Tag Archives: grief

Things that do not exist

Taken out of context it reads like a ghost, 
like the time I conjured up a cat 
in the attic that leapt like a flame 
and vanished along with its own shadow 
when I was a child.  Continue reading

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On the longest night

We are not alone. This is what our Communion means: we are here for ourselves, but also with and for one another; and Christ is here with and for us.

We are not alone. Joseph, our ancestor, dreamer and dutiful carer, bearer of the burdens of humanity and holiness, watches our dreams, and remembers, and reminds us, that the angels are attending us, too.

We are not alone. God is with us. May it be enough. Continue reading

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The Word

Ten years later, with apologies to those still unconsoled, we wait still upon the Word to come; for good news to the victims of gun violence, peace on earth, and the goodwill to protect and celebrate every child of God. Amen: Come, Lord Jesus. Continue reading

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For All Saints and All Souls

He has dwelt with us as our God; we are his people,
and God is with us; and as surely as Jesus wept for his own friend,
he will one day wipe every tear from our eyes. (after Revelation 21:1-6) Continue reading

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The faithful shepherd

The Incarnation of Christ is the certainty that God has experienced and undergone all that drags us down into that valley. God is with us in its depths, with rod and staff, the faithful shepherd. Continue reading

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Wednesdays

Anniversaries are strange; the passage of time feels almost arbitrary. Ten years pass in a heartbeat, while an hour drags on for days. The anniversary of joy is marred by bad temper, while grief sneaks up on the calendar secretly, … Continue reading

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Promise and practice

Promises require practice. It is our call and our promise to bring comfort to the broken-hearted, to make peace without sacrificing justice, or mercy, for peace cannot survive without them. … It is our call, and our promise, to resist evil, to proclaim the gospel by word and practice, to serve our neighbour as Christ himself, to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being. And God promises us eternal life and an end to this separation, this wrenching of the spirit, not because we do these things, but because Christ does these things. Continue reading

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Living stones

Have you ever wandered through an old graveyard, reading the tombstones, wondering about the stories that they tell? Most give little away. Many speak names, dates, perhaps a close relationship or two. … Stones have little space for ambiguity or nuance. They are hard-nosed, they get straight to the point. They do not give up extra flourishes easily. “Well loved” is the kind of distillation of a life they can support. Names, dates, and one salient detail to sum up the measure of a man, or a mother. Continue reading

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When we can’t see the end of the story

It can feel sometimes as though Jesus has withdrawn to the backwaters of Galilee, , and we do not know when we will see him again, nor whether he will come with whips and cords to clean out the temples of power, or even our own house; or whether he will come in chains, bowed down by the burdens of the principalities that still oppose the reign of God, its justice, its mercy, its peace; or whether he will come in glory, a light to shine the world toward salvation. Continue reading

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The imagination of eternity

There is danger, nonetheless, in rendering Christ in wood and ink, oil and water, his features flattened, pressed under the weight of our expectations and experience, Mary’s milky flesh lightened and whitened, the divine darkness artificially brightened with gilt and gold. There is the danger that instead of conforming our imaginations to Christ’s likeness, we will attempt to fix him in ours. Continue reading

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