“Stay With Us,” WOV 743
1 Stay with us till night has come:
our praise to you this day be sung.
Bless our bread, open our eyes:
Jesus, be our great surprise.
2 Walk with us, our spirits sigh:
hear when our weary spirits cry,
feel again our loss, our pain:
Jesus take us to your side.
3 Walk with us, the road will bend:
make all our weeping, wailing end.
Wipe our tears, forgive our fears:
Jesus, lift the heavy cross.
Devotion
Stay with us, till night has come:
Our praise to you, this day be sung,
Bless our bread, open our eyes:
Jesus, be our great surprise.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote a poem in the 1960s that included the words: “I am waiting for a rebirth of wonder.” The rest of the poem has long since faded from memory, but that phrase remains. That longing is echoed in Herbert Brokering’s hymn text: “Jesus, be our great surprise.”
But is that what we really want—a rebirth of wonder or to be surprised by Jesus? Aren’t we usually quite comfortable with the way things are, the routines which order our days, the normal, safe and secure patterns?
Lent invites us to step out of the ordinary, to go on a journey with a homeless Jew whose confrontation with the religious and political authorities led to his death on a cross. To walk with such a person is to be open to wonder, to surprise and to the possibility of having our lives turned upside down. That is the danger and the promise of Lent.
Prayer
Stay with us through the day and night and open our eyes to the wonder that lies ahead. Amen.