Poems

Wing of light outstretched  over streets and towns,  this church extends  beyond its walls, its roll  of members, meeting times,  to shelter and guide  all who've ever entered,  all who might drive by,  anyone whose thought  is touched, uplifted  without even knowing why.

These are the words of No. 341 in the Christian Science Hymnal, where they are set to the old Irish air, "Peacefield": They who seek the throne of grace, Find that throne in every place: If we live a life of prayer, God is present everywhere.

Shall I wrestle this day into submission to some doctrinaire fear and cult obsession? Shall I humbly listen to Love's persuasions, find my way in the day of God's creation? No and yes are as one in this decision. Often the answer comes before the question: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come.

Huddled in doubt and confusion, Hidden behind shut doors, Their fear must have been like mine. Oh, the dullness of recounting the crucifixion! The disobedience of forgetting what we've been taught.

Although both John and Charles wrote hymns, Charles was the most prolific. One commentator says of Charles, "He found occasion for a hymn in every event of private or public life—his own conversion, his marriage, the earthquake panic,.

Angels . God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality.

His brothers might have called him father's pet, too self-confident, not meek. He might have called himself a failure.

Grave on her monumental pile: She won from vice, by virtue's smile, Her dazzling crown, her sceptred throne, Affection's wreath, a happy home; The right to worship deep and pure, To bless the orphan, feed the poor; Last at the cross to mourn her Lord, First at the tomb to hear his word: To fold an angel's wings below; And hover o'er the couch of woe; To nurse the Bethlehem babe so sweet, The right to sit at Jesus' feet; To form the bud for bursting bloom, The hoary head with joy to crown; In short, the right to work and pray, "To point to heaven and lead the way. " Reprinted from Miscellaneous Writings , 1883–1896.

The shadows of shame disappear in the light that God's Word makes clear. Repentance, though voiced through tears, annuls the sins of earlier years and points the path of God's guidance to the good that still defines us.