Dreaming in Hebrew

Here's a post about how we must stand before God. Yes indeed we must and we do but it is not to say 'ולומר עשיתי כל מה שאני יכול' I have done all that I can.

There is much more that is done in me for me. As I noted there "To be called to faith is to wrestle - even if it is on behalf of others who are different. To stand before God with a clean heart is to stand cleansed not by one's own doing."

I dreamed these words in English and Hebrew - struggling in my sleep to translate. It is a very hard exercise and it woke me up at 4:30 am - and I have not done this before.

Not that I did all that I can

בַל־אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתִי יָכֹלְתִּי לַעֲשֹׂות

but that under your rebuke or under your mercy
in covenant with you I was known

וּבְחַסְדְּךָ וּבְחַסְדְּךָ בִּבְרִיתֶךָ אִוָּדַע

Wherever I go, East or West, North or South, heaven or hell
let it be that I find you there

בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר־הִתְהַלַּכְתִּי יָמָּה וָקֵדְמָה וְצָפֹנָה וָנֶגְבָּה וּשָׁמַיִם וּשְּׁאֹול
וְהָיָה אִם־אִמְצְאךָ שָׁם

and he will answer
I made you for myself
I will go with you and will not leave you

וְאָמַר עָשִׂיתִי אֹתָם לִי וְהָלַכְתִּי אִתְּךְ וְלֹא אֶעֶזְבֶךָּ

It is not morality but mercy, the learning of faith
It is not a rule of words but endurance, the learning of hope
It is not sentiment but will, the learning of love

לֹא בְצִדְקָ כִּי אִם־בְּחֶסֶד סֵפֶר הָאֵמֻן
לֹא אִמְרֵי־יֹשֶׁר בְ כִּי אִם־בְּעֳמָד סֵפֶר הָתִקְוָה
לֹא בְמַשְׂכִּיֹּות כִּי אִם־בְּרְצֹונֹ סֵפֶר הָאַהֲבָה

So was I made for this my friend Ha-Shem?
I was made for him and desire is for me

הָעֻשֵּׂיתִי לזֶה רֵעִי יְהוָה
עֻשֵּׂיתִי לְנֶגְדֹּֽו וְעָלַי תְּשׁוּקָתֹֽו

Quiros' vision, His hidalgo heart and Mythical Australia

From Peter Enns - my quote of the day (HT Ken Schenck)

We are in no position to declare what genres of literature the Spirit can or can’t use, and our theological comfort level is not a determining factor in how God elects to speak.

(Title from Terra Australis, words below by James McAuley - as set by Malcolm Williamson - Symphony for Voices)

Voyage within you on the fabled ocean
And you will find that southern continent
Quiros' vision, his hidalgo heart and
Mythical Australia where reside all things
In their imagined counterpart

It is your land of similes
The wattle scatters its pollen on the doubting heart
The flowers are wide awake
The air gives ease
There you come home

The magpies call you Jack
And whistle like larikins at you from the trees
There too the angophora preaches on the hillsides
With the gestures of Moses and the white cockatoo
Perch'd on his limbs screams with demoniac pain

And who shall say on what errand the insolent emu
Walks between morning and night on the edge of the plain?
But northward in the valley of the fiery goat,
Where the sun like a centaur vertically shoots his raging arrows with unerring aim,
Stand th’ecstatic solitary pyres of unknown lovers featureless with flame.

Suspendu

Suspended between heaven and earth,

the creator of images of the maker of all things

created me, enfleshed, beloved of the Bridegroom,

created for himself. His consolation in time, dimly

mirrored in my earthen vessel, transparence increasing,

an anointed living stone of heaven on earth's anointed

cornerstone, encumbered me lightly with his suspension.

Hymns and songs

This deserves special mention.

Meditation on the Psalms

Yes, you support me
You support me through these words
It is not just for one David or one Ethan or one unknown author
But for me, your one

So I knew in all my error
The error shows my faltering
My feet you teach to walk in love
My feet you reach to teach me love

Is it too little too late?
Did our beloved enemies push me too far too soon?
Is your hand too short to support their error or my recalcitrance?

What answer is possible!
Only One answers the call of those who stumble
Even if they scarcely know your name
Shema, Israel, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai, Echad.