Tag Archives: Word of God

Word, wordless

A brief message for Christmas Day If, like me, you have memories from long before you learned how to talk, then you know that even before it speaks an infant tells itself stories and lays them down, woven into the … Continue reading

Posted in holy days, homily | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

A prayer for the preacher when words fail

January 9, 2021 Beyond Jordan, the baptizer cried repentance, preaching to snakes, devouring locusts, razing the wilderness with his words, confronting kings and drowning sins. At his neck, the knowledge of his own humility, the prickling of glory about to … Continue reading

Posted in current events, poetry, prayer, sermon preparation | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Word, will, work

A sermon for September 27, 2020, at the Church of the Epiphany, Euclid, Ohio. This week Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg lay in state at the Capitol. The US passed a grim milestone with 200,000 deaths from COVID-19. One … Continue reading

Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, sermon | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Word and witness

It is only the creative order of the Word, of God, that makes sense of the world, that sheds light on the life of the world. It is in Jesus, in the humility of birth and Incarnation, even in the confusion of the Cross, in the victory of Resurrection, the transcendence of Ascension that we find light in the darkness. It is in the light of the Word that life makes sense, with all of its joy and all of its promise, even its pain; with forgiveness and with justice, in the Word it becomes a story we can live with. Continue reading

Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, sermon | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Word and deed

Prophets, true prophets, are truth-tellers. They are not in the prophecy business for popularity. Unlike politicians, their constituency is not power brokers but the poor in spirit, the people of God who seek hope not in empires and armies but in the word of God, God’s promise to their ancestors to walk with them and not to leave them lost and alone. Continue reading

Posted in current events, lectionary reflection, sermon | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wordless

Wordless came the Word of God; not silent, as the night revolved around him snuffling, yawning, suckling, sighing, crying out the love of God, wordless, gazing into the eternity between one body and the next.

Posted in advent meditations, holy days, lectionary reflection, poetry, prayer | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Year C Christmas 1: Incarnate Word

On Thursday morning, in company with many around the world, I was in my kitchen baking Christmas treats and listening to the Festival of Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge. This morning’s gospel lesson was already on my mind … Continue reading

Posted in sermon | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment