This wonderful painting by Nanouk Weijnen titled Pregnant Miniature Donkey was the image for our first Advent meditation, below it are the words which were used. 1st Meditation Aching sides, crippling cramps, Painful back, sharp kicks Waiting for the end of the beginning, the beginning of a journey that comes at the end of a journey…
We cry to God for mercy. The psalmist cries look up to the heavens where you are throned, yet – look down, there you are look left or right and your majesty can be found. We are placed amidst your glory central to your mercy. Look away from the heavens and still your presence abides.…
Dance – you wish us to dance to rejoice and be glad. To cast aside all that holds our feet fast that deadens our tread, turns firm rock to bog, whips up a calm sea warns each step … with imagined dangers. Mute the words that thwart the sound of your music soaring like swifts,…
It has taken a long time but finally I have finished another icon, this time for a friend who requested one of Mary Magdalene. She has had some issues, something weird happened with the pale olive when she was varnished and her hand seems somewhat large even for being held forward, not to mention in…
Rejoice, be filled with joy, let harmony reign and overflow, overflow as if a bounteous shower of fragrant oil and gentle dew a stream of faithful unity perfuming the air with love and joy and peace. jewel-like blessings and grace – from God. River whose source has no end lubricating the way to Jubilee. In…
Despair for the present. Lament for the past. Hope for the future. Gracious God hear our cry. Dissolve our despair in the fire of your love. Anoint our lament with your grace and mercy. Cement our hope in your plans alone. Let us stand before you with thanksgiving, O God.
Grazie, Merci, Gracias, Arigato, Danke sehr. Whatever tongue whatever voice whatever word Thanks be. Thanks be Love that knows no bounds. Thanks be Love that knows no end. Thanks be for sound and sight of reflected glory, above, below, around, all around. Thanks be, for open eyes, for open ears, for open mouths, for open…
O God you know all about us. The bits we put on show and the bits we hide. You know our glorious potential the wealth, not only of our bank balance but also our talents. You know what we could be what we will be and you know how we try and stop it, stall…
There is a phrase in the Scottish Episcopal Churches Eucharistic prayer for Easter: ‘welcoming weary fishers on the shore’. I would be hard pressed to pick a favourite resurrection appearance but this beach breakfast (referencing John 21) along with the Emmaus Road and Mary in the garden are my top three and while I am…
All through Holy Week we have been retelling Mark’s Gospel (the we being All Saints and New Kilpatrick Church) MARKing Holy Week, each day we began with these words. This week we retell the story a story whose woven threads reach back through time and space and forward onto eternity. A story of love, love…
Christmas came around and once more we decided to make gifts for the God children rather than buy them yet more toys. The question was however what to make for the boy who loves lego and the girl that loves rainbows, and fairies, and unicorns, and making things. Well a lego desk for him. With…
Today is the United Nations International Day of Peace, I find it telling and sad in equal measures that this initiative has never really taken off, after all who doesn’t want peace. Well maybe a leader of a country or two, but let’s not get into that at this point. One of the things we…
