Poetry

  • All Are Called

    All Are Called

    I wrote a song. And instead of performing it for a few friends, or maybe a small congregation, I first performed it on a big stage, with thousands of people watching – and singing along. How am I feeling about it? Good. The Sunday afternoon reprise went better, partly because I knew folks were going… Continue reading

  • Dangerous Prayers

    Deliver us, O Truth, O Love, from quiet prayer from polite and politically correct language, from appropriate gesture and form and whatever else we think we must put forth to invoke or to praise You. Let us instead pray dangerously – wantonly, lustily, passionately. Let us demand with every ounce of our strength, let us… Continue reading

  • Inspired by Brigid

    Inspired by Brigid

    There is a moment In every undertaking There is a moment When everything is still… too still. There is a moment When nothing, nothing, NOTHING comes… When the mind is frozen. It is a scary moment It is a frustrating moment It is a moment where you doubt every part of yourself Why can’t I… Continue reading

  • Things to Believe In

    Things to Believe In

    trees, in general; oaks, especially; burr oaks that survive fire, in particular; and the generosity of apples… seeds, all of them: carrots like dust, winged maple, doubled beet, peach kernel; the inevitability of change frogsong in spring; cattle lowing on the farm across the hill; the melodies of sad old songs comfort of savory soup;… Continue reading

  • It Is Well With My Soul

    It Is Well With My Soul

    A conversation on Twitter just reminded me of the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul”… and I remembered that I rewrote the lyrics a couple of years ago. We had held a “check your theology at the door” hymn sing at the church, and we had a blast singing “Just As I Am” and… Continue reading

  • Faith

    I want to write about faith, about the way the moon rises over cold snow, night after night, faithful even as it fades from fullness, slowly becoming that last curving and impossible sliver of light before the final darkness. But I have no faith myself I refuse it even the smallest entry. Let this then,… Continue reading

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Learn more about my ministry at The Art of Meaning

Read my thoughts about congregational life at Hold My Chalice

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