Rowan Williams, “Advent Calendar”

wesleyhill: He will come like last leaf’s fall.One night when the November windhas flayed the trees to bone, and earthwakes choking on the mould,the soft shroud’s folding. He will come like frost.One morning when the shrinking earthopens on mist, to find itselfarrested in the netof alien, sword-set beauty. He will come like dark.One evening when […]

There is no doubt that Byrd is in part expressing the anguish of his co-religionists, caught up in the destruction of their worship and hopes. As an Advent text, though, it implicitly expects salvation, as shown by the repeated versicle Rorate caeli, “Drop down ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down the […]

Amarillo skyline paintings and sketch. These were part of a larger project celebrating Advent at our church and illustrating passages out of Isaiah. These paintings were meant to illustrate Isaiah 1 and Isaiah 29, but I chose my hometown of Amarillo as the subject instead of Jerusalem. I love our city. At some point, I’ll […]

Christmas is for hoping in Christ’s return

“Whenever there is disaster,” he said, “it means a new day, a new life.” When he saw the tree decorated with the faces of the dead, he cried, he said. But he was where he belonged, he said. “We don’t have anything else,” he said, “just to pray and continue.” – A young Iraqi Christian […]

Advent Sonnet #2 – Romans 1

Romans 1:3-4 O Messiah, Your prism mysteriesHave scattered the light ‘cross my feeble eyes.In my blinking, I’ve seen the strange storiesOf how one man born can be fathered twice. Son of Man, son of Adam, David’s son:Death spread to all men because we all sinned.You, grafted in, donned our skin to be undoneLike the oven-fired […]