Holiness and a Good DeathHoly Week and Easter 2025We call this week holyand the day of his death good.How did he live that holinessknowing trauma and deathwere closing in on him?Though a victim of inhuman cruelty,how did he die revealingthe goodness and love of Godand the potential of humanity?Now in my seventies,I look to himContinue reading “Holiness and a Good Death”
Tag Archives: meaning
Responding to the Calling
Responding to the CallingEpiphany 5; Luke 5:1-11No, the miracles weren’t what convinced us:neither finding of fish we’d been missing,nor the healing of someone at Simon’s,neither stories of words from the heavens,nor a dove flitting down on his shoulder.Maybe these were for some confirmation,and for those left behind, compensation.As for us, we were hooked when weContinue reading “Responding to the Calling”
Temples Come Temples Go
Temples Come, Temples GoPentecost 14, 1 Kings 8:1,6,10-11,22-30,41-43; John 6:56-69King David imagined a house for the Lord:it would have been visible gift and reward.The prophet came back with God’s word of delay:“Let Solomon take up this dream in his day!”Stone walls lined with cedar encrusted with goldwould stand as four centuries’ stories unfold.The beauty createdContinue reading “Temples Come Temples Go”
Day after the Miracle
Day after the MiraclePentecost 11; John 6:24-35When they found him next day Jesus said:“You have eaten your fill of the loaves,but you fail to see feeding as sign.”They were asking what works he would doto be proof that was worth their belief,though they’d seen a child’s lunch feed them all.Seems our eyesight’s as blinkered asContinue reading “Day after the Miracle”
You Search Me Out
You search me out (Lyrics, suggested tune Irish, God moves in a mysterious way, but can be sung to Crimond or Amazing grace)Epiphany 2; Psalm 139:1-5,12-18; John 1: 43-511.You search me out and know my soul,know when I sit or stand,and if I fall, no longer whole,your love will understand.2.You watch my path and whereContinue reading “You Search Me Out”
The Return
The Return Advent 2, Isaiah 40:1-11, Mark 1:1-8 Laments for exile flowed in psalm and tears, but Babylon was home in passing years. Prophetic vision urged them to go back, but more than valleys faced them on that track. The Baptist called the people to repent, prepare the way for one whom God had sent.Continue reading “The Return”
With Fear and Great Joy
With Fear and Great Joy Easter Day; Matthew 28:1-10; Colossians 3:1-4 Come in, stranger! Be welcome among us, though I fear you will shrink in discomfort from uncomfortable seats and page turning, and from songs about dying and rising in the old-fashioned words of our hymn book. I fear scorn as I try to imagineContinue reading “With Fear and Great Joy”
The Poet’s Call to Connect
The Poet’s Call to Connect Lent 5; Ezekiel 37:1-14; John 11;1-45 To seek connection is the poet’s art. In metaphor the meaning is revealed to souls responding with a joyous start, with ardent breath and spring of tears that yield an opening into mystery’s large heart. Then stories stir like bones at prophet’s word, connecting,Continue reading “The Poet’s Call to Connect”
Christmas Here and Now
No new poems this week – I’ve taken a couple of weeks off, coping with the delights and stresses of fostering the greyhound we hope to adopt, Misty. So I’m posting some Christmas poems from the past, this one from last year. Christmas Here and Now Precarious – our lives in covid’s wake: decisions joltContinue reading “Christmas Here and Now”
The Word of God and the Wisdom of God
The Word of God and the Wisdom of God Christmas: John 1:1-14, Hebrews 1:1-4 The prophets wrote: “Thus says the Lord.” The price they paid to share God’s word was more than we would dare afford, but they must speak, ignored or heard. What was it like to be God’s Word – a living challengeContinue reading “The Word of God and the Wisdom of God”
Barb, poet priest 