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Not Consumed
“There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.” My two burning bushes (Euonymus alatus) achieved radiant...
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The Long Light
This essay appeared in Rock & Sling 14.1 (2019), pp. 83-95. It appears on this website with the permission of the editors. We enter the parish church just before eight on a Sunday evening in June....
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The Aesthetics of Decline
A palpable holiness remains. The foundation stones and a few walls trace a jagged outline of daily monastic life. The arches of the abbey church reach up, roofless, their windows empty. You can see...
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A Brief Memo from the Office of Young Human Affairs
Dear young people, Hey there, don’t worry! Just touching base with you, and as you know I’m contractually obliged to reassure you with a “fear not” as the first thing I say. So here we go. Ready? OK!...
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Is Congregational Worship an Endangered Species?
I attended worship in person last Sunday. We were about twenty percent full, I would say. My church is worshiping in person these days, but we are Zooming services as well, and in fact encouraging...
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Unanswered Prayers
Just as the pandemic seems to be easing a little, here we are again in a state of anxiety, daily attending to the grim news from Ukraine, wondering what fresh horror tomorrow will bring. Meanwhile,...
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We’ve Forgotten How to Read
If you have ever muttered to yourself, “Kids these days! They have the attention spans of gnats!”, I am here to report that the kids themselves agree. At least the twelve students in my Senior Seminar...
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Advent in the Wasteland
The whole creation groansAnd waits to hear that voiceThat shall restore her comelinessAnd make her wastes rejoice. I could observe here the traditional Christian pastime of complaining how we tend to...
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Church of Empire, Church of Refugia, 2047 and Beyond
Ron and I visited the British Museum last summer and spent some time in an exhibit called “Collecting the World,” which attempted to explain how the museum acquired its massive collection of...
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Perchance to Dream
Weary from contention, seeking escape, I try to rest. Even rest feels hard, hard like dry ground. A pillow flattened into stone. Tension in my neck, thoughts spinning. I carry this weight of sadness....
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