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A Family Like Mine: Biblical Stories of Love, Loss, and Longing
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Tag Archives: grief
Purple
A poem for the first Friday in Lent Continue reading
On grief
And so he died, and all at once I understood more of grief than I had before. It beckoned from beyond the door of the tomb. In its mosaic floor I saw mourning not for what was lost only but for what never was,and … Continue reading
A departing
The legends and myths of the kings and the Magi, drawn from faithful, imaginative engagement with the biblical text, resonate with us as a church as we draw together to seek the same saving grace: God with us, Emmanuel; a holy Communion in Christ. The legends reflect our life together as a church, as people, whose paths converge and cross and diverge on the journey toward Christ. We will mark one such departure this morning. After twelve years together, we will remain always united in our experience of God in Christ and in this gathering at the manger and the table and the cross; and yet we will leave by different roads. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Communion, Epiphany, grief, Jesus, leaving, light, love, magi, Matthew 2:1-12, parish, Revelation of the Magi
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Emmanuel
I misremembered the title of the children’s story that I cited in the middle of this reflection: I think it still works. In the Advent to Christmas stories we find a lot of fear, and a balancing dose of faith. … Continue reading
Posted in advent meditations, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Advent, Christmas, Emmanuel, God, grief, Incarnation, Jesus, love, picture books
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All she had to live on
As Jesus taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation. He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. … Continue reading
Witness
A sermon for All Saints Sunday We all know about Lazarus, don’t we? Lazarus has become a byword for those who return from the dead. In paleontology, Lazarus names those species that disappear from the fossil record as though extinct, … Continue reading
Posted in holy days, homily, sermon
Tagged All Saints, grief, Isaiah 25:6-9, Jesus, John 11:32-44, Lazarus, love, Year B All Saints
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Good Friday: the rock
These were his disciples, his followers, his confidantes; he had told them that this would happen, and that it wouldn’t be the end. But they had seen him helpless on the wooden gibbet; they had seen him mocked and pierced; they could not leave him defenseless against the elements or the wild beasts, be they animal or human. They rolled a stone across the entrance to the tomb. Continue reading
Perspective
Writing the annual report like teaching a child to draw perspective, moulding a year into blocks, trying to keep to scale but death is slippery and shows between the lines; grief will not hold its shape. Joy alone stays along … Continue reading
Posted in poetry, story
Tagged annual meeting, annual report, church, grief, joy, writing
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Advent IV: Impossible love
The angel didn’t need to oversell the child, the mundanity of human love, which is become the love of God made manifest, evidence that God loves us despite the risk, despite our sin, despite our pain, because God delights in us, because God is love. Continue reading
Posted in advent meditations, homily, sermon
Tagged family, grief, Incarnation, love of God, Luke 1:26-38, year b advent 4
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Words that do not pass away
I do not remember well my mother’s voice any more; the soprano on the cd is younger than I knew her. What I carry buried deep within my skull are nursery rhymes and nonsense that emerge like sea mammals, occasionally, … Continue reading
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