A Positively Poetic Priest

O God of peace, you bring tranquility into our conflicted lives. You raised Jesus from the still tomb; yet we continue to be entombed behind the closed locked doors of our fear. Open wide our doors and windows to the fresh air of new life. As Jesus showed his disciples his hands and feet, may we show ours to those waiting for our love. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen   Shalom aleichem. Assalam alaykum. Peace be with you.   What do you think of when you think about peace? Lack of war? Lack of stress? I would like you to close your eyes for a moment think about your favorite place to relax. Remind yourself of how you feel when you are there. The happiness, the undisturbed feeling. The beach, the mountains, the lake. The vacation home, the smells, the wind in your hair, let your muscles go for a moment ... relax   Now if you'll rejoin me and return to this room.   Was that peac...

I recently wrote an article for the Pilgrim, a newsletter for friends of St. George's College in Jerusalem for those in Australia, New Zealand, and the other Oceanic Islands. It is a reflection on my experience of the land of Israel, having grown up learning about it, wanting to visit and then getting to see it for the first time in my life. If you're interested, the article is here .

"In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." No, wait, wrong story. "In the beginning, God created." Yes, but that's not tonight's story. "In the beginning the word was with God and the word was God. And the word was made flesh and lived among us." Yes, that is the story we are telling. But, hold on a second, let's go back to the first one. It would seem rather unfortunate to be angry about existence, but many people are angry about their existence. Their lives are not how they would like them to be. For many us, truly there are things about our lives that make us very angry. Or things that we wish wasn't true. We wish that no one we knew had cancer. We wish that war was not as prevalent as it is. We wish that political fights did not strip people of the dignity and acceptance that we might have had. We live in a world where police have to tell parents their ...

Blank black space it almost consumes the eye daring images to appear and leaving imprints in the memory I wallow in the emptiness feeling grief in waves of silence there is nothing, nothing nothing it speaks all is naught and for naught goes I don't believe miracles of miracles transforms our inner knowledge breathe in the blank black space breathe in the nothingness of mind breathe in the lack of emptiness breathe out the unspoken, the unknown, the hope of marauding dawn