In utero revolt

 

Luke 1:49-53

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.

When a mother dreams

for her unborn child

Those dreams are rarely

for greatness

More likely are dreams

for survival

for thriving 

for love and acceptance

Mary, mother of God

dreamt of the overthrow of empires

of freedom from oppression

of justice and sharing

As the child grew in her womb

she dreamed

of revolution

of the touch of God

uprooting 

all that we’ve settled on

ushering in a whole new way of being

Even knowing the grief that would be hers

as her child inhabited the marginal places

upsetting governors and rulers

and every kind of establishment

fulfilling the hopes of a nation 

birthing hope for the world

Mary offered her womb 

and so much more - 

her hopes and fears and dreams

the whole of her being.

May our dreams

incite revolution

as we too become God bearers

nurturing life for the world

born out of courage and vulnerability 

as we find ourselves

in all the wrong places

with all the wrong people

fulfilling the dreams of God today.

Good news that convicts

Daily Advent Reflections may be found here 

Luke 3:15-18

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptise you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

Good news

doesn’t always look 

or sound

as we might imagine

Sometimes

good news is disguised as harsh words

delivered with love and integrity

Sometimes

the winnowing fork

of good news

gouges our hearts

opens old wounds

we thought were healed

Sometimes

good news

is the unpalatable truth

we need to hear

and how we respond

is what gives it the potential

to be good news

Sometimes

our role is as the bearer of good news

Sometimes

our role is as hearer of good news

Always, our role

is to allow the good news

to change lives - 

our own and others

and to carefully handle 

with love and compassion

the brokenness we encounter

along the way.

 

Embracing the darkness

 Daily Advent Reflections may be found here

1 Peter 3:15

Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;

In this season I sense the nudge

to move from optimism to hope

For optimism encourages me 

to reframe the darkness

While hope exhorts me 

to embrace it

After almost two years

for the most part reframing

This Advent brings opportunity 

to stop and embrace

To sit with the darkness

until I can resist the urge

to flee or attack 

To sit with the darkness

until stillness settles in

To sit with the darkness

until I can acknowledge

the parts of self I’d rather stay hidden

To sit with the darkness

until I can show some love for the wounds

that make me all that I am

To sit with the darkness

until I can pick off the scabs

knowing that more healing is possible 

To sit with the darkness

not anxious about finding light

but to sit with darkness

until hope dawns.

Dredging up hope

 

Daily Advent Reflections may be found here

Psalms 25:4-5

Make me to know your ways, O LORD;

teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth, and teach me,

for you are the God of my salvation;

for you I wait all day long.

Advent

Season of hope

Season of light

Season of joy

Season of peace

It seems that every year

we have to work harder

dig deeper

look longer

for the signs of the season

for those signs

of hope

and light

and joy

and peace 

They are more elusive than ever

in a world that is burning

with fear and rage

in a world where we barely turn our heads

at the ever increasing toll of death

from pandemic, from war, from terrorism, from displacement 

all refugees in a world that has no room for love

May we walk through this season

with our heads held high

so that we can look the darkness full in the eye

pledging not to look away

May we be prepared

to do that hard work to which we are called

to be harbingers

of hope

and light

and joy 

and peace

even and especially when our hearts are breaking

May we simply live into and out of love

by the power of the God of Advent, 

Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer.

Drag Queen God

 

This morning, through the autumn mist

I glimpsed God

Her auburn hair swirled around her

Her long purple boots tramped determinedly

through a carpet of autumn leaves

And her train trailed behind her

swirling up a rainbow

of red and gold and green and brown

The leaves were swept up

and deposited

in her wake

Indiscriminately

None left untouched

but all finding a new place to settle

and continue their work

of nourishing the earth

while God walked purposefully on

like a drag queen on the cat walk

displacing everything in her path

Disturbing

Repurposing

Grounding

Sanctifying

Autumnal God

Finding a home

 Ephesians 2:19-20

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

In our faith communities

it is possible to be homeless

without knowing 

that our restlessness

and our searching

that sense of not fitting in

were all signs

of homelessness

And when we discover

the way home

when we are welcomed

and embraced

shown hospitality

and invited to settle in

only then do we recognise

all that was missing

Only then can we breathe deeply

and rest in place

shrug off our big coats

step out of our walking boots

and allow our bare feet

to enjoy the feel

of sacred ground 

That is coming home.

Perspective

 Luke 13:10-14

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.”

Perspective

It’s all about perspective

Hers

and his

She had a limited field of vision

So did he

She was forced to look down

to see what others left behind

in the dust

He looked up

and over

She saw things that mattered

He focused on things that didn’t

She went home healed

He…

The Pilgrim’s backpack

 Hebrews 11:13-14

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

In the pilgrims backpack..

are not just the essentials of travel…

Like water

and a snack

spare socks

lip balm

and first aid supplies

In the pilgrims backpack..

is also the community from whence they came

those they have left behind

the ones they like to hang out with

and the ones they avoid

those who bring them joy

and those who drink deeply 

from the well of another’s compassion

and test their tolerance

They all find a way to cram themselves in

a bit like the cloud of witnesses

who jostle around the altar

every time bread is blessed and broken

The whole community gathers

carried by the pilgrim

bidden or unbidden

And, as prayer is offered

all are gathered up

into God’s embrace

for God, too, is a pilgrim 

For the feast of Michaelmas

 Revelation 12:7-8

Michael Defeats the Dragon

And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

On the feast of Michaelmas

celebrating angels

and dragons

and all things

mythical

and mystical

For what is faith

if not filled

with the fickleness

of humankind 

while angels gather

in the dying light

infusing the world

with love

and laughter

and song

and grace 

and nudging us

to get on board

the angel train

wreaking havoc

one radical act of love

at a time.

Holy Cross Day

 

Matthew 27:55-56

Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

The creaking of wood

The flapping of cloth in the breeze

And a deathly silence

hung like a pall

Spectacle over,

the crowd dispersed

Except for the women

who waited

They had accompanied him all the way

and would not abandon him now

They stayed with the pain

and the brutality

with the grief

and the barbarity

They refused to look away

They stayed

and glimpsed evil

overcome by love

in the cross of Christ.

They stayed

and bore witness

to the promise 

of Resurrection 

It takes a woman

 

Mark 7:27-30

He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Sometimes

It takes a woman

It takes a woman

to cut through the BS

of inheritance

and tradition

of entitlement

and assumption

It takes a woman

to speak truth to power

to say it like it is

It takes a woman

to call out

the dangerous naivety 

of blindly following

the notions of the past

It takes a woman

to expand our horizons

and lead us boldly

into a courageous future

defined by compassion

that offers more

than crumbs from the table

of the privileged 

to the forgotten

and overlooked

and undermined

and those deemed less than

in every age

It takes a woman. 

The left overs

 John 6:11-12

Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.”

Gather up the fragments

The lost

The discarded

The overlooked

The unseen

The hidden

The different

The other

For all matter

None are invisible

or extraneous

in the economy of God

And each contains

a divine spark

that we are called

to kindle

and fan into flame

feeding body, mind and spirit

shaking off the dirt and grime

that has accumulated

through life overlooked

and disregarded

See through the dust

the starlight 

that pulses and glows

Release the beauty

deep within

Step into God’s kingdom

of justice and abundance.

Gathering up the fragments

so that nothing may be lost.

Smudging the lines

 

On the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene  July 22nd

John 20:15-18

Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Mary Magdalene- 

said to be a sinner

by the keepers of tradition

and authors of history 

who didn’t know what to do

with a woman who refused to conform

who didn’t fit their neat and tidy boxes

but spilled out

smudging the lines

so carefully drawn

to curtail and contain.

Mary Magdalene -

said to be demon possessed

by a narrow minded community

that couldn’t accommodate

her passion and spontaneity,

her love expressed in full view

that threatened to disrupt

prescribed teaching and ritual

Mary Magdalene - a woman

Maligned

Misunderstood 

Like every woman 

who dares to rock the boat

and refuses to fit the mould 

prescribed by the patriarchy

in every age.

Thankfully, God confounds the rule makers

by choosing misfits and mystics

to be prophets 

and witnesses to resurrection.

Called to be…

 The gospel for my first celebration of the Eucharist as a priest

Mark 6:4

Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honour, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.”

After the high of ordination

the ceremony and the celebration

the reality of priesthood hits home

called to be a prophet

among those who know us

a prophet without honour

Called to break bread at the altar

and in the neighbourhood

and to be broken and shared

in serving the one

who told a good story

who burst many a pompous bubble

who lived on the edge

in the gap between heaven and earth

who wreaked all kinds of mischief

with a twinkle in his eye

Called to be

priest, prophet and mischievous mystic

Give thanks to the Lord for this glorious gospel!

My Lord and my God

 Today is the Feast of St Thomas - and I will be ordained a priest in the Scottish Episcopal  Church

 - Messages from colleagues and friends have inspired this prayer for this day:

John 20:24-28

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

Handling the body of Christ

The feast of St Thomas

an auspicious day for ordination

Thomas - forever dubbed the doubter

I want to embrace the insight

of an apostle who was so much more

The twin who spoke up

brave enough to own what he was thinking

and, by his honesty

got to touch the body of Christ

to feel the marks

and caress the wounds

I pray that

as I follow that calling

I, too, will continue to question

and make space for others’ voices

to be heard

And, as I handle the wounded flesh of Christ

at the altar

and in the world 

may I be able to say

with awe and reverence

My Lord and my God