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”

20 Contemplations #8: The Heights

Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! (Psalm 148:3) Though He is lowly, they recognise Him, For He commanded and they were made. As they burn, they can still hear the hymn He sung to create them at the Father’s side. One is elected to proclaim, yet choirs Sing to heraldContinue reading “20 Contemplations #8: The Heights”

20 Contemplations #2: The Colour of Light

He also made the stars. (Genesis 1:16) No twinkle. This is something terrible: Flaming gas, explosive with bright thunder. Scan the night sky, make a wish and wonder; Yet it can destroy galaxies at will. At will, He directs it. See it twinkle Before Him, docile, obedient under His hand. It knows His voice whichContinue reading “20 Contemplations #2: The Colour of Light”

No turning

I dreamt a ferryboat dream where, crossing some unknown stretch of deep, we struck another time and you were lost into the depths of There, and, Orpheus, I wandered far where loss and past commingled in faint glimpses of your head – behind only, never quite your face. And when re-united, by those turns thatContinue reading “No turning”

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”

Lent: New Song 1

Oh sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord all the earth!…Tell of his salvation from day to day. (Psalm 96:1, 2b) Old songs rot in dead ears; Old ruts of thought declare: That was not me       I will try harder          I had no choice                 That’s just the person thatContinue reading “Lent: New Song 1”

Confessional Hymn, After Gavin Bryars’ “Cadman Requiem” (Cornucopia of Heaven)

  Confessional Hymn After Gavin Bryars, “Cadman Requiem”   We were not there when stars were flung wide, wide,     across the vast expanse. We were not there when hearts were knit,             when breath was breathed inside. We were not there when plans were made,             when laws      in hearts were broken. YetContinue reading “Confessional Hymn, After Gavin Bryars’ “Cadman Requiem” (Cornucopia of Heaven)”

Psalm: Creation (The Cornucopia of Heaven)

Psalm: Creation After Joseph Haydn, “Die Schöpfung: Erster Teil” Why all these bodies, and why should persons be able to communicate with each other? And why trees and earth and water and fire and wind and lions and lambs and lilies and birds and bread and wine? (John Piper, This Momentary Marriage)