Beyond these walls

  • Out of the darkness comes…

    Dear Santa Claus, St. Nick, Sant Claus, Bishop Nicolas of Myra died AD343 origin of the fable of fables, Story of stories, giver of gifts by stealth, childhood fantasy of dreams and visions, nighttime visitor, time engineer extraordinaire, magical mystery maker, bringer of wishes, keeper of ‘The List’ – Naughty and Nice. Children wait in…

  • Expectations for Christmas Stockings

    I wonder what our expectations might be this advent as we begin our journey towards the celebration of the birth of Jesus once again this year? I suspect we will have rather conflicting expectations not least because of the ongoing pandemic, the last stand of the British Empire, aka Brexit. The rather sad image of…

  • Just the shoes

    Was it you that day? I forgot to ask your name on the steps – you fell backwards, I turned too late.  You, crumpled cracked head at my feet. We wait together on the steps for help to come, head cradled in my lap crying out for your shoe. It came off. I guess, I don’t recall,…

  • Leaf. Grief.

    I tried to preserve your haunting autumn song in laminate but could not capture the shape and curl of your last flame that flickered down and caught my eye lying bright new fallen on the earth. So I removed, carefully, the layers of film which rendered your form inanimate. My clumsy interruption of decay stalled…

  • talented shareholder

    I walked the middle way from Capel Curig to Dolwyddelan for no particular reason except to be out for the count. (of the US Election!)  Paths cross and collide on that pathway a journey through a bland landscape not empty but bleak where the division between land and sky is the most prominent feature.  The…

  • The middle way

    I imagine you walking the opposite way arriving at the marker post from the other direction. Disappearing into tussocks, sunk deep into the sodden landscape. Swallowed up or sucked down. Visible for a brief moment then gone.  Like signposts in life. A brief moment of brightness that leaves an image greying into the mists of…

  • Roots and leaves

    Discarded leaf litter decays into nutrients feeding the trees that gave them life in a process so ancient, so simple, so interconnected. It ought to be held in higher esteem. Autumn comes and will go again. We are here for but a season.  As we came together this past week to remember a good friend…

  • Speechless

    Speechless – Welcomed and Rejected. You might think that the Parable of the wedding banquet affirms the boundless generosity and inclusive reach of God’s grace. There is the small matter of the destruction of villages of those first invited. After that though we can invite everyone. Celebrate the inclusivity, diversity of God’s kingdom shown in…

  • The window in the wall

    Francis of Assisi was a master of making room for the new and letting go of that which was tired or empty.  Oh to have him here now – I suspect we might not like what he would suggest – Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio took the name Francis when he became Pope saying in the spirit…

  • Shedding illusions

    Many have asked if I had a good sabbatical.  The short answer is yes, thank you.  Even in that short expression there is much to elaborate on!  I was told before I went that a sabbatical would be disruptive to me personally. He wasn’t wrong. I think the best way of describing my time away…