memory work and a long ago bright sunny tragic day

We've been chipping away at our school year for many a week now but I finally settled on some scripture memory, a hymn and a poem for the fall and winter. 

Last year we memorized John 3:1-17 and Numbers 21:4-9. Well, memorized might not be quite it. We said it often enough so that when we review everything we all basically remember it but only if we say it altogether. These two passages were felicitous choices because VBS this year turned out to be all about the People of Israel wending their way through the wilderness and a whole complete evening was on the serpent being raised up in the wilderness.

Anyway, I finally fixed yesterday on the scripture and hymn for this fall and as we sat altogether to hear them for the first time, I found they were a surprising and excellent way to talk about the importance of this day. Here is the hymn:

Forgive our sins as we forgive

You taught us Lord to pray;

But you alone can grant us grace

To live the words we pray.

 

How can your pardon reach and bless

The unforgiving heart

That broods on wrongs

And will not let old bitterness depart.

 

In blazing light your cross reveals

The truth we dimly knew,

How small the debts men owe to us

How great our debt to you.

 

Lord, cleanse the depths within our souls,

And bid resentment cease;

Then, reconciled to God and man,

Our lives will spread your peace.

Hymn 674 Rosamond E. Herklots, Detroit

And here is the scripture:

Matthew 18:21-35

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.  And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.  So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’  And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.  But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’  So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’  He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.  When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.  And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

And for levity's sake, here is our first poem for the year:

If I Could Have a Pair of Wings

Anita E. Posey

 

If I could have a pair of wings,

Do you suppose that I

Would chose a pair of robin’s wings

And skim across the sky;

Or would I take the wings of gulls

And glide across the seas;

Or would I buzz around the flowers

With wings of busy bees?

I could, with wings of dragonflies,

Dart over lakes and creeks;

Or with a pair of eagle’s wings

Soar over mountain peaks.

Perhaps, with wings of butterflies,

I’d flutter out of sight;

But with mosquito wings, I guess,

I’d flit about and bite.