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Evening Prayer Ping!

The day is past and gone,
The evening shades appear;
O may we all remember well
The night of death draws near.

We lay our garments by,
Upon our beds to rest;
So death shall soon disrobe us all
Of what is here possessed.

Lord, keep us safe this night,
Secure from all our fears;
May angels guard us while we sleep,
Till morning light appears.

John Leland

"Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness a word that shall not return: `To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.' Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed, all who were incensed against him."

Isaiah 45:22-24

The sword falls,
exposing a thin red line separating life and death,
today and forever,
goodness in a neighbor's eyes and the face of evil in human form.

See it cut,
that first blow,
brother against brother,
opening a red stream pouring out over the earth,
a river of grief and loss,
and sorrow and confusion,
exhilaration,
adulation,
oppression,
the mark of Cain ever with the human race,
as men see themselves
as more worthy,
more deserving,
more needy,
more right,
wallowing in the river
no matter the price
as demons howl.

The whip rips the flesh,
the thorn pierces he scalp,
the hammer rends as nail pierces muscle and nerve.
This blood trickles down like all the other blood,
yet where it touches,
light grows to combat the dark,
light to heal the anger in the neighbor's eyes,
to heal the hurt of the lost and bereaved,
to stand with the homeless,
the oppressed,
the needy.

All you who are touched by this light
offer up your hands,
hands for the light to use.

Pass it on,
this light given to us in blood,
in love,
in redemption.

Pass it on,
hand to hand,
word by word,
to heal the mark of Cain,
the death march of time,
and quell that demon howling,
the song of grief that has been mankind's birthright
since the fall.

Pass it on,
and one day, you will see it come back to you,
in the loving smile and shining eyes
of him who says, "Well done."

KAC