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Tag Archives: war
Dramatic irony
I find myself drawn to the contrast between reports this week that some military commanders are framing the war against Iran as an effort to bring about the end times, as though we may decide these things for God, in our wisdom; the contrast between that and Jesus’ words to the woman that the hour is already come, quietly, unnoticed over a cup of water, when reconciliation happens, and the truth of God’s love for the world, in all of its invented factions and fractions, has been revealed. Continue reading
Posted in poetry, lectionary reflection, prayer, current events
Tagged Armageddon, dramatic irony, Jesus, John 3:1-17, John 4:1-17, Samaritan woman, war, woman at the well, Word, year a lent 2, Year A Lent 3
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The well
Fed by generations, torrents of history running wild within the earth, the holy ground shaped and watered by the tears of war and weddings, piety and pity. Still waters run deep within the earth, seep between the shoulders of the land, shrugging off the stories that we … Continue reading
Amongst the Babel of war
We too often misunderstand, I think, what it means to become like God. We build our towers, our satellites in the sky, posing as heavenly bodies, the better to crater and control the earth. We rain down judgement as though … Continue reading
Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, sermon preparation, story
Tagged Genesis 11:1-9, Iran, John 3:1-17, war, year a lent 2
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Mother’s Day
Including words from the original Mother’s Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe The very Earth is heaving beneath the weight of war. Fire consumes and leaves no food for the rest of God’s creatures; lead pollutes the soil, the seas, the … Continue reading
Posted in current events, poetry, prayer
Tagged Julia Ward Howe, Mother's Day, peace, war
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For fear
In fact, Jesus himself may be our best guide and interpreter of the language of John’s Gospel that we find hard to hear and understand. Jesus, who taught his followers from the scriptures that he knew the best that the way of God is love; that the promises of God are faithful; that the mercy of God endures; that the justice of God does not set a sword between peoples but sacrifices itself for their reconciliation. Continue reading
Posted in homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged anti-Semitism, Easter 2, Gaza, Israel, Jesus, John 20:19-31, John the Evangelist, the Jews, war
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War
I want to write about the unbearable irony of dry breasts in a land of milk and honey, the bitter taste of hunger among the olive groves, but I am not qualified. Instead, I will contemplate the crumpled faces of … Continue reading
Posted in current events, poetry, story
Tagged Gaza, Holy Week, hunger, Israel, Jerusalem, Jesus, Luke 23:29, promised land, starvation, war
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Forewarned
They left by another way to avoid the falling stars bombarding the night sky, minor apocalypses scoring their trails across the Red Sea. They dreamed of corridors between the waters knowing that God created dry land once. Cradled by sand dunes haunted by Herod’s gaudy and the Child’s humble glory they … Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, poetry, preparing for Sunday with poetry, sermon preparation
Tagged Epiphany, Gaza, genocide, Herod, magi, red sea, Suez, war
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Lucy and the Light of the World
I think of the long aperture of a camera taking pictures of the night; instant to instant, our eyes see only the tiniest pinpricks in the darkness, but left open to the sky, the camera is able to absorb and interpret those tiny messages into images of great light and beauty; images of hope. Continue reading
Posted in advent meditations, holy days, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Bethlehem, Desmond Tutu, Holy Land, John 1:9-14, John Donne, light, light of the world, manger, Saint Lucy, war
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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
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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over the water 