Matthew 16:13-20 On the day of our wedding, I remember standing in the church with Kim and both our parents gathered around us in a tight little happy circle. I very clearly remember Kim’s mother saying to my mother how hopeful she was that I would get Kim’s life more organized. And I remember the doubtful expression on my mother’s face. “I wouldn’t count on that,” she said. Neither of our mothers had a high opinion of our organizational abilities. I guess, for both of them, prior experiences kept their expectations quite low. Looking back, I have to assume they prayed for us. a lot. But I also have to wonder if they were pleasantly surprised later, when we both managed to be pretty normal grownups, who do all kinds of stuff. Successful adults, you might even say. It turned out we both had the ability to respond to the […]
Continue readingMonth: May 2023
Into the Light
Luke 24:28-49 W.H. Auden wrote a poem that became very famous when it was included in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral. It begins, Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone. It is a poem about the loss of a loved one, someone so near and dear to the heart that it just feels like the world has ended. It goes on, Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead. There is the sense of the earth shifting beneath us and nothing will ever be the same. It is cosmic in its scope: The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun; Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood; For nothing now can ever come to any good. I don’t know any other […]
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