Man is what he is and he is everything that he is in the decision of faith Karl Barth And faith, or belief, is moredirection than assentto a thought or a fact; it ismovement towards the thing from which others turn,and from which you may have turned,will have turned,for hole-hearted love is never whole-hearted,and yetyouContinue reading “Compline: After Christian Wiman”
Tag Archives: liturgy
The Swelling Year 2019
Dear friends, If you have been hanging around The Consolations of Writing for a while, you might have noticed that I love using the church’s liturgical year as inspiration for my writing. Well, this interest has been going for some years now – six, in fact – and I’ve decided to put together the bestContinue reading “The Swelling Year 2019”
“A catholic taste,” she said
and I nodded, not knowing at all what she meant, for I was not, nor have ever been, Catholic. How then, I wondered, was my reading taste catholic? The word, at the time, meant Mary and popes, not expansive, far-reaching, inclusive. Now I give my old teacher’s words new meaning: yes, catholic in reading, inContinue reading ““A catholic taste,” she said”
Damascus Road Prayers: Lilyo (Midnight Prayer)
Behold all that are asleep, awake and rise to sing praise… (From Psalm 148, Midnight Prayer liturgy, Syriac Orthodox Church) Could we have seen it coming? Was our slumber too deep? Midnight’s for sleeping, yet You do not sleep, nor did You sleep as boundaries changed and names were rearranged. You did not sleep asContinue reading “Damascus Road Prayers: Lilyo (Midnight Prayer)”
Common Prayer: A Sonnet for Thomas Cranmer
Even as a picture graven or painted is but a dead representation of the thing itself, and is without life, or any manner of moving; so be the works of all unfaithful persons before God. They do appear to be lively works, and indeed they be but dead, not availing to the eternal life. (ThomasContinue reading “Common Prayer: A Sonnet for Thomas Cranmer”
The Consolations of Writing 