Author Archives: Matthew Pullar

A Little Lower Than the Angels (Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost)

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthyContinue reading “A Little Lower Than the Angels (Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost)”

The Gift (For William Tyndale, Bible Translator and Martyr)

He found this treasure in a field; He found the pearl beyond all price; He found a vast, wide treasure store. He ran to tell his friends. He found the map that showed the way, A map enclosed behind locked doors. He broke the lock and stole the map; He took it over borders far.Continue reading “The Gift (For William Tyndale, Bible Translator and Martyr)”

Franciscan Prayer (For Francis of Assisi)

Make me an instrument of peace: May I be finely tuned for Thee; In frailty, may I sound sweet, The song poured from the broken reed. Make me a channel of Your peace: May streams of love flow through like blood. May Your pure sea flush out all me That does not flow from outContinue reading “Franciscan Prayer (For Francis of Assisi)”

She Will Have Music Wherever She Goes: Autumn in Europe Days 7 and 8

The old nursery rhyme tells of the fair lady on the white horse, with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes making music wherever she goes. A bronze sculpture of her stands at the centre of Banbury village, near the new version of the famous Banbury Cross which the Puritans pulled down inContinue reading “She Will Have Music Wherever She Goes: Autumn in Europe Days 7 and 8”

Gone the Black Night (For Jerome, Priest and Biblical Scholar)

Often I would find myself entering those crypts, deep dug in the earth, with their walls on either side lined with the bodies of the dead, where everything was so dark that almost it seemed as though the Psalmist’s words were fulfilled, Let them go down quick into Hell. Here and there the light, notContinue reading “Gone the Black Night (For Jerome, Priest and Biblical Scholar)”

Not the Gallows (Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost)

The gallows stand where we should be; The warrant for our death is signed, Persia’s, unchangeable, declare The date and nature of our death. The gallows stand before us. The gallows stand where we should be; And yet another hangs instead – Death reversed, mourning turned To holiday, the victim now victor. The punishment standsContinue reading “Not the Gallows (Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost)”

The Messengers (For Michael and All Angels)

Winged messengers, the heralds of peace; Heaven’s town criers, God’s emissaries; Proclaimers of the covenant; Reality above our sight; Fighting battles, building walls; A choir singing; knees bent, bowed; A song exalted; banner bright; Winged messengers, God’s emissaries; Reality above our sight; Reality beyond our sight.

Belfries, Palaces and a Hiding Place: Autumn in Europe Days 5 and 6

The weather in Groningen being slightly better on my second full day there, we take the opportunity to climb the tower of the Martinikerk, a tower which was first built in the 1200s but has been rebuilt a number of times since then. Nevertheless, it is a formidable structure, notwithstanding the mechanised revolving door thatContinue reading “Belfries, Palaces and a Hiding Place: Autumn in Europe Days 5 and 6”

Canals in the Rain: Autumn in Europe Days 3 and 4

I first began to consider coming across to Europe late last year when good friends of mine moved to Holland. “Of course I’ll come and visit you over there,” I said, and made noises about September 2012 being the time to do it. It quickly began to seem to me a ridiculous thing to doContinue reading “Canals in the Rain: Autumn in Europe Days 3 and 4”