CENTRAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, PROVIDENCE, RI

Growing Up

by Lukas Brand

So many things, so much so much is new,
Yet is there something I can do?
In my small room I stare and stew,
Until the murals change, then I will too.

---

Adapted from a longer poem written in English by a young friend of the Poet Laureate. Lukas Brand is a student of Roman Catholic theology and mathematics at the University of Bochum, Germany

Ode to Johann Sebastian

By Kathy Hart

A German composer named Bach
Wore powdered wig with his frock.
His music prolific
Was really terrific.
To hear him musicians did flock.

His children were more than a few –
(21 if you count PDQ).
He lived a long life
With more than one wife,
And sired a musical zoo!

He held some well-known positions,
But composed under adverse conditions.
His music for organ
Was really a bargain –
He gave it away to musicians.

Dear Bach, we’d just like to say
Your music will live on a l w a y.
Thanks for the music for lute
And keyboard and flute.
Have a very happy birthday!

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Kathy Hart is the Director of Music at Greenwood Community Church, Presbyterian in Warwick, RI, where she is organist and directs the Chancel Choir, a teen/adult handbell group, and an elementary singing/ringing choir. She writes/arranges sacred music and is a soprano in The Providence Singers. Kathy has been a member of Central’s Caring/Sharing Group for several years.

Haiku

By Gretchen Yealy

I know spring is near

When God stitches on each fir

Frills of palest green

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When she is not clambering up and down mountain passes, Gretchen Yealy works as a catalog librarian at Brown University and enjoys being part of Central’s ushering team.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

By Ilse Kramer

I
Nobody knows but you, My Lord,
That I still fear the dark.
I pray that you will send
Your brightest and your strongest angels
To guard my sleep
And keep my soul.

VI
The bedside lamp shines on my face,
Shines on my cheek and on my tears.
My eyes are closed. I see a gravestone
With pebbles on the top. I see a Star of David.
I see myself. I am a child.
I see a swastika.

VII
I roar with coughing, and my throat is raw,
I take some syrup, and it tastes like olive-oyster dip.
I sneeze and blow my nose, again, again, again.
I use some spray, which makes me choke.
I sit against the pillow, and I croak a curse.
I know I will not make it through the night.

XI
Lord, while I sleep
Protect from fire and despair,
Protect from thieves and molestation,
Protect from fear without a reason,
From death before confession and repentance.
Lord, be my watchman in the night.

---

Ilse Kramer, Central’s Poet Laureate, is very grateful to George Delany, Editor and Facilitator and to Tom Viall, Webmaster.

Easter 2010

By George Delany

After 3 days of wicked spring rains
A flooded basement
A car sunk into saturated earth
Lifeless, like a dead dinosaur
Spirits weighted down under
The presence of so much water
I spy along the edge of the stone wall
Amidst the carnage of the storm
Debris everywhere
A sea of leaves soaked browned
By relentless winds of winter
Rocks and mud all about
Leafless trees
Everywhere a palette of somber earth tones
Grays, charcoals and browns
Monopolize my beat-up field-of-view like war
A single solitary daffodil, green stemmed,
Her silent, solo, yellow face opened wide
She turns in brilliant salutation
To brightly welcome the sun

---

George Delany attended the Milton Hershey School, Hershey, Pa, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He practices in the art and design industry.

Rose’s Poem

By Rose Dunlap

It’s dark outside,
And I am not tired
At all.
We’re on the street
Which is called the Boulevard,
And Mama is driving
More fast,
So fast
That suddenly
We’re on the moon,
And I am not tired
At all.

Editor’s comment: Rose’s mother is an excellent driver.

Rose Dunlap, a Kindergarten student at the Martin Luther King Elementary School, recently helped with the collating of the Church programs for Holy Week.

Prayer for Peace

By Kathy Hart

O God, whose mercy never ends,
we pray for wars to cease,
that hatred be abandoned,
replaced with love and peace.

If we could still our voices,
would we hear Your lament
about the world condition,
the cruel, sad events?

We pray that every nation
will live in Your embrace,
resolving the differences
of country, creed and race.

We lift up all Your peoples–
Muslims, Christians, Jews–
and ask that brotherhood prevail,
a higher call to choose.

O God, whose mercy never fails,
help us to find Your way.
Give us the strength and courage
for living every day.

O grant this world Your blessing,
and lead us through the night
of earthly darkness and distress
to Your eternal Light.

---

Kathy Hart is the Director of Music at Greenwood Community Church, Presbyterian in Warwick, RI, where she is organist and directs the Chancel Choir, a teen/adult handbell group, and an elementary singing/ringing choir. She writes/arranges sacred music and is a soprano in The Providence Singers. Kathy has been a member of Central’s Caring/Sharing Group for several years.

The Lord

By Ilse Kramer

He is the song within the silence
He is the heart that beats in all our hearts
He is the knife that clears the wilderness
He is the road for every pilgrim
He is the key to paradise regained
He is the falling star the rising sun
He is the tears of all repentant sinners

He bleeds and falls
And yet He is the Lord forever
Forevermore

A Prayer for Lent and Easter

By Terri Leander

During this sacred season of Lent, may we observe the circumstances of our lives that are representations of our individual journeys to the crosses that we all bear: whether we express them openly or keep them in the dark tombs of the silence in our souls.

May we use these forty days, for penitence and prayer, building an ever deepening relationship and love for you.

O Thou, Our Great Redeemer, aid us in meditation and contemplation of all which keeps us from fully experiencing Your goodness and mercy. For our crosses are much too burdensome to carry by ourselves.

Dearest One, lead us so that we may follow you and walk by your side to nail our nakedness before you at the Place of the Skull, as our sides are pierced with the truth of our own shortcomings; even as we utter Your words, “Oh God, O God, why have you forsaken me?”

For it is only through your infinite love and sacrifice, that we find comfort and strength.

We pray that we may truly know the joy and wonder of Your rising from the cold, dark, damp grave upon that miraculous early Easter morn. Through Your resurrection, may we too, be resurrected in a new way of living, remembering that You are with us always ‘til the end of the age.

Let us rejoice with all our hearts and minds Your victory over death, so that we may live a life filled with forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace in Your holy name.

Beloved Savior and great Liberator, all honor, glory and praise be unto you.

Amen.

The Gift of the Rose

Susan Swain Tabor

By Susan Swain Tabor

That rose is free, he said to me
It’s been in its pot for an eternity
No one wants it – and neither do we.

Last chance or it goes into the trash!
I thought that that was rather rash
Seeing that it has potential to last.

Says the tag: Small and delicate is the bloom
A profusion of flowers by the month of June
Thorny but hardy, could blossom many a moon.

Rose, you silently called, I willingly came
We joined hearts in the relationship game
Together in life we lessened our pain.

I watered you, Rose, fed you all summer
Your beauty is such a delicious wonder
Our friendship endures, must not be plowed under.

You cheer me in moments when I am sad
To nourish your needs I am only too glad
Thank you for the closeness we have had.

Friend, it is no surprise to expect
When experiencing loneliness and neglect
We two can flower, showered by love and respect.

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Susan Swain Tabor is the great-granddaughter of CCC’s first minister, Leonard Swain, and is currently writing his biography. She is first and foremost a mother and a grandmother. Careers have been counseling disabled persons, agency management in the rehabilitation field, and general management and sales in a calendar company. She currently is a manager of family owned commercial real estate. She received her BA in English literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1966 and a M.A. in Counseling from Rhode Island College in 1980. Hobbies include gardening, growing vegetables in her large garden for the Food Bank, reading, and writing.