[G]race uses faltering beginnings to achieve its own unforeseeable ends. — James Finley
by Ken Sehested
(sung to the tune "Old Hundredth")
Oh, Blessed One, choired angels sing
Of life surrendered, offering
The power to bless as blessed we are
To welcome strangers near and far.
Oh, Ancient Promise, tune thine ear
To pain and suff’ring, linger near.
Cast off the rule of wail and woe.
Thy tender love on us bestow.
by Ken Sehested
O Come, thou fount of Mercy, come
And light the path of journey home
From Pharaoh’s chains grant liberty
From Herod’s rage, confirm thy guarantee
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
O Come, thou Watchful Keeper, bestow
Glad heart, warm home to creatures below
Give cloud by day and fire by night
Guide feet in peace with heaven’s delight
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
by Ken Sehested
Favor and affection contending
’Til the work of wrath confess
Steadfast love and faith embracing
Righteousness and peace caress
Magi wend their way to advent star aligned
Dwelling place of God earth-consigned
Wolf and lamb now linger, contented
Calf and lion peaceful arrayed
Cow and bear graze restful and fearless
Little child now marshaling parade
Roots from severed tree erupt, oh meek proclaim
Holy Mountain’s knowledge and Name
by Ken Sehested
Joy to the world! Salvation comes. Let earth rise up in praise
Let every heart prepare Christ’s Way
And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the earth! The Savior reigns. Let every voice report
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.
by Ken Sehested
In the company of these witnesses, round this table of remembrance of baptismal vows, within hearing of the One who delights in our company and in whose Promise we trust, let us make our professions.
What do we believe?
Read more ›26 November 2015 • No. 47
¶ Processional. “Break the Bread of Belonging (welcome the stranger in the land),” by Gary Rand.
¶ Invocation. “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come,” by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
by Ken Sehested
I have given birth countless
Times, too many stillborn
And breathless, despite
Conception in the
Throes of passion and
Patient preparation. Restless
Nights and nauseous days
And stretch marks
Amniotic fluid securing watery
Life, waiting, kicking
Kicking and waiting
Anxious about that
Birth canal’s tumultuous ride
And leaky breasts
Until then, waiting, kicking
Kicking and waiting
Waddling stride
Provoking curious stares
Down Broadway in
Manhattan and
Comments from strangers
On the bus, a complete stranger
Saying, I bet it’s a girl
No, says another across
The aisle, she’s carrying
High, it’s a boy, with unseen
Choired angels arrayed
testing their pitch:
Venite adoremus!
Come and adore!
Who are these people? Why
Didn’t I ask for phone numbers
And maybe recipes? But they
Barrel on past my stop to
Where I wish I knew. Who is
Waiting for them, I wonder, like
Those truckers I notice rumbling
On up the interstate when I exit
For gas and a pee, no need for
My company, four-wheelers
Just get in the way
by Ken Sehested
The Manger’s trailhead opens at
the portal of praise and genuflecting
thanks. Not because heaven arises to
piety’s incense. But because Advent’s
brush with mortal flesh is a perilous journey,
fraught with insurrection’s threat,
pregnancy’s scandal, birthed from
stabled bed, and Herod’s foam and fury.
The innocents take it in the chops every
time. Yet Advent threatens treason to
every Herod-hearted arrangement.
19 November 2015 • No. 46
¶ Invocation. "Malka moma” (“Little Girl”), Bulgarian folk song performed by Neli Andreeva and the Filip Kutev Ensemble.
¶ Call to worship. “Come ye fearful people come / Cast your sighs to highest heav’n / Yet—though terror’s harvest spread, / Casting sorrow in its stead— / Still the Promise doth endure / Life abounding to secure / Come, ye thankful hearts, confess / Mercy’s lien o’er earth’s distress.” —Ken Sehested, new verse to “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come”
Read more ›by Ken Sehested
1. Often, just because we’re not paying attention.
2. The barrage of demands on our time and energy creates “tunnel vision,” making it difficult to see anything that’s not directly in front of our noses.
Read more ›Subscribers receive full access to the entire prayer&politiks site. It’s free. Each week you will receive an automated email with a link to the new edition of the Signs of the Times column. All you provide is you name, email address and city, state or province, and country. This information is never shared with any other party. The only other agreement you make is to receive two solicitation letters per year, one in the spring, the other in the fall. (Which you are free to ignore. Your subscription is still free, and you may “unsubscribe” at any time.) This is our modern begging-bowl. Contributions are our sole source of support.