“From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised…” (Psalm 113:3) I have struggled to find the words for today’s reflection, because across Australia lockdowns continue and many I know are weary and broken. I am wary of what Australian writer Kathy LetteContinue reading “Ordinary Wednesday: Rising, Setting”
Tag Archives: lament
Running with Horses
Weeping prophet with the puffy eyes:I’ve run with men and am at my end.Tell me how you ran with horses;tell me how you stood to run.Prophet sitting in Zion’s rubble:did you see Messiah weepingin the broken city’s puddles?Did He lift you, man of tears?Broken prophet dragged by crowds,did you see heaven’s horses’ flight?Arms bound byContinue reading “Running with Horses”
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 13
The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Jonah 3:5-6 One thing that hasContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 13”
Nazarene (II)
Did you meet in Damascus? Did you greet at the stalls and meet in your homes, all safe in their walls? Was there never a time when your people weren’t here? Did you meet in Damascus and sing? Did you meet in Homs where your buildings were tall, where the foundations laid were the surestContinue reading “Nazarene (II)”
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 3
Held down by denial, oppressed by oblivion, as torrents break we fancy them a whirlpool. Nothing prepares for this crisis of self, when the spirit, crying, How long, how long? hears instead the call to crawl into the dust and weep. To whom have You dealt thus? Yet no better are we who bear YourContinue reading “Lent: The Wait, the Weight 3”
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”
Lent: The Wait, the Weight 1
Waves drag, anchor fails – my God my God why In this torpor, what lifts? The heart, bird-like, hovers – an albatross, a vulture? Yet a dove dives deep and holds; it coos what cannot be cried. My God my God why – too heavy for words, yet hands can be raised, barely, above theContinue reading “Lent: The Wait, the Weight 1”
The Consolations of Writing 