Category: ‘Sermon’ like material
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Beyond the comma
As a child, church, God, Jesus, it was all a golden thread woven through life. I don’t remember a time it was not there. Sometimes I’m grateful for that. I grew up on a diet of teaching that was probably not always, but, what I remember could be summed up as: How terrible we are. […]
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Mary, patron saint.
Mary, patron of those who are faithful to the very last, and beyond the last to still be faithful when all hope is gone. Mary, patron of those who strive to scatter the proud in the imaginations of their hearts. To bring down the powerful from their thrones, and lift up the lowly; To fill the hungry with good things, and send the rich away empty? I wonder, are brave enough to gather here with Mary?
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Sarn Helen
Tom Bullough’s opening remarks in [Sarn Helen]. He was hoping to find “what, these saints who perceived the divine in the landscape of wales might bring to our relationship with the natural world.” For I too have searched the ancient stories for the wisdom of those who lived in the world”
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Breaking
He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Tearing apart of a loaf, as the crust breaks, crumbs fall and the heart is exposed. Bread tears along the strands which cling together like sinews then suddenly part opening up the heart of the loaf. Whole, it is of little use, but […]
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Reflections on a snow day
There used to be such a thing as a snow day – a day for not bothering to try to battle against the weather to get to wherever it is that we needed to be and just take a moment to reflect. This was all but destroyed by the technological capacity to work from home […]
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Searching for the garden
The blackthorn is in blossom, the birds are beginning to find their nests once again so spring is, I suppose, upon us as the days begin noticeably to lengthen. WH Auden in his poem ‘For the time being’ writes: “For the garden is the only place there is, but you will not find it Until […]
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Regenerate
In the beginning… that moment of beautiful poetry from Genesis, the light begins to shine out of the darkness. Hope is brought forth. It is one of the most enduring images of the Christian faith, that light overcomes darkness, that goodness is stronger than evil, and that Christ as the Light for the World has […]
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Mingled down
In the home at Bethany. A Hearth. A Haven. (John 12.1-8) The events of the last weeks of Jesus’ earthly life are cast. A place, we presume, he knew well. We are told of some who were there. Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Judas, Jesus. From a distance we could see it as a time of preparation […]
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You are not alone
‘You are not alone’. The message on the card was destined for an unknown recipient inserted into a box of gifts for refugees. We gathered clothes, toys and other items at the feast of Christ the king. It is the end of another liturgical year. I’m reminded of the song: ‘Nothing ever happens’ by Glasgow […]
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A last pair of shoes
How do you buy shoes that last? My grandfather always seemed to wear the same shoes. Not the same pair. Like all things, they eventually needed replacing. Each pair got demoted when the new ones arrived. Sunday shoes, well polished, lived by the front door. From there they began a slow march through the kitchen […]