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Joy in Love of Birds

I fell in love with cockatoos – head over heels, too moved to choose. A chord was struck, connections made: it felt as though a duet played. For several weeks I saw the blacks’ impressive wings and arrow backs, the stripe of gold beneath the tail. Their flight would snare my soul to sail. MyContinue reading “Joy in Love of Birds”

Joy after Pain

Joy after Pain Easter 6, John 16:16-24, John 13 – 17 They didn’t know that supper was the last. He washed their feet, a sign they had arrived from those shared journeys that he knew were past. He taught in hopes his loving words survived. He spoke of joy that follows after pain, as whenContinue reading “Joy after Pain”

God is love

God is love (Easter 5 John 15:1-8, 1 John 4:7-21) All people who use language are second-hand word-mongers: we mangle words or varnish by buying into meanings to suit rival agendas. We fumble in our juggling, and truth becomes entangled with hurts to which we’re subject, and what one hears, another would never have imagined.Continue reading “God is love”

Anzac Day Sonnet

Anzac Day Sonnet for Sunday 25 April, Micah 4:1-4, John 15:9-17 To act in love entails some sacrifice when others’ needs outweigh our hopes for self. Then we may feel we’ve paid a heavy price, and seen what we could be put on a shelf. To act in nations’ conflict may require the risk ofContinue reading “Anzac Day Sonnet”

Jesus Appears to his Disciples

Jesus Appears to his Disciples Luke 36b-48, Easter 3 They felt a surge of joy to see him there,but they were disbelieving, wondering still.What contradictory creatures humans are!We dare not enter fully into joyfor fear of the relapse, the dismal clunkthat brings us back to earth and dust to dust.We’d rather shrink to temper joyContinue reading “Jesus Appears to his Disciples”

2 Sonnets for Easter 2

The Need for Personal Experience John 20:19-31, Easter 2 “I won’t believe unless I see and touch,” says Thomas and the sceptics of today. No insight counts as real, no vision stirs: without the proof of facts, they turn away. Like Thomas, are they blinded by despair, and choose to grieve apart while others meet?Continue reading “2 Sonnets for Easter 2”

Easter Morning

Easter Morning John 20:1-18 You know there are times that we drag our feet to a tomb of sorts. Our hopes have died, perhaps our love. We come to grieve, embalm the corpse, or touch the stone that seals in death and shuts us out. The tomb gapes wide and cracks our hearts. There’s noContinue reading “Easter Morning”

Voices from Good Friday

Lament of Judas Didn’t the others hear him say I was the one, do what I must. That was my signal to obey all I had dreamed of on the way. “He is our king,” the crowds had cried. He looked at me. He named the hour. He could have said the sovereign word callingContinue reading “Voices from Good Friday”

Lord of the Breaking Times

Prayer in a Dark Garden

Prayer in a Dark Garden – Mark 14:32-42, Holy Week There comes a desperate time for those of us who pray when, thrown upon the ground, we share his gut-wrenched cry: “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible: remove this cup from me!” Perhaps it’s not our death or fear of coming pain (notContinue reading “Prayer in a Dark Garden”