Advent Sunday 2 Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-112 Peter 3:14-18Mark 1:1-8 ‘Console my people, console them, says your God. ‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her that her time of service is ended…’ It’s impossible for me to read or hear the quote above without also hearing the plaintive melody from Handel’s Messiah. Texts …
Category Archives: Monastic
Stay Awake
Advent Sunday 1 Year B Isaiah 63:16-17,64:1,3-81 Corinthians 1:3-9Mark 13:33-37 ‘O that you would tear the heavens open and come down’ Is 63 Our Advent journey begins on a rousing note with a request so direct and graphic that it can almost shock us. This is no polite request to a God who operates somewhere …
Our King is calling…
I’ve come to a rather slow realisation of the importance of the concept of Kingship in my own faith and the life of the Church. Some Old Testament study at school began to broaden my horizons. For the first time at A level I was being introduced to the role that archaeology plays in understanding …
The Handiwork of God’s Grace
‘We are gathered together to celebrate the dedication of a house of prayer. This is our house of prayer, but we too are a house of God. If we are a house of God, its construction goes on in time so that it may be dedicated at the end of time. The house, in its …
The Better Part
Jesus came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking. Now Martha who was distracted with all the serving said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to …
I watch the sunrise…
Over the past few years I have begun to discover anew the power of watching the changes in the morning light and the breath taking beauty of the sunrise. This morning I was able to take an early walk on one of my usual routes through a field. Today it struck me that no two …
Spaces for the Sacred
I have returned many times to Philip Sheldrake’s book Spaces for the Sacred. It’s a fairly challenging read for me on a philosophical level. He explores the profound effect that places and landscapes can have on us and how they shape us as human beings. Of special interest to me is his chapter The Practice …
God is dwelling in my heart
I was very much inspired this morning by a blog post from Sr Silvana. She writes about her memories of her First Communion: http://allthislifeandheaventoo.blogspot.com/2020/06/seeped-into-every-sense.html We are fairly close in age and what she describes is very similar to my own experience. Her post has sparked all kinds of memories for me. You’ll see that I …
What will this child turn out to be?
What will this child turn out to be? I have always loved this line from Luke’s account of the Birth of John the Baptist. The reader knows just who he will turn out to be. And yet, I am always caught up in a feeling of expectancy and possibilities. An earlier line in the account …
First, last and central
Over these past few months many of us have had to adjust to some very challenging routines. We’ve lost the markers and structures that subtly orient us. If attending a church service on a Sunday was something that had become a habit, then that loss is perhaps felt on more levels than you might have …