Category Archives: Poetry

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 →

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 →