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Category Archives: poetry
Opportunist
Robin alighted as soon as I mowed the first swathe of grass, an aspiring scavenger sifting the cuttings for prey. Undeterred by the turning blade, it tilted an eye as though to say, we are not so different, you and … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged greatest, greatness, Mark 9:30-37, Year B Proper 20
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But who do you say that I am?
This poem was first published at the Episcopal Cafe When Christ confronted the demons, they cried outin loud voices and with forked tongues,“We know who you are, Holy One, Son of God,hope of the nations and light of the world!”And … Continue reading
Prayer for a day when there are no words
I do not have words to imagine the prayers of the falling.It feels ironic to light a candlewhen fires burn freely and fast;to kneel as though the earth might otherwiseflee from beneath me.Breathing has becomean act of defiance. Baptism threatens to flood … Continue reading
Posted in current events, poetry, prayer
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Brushstrokes
Leaded clouds filter light to the lake; deep calls to deep. The layered air is painted on; brushstrokes of the wind, movements of the Spirit, fade into the canvas of the storm.
Posted in poetry, story
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A haiku on Psalm 30:5
Following tracks of rain down to the lake for joy that comes by morning
The dry bones
They must have been famished,that bunch of bones shrugged together,flesh and sinew awaiting breath.How long had they been fasting in the dust? They were surely parched;their skin must have sagged,their steps dragged – how manycalories does resurrection burn, anyway? Did … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged creation, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Pentecost, Resurrection, Valley of Dry Bones
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A prayer for the earthbound
As deeply as he descended among the dead, plumbing Hell and Hades,the limits of human horror too easily imaginedby the earthbound; so far he invites us to soar beyond our petty promises of punishment and death, to life beyond the … Continue reading
Prayer for an end to mass shootings
My God,can we not go one week,sabbath to sabbath,without a mass shooting? Will you not beatour pistols into ploughshares,our shotguns into shovels,our rifles into rakes,massage some feeling intoour hearts of stone? I sigh, open my eyes;the mirror stares back in … Continue reading
Sore wounded
First purple, then green new leaves unfurl as though winter had never been; veined and vain, they bear no marks of last year’s deer, no signs of decay. This is not the resurrection of the dead; this is a conjuring … Continue reading
Posted in poetry, prayer
Tagged crown of thorns, Easter, Jesus, Resurrection, spring
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The midwives
Afterwards, whenthey found you again,did they use their ointments, spices, clothto bandage your wounds? Hairline scratches from the halo of thorns; how did you bear the grass beneath your feet? Midwives of the body,did they wipe your hands with aloe,wash … Continue reading
Posted in holy days, poetry, prayer
Tagged Easter 2, midwives of the body, wounds of Christ
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over the water 