Word in the Hand

Sunday Gospel - Matthew 1:18-24  This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’ When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his h...

O Antiphon - O Clavis  "O Key of David, O royal Power of Israel controlling at your will the gate of heaven: come, break down the prison walls of death for those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death." O Come, O Clavis and free your people Locked in the darkness of doubt of fear Trapped in boxes of control of ego Walled in the tombs of resentment of 'if only' Behind shadow doors of left alone of exclusion Waiting  O Clavis O Come wordinthehand2013

O, Jesse - O, Liberator "O flower of Jesse's stem,                     you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples; kings stand silent in your presence; the nations bow down in worship before you.  Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid." O, Jesse From the silent deep  of beginning Earth's enveloping w omb Breaking free, u nwinding  spiralling  Roots clasping rock Light seeking Light  Breaking free Earth and air  Drinking  water of life Breaking free Branch and twig Leaf and bud Sun flowering Moon ripening  Star bursting  The harvest is sown  with a single seed O, Jesse O,Come wordinthehand2013

Gospel Mark 13:33-37 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come. It is like a man travelling abroad: he has gone from home, and left his servants in charge, each with his own task; and he has told the doorkeeper to stay awake. So stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming, evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn; if he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!’ Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the Gospels; the oldest and, in many ways, the most down to earth. It doesn't seem to have the agenda that the Jewish Matthew puts on his or the Gentile Luke on his. It’s a fast paced Gospel to read – perhaps the memories of Peter; a straightforward man. So this End of Days chapter is not really about the End but about the Now. My relationship with Jesus, has grown stronger by the reality of his humanity. I have a relationship with th...

Gospel Matthew 3:1-12  In due course John the Baptist appeared; he preached in the wilderness of Judaea and this was his message: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.’ This was the man the prophet Isaiah spoke of when he said: A voice cries in the wilderness: Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight. This man John wore a garment made of camel-hair with a leather belt round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judaea and the whole Jordan district made their way to him, and as they were baptised by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. But when he saw a number of Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers, who warned you to fly from the retribution that is coming? But if you are repentant, produce the appropriate fruit, and do not presume to tell yourselves, “We have Abraham for our father,” because, I tell you, God can raise children for Abraham from these...

First Sunday of Advent - Matthew 24:37-44  Jesus said to his disciples,  ‘As it was in Noah’s day, so will it be when the Son of Man comes. For in those days before the Flood people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected nothing till the Flood came and swept all away. It will be like this when the Son of Man comes. Then of two men in the fields one is taken, one left; of two women at the millstone grinding, one is taken, one left.   ‘So stay awake, because you do not know the day when your master is coming. You may be quite sure of this that if the householder had known at what time of the night the burglar would come, he would have stayed awake and would not have allowed anyone to break through the wall of his house. Therefore, you too must stand ready because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’ Noah wouldn't think it much of a coincidence that Bl...

First reading 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-12,14,16  Once David had settled into his house and the Lord had given him rest from all the enemies surrounding him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘Look, I am living in a house of cedar while the ark of God dwells in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go and do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.’   But that very night the word of the Lord came to Nathan:   ‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus the Lord speaks: Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in? I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; I have been with you on all your expeditions; I have cut off all your enemies before you. I will give you fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. I will provide a place for my people Israel; I will plant them there and they shall dwell in that place and never be disturbed again; nor shall the wicked continue to oppress them as they did, in the...

Reflection on the Magnificat My soul proclaims its nearness to the Lord delighted and fulfilled. But my heart aches broken by the accusation of my own people shattered by stones of mistrust and judgment No angel's promise of comfort - rather  Life's pathway set out in shards of flint. A flinty gaze fills my eyes and they widen, seeking the future road staring into dark shadows; welcoming the desert heat that burns away the tears of hesitation before they fall -  They fall, regardless Each breath a tightening  a measured in and out  words said and unsaid considered, found wanting But not 'yes' Never 'yes'. For always - 'yes'. My heart aches with Love. With Love too much to be contained yet unrecognised. With Love that will lie in my arms bloody and helpless more than once. With Love that will live within me  and without me for more than Abraham; Forever. w...

The world will end today It will end in hospital wards in speeding cars in shop doorways in dark alleys It will end in unrequited love rejection and betrayal denial and loss in goodbye It will end in dreams shattered expectations dashed starved ambition regret It will end in abuse and misuse in humiliation random acts of neglect apathy The world will end today and another and another until the weight of the universe presses down on human hearts And a new world will not be born If Pandora's box cannot be made of rough timber and straw if Hope will not fit in an infant's hand   The world will end today   wordinthehand2012

Gospel Luke 21:25-28,34-36  Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony, bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand.   ‘Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened with debauchery and drunkenness and the cares of life, and that day will be sprung on you suddenly, like a trap. For it will come down on every living man on the face of the earth. Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.’ Faith is filled with paradox- experiences that talk to many in many different ways - that seem to lead one w...

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver,  the Expected of the nations and their 
 Saviour.   Come and save us, O Lord our God. If I hear ‘How long have you got?’ one more time – someone may get hurt. Less than a week, actually…which has been the longest week of my life. Never mind the nine months that went before; the 'Yes'; the waiting and wondering; the protection  of Joseph; the comfort of Elizabeth; the knowing that there is no going back. Never mind the ever-spreading ‘everything’, insomnia and nesting urges; listening to the older womens horror stories (why do they do that?); making space; finding room; fearing that you you will be born in the dust at the side of the road. O, yes, the realisation that  soon, you will be born. Because, really, I’d be quite happy for you to stay right where you are: to carry on being ‘the Bump’. I’ve got used to being this shape; living in a pregnancy time zone; cradling your weight in my arms; resting my hands on your...

O Rising Dawn, Radiance of the Light eternal and Sun of Justice: come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. As a rule; I am not particularly afraid of the dark; in fact it has been a solace and a haven for me in much of my life. Strange noises and the suspicious shapes in the shadows tell me that there are many  things outside my imagining and they are often not to be feared. Those of you who share the experience of these periods of insomnia and broken sleep may or may not agree with me but it is in those times that I have generally got to know myself, and my God, better.  it is in the darkness that we reveal our little selves, without embarassment or shame - we weep until our eyes throb with the saltiness of grief - grind our teeth with anguish or anger  - groan at our helplessness- for who is there to see? In the darkness we are able to hurl our fears and regrets at what may feel like a closed door or a strong embrace. It is the confe...

Key of David and Sceptre of the house of Israel; you open and no one closes; you close and no one opens. Come, and deliver from the chains of prison those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. lost gloves2011 God sits on a chair of darkness in my soul. He is God alone, supreme in his majesty  I sit at his feet, a child in the dark beside him; my joy is aware of his glance and my sorrow is tempted to nest on the thought that his face is turned away from me. Jessica Powers Someone made the comment recently that Christmas should be where it was before the calendar changed - about two weeks ago or so. I have to say, I disagree. There is something viciously Lenten about waiting through these dark days and especially tomorrow, the darkest of days when the sun barely finds the desire to raise its head from the horizon. There is something in the thought that in a few days Joy will enter the world and it won't be enough; because it wasn't last year and I have the d...

Luke 1:26-38 The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswo...