By Rev. Canon Mark Harris
I take refuge in God,
compassionate and merciful,
Source of all that was, and is, and will be,
Whose name is beyond naming,
Who yet is so present with us
That we call out to the One whose offspring we are
in names of affection,
The names we give our parents.
I take refuge in Jesus Christ,
compassionate and merciful,
In whom we have known God's word and wisdom,
Present and incarnate.
In Jesus, who comes among us as attentive as a servant,
Whose mindfulness heals,
Whose teaching is the way of life,
Who welcomes us to eat and drink with him
And calls us brothers and sisters.
His compassion is our refuge,
Even his compassion in death.
For we remember:
Under imperial authority
In a captured province
He suffered humiliation and agony
And death on the cross.
That cross has become our sign,
For his death was not the end,
But a new mark of his healing Grace.
Death could not keep him from us,
His compassion and his teaching
Have no boundaries.
In Him we find ourselves alive.
He is our refuge for all time.
I take refuge in the Holy Spirit,
compassionate and merciful;
Who is present in the source of all our being,
In Jesus the Christ, the incarnation of God's mercy,
And in the community of all who at table
Together are the Body of Christ,
Where God's mercy and compassion reign,
Where the way of life is practiced,
And Presence and the present are one.
The Rev. Canon Mark Harris is author of The Challenge of Change: The Anglican Communion in the Post Modern Era, and a member of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company's (The Witness magazine) board of directors. He lives in
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