Weeping comes for a night,
but joy comes in the morning, O God of power and might.
Death has been defeated
and we shout Alleluia!
Let all that we do today be a prayer of praise.
For many of us,
it is an Easter just like the others,
with Easter bonnets and Sunday best,
with the ringing of bells and hymns of joy,
with […]

O Holy God,
the hosannas have died away,
the palm branches have turned brittle;
the joy of seder meal,
the awkward intimacy of washing feet,
the sharing of bread and cup with one another—
all a memory.
Now, today, there is only this—
each of us,
all of us,
sitting in the darkness,
the echo of hammer and nail in our ears
on this Friday
which we tremble […]

for three hours
the world inside this house
is still—
one child, sprawled in a flowered dress
like petals strewn about the bed;
the other, nursing in thin air,
puffing herself awake,
then drifting again;
while i read, then throw aside,
then read again:
administration
plan
attack
Iran
regimechange
nuclear
option.
Down comes the bouquet, disheveled yet insistent:
I’ve promised her gum.
(Yes, that actually was my afternoon. Here’s the article.)

little miss M
she who is: divine one
loves to talk sleeps sweet
and I listen, and I watch — and
laugh along with you at our great
good fortune, and at the abundant
completeness of this, our family
of […]

Top ten reasons why the reverendbaby did not come on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day:
10. Deference to her Lord and Savior.
9. Mother did not have access to a donkey, or a need to travel to her husband’s town of origin for a census.
8. Decided that Christmas dinner—ham with brown sugar/mustard glaze, wild rice pilaf with […]

…the blog, that is.
This site is 2 years old today. What an auspicious date for milestones! reverendbaby, I’m looking in your direction
My first post was a very strange cataloguing of Christmas songs. In honor of that humble beginning, here is the RevGal Friday Five, similarly themed:
1) If you had to choose CDs as a soundtrack […]

talk to me about the waiting…
mostly I crouch, head bowed, eyes closed
against the soft black, safe in liquid suspense.
but even in the nothing there are constant somethings:
a fluid symphony, simmering, rolling, rushing past;
a metronome beating out the time,
world without end—and a voice:
hushed murmur, burbling laugh,
distant yet irresistible.
and then, at certain times,
I am bathed in […]

survey courtesy of the RevGals:
1) Did you cook/bake anything for Thanksgiving?
I made absolutely nothing, but my brother’s girlfriend made delicious cider and a spinach/goat cheese salad with fruit. My sister made the wonderful green bean casserole and didn’t muck it up with extraneous herbs and junk. Just green beans, cream of mushroom soup, milk and […]

PastorG sent this on Friday…
I suck at Halloween. I always have. It was not a good idea to go to the church “Halloween Festival” dressed as Big Ben (yes, I did.) I was around 8, and I covered a box with butcher paper and drew a clock on it. I promise, […]

today is the twenty-seventh of October.
Twenty-seven Octobers ago, I was in first grade. (I’ve skipped a lot of years, eh? The memory gets fuzzy.)
I don’t remember much about October of that year. I don’t even remember my Halloween costume, but I do remember the big Halloween carnival that took place in the front courtyard of […]

Weekend
We had a really wonderful weekend all told. I got back from Big D Friday night. Saturday was mostly a day off, although I made a quick appearance at church for a Sunday School training event. Then a few errands.
Sunday was Christian Education kickoff. We had about 80 people in adult Sunday School, which for […]

from a Washington Post article inviting various luminaries to offer their revisions (humorous and otherwise) to the Pledge of Allegiance.
I love our imperfect country, and I love it partly for the ideal of respect for differences, the dignity of the unique individual. No communal incantation can embody that ideal. I don’t believe that I got […]

…time for you to
Rise up! with a sudden sense of wonder
Rise up! as the joy comes to your eyes
Rise up! from the burden you’ve been under
Beloved, it is time for you to rise, time for you to rise!
-David Wilcox, “Rise,” Into the Mystery
I’ve been a little scarce here recently. Of course. When my life is […]

See here for the first 10 days of Christmas. Here are the final two:
Image 11. The zen-like way my child opens presents. She very deliberately tears back the paper, and when the gift is revealed, she examines it with this patient mindfulness. No interest in what’s next—the thing before her is the most important thing […]