The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat,the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them…They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters coverContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Christmas Eve”
Tag Archives: longing
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 25
But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tellContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 25”
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 24
But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” Jonah 4:9 Again, God asks Jonah if his anger is right, this time his anger about the destruction of the plant. And Jonah, oblivious to theContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 24”
Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 11
Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey intoContinue reading “Advent with the Prophet Jonah: Day 11”
Advent 19: No cry of distress in our streets
This we long for:homes of flourishing,hearts of abundance,generous speech and thoughts and hands, well-watered gardens and evening cool,children like olive plants,fruit in season and out,and ever fruitful words and deeds, no harvest passing empty,no word bringing blight,no failing crop or government,no cry of distress in our streets, and the will to will,the longing to long,theContinue reading “Advent 19: No cry of distress in our streets”
Advent 18: Longing
How long shall I long in vain? (Christina Rossetti, “Of Him That Was Ready to Perish”) And so we are not ready, too full of dross and dust, too much in need of refining fire to enter a purity our kind spoilt long ago. Nor is it ready for us, nor is the day ripe,Continue reading “Advent 18: Longing”
Advent 3: Longing
O Lord, restore us deaf and blind, Unclose our lips tho’ dumb. (Christina Rossetti, “Advent”) At my desk, while a quiet internal road ebbed and flowed with the business traffic of the common afternoon, and wind kicked up dust from the gravel carpark and tossed hair into plaintive matts, and threw clothes into disarray IContinue reading “Advent 3: Longing”
First Candle: Advent is Waiting
Advent is not simply Christmas extended: Calendar flaps decked with chocolate each day; Shops tinsel-lined as though God intended The season to dazzle our wallets away. Advent is not for the first-fruits of commerce, Nor is it for month-long pre-parties and drinks, And not for fluoro-lit reindeers dispersed In gardens, despite what the suburbs mayContinue reading “First Candle: Advent is Waiting”
The Consolations of Writing 