As a teacher, I have strange dreams. Often they involve classes wildly out of control, or me being absurdly late to a class. The schools in which I teach are often an amalgam of all the schools I have known: the primary and secondary schools that I attended, as they were in the 90s, andContinue reading “Ordinary Wednesday: Unfinished Business”
Tag Archives: confession
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 6
God of sea and dry land,God of Nineveh, Bethlehemand the belly of the whale,God of heights, God of depths,God of my darkest abyss:I have mademyself my god.I mustbecomeNothing.YoumustbecomeAll.I have blocked the channels whereYou reach me in my darkest hour.I have clenched my fist to fightin place of Your hand charged with life.I must go I-don’t-know-wheretoContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 6”
Matins
O God,As the sun rises, again,a little sheepish, overthis hesitant day,prepare the wayfor my often straying feet.May my yesterdays not repeatexcept in the way Your grace has of givingevery new day for new ways of living.Keep me. Make me new:I have not lovedas I ought to have loved;I have not taken the good as gift;IContinue reading “Matins”
Kyrie (Cornucopia of Heaven)
Kyrie After Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, “Missa Papae Marcelli: Kyrie” From earth, from soil, from hearts, from fractures Kyrie Kyrie From death, from fire, from quake, from anguish Kyrie Kyrie From drought that blocks, from self that locks Kyrie eleison From sin, from toil, from pride, from hate Christe Christe FromContinue reading “Kyrie (Cornucopia of Heaven)”
Confessional Hymn, After Gavin Bryars’ “Cadman Requiem” (Cornucopia of Heaven)
Confessional Hymn After Gavin Bryars, “Cadman Requiem” We were not there when stars were flung wide, wide, across the vast expanse. We were not there when hearts were knit, when breath was breathed inside. We were not there when plans were made, when laws in hearts were broken. YetContinue reading “Confessional Hymn, After Gavin Bryars’ “Cadman Requiem” (Cornucopia of Heaven)”
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”
Lent 5: First Sunday of Lent
So bones, built to follow, ache When trapped inside guilt’s cave. Tongues, carved to praise, grow numb When, dry and thick with sin, they lie in silence. And hearts, taught to turn upwards in trust, Grow ashen when no light has space to shine. Open, heart. Untangle, tongue. Bones, rejoice. Redemption lightContinue reading “Lent 5: First Sunday of Lent”
“Shriven” – Streaming Page CXVI Day 7
Today is Shrove Tuesday, a day simultaneously associated with pancakes and confession of sin. It is also the day before Lent begins, with Ash Wednesday’s focus on repentance: a day of feasting before the fast begins. Today’s song, the final track from Page CXVI’s “Lent to Maundy Thursday”, is a beautiful reflection on the loveContinue reading ““Shriven” – Streaming Page CXVI Day 7″
The Consolations of Writing 