Unintentionally, I keep vigil the night before while my son, restless for the dawn, unsettled by the changing of the clocks, bids me stay awake and pray. Some sleep gained before sunrise, yet when the lights comes it feels somehow the natural outworking of the night, for I’ve walked through all its stations, met itsContinue reading “Easter Sunday”
Tag Archives: God
Kyrie in the Desert
Father, What have I done with the food you gave me? The bread of life grows mould where I left it. The leaven of self sickens and spoils. Puffed up by bread alone, no Word, I am fat and famished. In the desert of abundance, Lord have mercy. Brother, All the kingdoms of the worldContinue reading “Kyrie in the Desert”
From dust and ashes (After a poem by Nelly Sachs)
We travel through cosmic debris. All the time a war wages – starshower missiles, misguided asteroids. The mayhem is our doing. Harmony – meant to be sung – ended with us. Begin again with us. From ashes we stand, cupped hands opened to receive, to re-enter Your orbit. (Inspired by this translation of Nelly Sachs:Continue reading “From dust and ashes (After a poem by Nelly Sachs)”
Learning Father
History has few exemplars to be proud of. The Greeks did well with Priam, at least, willing to face “iron-hearted, man-slaying Achilles” for the sake of a son. My own culture’s replete with absent men, “bronze Anzacs” taught from birth not to cry. The Biblical witness, too, leaves something to be desired: most too busyContinue reading “Learning Father”
Epiphany: The Implications of Light
At first darkness you saw it, Light looming large on the horizon, transfiguring and sanctifying all that it struck. Yet you were drawn, contrariwise, to a glistening object that, no light of its own, could only reflect or, at worst, refract. Distracted by prismatic brilliance, you answered the wrong call, saw charisma and grabbed atContinue reading “Epiphany: The Implications of Light”
Broken Epiphanies
Save me, O God: for the waters are entered even to my soul. I stick fast in the deep mire, where no stay is: I am come into deep waters, and the streams run over me. (Psalm 69:1-2, 1599 Geneva Bible) Is it, as Bosch would have it, a sinking scene, hut scarcely erect, while in the background knights andContinue reading “Broken Epiphanies”
Epiphany: Godswept
An error in the typeface, no doubt: a missing space between God and swept, as in, a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Yet, in that mistaken instant, my mind glimpses God sweeping, baptismal waves enfolding me, Godswept, swept up in God. Was it like this, at Jordan, or at Ephesus,Continue reading “Epiphany: Godswept”
Christmas 8: Order my beginning
Another year begins, and today we have a special piece of music to see in the new year: Bach’s Cantata for New Year’s Day, Part IV of his spectacular Christmas Oratorio. This cantata takes as its theme the presentation of Jesus at the Temple, but as often happens with Bach the story is explored throughContinue reading “Christmas 8: Order my beginning”
Poetic Translations: The King and the Maiden
One of the great mysteries and wonders that we can be reflecting on this Advent season is the Incarnation: the mystery that the God of the universe would become a human, even a defenceless baby. To explore this mystery, Søren Kierkegaard tells the story of a king who loves a poor and humble girl andContinue reading “Poetic Translations: The King and the Maiden”
“Do not despise the day of small things”
On days of frustration, beware the futile fury that burns when queues are as long as red tape and parking spaces are few. On days when nothing’s achieved, beware the muted rage that despises the stranger for taking your place in a lane or a line, that resents the day for passing. On these dogContinue reading ““Do not despise the day of small things””
The Consolations of Writing 