What stood will stand, though all be fallen,The good return that time has stolen.Though creatures groan in misery,Their flesh prefigures libertyTo end travail and bring to birth‘Their new perfection in new earth.At word of that enliveningLet the trees of the woods all singAnd every field rejoice, let praiseRise up out […]
Faith
TLDR: I have posted my first poem, jump down to read it. For the last half dozen years or so, I have been reading a lot more poetry. I have also been trying to write poetry and the two are not as related as it may seem. At least not […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations” and began as a sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent (February 25, 2024). “[The LORD] brought Abram outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall […]
“Some years ago, during a service at our church, my eyes wandered (I am sorry to say) to a banner that was propped up in the corner. It was to be part of a float that the children were preparing to enter in a local carnival, and on it was […]
“THE now wherein God made the first man and the now wherein the last man disappears and the now I speak in, all are the same in God where this is but the now.”Eckhart: Sermons and Collations. As my friend Jonathan said when reading this, “Brunner ante litteram.” See my […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” Originally posted on January 1, 2024, this entry is the beginning of the second round of Acrostic Contemplations. “Time does not exist.” “Time is a human construct.” “Latest theories of physics eliminate time entirely.” These are all statements often found around the […]
“I believe…in the resurrection of the body.” I grew up in a Presbyterian church where the preacher focused on interpreting the Bible, expository preaching plain and simple. The physical space had very little adornment. The windows were rose-colored stained-glass (ironic, I always thought)The video linked is of Petra’s “Rose-Colored Stained […]
A sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter (May 7, 2023) Yesterday was the coronation of King Charles III, whose mother the Queen once worshipped here, in this congregation. Like many of you, I watched the service, and I was struck by a particular prayer uttered when the Archbishop of […]
This is an entry in the “Acrostic Contemplations.” con•stan•cy – “the quality of being faithful and dependable.” “Constancy” is a word that I learned from and only ever hear in the Eucharistic prayer. As we offer to God the gifts of bread and wine that we have brought forward and […]
There are all kinds of pressures on the preacher, both from within and without, to be all kinds of other things and to speak all kinds of other words. To speak the truth with love is to run the risk always of speaking only the truths that people love to […]