Category Archives: Poetry

The Theology of Suffering 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11 Words cannot explain suffering.Don’t waste your time with “Why me?”Of the myriad sufferings in the world, choose one:the suffering of Jesus.Then get to work. You will be glad and shout for joy.Be … Continue reading →

Paul at the Areopagus Acts 17:22-31 insidethe stone deity:stone Sixth Sunday of EasterMay 14, 2023

The Living Stone 1 Peter 2:2-10 The temple was not built with living stone.Nothing made by human hands can lastforever. The second temple’s time has passedafter more than half a millennium, as you can see.The Israelites built it; the Romans … Continue reading →

Women’s Work Acts 2:42-47 Women’s work: for mother and daughter,work goes on hour by hour.They grind the grain into flour,make a paste by adding water,and place the dough onto a stonein the smoky oven. They work to the bonein the … Continue reading →

Metanoia Acts 2:14a, 36-41 Don’t look back in sorrowat the wrongs you did to othersor the wrong beliefs you held.Sorrow is not the askof Jesus or John the Baptist.Nothing you say or do will change what you said or did,don’t … Continue reading →

Low Sunday Low Sunday is the Sunday after Easterwhen we cheered the Lord’s ascendance.The low is not for “low church.”It’s about the small attendance. Second Sunday of EasterApril 16, 2023

Happy Easter, everyone! Camp Loowit Alumni Jeremiah 31:1-6 The loveliest things are incredibly brief.The loveliest things happen only once.Years compress to minutes. Nature does not care about your feelings.Eight months after the 50-year reunionof Y campers at Spirit Lake, Mount … Continue reading →

The Swans of Skagit Valley Philippians 2:5-11 To the human eye,the cornfield empties itself of valuefor the rest of the year. Ragged rows of stubblestretch to the fog-bleared tree line. Large puddles of freezing rainwaterand patches of old snowpunctuate the … Continue reading →

[tanka] Ezekiel 37:1-14 vanishing leaves…skeletal woods are risingfrom the deadto clothe the blackwith flesh again Fifth Sunday in LentMarch 26, 2023

Bright Stars Ephesians 5:8-14 1. Our will to work for good comes from God.Live without complaint, without debate. Be honest; be pure; be perfect children of God.Live without blemish amid the crowd. You will shine upon the world like bright … Continue reading →

On the Liberty of Women John 4:5-42 God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,courage to change the things I can,and wisdom to know the difference.. ~ Reinhold Niebuhr ~ Who makes the rules for things … Continue reading →

Wind Over the Lake The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it,but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. John 3:8 Wind over the lake—desiccate leavesscrape indolently at our feet, … Continue reading →

The Power of Myth and Metaphor Romans 5:12-19 Death does not hinge on human sin.Literally.Paul knows this. Death and extinction long precededthe arrival of humans and their sins.Paul’s audience in the Roman church knows this. Evolutionary biology is beside the … Continue reading →