I have learned that fences are for climbing to see if the grass really is greener on the other side; and that if I leave the house at night, and stretch high on the top of my tiptoes I might touch the quivering stars, play with the bright young moon. I have learned thatContinue reading “advent apertures 2019: Christmas Eve”
Tag Archives: Advent 2019
advent apertures 2019: day 23
Light and darkness, night and day. We marvel at the mystery of the stars. Moon and sky, sand and sea. We marvel at the mystery of the sun. Twilight, high noon, dusk and dawn. Though we are mortal, we are Creation’s crown. Flesh and bone, steel and stone. We dwell in fragile, temporary shelters. GrantContinue reading “advent apertures 2019: day 23”
advent apertures 2019: Sunday 4
Joy Unspeakable is not silent, it moans, hums, and bends to the rhythm of a dancing universe. It is a fractal of transcendent hope, a hologram of God’s heart, a black hole of unknowing. For our free African ancestors, joy unspeakable is drum talk that invites the spirits to dance with us, and tell tallContinue reading “advent apertures 2019: Sunday 4”
feeling vulnerable: Blue Christmas 2019
The following was written for the Godspace blog, as part of their Advent series on ‘Who is this child?’ visual journalling page from Kate Kennington Steer I was unable to have children of my own, so holding my nephews, niece and friends’ children over the years has been such a precious bittersweet joy. AsContinue reading “feeling vulnerable: Blue Christmas 2019”
advent apertures 2019: Blue Christmas
Evening says to night: “Are you always this beautiful under your clothes?” Night says to the moon: “All day I dreamed of you but I couldn’t bring myself to call.” The moon says to sleep: “There are doorways in the dark.” Sleep says to dawn: “As if forward were the only direction!” Dawn says toContinue reading “advent apertures 2019: Blue Christmas”
advent apertures 2019: day 20
A moment when sound and vision were inverted themselves, torn inside out and filled my attention to capacity. A moment when everything else dropped away and the experience of seeing, of sensing, became so overwhelming, so all encompassing, that the very idea of interpretation did not, could not, exist. Uta Barth Sister Maggie RossContinue reading “advent apertures 2019: day 20”
advent apertures 2019: day 19
Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies are not starving someplace, they are starving somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils. But we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants. Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor womenContinue reading “advent apertures 2019: day 19”
advent apertures 2019: day 18
If we could truly open the windows of perception, our lives would be infinitely richer, finer, truer to the possibilities of the soul. We would become considerably wiser, in understanding and in action. We could occupy the moment more fully, and employ more of our latent capacities. We might begin to genuinely respond to lifeContinue reading “advent apertures 2019: day 18”
advent apertures 2019: day 17
Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt—marvellous error!— that a spring was breaking out in my heart. I said: Along which secret aqueduct, Oh water, are you coming to me, water of a new life that I have never drunk? Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt—marvellous error!— that I had aContinue reading “advent apertures 2019: day 17”
advent apertures 2019: day 16
It has frequently been remarked, about my own writings, that I emphasize the notion of attention. This began simply enough: to see that the way the flicker flies is greatly different from the way the swallow plays in the golden air of summer. It was my pleasure to notice such things, it was a goodContinue reading “advent apertures 2019: day 16”