Not all of you are clean, he said: A glance that spoke no judgment, though He saw us to the core. Instead, with all things under him, He wrapped a towel around his waist And knelt before our feet. But Peter, stubborn to the last, Declared, Lord, you can’t wash my feet! The servant wasContinue reading “Unblemished Lamb (Maundy Thursday)”
Category Archives: The Swelling Year
Children of Light (Tuesday in Holy Week)
Arise, little ones. Though in your smallness you cannot see Beyond the faint horizon: He comes, he comes, Across the seas, Bearing light upon his brow. To those despised deeply, Abhorred by the world, He comes bearing folly, to weaken the wise; He sweeps the vast coastlands,Continue reading “Children of Light (Tuesday in Holy Week)”
The Former Things (Monday in Holy Week)
See – He who stretched the heavens out with His hands And spread out the earth and all it contains, Whose breath fills our lungs with infinitude, Who beckons us in with His arms – He sees the smouldering wick in the dark And the reed that has been bruisedContinue reading “The Former Things (Monday in Holy Week)”
The Annunciation
And so this is our sign, To those with hard and opened hearts Within the heights and deepest depths, This then is our sign: The virgin shall have a child; She who is small in your proud eyes Shall bring forth what the world can’t hold, What human eyes can’t see. This then is theContinue reading “The Annunciation”
Octave for Unity (For Paul Couturier, Ecumenist)
And in His body we are all made one And pray by day and night that we may be, As He prayed for us in Gethsemane: One body, shining in Him like the sun. If we have any comfort, consolation From being in Him, this then is our plea:Continue reading “Octave for Unity (For Paul Couturier, Ecumenist)”
Palm Sunday
See your king. He comes Humble, on a donkey. See your king, triumphant, strong, Humble, on a donkey. See your king; the people cry: Hosannah! Save us, blessed one! See your king; not even rocks Can stay silent as he rides. See your king; he rides towards A weeping garden, aContinue reading “Palm Sunday”
Doxology (For Thomas Ken)
Today we remember Thomas Ken, the seventeenth-century British bishop and hymn-writer most famous for writing the hymn commonly known as “The Doxology”, a hymn much-loved to many people and which has had a recent revival in a lot of churches. I’ve based today’s poem around some of the lines of that hymn, in memory ofContinue reading “Doxology (For Thomas Ken)”
Common Prayer: A Sonnet for Thomas Cranmer
Even as a picture graven or painted is but a dead representation of the thing itself, and is without life, or any manner of moving; so be the works of all unfaithful persons before God. They do appear to be lively works, and indeed they be but dead, not availing to the eternal life. (ThomasContinue reading “Common Prayer: A Sonnet for Thomas Cranmer”
The Heavenly Life (For Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, Bishop and Missionary)
On the night Saint Aidan died, You dreamt you saw his floating soul Carried as he left this earth; And so you saw the mantel fall From Aidan onto your small shoulders, Saw the see that you would take, Lindisfarne, your home. They say you wandered through the hills The warmth within your strong glanceContinue reading “The Heavenly Life (For Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, Bishop and Missionary)”
The Mystery (For Joseph)
Your first thought was, perhaps, an anxious one: A vision of your future, spiraling, Into exclusion and shame; Perhaps, too, somewhere an inkling of guilt. (Have I brought this on myself? Should I have seen the warning signs?) Responsible, faithful up to the last, No doubt your spirit still squirmed. Yet you heeded theContinue reading “The Mystery (For Joseph)”
The Consolations of Writing 