Go to the Desert – Feb. 1, 2023
“I realized how easy it is for me, when I face challenges, to want to turn to external answers or quick fixes to cover up my difficulties. But that doesn’t always work. In fact, it rarely works. What I need to do is go to my poustinia, to the desert of my heart (and a physical […]
No Longer at Ease Here – Jan. 12, 2023
All this was a long time ago, I remember,And I would do it again, but set downThis set downThis: were we led all that way forBirth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,But had thought they were different; this Birth wasHard and bitter agony […]
A Stormy Season
Recently, I heard a group of liturgical scholars refer to these long months of pandemic as “Covidtide,” almost as if it were an official season of the church year. Unlike the joyful twelve-day period of Christmastide, which leads to the celebration of the unveiling Christ’s glory at Epiphany, the season of Covidtide has been marked […]
Fire Upon the Earth
What does fire mean for you? Is it light? Warmth? Threat? Comfort? Power? Destruction? Apocalypse? Do you fear fire, or welcome it? And when Jesus says, “I came to bring fire upon the earth,” does it imply trouble or transformation?* As a potter, fire is my friend. It is the end stage of turning clay […]
