Advent II, 2024 When I set out, I could not knowhow long, how far, how many,nor the sometime bitterness of the wind,nor the soul-deep warmth of the faintest fire.It is quite the adventure of unknowing, thisletting loose of any clarity beyondmy awe of magnitude and all that fills it.How much I feel, how small beneaththe…
Tag: prayer
Inside, Outside, Music
I don’t know about everyone else, but sometimes I learn things I already know all over again, as though it was the first time. This most recently came to light when I was driving for an hour, heading home from a beautiful conversation with a friend. Before leaving, I had asked for a musical recommendation…
All Saints and All Souls, 2024
Coming up at the end of this week are two of my favourite liturgical feasts—those of All Saints and All Souls. I simply love how they afford a particular opportunity to collectively call to mind loved ones that have gone before and also to envision the communion of saints who accompany us. All Saints-All Souls…
10K Surrenders (a Poem)
We do not attain anything by our own holiness but by ten thousand surrenders to mercy. A lifetime of received forgiveness allows us to become mercy. -Richard Rohr- Ten thousand surrenders to mercy One. When I experiencethe nine thousandnine hundred ninetyninewaysyou find to show me that You are as I made you-wondrous and full of grace…and yes, also challenge…and…
That which remains
A couple of Sundays ago, I watched a friend, a priest and preacher, deliver her sermon to the congregation gathered at her parish. She spoke of the Gospel of the day in which Jesus poses the question, Who do you say that I am? This was developed and included a reference to the element of…
Until Quiet: A Poem
Until Quiet With you at the tip of my pen, I wroteuntil words found their branches, tucked infeathers, and nesting lightly, breathed inthe incense of lilac and pine,rose, earth, and cedar; until stillness,revealing its canopy, drew me intoall of its dimensions, offered meits hand to enter the depths of its colour-stained span of mystery; until…
Sacrament of Being
Sacrament of Being While out among,quite nearly within,the tidal chords of an ocean’s evening andthe cloud swept memory of a day,I praise the sacrament of being.Praise, which feels like an earthy assentnodded toward the horizon witharms wide-stretched and head tilted back;Sacrament, a gift of convergencewhere humanity and divinitycome together as grace;Being, wholeness, wrapped in this…
I Believe
The other day I was on a Zoom call and the subjects of Relative and Essential truth came up in the course of discussion. That got me considering how long it had been since writing something that approached a personal creed…that included my take on elements of more formal creeds and also things more personal…
Blurs and sighs and I do
I’ve been on a bit of a run this last while, writing about my experience at the midweek contemplative service at Saint Andrew’s. This entry is no different…written because the fullness I feel is more than I can hold inside. Last night I arrived wearing sunglasses. After finding the way to my chosen seat, there…
Down and Within
After the Wednesday evening contemplative service at Saint Andrew’s this week… Instead of going up to the balcony, today I went down. I started on the chair but it didn’t feel right. Too…what? Perch-y. To ‘on’ and not ‘within’ the space of the sanctuary. It was like I needed to touch down. To ground myself…
Consider the Lilies 