Art & Worship
POETRY AND MUSIC
Now the Silence Now the Peace Jaroslav J. Vajda, 1919- 2008
Now the silence, now the peace, Now the empty hands uplifted Now the kneeling, now the plea, Now the Father’ s arms in welcome Now the hearing, now the power, Now the vessel brimmed for pouring Now the body, now the blood, Now the joyful celebration Now the wedding, now the songs, Now the heart forgiven, leaping Now the Spirit’ s visitation, Now the Son’ s epiphany Now the Father’ s blessing, Now, now, now.
Then the glory, then the rest Then the sabbath peace unbroken Then the garden, Then the throne Then the crystal river flowing Then the splendor, Then the life Then the new creation singing Then the marriage, Then the love Then the feast of joy unending Then the knowing, Then the light Then the ultimate adventure Then the Spirit ' s harvest gathered Then the Lamb in majesty Then the Father ' s Amen, Then, then, then.
Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour Wallace Stevens, 1879- 1955
Light the first light of evening, as in a room In which we rest and, for small reason, think The world imagined is the ultimate good.
This is, therefore, the intensest rendezvous. It is in that thought that we collect ourselves, Out of all the indifferences, into one thing:
Within a single thing, a single shawl Wrapped tightly round us, since we are poor, a warmth, A light, a power, the miraculous influence.
Here, now, we forget each other and ourselves. We feel the obscurity of an order, a whole, A knowledge, that which arranged the rendezvous.
Within its vital boundary, in the mind. We say God and the imagination are one... How high that highest candle lights the dark.
Out of this same light, out of the central mind, We make a dwelling in the evening air, In which being there together is enough.
From The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens, by Wallace Stevens. Copyright © 1954 by Wallace Stevens and copyright renewed 1982 by Holly Stevens. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
In early August, I was the Celebrant at a 10:30 a. m. Eucharist when St. James’ Canterbury Choir sang a setting of these words as an offertory anthem. I know I’ ve heard them before, but I heard them anew that day. I love the juxtaposition of the“ now” and the“ then,” what we do in worship as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. �
The Rev. Brenda Husson Rector
“ The Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour” is a kind of prayer-poem or poem-prayer that I often return to. Stevens’“ interior paramour”( his imagination, his muse, his God?) seems to be the one uttering the words of this“ soliloquy,” the poem itself. To my Christian ears, the reference to an“ intensest rendezvous” sounds like a mystical communion with God, especially as experienced through the Eucharist. �
Brad Whitehurst Parishioner
16 · FALL 2018