Not expectant last year, we met the season with a kind of still gratitude, quiet in the truth that what had been had been, and was not now, grateful for months of frozen meals and flowers (grief and surgery have these in common), and hopeful that the next year must be better at least thanContinue reading “Advent 1: Expectation”
Tag Archives: hope
20 Contemplations #19: Sleep, Wake
I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking… (Song of Solomon 5:2a) The world sleeps, but still some wise men gaze out unto the beckoning sky, and some still wake to hear the door pounding, night humm- ing in active grace of years. No doubt, the gentleness of the stars willContinue reading “20 Contemplations #19: Sleep, Wake”
Damascus Road Prayers: Advent 1
He rose up like a shoot before Him, a shoot from the parched earth; something spoken secretly occurred openly today. (St Ephraim the Syrian, Nativity Hymns 1) TV screens bear children’s prayers to a jolly man in red. My wish list is as full as my cupboard; my spirit is silent today. From department storeContinue reading “Damascus Road Prayers: Advent 1”
Astronomy
…the dread of something after death – The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn No traveller returns – puzzles the will, And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of… (William Shakespeare, Hamlet) What dreams may come when we set out for stars? What will we findContinue reading “Astronomy”
August
I gather moments like raindrops, like snowdrops: these microscopic buds of spring tricked by sun to come out, one by one; I see how hesitant can be can be the grandest glimpse of things and sing. I catch the way your moments dance from distance – yetContinue reading “August”
The Womb of the Morning
(Written on Holy Saturday in Bicheno, Tasmania) The oath must still hold true yet waiting dries expectation; the dew of your youth evaporates in the tomb. Now: what the LORD said to David’s Lord is unchanged, but the rods of foes seem the triumphant ones today. Only Pilate’s wife regrets the washing of hands; onlyContinue reading “The Womb of the Morning”
Lent: The Wait, the Weight 6
Number days, yet know your days are kept in Him. If He held stars, then He can hold your dross, your deadened weight. At dead-ends, wait. He makes all things well. Hope can break, yet covenant anchors days and ends. Morning mends. The dross, the deadened weight of broken hope lifts. WhenContinue reading “Lent: The Wait, the Weight 6”
Lent: The Wait, the Weight 4
What weighs heaviest now will soon be light; what looms most stormily passes soon. Clouds cannot linger; waves must break. Because of this, we wait. This lightness feels most dense now, but the weight of glory, light as air, will fall and smother all your Now and revel in Not Yet. We call to mindContinue reading “Lent: The Wait, the Weight 4”
Lent: The Wait, the Weight 2
How long? How long? I drag my voice. I cling, I waiver, I thirst, I desire – My spirit shall rejoice. In silence, in hum of background noise, I stretch my neck from familiar mire – How long? How long? I unravel voice. The wait, the weight of hidden joys, When all my sky cloudsContinue reading “Lent: The Wait, the Weight 2”
Catechism 43
What are the sacraments or ordinances? The sacraments or ordinances given by God and instituted by Christ, namely baptism and the Lord’s Supper, are visible signs and seals that we are bound together as a community of faith by his death and resurrection. By our use of them the Holy Spirit more fully declares and sealsContinue reading “Catechism 43”
The Consolations of Writing 