Words For The Weekend | 05.2
A series of poems, phrases, questions and the like.
Words create worlds.
— Abraham Joshua Heschel
This simple series is an attempt at paying attention. A pause for the sake of listening. An open space for consideration. A prayerful way of interacting with the world — both as it is and as it will be*. A stripped down offering of voices from times and places far and near.
Below you will find the poem The Year As A House by Jan Richardson. A selection that has drawn me in as I seek to inhabit this time and place well, and to give myself to it fully.
Think of the year
as a house:
door flung wide
in welcome,
threshold swept
and waiting,
a graced spaciousness
opening and offering itself
to you.
Let it be blessed
in every room.
Let it be hallowed
in every corner.
Let every nook
be a refuge
and every object
set to holy use.
Let it be here
that safety will rest.
Let it be here
that health will make its home.
Let it be here
that peace will show its face.
Let it be here
that love will find its way.
Here
let the weary come
let the aching come
let the lost come
let the sorrowing come.
Here
let them find their rest
and let them find their soothing
and let them find their place
and let them find their delight.
And may it be
in this house of a year
that the seasons will spin in beauty,
and may it be
in these turning days
that time will spiral with joy.
And may it be
that its rooms will fill
with ordinary grace
and light spill from every window
to welcome the stranger home.— Jan Richardson, The Year As A House
*This phrase gets at my vision of the world, both now and in the future, shaped by the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the One who has come, is coming and is making all things new.