Mid-Lenten Prayer Service - 3/6/24

Poem - Through the Gate by Malcolm Guite

Begin the song exactly where you are,

For where you are contains where you have been

And holds the vision of your final sphere.

And do not fear the memory of sin;

There is a light that heals, and, where it falls,

Transfigures and redeems the darkest stain

Into translucent colour. Loose the veils

And draw the curtains back, unbar the doors,

Of that dread threshold where your spirit fails,

The hopeless gate that holds in all the fears

That haunt your shadowed city, fling it wide

And open to the light that finds, and fares

Through the dark pathways where you run and hide,

Through all the alleys of your riddled heart,

As pierced and open as his wounded side.

Open the map to Him and make a start,

And down the dizzy spirals, through the dark,

His light will go before you. Let him chart

And name and heal. Expose the hidden ache

To him, the stinging fires and smoke that blind

Your judgement, carry you away, the mirk

And muted gloom in which you cannot find

The love that you once thought worth dying for.

Call him to all you cannot call to mind.

He comes to harrow Hell and now to your

Well-guarded fortress let his love descend.

The icy ego at your frozen core

Can hear his call at last. Will you respond?