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With Joy You Will Draw Water

With Joy You Will Draw WaterAdvent 3: Zephaniah 3:14-20, Isaiah 12:2-6Joy bubbles up like some underground streamchannelled anew to this hidden dry pool.Out of the depths it bursts into the light,mating with air in bright bubbles and mist.Maybe these waters remain for a time;maybe they’re gone soon after they’ve come:yet they awaken the ground allContinue reading “With Joy You Will Draw Water”

Singing after Silence

Singing after SilenceAdvent 2; Luke 1:68-89 (Song of Zechariah)Zechariah sang after silence.Without that muted waiting, would he have found his song?Doubt left him wordless,no questions or answers, just listening.Long awaited birth woke eloquence.Our world is clamorous; impatient with waiting, we exile silence,deaf to the still, small voice of mystery.There’s no hope of birthwithout the growingContinue reading “Singing after Silence”

Advent Song

Advent SongAdvent brings a pregnant waitinghoping for divine surprise.We expect the birth of Wisdom,truth that’s shaped to fit our eyes:gift of being needs our seeingmeaning in a baby’s cries.Advent intersects with prophetsexiled to beyond the walls,speaking of the need to journeyand to heed the word that calls:lonely teaching, dazed with reachingto where light or shadowContinue reading “Advent Song”

Song for the Counter-cultural Reign of Christ

Song for the Counter-cultural Reign of ChristJohn 18:13-37 Tune: O Waly, Waly, English trad. TiS654The tales we tell of those in powershow kings and tyrants, warped and sour,who cruelly trample those in need.While many starve, they richly feed.Some rulers build a guarded wall,while Christ’s way causes walls to fall.Some seize the law to serve theirContinue reading “Song for the Counter-cultural Reign of Christ”

Don’t Judge on Apearances

Don’t Judge on AppearancesPentecost 26, 1 Samuel 1:4-20, Mark 13:1-11Though lofty in appearance, temples fall.Our preconceptions dazzle us or blind,and prejudice makes tyrants of us allwhen how we mock or prize distorts our mind.Poor barren Hannah mouthing silent prayerwas judged as drunk when Eli misconstrued.She had to strip her desolation barebefore he blessed, instead ofContinue reading “Don’t Judge on Apearances”

Widows’ Stories Revisited

Widows’ Stories RevisitedPentecost 25; Mark 12:38-44; Ruth 3:1-5, 4:3-17Though Jesus and a scribe spoke with respect,and shared what love of God and neighbour meant,the scribes with pompous egos he’d reject,and call them hypocritical and bent.He claimed that widow’s houses they devour,then make a show of lengthy pious prayer.They used the law to profit by theirContinue reading “Widows’ Stories Revisited”

Love God, Love Neighbour

Love God, Love NeighbourPentecost 24; Mark 12:28-34Do I love Godwith heart, soul, mind, strength?Whether I love with allof all of the aboveI have to doubt.Over the years my hearthas had its passionsand its breakages,built its walls,and found safe waysto value and appreciate,but how whole-heartedin God’s eyes?My soul, that intimate stranger,has no form or faceI canContinue reading “Love God, Love Neighbour”

Healing the Blind

Healing the Blind Mark 10:46-52Look round and in for signs of loss of sightunrecognized by those left in the dark,maybe because they think they’re always right.Their inner blindness leaves no outer mark.They cannot see how racial hatred harms,or what life might be like for refugees.Their minds are blank to climate change alarms,or to the newsContinue reading “Healing the Blind”

Word from a Whirlwind

Word from a WhirlwindGod’s Answer to Job Pentecost 22; Job 38:1-7Why ask why? My realm’s too wild and wide,this cosmos too diverse, immense and freeto bend its complex meaning to rewardor punish what a creature strives to be.Gird up your loins, you mortal! Answer me!How dare you with your God contend, and pleadyour innocence toContinue reading “Word from a Whirlwind”

Entering the Kingdom of God

Entering the Kingdom of GodPentecost 21; Mark 10:17-31Children, how hard it isto enter the kingdom of God,and yet how simple.Riches get in the waybecause getting and spendingobscures the simplicityof growing and makingand subtracts from moments of stilled awareness.Possessing robs giving of mutuality;where then is shared gratitudefor all that is given?Achieving gets in the waybecause itContinue reading “Entering the Kingdom of God”