Pilgrims, we return again to Jordan where the old familiar waters flow; As always we face the choice to enter, awash in what we do not know. Familiar the doubt, uncertain the prospect: the promise declares like a quaking in sky, yet how it transpires, our toes must encounter and nothing ensures that our feetContinue reading “Pass Through the Waters”
Category Archives: Devotional
Epiphany: Unexpected Myrrh
…all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord. (Isaiah 60:6b) The promise shines bright, but not all have eyes to see. Many search elsewhere, dismissive of their quest for nothing great comes from Palestine. Preferring the grandeur of temple and palaceContinue reading “Epiphany: Unexpected Myrrh”
Christmas 12: Seen (Nathanael’s Story)
…through the birth of Immanuel… (From the Collect of the Day) He saw me by the fig-tree, desiring yet resisting, drawn to know the truth of things yet not looking for it there. He heard dismissal from my lips, saw straight into the heart of things, called to life the truth in me; I cannotContinue reading “Christmas 12: Seen (Nathanael’s Story)”
Christmas 11: Becoming
…and draw us into your holy life… (From the Collect of the Day) At once desiring and resisting: holiness is an arrival, a fulfilment, and a flame that sears. Immanuel comes like a floodlight and I, at times, prefer to hide. Yet this is our why; life occurs for precisely this: union, the family atContinue reading “Christmas 11: Becoming”
Christmas 10: Sons
…gather the nations to be one family… (From the Collect of the Day) But we know travail, know separation, are well-acquainted with the feeling, on waking, that something or someone or somewhere is missing, or wishing, or losing, is lost. And we know the gap between ourselves; we call the vacuum by first name. WeContinue reading “Christmas 10: Sons”
Christmas 9: …who lives and reigns with You and the Spirit (For Basil the Great and Gregory Nanzianzen)
…eternal unity of perfect love… (From the Collect of the Day) What He left behind we can scarce imagine,having never known such unity or home.At best we can only recallthe closest to belonging that we have touched:glimpses of a womb or a bed or a heart,footsteps meeting the sand in shared rhythm.Only if we knewtheContinue reading “Christmas 9: …who lives and reigns with You and the Spirit (For Basil the Great and Gregory Nanzianzen)”
Christmas 8: The Name
Not an unusual name,though a powerful one.Many Joshuas down the street no doubthoped for some of their hero’s kudos:if not the power to bring down Jericho, then at leastthe nod of approval as if they could if they tried.Yet this one would be different. Nofamily lineage dictating the name,but beating wings and the memoryof aContinue reading “Christmas 8: The Name”
For the New Year: Again
And so it starts over: our spinning wayAround the sun; our cycle of light, dark,Hot, cold; plants losing, gaining leaves and bark.If we hear what the seasons have to say,It will be only their incessant bay,Their insistant reminders – at the parkOr down the street – to heed the sparkOf summer light, and the dyingContinue reading “For the New Year: Again”
Christmas 7: Lords and Lollards (For John Wyclif)
Into the realm of princes and thievescomes the child, comes the child,hay on his brow. Into the darkness that knew not the lightcomes the Word, comes the Word,truth in His flight. Into the sheep-pen where shepherds dig deepcomes the Cross, comes the Cross,ransoming sheep. Into indulgence and folly and pridecomes the King, comes the trueContinue reading “Christmas 7: Lords and Lollards (For John Wyclif)”
Christmas 6: How we grow
And Mary treasured in her heartthe mystery, the sheerbeyondness of what she held and did not hold.He already moved from her grasp,wiser than her and Joseph combined,outsmarting his teachers,taking himself off for theological talks,when she had hardly finished feeding him.Only time stood between her and total loss, onlyyears before a sword would pierceher own soulContinue reading “Christmas 6: How we grow”
The Consolations of Writing 