Vermont Night

April 12, 2025 Vermont Night “If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Somewhere outside of Montpeliermiles from the lights of townwith autumn approachingbut not yetI stand under the night skyand gaze up.Such a simple actraising my face to nightmy sight to lightafterContinue reading "Vermont Night"

Spring Ephemerals

Spring wildflowers, March 19, 2025 Ephemerals(plants that flower briefly once in the spring) I walk the woods seeking spring's ephemerals,turning leaf and rock like a child seeks treasures, here in the woods of the Creek, the Cherokee,here where the creek clatters freely down limestone. Here mottled trilliums blanket the floor;hepatica's white petals blanket the moss.Continue reading "Spring Ephemerals"

Morning Prayer

March 13, 2025 Lauds And is this prayer?Just this, the shade rolled upabove smudged window panes,two unmatched candles on the sill,a vase of store-bought mumsa bright offering?Outside, the sun seepsinto the faded gray skybefore it brushes itwith the rose and saffronof another new beginning.A curtain of still-naked treesprepares to bud forthin faithful hope. Can thisContinue reading "Morning Prayer"

The God-kiss

March 11, 2025 Some years ago, a term came to my mind that describes the serendipitous, often unnoticed, gifts that Love provides us. I call them “God-kisses.” They've always been, always will be, yet how often we miss them. Yesterday, I received such a kiss, though I almost stepped on it. I was walking throughContinue reading "The God-kiss"

Advent 2024:  Passion and Dream

Advent Day Twenty, December 20, 2024 “The Christmas stories are not about a spectacular series of miraculous events that happened in the past that we are to believe in for the sake of going to heaven. Rather, they are about God’s passion, God’s dream, for a transformed earth.”  Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, TheContinue reading "Advent 2024:  Passion and Dream"

Advent 2024: See

Advent Day 19, December 19, 2024 As the days of Advent-waiting move us ever closer to the Light, I reflect on how we can continue to be Advent People who carry the light together, especially after the tree is taken down and the ornaments placed in their dusty boxes and the calendar flipped to 2025.Continue reading "Advent 2024: See"

Advent 2024: Fog

Advent Day 18, December 18, 2024 The above photo shows the view from my kitchen window yesterday morning. At this time of year, with the leaves gone, I can usually see the traffic below on one of the busiest roads into the city, but not yesterday. Fog snaked low across the valley before descending over the roadContinue reading "Advent 2024: Fog"

Advent 2024: Caesar or Christ?

Advent Day 17, December 17, 2024 This Advent series began as an invitation to unity in a world that is fractured by war, political division, insatiable greed, power-seeking, and biases of every sort, from skin color to sexual orientation. It is, in fact, a world very like the one that the Light/Love/Christ entered some two-thousandContinue reading "Advent 2024: Caesar or Christ?"

Advent 2024:  Candlelight

Advent Day 16, December 16, 2024 "Light your candles quietly, such candles as you possess, wherever you are.”  Father Alfred Delp If you’ve followed my blog at all these past few years, you can’t miss the fact that I love candlelight. In fact, I deLIGHT in the light, especially in these dark winter months. This morningContinue reading "Advent 2024:  Candlelight"