Jan 2, 2015 | death, images of God, psalm
Life holds hands with death like partners on the dance floor spinning and sighing and flirting and melding, alternately taking the lead and following, but never parting from one another’s side: the foxtrot belongs to life, the tango to death. So come, friend,...
Dec 2, 2014 | Advent, death, prayer
Stay with us, Gentle Savior. Linger at our bedside for we are always dying and it is hard, so many days, to live in acceptance of death in acceptance of loss and change, in acceptance of the transience of this life. Your day may be coming — and oh! what a...
Oct 26, 2014 | comfort, death, prayer
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust: O God, this is our confession. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust: a litany of sorrow and regret. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust: this the best and barest truth. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust: at the last, we forfeit this life. Ashes to ashes,...
Jun 27, 2014 | comfort, death, prayer
We were here. Now we are not. Even “here” is gone. What we have known as life Now we will know as history While tomorrow remains only hearsay We would set a stone if we could A marker to say, “Here was change” A memorial to acknowledge,...
Apr 19, 2014 | death, Lent, scripture
In the final hours of Holy Week, we pray and reflect on the 6th of Jesus’ 7 last words: “It is finished.” (John 19:30) How late did they stay awake that night, counting the stars, recounting the stories? Were there long spaces of silence between...
Apr 18, 2014 | death, Jesus, Lent, prayer, scripture
Continuing to pray with the seven last words of Christ. On this Good Friday, the fifth word: “I am thirsty.” (John 19:28) At the last: a most human need. For all of the times you had poured out wine and provided a miraculous feast, now at the end you...
