Holy Week – Barb, poet priest

Song for Holy Week

Song for Holy Week (to be sung to Kingsfold, the tune of “I heard the voice of Jesus say” Together in Song 585)1. Their cheering had a hollow soundthat only he could hear.Their expectation of a kingfell grating on his ear.They thought that God’s Anointed Onewould claim the throne to save.The woman who anointed himpreparedContinue reading “Song for Holy Week”

The Path from Palms to Cross

The Path from Palms to Cross Palm Sunday; Matthew 21:1-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66 Short is the path linking palms to cross: mockery waits for the fall of fame; hope of gain turns at the threat of loss; those who would idolize him now blame. God seems reluctant to do our will; we need a hero who’llContinue reading “The Path from Palms to Cross”

Holy Week on Holiday

Holy Week on Holiday Here in this quiet space, the sea sounds ease: its restless growl now soothes like curled cat’s purr. The surges striking rocks here calm and please with soft repeated strokes like smoothing fur; yet walking on the shore in wind like knives I felt the power in every foaming curl. SprayContinue reading “Holy Week on Holiday”

Good Friday Sonnet

Good Friday Sonnet Suspended on the cross, he lived the death that looms before us all upon a hill. We all must face the halting of our breath, the mortal muscles of our heart will still. Is this the prospect cringing in our breast that makes us all complicit in the kill, resenting limits keepingContinue reading “Good Friday Sonnet”

Palm Sunday 2022

Palm Sunday 2022 Luke 19:28-44 Fickle as then this lusting crowd, equally hot for crown or cross, keen to humiliate the proud, or idolize the gilded dross. Silent you ride as shouts grow loud, chanting acclaim while you face loss. Yet without words the stones cry out, and without hands the branches wave. Deaf toContinue reading “Palm Sunday 2022”

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”