Month: January 2015

seeing light

When light hits a really great nickel-sized diamond like this one in the center of a maharaja's chest necklace, the light splits apart into its colors as this image shows so well.  And we too are infused with a light from God which, when it hits us, commingles with the...

…and what if it was deep inside us all along?

Matthew 13:45-46 The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. When I wander among the jewels of the...

God’s playfulness

This collection of gems from a bracelet reminds me of the amazing diversity of a day and of a life.  Waking up is an act of courage in and of itself an it can be an act of gratitude. To be alive is an amazing and sometimes terribly wonderful and...

creating new pathways

The Epiphany is a season for light, reflection and color.  The gem-cutter sets each stone in its place in proximity to the ones around it.  The facets are planned so that the brilliance of light catches on their surfaces and follows back to the rear of the gem only to...

playfulness

This emerald seems to go on forever and around it dances other gems in a swirl of sparkle and color.  The gem setter has set one large stone off and set smaller stones around it in a constellation of beauty, order and light.  And of course green is a color...

internal light

  The light of the Epiphany is not just a physical light.  God planted a star in the sky with the intention, I expect, of catching our attention.  It was divine marketing.  And the star was bright and it moved. But light within our souls is bright in a different...

Aquamarine Epiphany

What a woman's diadem is designed to do it to catch the eye. It conveys wealth.  It offers a vision of beauty. It establishes a certain understanding of social order.  It is a crown of sorts, designed to convey what a crown is designed to convey.  It sparkles. It amazes...

Epiphany’s eve

The eve of the feast of the Epiphany is a magical and mystical time not to be wasted by the speed of life.  It is winter and the light is that of eternity; colorful, sparing, meted out with a scarcity which inclines us to take more notice.  Epiphany is a...

blessings

When a child was born to a family in Celtic Christianity, the midwife spoke a blessing on the newborn.  New things need blessings. As we enter this new year, what would it be like to enter into the kind of radical authenticity in which we each wrote our own blessing,...

incarnation

The incarnation is a challenging idea for most people.  How does God become human in Jesus? And why? At the altar railing I find that it is best to try to stoop and bend my knees when giving communion to small children.  Their hands go together in an awkward, slightly...