Tag: advent
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Winter Light
My January column from the Christian Courier. ____________________ As this column appears in your mailbox we are in the season of Epiphany—in the midst of the church’s celebration of light and the one who is the light of the world. The texts that echo in our ears and minds are those that invite: “Arise, shine,…
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Advent Crows – a poem
Advent Crows Cawing, keening crowsloud overhead on the bike path;inky silhouetted flockagainst deep indigo sky,twilight of Advent. Lift, turbulence, beating wings;cacophony in whorled airbecome, somehow, invitation toenvelopment in mad feathered flight,toward hidden social roost. Memory of Colville’s Seven Crowsgliding in captured stillnesstoward some opaque future,encircled viewer drawnforward in uncertain landscape, or foreboding of Cyclist and…
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The Missing Cup
My latest column in the Christian Courier. ___________________ TIS THE SEASON OF THE HOLIDAY coffee cup. Whether you prefer to line up at Second Cup or Starbucks, your paper cup will evoke a festive and holiday spirit. It will do so, of course, without reference to any traditional Christian teachings concerning the birth of the…
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Advent Psalm (126)
Advent Psalm (126) Weary and sleepless, caught off guard by racing pulse, panic, vertigo; rare reprieve to breathe, palpable lostness. Heading for home, down old Highway 6 through tears, Aberfoyle, Puslinch, Clappison’s Corners, steering south on automatic pilot, college kid’s stick-shift Jetta. Over Skyway Bridge, past belching steelwork ugliness, along escarpment’s familiar lines; angled off-ramp…
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New poem: “Geometry of Advent”
A new poem for the second Sunday of Advent (2017): And here is the poem within an alternative geometry (click on the poem/image to open it in a more readable format):
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Northern Advent (poem)
Northern Advent Scattered desiccated leaves cling to branches against autumn’s churning winds, resisting deciduous barrenness, new coloured prominence of Red Pine, Juniper, Hemlock. Feathered, long-distant migrants soar, flit, and fly from greyed terrain for southern home and habitat; wintering chickadees cache seeds in creviced bark for hunger’s moment. Poet’s romantic autumnal landscape lost on those…
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a beautiful branch – wisdom for life
We have these amazing texts preserved and handed down to us in the prophet Isaiah. Beautiful texts that speak about the transformation of our world. Beautiful texts that remind us of what we are waiting for. We are waiting for God to come in judgment and grace to his people, a waiting that infuses every…
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Representing Advent and Christmas
I am by no means an artist. In fact it’s only in the past number of months that I’ve begun putting pencil to paper – that I’ve begun taking baby steps in trying to understand how to use shading, lines and different pencils (2B 4b HB 6H) in service of an idea or image. And…
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fear in its place…
King Ahaz is afraid. We know what that feels like. Fear has touched each of our lives. Perhaps you have a childhood memory of finding yourself suddenly alone in a public place – you have lost sight of your mother or father – you can’t find them. Your chest tightens in fear. Panic sets in.…
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Hope and Judgment
My sermon from yesterday, which was the first Sunday in Advent. ________________________ “Thessalonica” Does that name ring a bell with you? Well, Thessalonica is a city in modern day Greece – also known as Salonica. But for our purposes what’s interesting is that the city of Thessalonica existed already in the time of Jesus and the…
encrusted words 