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Category Archives: poetry
Words
There are no words for some days; there are no words to take away the grimness of the children’s story, fantastic in its horror, incredible yet all too real; we reel, we recoil; there are no words. Even as we … Continue reading
Zechariah finds his voice
This week, we get to read the Song of Zechariah, the loosened tongue of a man whose loins have finally produced an heir after decades of longing and loss; the praise of a priest who was struck dumb by the … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry
Tagged Advent, Canticle 16, Canticle 4, John the Baptist, Luke 1:5-25, Luke 1:68-79, Year C Advent 2, Zechariah
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Luke 21:25-36
Dissipation, drunkenness and the worries of this life circle their prey; the room dizzies, spins, sickening; swirling skirts’ colours and patterns staining the food, pulling you into the dance; something is calling, falling … snapping back into sharp-edged focus, technicolor … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry
Tagged apocalypse, Christianity, dissipation, drunkenness, poetry, religion, trap
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Hallowe’en
The day before, the bones scatter on the valley floor, helped by the clean-up vulture crew, laid out to dry in the sun. There is a photograph hanging of the witch of Endor, grotesque in its details, she is all … Continue reading
Story of your life
The dog ears, with their corners turned down we tell over and over – love stories, horror stories, old jokes and limericks, edges worn smooth with the turning. Unlike those sections which someone tried to tear out, to shred, to … Continue reading
Posted in poetry
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Rites of passage
My mother’s funeral did not take place in an American high school auditorum, neither was the local rag reporter in attendance. No one wore football pads or swimming gear; I was not in clericals, being unordained as yet, and having … Continue reading
Breathless
It isn’t as though there is not enough air to go around. Even the sci-fi movies – the ones I’ve seen- have yet to pit the black-hatted baddies against the white-toothed heroes over the last supply of oxygen for the … Continue reading
Who do you say that I am?
free speaker, freedom fighter, freak, felon, rabble rouser, innocent, manipulator, incarnation, martyr-maker, messianic prophet, faker, visionary, revisionist preacher, pacifist, agitator, egocentric, faithful saviour, Son of God, Son of Man, who do you say I am?
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged Jesus, Mark 8:27-38, Year B Proper 19
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Fair linen
I heard Anne Lamott at a writer’s showcase a while ago, and she said that if we writerly types do not write down right away our ideas, the ones that strike at inopportune moments, then God gives them to her, … Continue reading
Posted in poetry
Tagged altar, altar cloth, Anne Lamott, church, Holy Communion, leaving, poetry, priest, writing
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End of summer
The softest of rain makes nervous puddles shudder; what will fall down next?
over the water 