One of my favourite moments in the Bible is the little, anticlimactic story after one of the big show-stopping stories. It comes in 1 Kings 19, immediately after Elijah has triumphed over all the false prophets of Baal and the land-grabbing wicked King Ahab. God has shown up in an undeniable way to give ElijahContinue reading “Ordinary Wednesday: Not in the fire, not in the quake”
Tag Archives: Elijah
The Lisping God
God, Calvin said, speaks like a nursing mother lisping to her child, making room for “our feebleness”, as though cuddling us with words. And so I turn to the comfort of Psalms where the wounded Christ opens His arms to make room for my wounds, to the God who calms a lamb sleeping by aContinue reading “The Lisping God”
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 23
When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” Jonah 4:8 There’s a parallel moment to this in the Old Testament, when the prophet Elijah,Continue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 23”
The Consolations of Lent
Comfort sits, unexpected, in our waiting with weakness. No giant leaps needed, only the baby steps of the heart slowly learning contrition. Begin with incapacity, then the slow-dawning knowledge that you are nothing but dust. Dust transfigures at His breath. Exhale in the sigh of your Lenten frailty. Then inhale, inspire. O brother in ourContinue reading “The Consolations of Lent”
“The chariots and horsemen of Israel” (For the end of Epiphany)
The heart seeks Tabernacle: on mountain-top, by river-bank, it longs to settle, to hold the Presence safe, within arm’s reach, just the length of an Elijah’s-staff away. Yet the false Tabernacles we weave as curtains against truth turn Transfiguration to self-help session and seek double portions to allay the moment’s loss. Day turns to night.Continue reading ““The chariots and horsemen of Israel” (For the end of Epiphany)”
The Consolations of Writing 