Issue 31: “Abide With Me”/ “Be Still and Know”
"Poetry is a nightingale that sits in the darkness and sings…"
-Percy Bysshe Shelley
Our mission at the Matthew 25 Initiative is to equip and sustain Anglicans serving alongside the vulnerable. The work of justice and mercy is often wondrous and also difficult. Holding beauty, naming pain, and contending for hope is what we do at M25i. Walter Brueggeman writes, "[A poem] thinks the unthinkable and utters the unutterable." In places of brokenness, where much feels unutterable and unimaginable, we encounter Jesus. Continue with us in reflection and prayer through this series, "For the Soul," as poetry might offer us Spirit-soaked imaginations.
Before you begin...
How we need sabbath rest and refreshment! As one of the Ten Commandments, sabbath challenges the idea that our worth is based on what we do, what we have, and how we present. In God's economy, our worth is in who we are.
Those with profound disabilities, the unborn, and those with dementia teach us this deepest vocation: we can fulfill God's calling, imaging him, by just "being." Sabbath practices this vocation by stopping our worry, our anxious desire even for good goals, and awakens us to ask "what is real reality?"
And! the gospel tells us we cannot sabbath without contending for the sabbath of those who rarely can.
The poem-hymns, below, hold the tension of Christian sabbath, which must consider the marginalized and afflicted, knowing that God longs for rest and restoration for us all. As you read enter into the gentle, bigger vision of God for his world.
Fidelia Bridges. Bird’s Nest and Ferns, 1863. The Art Institute of Chicago.
by Henry Francis Lyte
Abide with me, fast falls the eventide;
the darkness deepens;
Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
by Steven Curtis Chapman
Be still and know that He is God
Be still and know He is our Father
Come, rest your head upon His breast
Listen to the rhythm of
His unfailing heart of love
Beating for his little ones
Calling each of us to come
Be still
Be still
Reread and listen
As you read again (as all poems should be read 2-3 times, preferably aloud), consider those who are wearied and without rest: the imprisoned, homeless, hungry, sick, those who live mentally and biochemically defeated, refugees and immigrants, the working poor, the single mother, the foster child with no family. Begin to move into prayer for their abiding, their times to be still and know that He is God—sabbath shalom.
For those who live with the gift of "discretionary" time and resources, there is a responsibility to advocate for sabbath for those whose "normal" is scarcity and who are beleaguered by hardship, to find rest for their weary souls and bodies too. There is always a both-and reality, which occasionally means we get to forgo our immediate comfort for the sake of someone else, contending for their sabbath shalom: "When other helpers fail and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, O abide with me."
Pray
Pause for 30 seconds to pray this over yourself and the vulnerable before you step into the next tasks of your day.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30, NIV
Light Where Hope Falters: An Unexpected Advent
This printable packet offers weekly reflections on the four main themes of Advent from a fresh, biblical perspective:
Gritty Hope
Contended Peace
Costly Joy
Tangible Love
This prints as a beautiful, 17-page booklet or can be shared as a digital download with beautiful graphics, art, quotes, statistics, and action through prayer. Additionally, parishes can use the images and key language as a Prayers of the People series on Sunday mornings.
We hope you will download this PDF and share it broadly with your community as Advent approaches.
These "free" resources can only happen because of giving to the Matthew 25 Initiative.
Our continued ability to fund these Christ-centered projects and provide them as free resources for ACNA churches is based solely on your generous donations. Give to the work that you care about!
