Out of the storm, He comes, He comes, clearly, speaking victory – comes with calmness in His step and silence for each dread. Watching mountains quake, they quake to see such sureness step upon these waves of doubting fury;Continue reading “From Ashes: Sturm und Drang”
Category Archives: Devotional
Catechism 22
Why must the Redeemer be truly human? That in human nature he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin; and also that he might sympathize with our weaknesses. (New City Catechism) Mystery, this: the perfect life lived, Law satisfied, and yet my death visited onContinue reading “Catechism 22”
Family Tree
…and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:2) What a father did once when an apple looked sweet sent tremors shaking through the earth, breaking roots, severing limbs, Continue reading “Family Tree”
From Ashes: No glitch
No glitch in the creation plan and yet my mind skips and repeats over old tracks as though, as though in early days a scratch a fleck of dust crept in, crept in, upset the balance of it all. With every beat the tension in these ancient grooves – this wax – threatens now toContinue reading “From Ashes: No glitch”
Catechism 21
What sort of Redeemer is needed to bring us back to God? One who is truly human and also truly God. (New City Catechism) Can both dwell in one body – God and man, as though torn asunder, the two were somehow reconciled? As far as east is from west:Continue reading “Catechism 21”
From Ashes Part 8: No work for tinkers
It is autumn in my home town of Melbourne as I write these words, and outside the University library the streets are bathed in orange, golden and golden-brown leaves. It is a glorious sight, one of those moments where something seemingly hopeless – the dying of leaves – can be simultaneously so beautiful. I wasContinue reading “From Ashes Part 8: No work for tinkers”
From Ashes: The Crushed Flower (For Therese of Lisieux)
The flower that is me, Crushed – in crushing, free. Yet still I wilt here to see This dying beauty. Until You tread in victory, I languish in me. Crushed by foot, by sea Of crowd’s apathy, I will Yet trust, Christ, in Thee, Thorn-crowned on a tree, Your will Crushed; in crushing, free TheContinue reading “From Ashes: The Crushed Flower (For Therese of Lisieux)”
Bursting Dimensions
If you really believe, then the day and the dull of its light won’t confine the dimensions of sight; you may look through the night and see there the promise of Life. Do you really believe? On your way through the frontiers of darkness and time, you may feel all your might leak out intoContinue reading “Bursting Dimensions”
Catechism 20
Who is the Redeemer? The only Redeemer is the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in whom God became man and bore the penalty for sin himself. (New City Catechism) From Adam’s flesh the perfect Man: God, human, redeeming what the apple’s curse has eaten. Who else? Our kinsman, yet notContinue reading “Catechism 20”
From Ashes: Sonnet
Though fearfully and wonderfully made, There are abscesses where my dirt is stored: See here, the time I learnt to cry, to wade In mud and mire, and hurt of my own accord. Though Grace has breathed its breath in me, I still Retain the sick fruit of Adam’s broken soil; In pain, in guilt,Continue reading “From Ashes: Sonnet”
The Consolations of Writing 