Category Archives: Poetry

The Politics of No Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 No, we are not bewhiskered woodsmen posingwith a fabled misery whip 12-feet longemerging from the sepia history of real men or frugal, gaunt survivalists riding outthe Great Depression or the khaki war machinefighting … Continue reading →

Lifting the Veil Exodus 24:12-18 To the east, news-crawler clouds scrape the mountains,hiding the higher elevations. A kaleidoscope of rain,wind, and fog turns and turns againits swirl of gunmetal gray over the lowlands. A friend of mine comes from the … Continue reading →

The Growth of St. John’s Church 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 The first to speak is the garden soil.Our hopes depend on fertile land.Without the soil, we cannot grow. Land alone is bereft of life.What we need is healthy seed.Without the seed, … Continue reading →

For the Faces I Will Never See You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and … Continue reading →

Ontological Argument 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 Assuming that God’s existencemight be proved through logic,would you and I believein such an elegant God? Fourth Sunday After the EpiphanyJanuary 29, 2023

Ambassadors for Christ 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 Cold morning. I opened the red doorto the sanctuary and slipped into the back row.No one turned around to look at me.I learned it was the first Sunday after the Epiphany as my downcast … Continue reading →

Life and Death in the Back Yard Isaiah 49:1-7 The neighbor’s cat with the pure black furnoticed my movement in the kitchenand fixed his stare at me.I eased forward to get a better viewof our small, oval-shaped lawnthrough the sliding … Continue reading →

[tanka] The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees writheand strips the forests bare. Psalm 29:8 in the rib cageof bare branches,the setting sunhoverslike a heart First Sunday after the EpiphanyJanuary 8, 2023

Open My Mind Ephesians 3:1-12 Open my mind to the stranger who differs from me.Empty my mind, O Lord, of ignorance and fear.Allow me to live in a world where knowledge is free.Give me a mind, O Lord, that is … Continue reading →

The Naming of Jesus Luke 2:15-21 “What happened to the name Immanuel?”The most precocious student in my classreminded me of the passage from Isaiahthat we studied just two weeks beforeon the fourth and final Sunday of Advent.She opened her Bible … Continue reading →

We All Start at Zero Luke 2:1-14 The practiced hands of the good-humored doctorpull the infant out of the warm duskinessof an amniotic ocean into the unfamiliar glareof delivery room lights. It is a rough business,coming into the world, but … Continue reading →

Turning the Blank Pages Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18 It was all good for the first three and a half minutes.He led the orchestral intro from the bench,waving his arms and bobbing his headwhile I turned the pages.No one was paying attention … Continue reading →

Our Responsibility Psalm 146:4-9 The Lord created the heaven and earth.He created the seas, and all that is in them. Man had nothing to do with this. The Lord gives justice to the oppressed,sets the prisoners free,opens the eyes of … Continue reading →