Category Archives: holy days

A very brief Epiphany homily

There is a huge risk that God takes, to be born, made incarnate, made flesh, not only in secret, the flesh and blood of an insignificant country couple who barely know where he came from. It is a huge risk, … Continue reading

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Sermon for a Christmas Eve pageant

And so here we all are. Here is Mary, exhausted. There’s a reason that childbirth is called labour: it’s a workout. Here is Joseph, permanently bewildered, still not really sure what’s happening, but see the love that he has for … Continue reading

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My kingdom is not of this world

A pre-Advent poem for Christ the King The flag I did not come with fire and flood, but with tender fingertips, in flesh and squalling hunger biting through your resignation, splitting hearts and breaking glory down into its humblest parts, … Continue reading

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St Michael and All Angels

They were not created on the first day. They are not light, nor dark; they live in bright shadows in between. They do not rise nor set; they were not created on the fourth day. They are not reputed to … Continue reading

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Out of control

The calendar says that there are three weeks left of summer, up here in the northern hemisphere; but today was full of autumn leaves, red and gold and fallen. Clearly, my calendar is not fully in control of the seasons. Continue reading

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Transfiguration

stripped to our atoms, our shining core, is glory [still] captive to chaos

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Costly

What if the sound of a rushing wind blows you out of the water, running back to that place you last called home, fallen now, weeping again by the roadside? What if the very thought of tongues of flame raises … Continue reading

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Ascending

because the grip of gravity cannot hold life down when heaven waits

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Good Friday 2015: Bury me at the crossroads

I nail my sins to the cross, not because I blame God, or believe that Jesus should bear my guilt. I have often heard myself cry “crucify,” but this is not that. This is some strange, new hope that comes … Continue reading

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Maundy Thursday 2015

When I came home, my foot was bleeding from a cut acquired through the wearing of open-toed sandals in a dirty and dangerous city. My mother came into the bathroom where I was going through the tortured motions you have to go through in order to get your own feet under running water and into clean bandages. Without hesitation, my mother took my feet out of my hands, washed them, anointed them with antibiotic ointment, and bandaged them for me. As she worked, she offered from her knees and from her heart her forgiveness, her acceptance, her love; and I found myself doing the same. Neither of us had changed our position, yet love and mercy won, and we were reconciled. Continue reading

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