Category Archives: Poetry

Chaff Psalm 139 “Have you been saved?” is the wrong question.All of us are saved together.All creatures and the cosmos itselforiginate from one divine source. At death we all return to the source.The loving God is within us, at home,patiently … Continue reading →

Joy at Daybreak Psalm 65 I run the trail before the rising sun.Cyclists will not be riding up my backin the bleak early hours when all is black.Body and soul are one on the run at dawn.A careful stride keeps … Continue reading →

[tanka] Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 we areand then we arewhat others think we are…unserious childrenin the marketplace Sixth Sunday after PentecostJuly 9, 2023

Slow Train Coming Romans 6:12-23 Bob Dylan addresses this scripture reading better than I can. Click this: Gotta Serve Somebody. Fifth Sunday after PentecostJuly 2, 2023

Ishmael Genesis 21:8-21 Abraham loved both his boys;Sarah spurned the elder son.Sarah wanted the second bornto inherit and grow the family business. For the fair-minded father, it was disturbingto learn the younger Isaac was his heir.The scandal of election seemed … Continue reading →

The Birth of Laughter Genesis 18:1-15 [21:1-7] Infertility is hereditary.If your parents didn’t have kids,neither will you.This was not a laughing matterto the old man Abrahamand the old woman Sarah who tried for years without successto have a child.God promised … Continue reading →

The Thing Itself Romans 4:13-25 When a man loves a woman,does he love a painting of the womanor the woman herself?Surely he knows the paintingis not the thing itself. When a woman loves a man,does she love a photograph of … Continue reading →

We Have Questions When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,what is man that you should be mindful of him? Psalm 8:4-5 Digging deep into a pocket of … Continue reading →

Midlife Class Reunion Psalm 104:25-35, 37 We meet again, halfway to the sea;we touch again, halfway from the snow.Our disentangled lives have floated freethrough range and farm and city far below,and far away from home. We floated freewithin the groove … Continue reading →

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 →