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Category Archives: Advent Meditations
The longest night
Morning after the longest night,like the first day of creationwhen evening fell before the dawn;as the dream goes before awakening,the linened tomb before resurrection,the twilight womb before the birthof the Christ, all partand particular to his Incarnation,this nurturing dark that … Continue reading
Posted in Advent Meditations, poetry, prayer
Tagged Incarnation, longest night, solstice
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Mary’s song, our song
The name Mary cried havoc and announced the day of the Lord’s deliverance from the bonds of oppression. Mary’s word to the angel, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord,” was the acceptance of a mantle, the mantle of Miriam, the sister and peer of Moses. Mary’s, “Let it be with me” was saying, in effect, “Bring it on.” Continue reading
Posted in Advent Meditations, current events, sermon
Tagged Christian, Incarnation, Magnificat, Mariamme, Miriam, naming, Song of Mary
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It’s (not too) complicated
It means beating swords into ploughshares, guns into shovels, removing them from the hands and the lives and the deaths of our children. There is no deeper shadow cast than the deaths of children, and the enormity of the problem before us is our mountain to climb. Continue reading
Posted in Advent Meditations, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Advent 2, gun violence, mustard seed faith, prophets
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Advent (the second coming)
There is no cloud of glory can define, no gates of heaven can confine; there is no dogma, doggerel, or doctrine can describe, no earnest imitation reinscribe him. Christ’s coming cannot be constrained or restrained by our rituals of mortality.Our candles are dimmed, our illuminated manuscripts … Continue reading
Posted in Advent Meditations, Holy Days, poetry, prayer
Tagged Advent, Christ, nativity, second coming
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Solstice
This poem first appeared at Bearings Online, a publication of the Collegeville Institute, at last year’s winter solstice Solstice At the abyss of the yearthe sun is silent;but in the bleak midwintersomething shiftsA fearful hope, homunculus,wakes the woman: lightbeyond the … Continue reading
Posted in Advent Meditations, Holy Days, poetry, prayer
Tagged Collegeville Institute, nativity, solstice
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Complicity with God
A sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent at the Church of the Epiphany, Euclid, Ohio The fourth Sunday of Advent is one of my favourites of the church year. The apocalyptic visions and prophetic warnings have given way to … Continue reading
Posted in Advent Meditations
Tagged Hubert Hastings Parry, Magnificat. Year B Advent 4
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Christmas is coming
“Christmas is coming” meant that somebody was running out of patience, out of breath like a woman in labour; like a baby in the birth canal, out of options to retreat; as though, if one didn’t pay attention to the tone of a mother’s exasperation, pregnant and impending, one day it would be too late. Continue reading
Among you
“Among you stands one whom you do not know,” said John, and if you knew, if you were to turn and recognize the Christ among you, the anointed one, then the Holy Spirit would be unleashed upon you in that cataclasm of time and eternity and you would have no need to turn from God to speak to one another because you would see the love of God, the spark of Divine breath, the image of God through it all. Continue reading
Magnificat
Her wisdom undoes arrogance,
the thrones of power are dust underfoot.
My God, my spirit sings your praise;
my soul sings out your holy Name. Continue reading
Posted in Advent Meditations, poetry, prayer
Tagged Divine pronouns, Hubert Hastings Parry, Jerusalem, Maginificat, Mary, pandemic, Spanish influenza
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Comfort; comfort my people
The good news of Jesus Christ begins with a voice crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way, make straight the paths.” The straight and clear way to prepare love this Christmas is to stay at home. Continue reading
Posted in Advent Meditations, sermon
Tagged 2 Peter 3:8-15, Advent 2 Year B, Christmas, COVID-19, Isaiah 40:1-11, St Nicolas
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over the water 