A pomegranate is a lumpy red fruit with hundreds of seeds inside it, each seed enclosed by a bright-red capsule of tangy, sweet juice. Eliot and I always used to buy a pomegranate or two at Thanksgiving to dress up the fruit bowl in the middle of the table, and the children used to like [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘Weekly Word’
June 16, 2008
The Weekly Word for June 18 is OFFERING
Offering can be defined as (1) something offered in worship or devotion; (2) a contribution given to or through the church for a particular purpose, as at a religious service; or (3) anything offered as a gift. All these definitions seem to be particularly appropriate when thinking about offerings in relationship to God and to [...]
June 11, 2008
The Weekly Word for June ll is Fear of the Lord
Contemporary mystic Annie Dillard writes this about Sunday worship: “Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke?…we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offence, or [...]
May 23, 2008
The Weekly Word for May 21 is COMMUNITY
Over the years I have come to realize the importance of community. When we first moved to our current neighborhood, it was years before we met any of our neighbors. Then when I joined the fire department, I was suddenly in the middle of the community. I learned who was related to whom, [...]
May 8, 2008
The Weekly Word for May 8 is NEW FIRE
The Random House Unabridged Dictionary, which resides at my house, defines the word fire as, “a state, process, or instance of combustion in which fuel or other material is ignited and combined with oxygen, giving off light, heat, and flame.” But wait: a total of 53 additional definitions for this “4-letter word” follow the initial [...]
April 29, 2008
The Weekly Word for April 30 is GLORY
Just the other morning, the view through our east-facing living room window was a luminous montage of blooming branches – red bud, dogwood, viburnum, the last of the forsythia – woven through with the tender green of new leaves, all sparkling with dew and back-lit by the newly risen sun. Goldfinches, blue jays, purple [...]
April 18, 2008
The Weekly Word for April 18 is BAPTISM
Some folks go for sprinklin’
Let fall a drop or two
Others stick to dunkin’
Half-under just won’t do
Some think it’s a firewall
Against the flames of sin
‘Round here, it’s a portal
Through which we’re welcomed in
From the earliest days of the Church, Baptism has remained the primary ritual by which believers enter into the mysteries of Christ (and incidentally) [...]
April 9, 2008
The Weekly Word for April 9 is AGAPE
Caritas (agapē, αγαπη) is an unconditional love directed towards one’s neighbor which is not dependent on any lovable qualities that the object of love possesses. Agape is the love that brings forth caring regardless of circumstance.
Agape- “divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, volitional and thoughtful love”, according to Wikipedia. Also, “Theos ein agape”- “God is Love”, and “Love [...]
April 2, 2008
The Weekly Word for April 2 is COMMUNION
I stand at the altar rail. Right in front of me
is the square patch in the rug that Doug glued in
when he and Ray and Eliot and Tom
took out the dummy pillar that used to be there.
March 25, 2008
The Weekly Word for March 26, 2008 is ALLELUIA
Alleluia! Alleluia! Jesus is risen, He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The Unabridged Webster’s Dictionary defines “alleluia” as follows: (1) praise ye the Lord; (2) a song of praise. On Easter Sunday, with the church bright with people, candles, lilies, ribbons, and music, it is easy to sing loud songs of praise, and [...]
