Author: stuart

  • wilderness is when…

    Wilderness is when: So I’m told, a place is undiscovered, wild, untamed. and temptation waits with eager longing. But wilderness is closer in a digital age if your work is pencil by default. When all around broadcast happy lives the silent screen says all is not well. Wilderness is sitting on a street corner as…

  • Wilderness

    I’ve been reading I, Daniel Blake.  It is a true story, though not real.  The contents of the story are happening all around us, though this particular telling has not actually taken place.  It is in some sense a wilderness book.  It leads us to a place from where there can be no escape if…

  • Sabbath Rest? Coda!

    Sabbath Rest? Coda!

    They say God left the best till last. I’m not talking about the humans, created as our genesis narrative would have us think on the sixth day, at the 11th hour.  Better throw something into the mix to stir it up a bit.  It’s all a bit too perfect.  Closing time never offers the finest…

  • Too much said

    You may have heard that it was said:  An eye for and eye makes the whole world blind.  Gandhi had a particular way of distilling the wisdom of not just one set of religious teachings.  It is said that he saw himself as Hindu and Muslim and Christian.  This often angers people, mostly, I think,…

  • Turn aside and love in the shadows

    Br. Francis suggested we use words to preach as a last resort – that is one reason I often resort to poetry.  That kind of relates to the message tonight and just in case I fail miserably and you decide to tune out about half way through I’ll come out with the punch line right…

  • illuminating the shadow

    for Kaz   You offered me a smile when I stopped to speak I guess it was all you had to give away.  But I will carry your smile with me and hold it close.  You were wrapped in your duvet and woolly hat clutching a small handful of change. I was wrapped in my…

  • walking the shores

    walking the shores

    Walking a lake shore as nations divide a place apart on the edge of something new. Amidst the darkness expectations arise of the light that touches hearts with kindnesses the world forgot. Alongside ordinary folk simple words honest hands changing lives. In the face of confrontation withdraw gather and heal. on a certain inauguration and…

  • In the crowd

    There in the crowd. A half smile, world weary but with gestures of warmth. There again. soft words a voice of understanding amidst pain. A slow pace. walking with empathy alongside broken hearts and damaged lives. Vulnerable, humble. Unarmed. For Pax Christi Peace Sunday 15th Jan 2017  Jn.1:29, 36

  • A light and a fear

    High above the gloom of a valley shrouded in the orange glow of neon a misty halo surrounds an old light. Captivating, white with its bright against black skies no others dare invade light enough for now. To lead. She rises over the distant hill. Drawing the wonder Is it brighter on the other side?…

  • Riding the storm named Jesus

    Riding the storm named Jesus

    What is in a name? Abigail, Barney, Clodagh, Desmond, Eva, Frank. These names may not mean anything to you particularly. To me the last does. It was Frank I think who took my greenhouse, though possibly Eva. Frank didn’t take it, it was demolished, flattened, rendered useless. An act of wilful vandalism. One from which…