Dec 28, 2021 | Christmas, lament, wholeness
Herod sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and...
Dec 28, 2020 | Christmas, nature
Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps; wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds! – Psalm 148:7, 10 (NRSV) Listening to a 45 RPM vinyl as a child, I learned from the Irish Rovers why there are no unicorns in the...
Dec 27, 2020 | Christmas, comfort, peace, psalm
“Let there be rest for the weary, O God Most High, rest and peace to the brokenhearted, peace and pleasure for the despondent, and let freedom come like an angel to the earth.” So sing the stars and constellations, the leviathan from its depths and the...
Dec 20, 2020 | Advent, Christmas, images of God, love
What we have confined, O Love, you have exploded. What we have defined, O Love, you have confounded. What we have constrained, O Love, you have released. What we have diminished, O Love, you have overflowed. What we have cast in stone, O Love, you have made to dance....
Dec 29, 2019 | Christmas, prayer
So close to your glory, O God, and yet so very far. Rachel’s lament fills our ears from a shul in Monsey, NY to spiked underpasses in London. So close to your glory, O God, and yet so very far. Rachel’s cries resound among the Uygur in Xinjiang, China and...
Dec 25, 2019 | Christmas, Jesus, love, poem
Be not afraid, o my soul, to hold Love close to your breast, to wonder at its fingers and toes and eyes, to marvel at Love’s sweet breath. Swaddle Love gently, tightly, as though it is the labor of your womb, the offspring of your heart, the flesh of your flesh,...