Poet and Author
Deeper than words is the Word. Deeper than the abstract is the Incarnate. Deeper than prose is poetry. Therefore, if language is to be good, it must be in covenant with the truth. And if the truth is to be good, it must offer us the choice to give ourselves freely to it. In a word, it must be beautiful. And if the proud arm of Unbelief removes the trees called the True and the Good from the Garden, chopping them to stumps, then the tree called Beauty, pushing up from the homely root of self-giving love, will stretch out her bows and do the work of all three.
Recent Articles
Three Servants on Your Day Off
23/06/2018You need three servants to ensure a good day off: rest, refreshment, and reflection. Your heavenly Father knows you need them, for you are both clay and treasure, both biology and mystery: precious to Him. To rest is to trust your Father with your unfinished business. Like a cloud of gnats about our faces, there […]
To My Son Daniel on His Graduation Day
12/05/2018A poem in Milton’s unrhymed English heroic verse You are the one in battle setting the Trumpet to his mouth ready to rally Scattered soldiers at the gen’ral’s command In fever pitch pressures against all odds Remaining confidently calm, catching His glance as he nods to you to give blast To brass that pushes […]
Absolute Clarity in His Presence
03/01/2018On Resurrection Day, every individual person will have opportunity to render commentary on everyone else without the possibility of deceit, conceit, or error. The Judge of all, scars still present in His resurrected body, will take his seat, and the Light of the World will dispel all darkness, be it the kind which comes through […]
Wonder
Why are we here? Where are we going?
Who is with us in this journey?
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Rest in a Restless Culture
If we live to please people, we are doomed. If we live to draw life from the source of life, we will establish an inner well of grace from which to serve–though not necessarily please–people. Our aroma one will one of rest, which is the very best thing that people could discern of us. Then […]
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Beautiful, Good, and True: A Worship Mix
I have mixed three instrumental albums: Bethel’s Synesthesia, Bethel’s Without Words, and New Life Worship’s Soak; as well as the songs Bells of Notre Dame and Bells of Notre Dame II by Leeland from the album Invisible. I have found this to be very helpful for the opening of my heart both to Him and […]
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Prayer for Ashley
In response to the news of a friend who is facing the seriousness of her disease and hoping against hope for the healing available in Jesus: Father in heaven Father of Ashley Father redeeming Father of lights Never rejecting Always receiving Birthing and naming Sunrise and nights: Battle for Ashley Sister beloved Ashley in heaven […]
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The Lament of Duke Ulrich
On contemplation of a visit to the Nebelhöhle [the Fog Cave], 23 June ‘11, in Baden-Württenberg, Germany, where Duke Ulrich of Württenberg hid in 1519 after an unsuccessful, unprovoked attack on the town of Reutlingen. In retaliation, the Schwabian Alliance routed his army and reduced him to a fugitive. After hiding in the cave for several weeks, he worked as a farm hand in the remote upland village of Reicheneck; eventually he was restored to his throne, and he granted Reicheneck tax exemption for the duration of his reign.
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The Windhover
I have meditated much on this poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins, and it becomes deeper and richer the more I do. I see here the mystery that Simone Weil described as “seeing the smile of Christ through creation”. I see here what Dimitru Staniloae describes, namely that we, as the image-bearers of the Creator, are commissioned to “give creation a voice in praise to their Maker”, in praise to the One whose sole agenda is to win our hearts through authentic love, and whose sole reason for creating creation in the first place is to establish the arena, the superstructure, by which to communicate that truth-bearing love. He stirs our hearts and woos them through the things He has created, inspiring us to give creation a voice and engage in a dialogue with the Creator over the extravagant love gift He has made. Here is the poem:
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Rembrandt in the Storm
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) painted only one seascape: Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633) — the original remains missing to this day with its theft from a Boston estate in 1990. Disciples Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record this event. Here is a link to the painting, which you can explore in […]