Jesus, the Carpenter
If I could hold within my hand
The hammer Jesus swung,
Not all the gold in all the land.
Nor jewels countless as the sand,
All in the balance flung
Could weigh the value of that thing
Round which His fingers once did cling.
If I could have the table
He Once made in Nazareth,
Not all the pearls in all the sea,
Nor crowns of kings or kings to be,
Could buy that thing of wood He made—
The Lord of Lords who learned a trade.
Yea, but His hammer still is shown
By honest hands that toil,
And round His table men sit down;
And all are equals with a crown
Nor gold nor pearls can soil;
The shop of Nazareth was bare,
But Brotherhood was builded there.
—C. M. Shildon.
The Living Word
The word were but a blank, a hollow sound,
If he that spake it were not speaking still,
If all the light and all the shade around
Were aught but issues of Almighty Will.
So, then, believe that every bird that sings,
And every flower that stars the elastic sod,
And every thought the happy summer brings,
To the pure spirit is a word of God.
—S. T. Colbridge.
Alternate Reading: Ephesians 4: 25-32.