greet and sing with happy voice
     God’s Peace to you, and with us all rejoice
     We are renewed, behold the transformation
     God has given us a new creation.
     -- Ruth Eifert

THANK YOU
     For the quietness of trees
     Even in pain
     As bark peals and leaves turn brown…
     (My loved apple tree,
     My driad!)

     For grass growing stubbornly
     Through cracks in the pavement.

     For cricket-song
     That drove me crazy
     But now that it’s suddenly stopped

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(I saw one fall,
  dead, off our roof
  last week.
  Connection?)
  I miss them…

  For my eyes, mind and heart
  Opening today
  Like a recalcitrant flower,
  Finally hearing
  Your Word,
  Finally feeling part
  Of Your whole
  Wonder-filled
  Sevenday
  Creation!
  -- Liela Rea

A TOUCH OF GRACE
  Phone call comes at midnight
  Doctor's telling me she's dead
  Lying frozen in darkness
  Sleep impossible
  Black dissolves in blue
  Cerulean light suffuses night.

  I fed her rice pudding for lunch
  It was her favorite.
  Touching her hand
  Grasping at straws
  Grateful a smile's trace
  Made me think she knew me.

  Loss of even that frail shell
  Of what she once had been
  Came hard.
  Wrapping me in misty blue
  Archangels' light a mother's spirit
  Comforted till dawn.
  -- Shirley Blancke
                                        23
TRANSFIGURATION
     In darkness we sat
     After the fire
     And the light

     And I waited
     And prayed
     And waited
     And watched
     For something

     Miraculous.

     Because there have been
     Moments when
     Something happened

     That changed everything.

     Maybe I was
     Working too hard at it

     And I gave up
     And expected
     The familiar
     Dullness
     Boredom
     A critiquing mind.

     And in that moment,
     In that moment,
     There you were:
     Two people
     Telling a story
     That we all knew.

     And In this pew,
     In these words,
     In his body,
     Among these friends;
     I thought,
     And thinking
24
Stopped
  To know:

  The truth.

  This truth was simple
  Without preoccupation,
  This work was effortless,
  This knowing, known:

  That you are not a stranger,
  As I have never been.

  So I could stop looking
  And know that
  We were here together
  As we turned on the lights
  And sang.
  -- Brian Litzenberger

TRIPTYCH

I. GOOD FRIDAY
  Son of Man –
  son of woman –
  whom do we turn to now
  we many Marys?

  Mary your mother
  Parthenogenita
  Joseph
  had put her privily away
  save for the spirit’s speaking –
  Holy Mary
  wholly submerged in mothering
  Yet: “Who is my mother?
  I have come
  to set child against parent” –
  martyr
  Mary waits
  weeping under the cross.
                                     25
Magdalen
     profligate Mary –
     she
     of doubtful virtue
     worthy to be stoned
     maudlin
     who squandered precious oil
     on your feet –
     unmarried
     Mary, marry
     she is homeless
     hapless, hopeless
     Mary the zero
     the nonentity.

     Geminae Mary
     and Martha
     ministers
     sister of mercy
     soldiers deriding
     nailed you down at last.

     Jesus, Jesus
     you have betrayed us there –
     “Father”
     you said, “forgive them
     for they do not know
     what they are doing” –
     they who nourish
     body and process
     seen but not heard
     the drones
     marred, atrophied
     unselfish, selfless
     without self to know
     or to become –
     shadows
     who only shone
     reflecting your light.

     And the other Marys
     in the crowd –

26
Miriam
singer of sagas
celebrant of power –
Ruth and Naomi
who dared to love each other
Jezebel
who ruled and Deborah
who judged –
women who defined themselves
and named their own becoming –
marvelling
hoped we all might be again
persons in God’s good time.

Son of woman –
the men
of Caiphas and Pilate
have managed to manipulate your
friend
Judas –
to manhandle you
mandate your dying
barter Barabbas manacled
to the mob –
Peter petrified
fled –
respectable gentlemen
rebuked you as a rabble rouser –

but
we know
what they are doing
so
we shall not be
forgiven –
Son
of
Man.

                                   27
II. DESCENT INTO HELL
     How do you handle sorrow without a Word?
     The shipwrecked traveller thrashes in the sea
     grasping for flotsam, gasping for a breath
     fingers closing on spume, mouth upon foam.

     This is the dreaded black night of the soul –
     to know your need and not to know the Noun.
     Father we have not, Master we will not have.
     “Lord, thou has been our dwelling-place
     in all generations” but thou art no more.
     Yahweh would not be named, but it was done
     and those who name seize power from the named.
     God cannot help us now for he is theirs.

     In the beginning, they will tell us, was
     the Word – oh, neuter Word, how ardently we reached
     to share you ere they shaped you, made you Man!
     but you became flesh, they only-begotten Son
     and we have lost not only you but speech
     not only speech but concept, for the mind
     fumbles in vain to shape a thought the tongue
     twisting within the closed mouth cannot form.
     For we are Eve, even now unredeemed,
     evil so long ascribed us we believe it,
     and by the waters of Babylon we babble –
     we who have no Jerusalem, Old or New.

III. EASTER
     Sisters, come, run to the tomb
     (the sun is about to rise)
     the child of woman leaps in the womb
     (the sun is about to rise)

     Sun in the East, Moon in the West
     (the stone has been rolled away)
     darkness behind us, daylight ahead
     (the stone has been rolled away)

28
the voice of the turtledove sings the dawn
  (jesus the lord is gone)
  the lilies smile out of black decay
  (jesus the lord is gone)

  Sisters, circle, join your hands
  (the veil of the temple is torn)
  raise the song of the great We Are
  (the veil of the temple is torn)

  Sisters and Brothers, the Spirit lives
  (and death and life are one)
  -- Nancy Beecher

TRUST, THANKS AND LOVE
  Lord, I trust you.
  You healed my mind,
  You lead me through the dark,
  Lord, I trust you.

  Lord, I thank you,
  For answered prayers,
  For giving back my life,
  Lord, I thank you.

  Lord, I love you,
  And resting in your love
                for me,
      I put my heart.

  Lord, I love you.
  -- Dean Hall

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UN-TITLED
     In my need
     He is love to my response.
     He is Yes!
     and waits for mine.

     Is it possible
     that my Yes!
     won’t always slip around?
     Won’t always be tembered with
     - too hard
     - ask someone else!
     -- Eleanor Spinney

UPRISING
     At 4:27 a.m. precisely,
     in the midst of the deepest silence of the night,
     an unknown robin down in Petersen’s orchard
     takes it upon himself to proclaim the light.
     Who does he think he is to wake the world
     with those insistent hymnings of his own?
     Before you know it, some other rabble-rouser
     will take up the insurrectionist song he’s sown.
     And not just robins: shafted flickers will mutter;
     the redwing blackbirds will start to remonstrate.
     A phoebe will protest, a pheasant will beat her breast,
     mourningdoves keen and meadowlarks berate.
               Then some bright oriole will raise a shout,
               Until – Good God! – all Heaven might break out.
     -- Nancy Beecher

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WHERE HAVE I FOUND GOD?
  I found God in the eyes of others.
  Here are four of them: Maureen, Michelle,
  Tony and Ken Marriner.
  They are doing God’s work here.
  -- Frank Bradshaw

WINDOW OVER THE CHAPEL ALTAR
  I watch the sun
  creep down the shimmering window
  until it hits Your face.
  Transfigured….
  …comes forth a blessing.
  Then I remember.
  There are others who have seen it and felt
  as I
  and come no more.
  -- Eleanor Spinney

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WORK
     Springtime attraction
     Sunshine distraction
         We have work to do.

     Outside activities
     Inside facsimiles
          Plenty of work to do.

     Who needs to be adult?
     Let's go and join a cult
          No thought, but more work to do!

     Hey, shall we read a book,
     Give magazines a look,
         It's not work, but what can you do?

     Springtime has come at last
     Summer will be a blast
         Let's skip work and visit the zoo.
     -- Ruth Eifert

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WHAT A WONDERFUL SIGHT
  I start my morning with a river view.
  This day I was startled with something new.
  There in the early morning light,
  Were two beautiful swans, what a wonderful sight.

  This was a first for me,
  And was such a delight to see.
  Swans the purest of white
  Wow, what a wonderful sight.

  The beaks of the swans were pure gold
  And their coal black eyes, a sight to behold.
  This contrast with their bodies white,
  Sure made a dazzling sight.

  Needed a photographer who was as keene as me
  To drop everything just for this sight to see.
  Such a one was Sally by name.
  I hope her pictures and this poem bring her fame.

  This had to be recorded for all to view
  For such a scene was really new.
  And I knew the swans would soon take flight.
  Wow what a wonderful sight.
  -- Francis Currier

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WORRY
     Worry does not help,
                   I know,
     She comes unbidden
                   Like the snow,
     Heavy on the heart
                   She lies,
     Until dissolving
                   In God’s love
                   She dies.
     -- Dean Hall

YES, LORD
     The silent church, deep in shadow,
     pews lined like pilgrims,
     waiting.
     For what?

     I come.
     Yes Lord, I come.
     Drawn, like a scrap of metal to a magnet,
     to the cross.
     It hangs,
     still,
     over the gleam of marble.
     It draws forth from me two words.
     “Yes, Lord.”
     How often have I come to stand just here,
     in awe of what you did for me.
     There is a covenant between us
     made so long ago it’s part of life.
     No – life itself.

     Yes, Lord.
     The cross hangs still
     and a spark of light shows red
     in the great window;
     a fugitive, perhaps, from life outside
     or a reminder of your blood.

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Which?
The shadows hang about my shoulders
and the stillness asks a question.

And then…
I walk
slowly
past the silence of the pews.
Back…
to the life I live out there.
But leaving self behind –
just for a little.
                          -- Eleanor Spinney

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TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH
                  81 Elm Street
       Concord, Massachusetts 01742
                (978) 369-3715
       E-mail: trinity@trinityconcord.org
       Website: www.trinityconcord.org

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