Poems and readings to reflect on and shape your faith

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Latest Posts

Feeling Autumnal?

Mars burns bright and close this October: I watch it through the window, as I lie, too-awake, in the dark. Drawn-in under covers as the cold bites, I shrink, foetal-shaped but old-fleshed, frail.   I am autumnal: dry-leaved, mud-under-foot, dark-dayed,...

War Nearer Home!

Across our planet earth there bleed the wounds of war, With livelihoods destroyed and cherished homes no  more; The people flee, abused and scarred and travelling far, Poor refugees.   Across our planet earth the wounds of war go deep With generations taught...

Leavings

And if, as autumn deepens and darkens I feel the pain of falling leaves, and stems that break in storms and trouble and dissolution and distress and then the softness of deep shadows folding, folding around my soul and spirit, around my lips so sweet, like a swoon, or...

Batter my heart!

  Batter my heart, three-personed God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; That I may rise and stand, o’erthrow me and bend Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an usurped town to another due, Labour to admit you, but...

The Inner Storm

I am a ghost  who walks alone. Beyond my yard are high stone walls. I walk and move and speak with calm. But let me tell you this my friends; Beneath the smile, the wave, the nod There screams an inner storm. It roars and wails and tears its hair. It pours in torrents...

Last Scene

This is my play's last scene, here heavens appoint My pilgrimages last mile; and my race Idly, yet quickly run, hath this last pace, My spans last inch, my minutes latest point, And gluttonous death, will instantly un-joint My body, and my soul, and I shall sleep a...

Wheels or Feet?

London walking to work? Unthinkable. The Wheel is the rock on which London stands. And moves. Jesus is not remembered For wheels. Sandals, hooves and boats Fixed his pace; the Steady, mindful steps Necessary when Setting one's face Towards Jerusalem.   Bruce...

True Love

Marry those loves, which in youth scattered be On Fame, Wit, Hopes (false mistresses) to thee. Churches are best for Prayer, that have least light: To see God only, I go out of sight: And to scape stormy days, I choose An Everlasting night. John Donne (1572-1631),...

Sabbath Renewal

The clearing rests in song and shade. It is a creature made By old light held in soil and leaf, By human joy and grief, By human work, Fidelity of sight and stroke, By rain, by water on The parent stone. We join our work to Heaven's gift, Our hope to what is left,...

Tree-lighted!

How will the legend of the age of trees Feel, when the last tree falls in England? When the concrete spreads and the town conquers The country’s heart; when contraceptive Tarmac’s laid where farm has faded, Tramline flows where slept a hamlet, And shop-fronts, blazing...

Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night....

Faith-shaping Poets

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Our Father: Hallowed on Earth as in Heaven

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You are my Father

You are my Father

Thou art the peace of all things calm Thou art the place to hide from harm Thou art the light that shines in dark Thou art the heart’s eternal spark Thou art the door that’s open wide Thou art the guest who waits inside Thou art the stranger at the door Thou art the...

The Bible: Bestowed Word of God

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Jesus Christ: Crucified God in Person

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Humankind: Sinful, Rebellious and Faithless

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Wise bird

Wise bird

Virtue could see to do what virtue would By her own radiant light, though sun and moon Were in the flat sea sunk. And wisdom’s self Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude, Where with her best nurse Contemplation She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings That in...

The Grace of God: Justifying and Converting

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Christ-likeness: Progressive Christian Living

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Holy Spirit: in Christian Experience

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Believers: Assured, Called and Prayerful

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They also serve who stand and wait

They also serve who stand and wait

When I consider how my light is spent, ‘ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, and that one talent which is death to hide, lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent to serve therewith my maker, and present my true account, lest he returning chide, Doth...

The Church: Provisional but Necessary

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The Mission of God

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Moral Justice: a Vision of God’s Kingdom

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Glory: Now and Then, Here and There

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My unburied spark

My unburied spark

Cold in the dust this perished heart may lie, But that which warmed it once will never die! That spark unburied in its mortal frame With living light, eternal, and the same.   Thomas Campbell (1777-1844).