I am writing, dear brothers, So that you may Be established in Him Whose truth you received. I am writing to you What I have been given, So that you may Hold firm in the truth. Even now I Wrestle with beasts And am surrounded By leopards and guards. You are kept safe; I amContinue reading “The Letter (For Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr)”
Category Archives: Devotional
So Long As There’s Breath (For Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer, Bishops and Martyrs)
So long as there’s breath – And what breath have we that’s not His – So long as we can stand and speak, Though our faint tongues be silenced; So long as we have light to give (And we’ll light this day a candle); So long as light is still alight; So long as truthContinue reading “So Long As There’s Breath (For Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer, Bishops and Martyrs)”
He Is All (For Teresa of Avila, Teacher)
Be still – It is enough to sit At His feet (He is enough) And see His scars Where He was wounded So that you, child, Need not be. It is enough, Dear child, to let His grace succour you. Let Him be Your everything Who is enough And is your all.
The Number of Days (Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost)
You brought me from the womb. But in those days I swam in eternity And plucked and grasped as I willed, Owning all I saw and all Beholden unto me. You brought me from the womb, and yet I neither knew nor took Your hand. I built houses of hewn stone And then sat beforeContinue reading “The Number of Days (Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost)”
The All We Owe (For Elizabeth Fry, Prison Reformer)
Oh! my friends, whatever be the trials of you faith and of your patience, I sympathize with you; I desire that you may be upheld, that you may be strengthened, that you may find the grace of your Lord to be sufficient for you; and if we poor frail, feeble, unworthy mortals can feel asContinue reading “The All We Owe (For Elizabeth Fry, Prison Reformer)”
True Community and the Humility of Being Honest
Here is a piece I have written about the difficulties we feel, especially in church communities, with being honest about how we are feeling. I hope it is helpful. True Community and the Humility of Being Honest
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)”
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)”
The Consolations of Writing 