An Advent Sonnet of Isaiah’s Hope Upon the lands where shadows long have lain,A dawn breaks forth, Isaiah’s word fulfilled;In Gaza’s grief, in Ukraine’s frozen pain,The promise shines where hearts are bruised yet stilled. The USA, with restless striving worn,And Somalia, where hunger cries aloud,All nations wait for mercy’s tender morn,A shoot from Jesse risingContinue reading “Does Hope Dare Dawn?”
Tag Archives: Advent
Advent Love
Primal love ignited the cosmosAnd it could not be containedElusive in its fecundityFar beyond all that can be sustained. Yet once upon our timelineA young girl burst into songful mirthPrimal love found concentrationand became a human birth. (c) Dennis Ryle December 2024
Advent Joy
Who dares speak of joyIn this world so full of woe?When downcast eyes and heavy heartsQuestion why it is so. Why spell out this defiant wordIn the face of life so dreary?Don’t you see the tear-stained faceand the shoulders stooped so weary? The prophet calls for peace and faith,The apostle for robust trust,The baptiser laysContinue reading “Advent Joy”
Advent Peace
While thirteen-year-olds riot on Rottnestand Middle East regimes fallAssassins smile and CEOs hide awayProphets amplify their call. Prepare the way! Get ready!Straighten things up and clear the road!If it’s peace you want, then roll up your sleevesAnd do the work, share the load. For peace within requires an altered mindAnd a disposition to forgivenessPeace withoutContinue reading “Advent Peace”
Law of Hope vs the Law of the Jungle
Political fortunes shift and swayAbroad and at home we dodge their sprayExcept that’s impossible, for come what mayThey affect how we live from day to day. Something anew has risen its headA phrase of combat that fills one with dreadFresh from a lexicon of conflict abroadFamiliar, however, for we’ve wielded its sword. Lawfare – theContinue reading “Law of Hope vs the Law of the Jungle”
Advent Gifts Unwrapped – foreboding joy
Well, there they are – Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love!Perhaps the most challenging has been Joy, associated yesterday with the Gospel of Matthew’s focus on troubled Joseph’s angelic visitation commanding him to proceed with his betrothal to the strangely pregnant Mary. Thus the introduction of Brené Brown’s phrase “foreboding joy” – the sense that yes,Continue reading “Advent Gifts Unwrapped – foreboding joy”
Passing the Piece
The church service act of “passing the peace” had a different slant as we exchanged clay tokens resembling doves. These had been created by the family of those conducting the service. My “dove” was decidedly different – it looked like a hybrid of some kind of bird and my country’s unique monotreme – the platypus.Continue reading “Passing the Piece”
Strange Critters from the North
As if our strange great southern landWas scarce of critters that are in no way blandWith roos and echidnas and platypi galoreWallabies and quokkas sniffing at the door It seems that December is a time to importAdditional life forms of a festive sort. “Elf on a shelf” has been around for a whileGrowing in number,Continue reading “Strange Critters from the North”
Advent 4 Haiku
First is last; last first Trickle down turns trickle up Mary sings Christ in! See here for Mary’s Magnificat!
Riding the RCL into Advent
Christmas lights are going up around the street, but it’s not Christmas yet. Our Christmas tree will go up on Christmas Eve and stay for the 12 days of the Nativity commemorations. Next Sunday readings begin the four week season of Advent that precedes Christmas. Like the season of Lent, it is a purple seasonContinue reading “Riding the RCL into Advent”
Wondering Pilgrim 