Hold tight that I will not hold tight fists clenched, to world. when all its passing joys toy. Hold tight that I may tie my heart to Yours. When sight and touch fail me, hold my nothing in Your everything. More than enough, more than all joy, all glory – nakedness transfigured, brightness outContinue reading “Lent: Enough 6”
Tag Archives: grace
Lent: Man of Sorrows 6
And keep – keep me, keep watch, keep hope. The pains that crush me are like pricks beside Your agony, and yet You hold arms out as though to gather in more pain, more shame, and thus more me. Man of sorrows, what a name, what a scheme thatContinue reading “Lent: Man of Sorrows 6”
Lent: Humility 5
The lie entwines with half-truths: it pleases the eye, and wisdom seems good, yet that which seems deceives, tears apart at the seams the fine-woven fabric of image and praise. Who are we? Like God, yet when we grasp at fruit to be like God, the image dies; the garden turns to dustbowl. O whatContinue reading “Lent: Humility 5”
Lent: Humility 2
Bow at His feet. You did not come here by yourself: your knees are weak and buckle under pride, and joints stiffen when left to self. The road is narrow. You must bend and bow to walk its curves; it will not bend itself for you and, puffed with knowledge, you will only make itContinue reading “Lent: Humility 2”
Obedience
Jonah – the sea is too wide for you to hide; no waves can cover your footsteps, no ship can transport you away from His sight. Do not run. The burning sun in heat of day contains as much His perfect way as when the sky lights up in flame. And mercy’s found in brokenContinue reading “Obedience”
Gratitude
…The notion of some infinitely gentle Infinitely suffering thing. – T.S. Eliot, “Preludes” I will be late for work: the traffic tells me so, and Adam’s curse run deep in roads too busy to know their name. Beaten by roadside lies the debris and dust of abandoned schedules: here someone burst a tyre, there aContinue reading “Gratitude”
Knowledge
I do not know the ways of spheres: how planets orbit, how stars alight. I do not know how life’s sustained, how atmospheres enfold. I do not know the wheres or whys, how Jupiter protects our sky. I only know the heart of man and know that it is sick. I have not plumbed theContinue reading “Knowledge”
Evening Collect: The Horn is Lifted (Cornucopia of Heaven)
Evening Collect: The Horn is Lifted After Hammock, “Tres Dominé” O God – the empty horn is lifted; the hollow shell is given voice; the broken branch is whittled out and sings. Three persons, my emptiness becomes Your fullness; my earthen jar becomes Your vessel; my bruised reed hums with Your song inContinue reading “Evening Collect: The Horn is Lifted (Cornucopia of Heaven)”
Esurientes implevit bonis (After J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in E-flat)
Two women who knew the truth of a God who exalts the humble were Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel. Both were unlikely mothers, one a virgin, the other barren and ridiculed by her husband’s other wife, Penninah. When Mary heard the news that she was bearing theContinue reading “Esurientes implevit bonis (After J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in E-flat)”
Afternoon Flight
A willy wagtail, was it? Perhaps, but no time to check What Bird Is That? as it wags its way through lanes at lights, a truck here turning, there a foot compressing asphalt. Yes, I have seen its tail – proud tuft of feathers – pluckily braving the afternoon rush, and seen it hover,Continue reading “Afternoon Flight”
The Consolations of Writing 