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Category Archives: prayer
John, the post-traumatic prophet
My first Advent as a priest was the season of Sandy Hook. That Sunday the Gospel was about John. I realized that he must have grown up in the shadow of that massacre of innocents committed by Herod; although he, like his cousin, escaped, it would leave its mark on his parents and his small self.
I find myself this Advent once again, for obvious reasons, contemplating post-traumatic John the Baptist, his infant self and all that imprinted itself upon him through the coming of the Christ child and the world’s unwillingness to accept the angels’ proclamation of peace upon the earth.
#preparingforSundaywithpoetry Continue reading
Endings and beginnings
Unfurl the sails and let them cover the sun, the moon, the stars with the urgency of glory glorying in the new creation, with tender attention to the fig tree that you always loved, seeing it swell and fall over … Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer, preparing for Sunday with poetry
Tagged Mark 13, Year B Advent 1
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Anglican rosary for the victims of gun violence
A rosary (Anglican prayer beads) for the victims of gun violence, using a rosary with beads and cross made from rifle stock wood and gun barrel metal. Continue reading
A parable for the anxious
Her voice rasped like a struck match from crying out her wares: Oil! Get your oil here! Don’t run out. She spent her days like a candleburned at both ends, her core alight with the vision of a strip of lamplight creeping from beneath heavy … Continue reading
Blessed
Blessed are those who know God’s poverty: the emptying out of all that is not God. Blessed are those who grieve with God, who know the sorrow of heaven, who nestle in God’s bosom. Blessed are those who have the mind of God, not … Continue reading
Stop the bleeding
Dear God,we cry, dear Lord,how much blood can humanity shedbefore we become something otherthan the body that you formedand the spirit that you breathedand the image that you calledvery good? My Christ,can we lay down our weaponsand crawl beneath your … Continue reading
Posted in current events, gun violence, poetry, prayer
Tagged Maine, mass shooting, war
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Regret
What happens when we stop asking questions? What if instead we had kept on, like a child of God asking why? why? but why? If we had trusted enough to stay in our cautious curiosity, allowed our anger, even outrage to feed a sceptical hope. He was our … Continue reading
The flight to Egypt (through Gaza)
I can only imagine that you went that way, searching the skies by night for a sign of Herod’s madness overtaking, or a message from the Magi flashed through the heavens; at twilight I scan for the satellites that bring news and war to stream down like … Continue reading
Posted in current events, poetry, prayer
Tagged Gaza, Herod, holy family, Holy Innocents, magi, Matthew 2, war
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Render
Give to God what is God’s, he said, and some, taking him at his Word, went out to prepare the holy sacrifice.
God head
Note: this week’s #preparingforSundaywithpoetry takes non-random words from the Gospel and pairs them to unearth (or undermine) the meaning of the exchange. These words appear in the NRSV translation. Continue reading
over the water 