Jesus final words finished. His life is finished. His ministry is finished. The scriptures are finished. The reconciliation of God and creation is finished. This is good news – everything is lost except the heart of God laid bare. We might just get close enough to glimpse that sacred heart laid bare. And we might […]
Blog: Pictures-Books-Reflections
Love and Light
Posted on by James Woodward
fresh life and then my heart pulled itself apart and, filled to the brim with a new light, overflowed with fresh life. now even the heavens are thankful that because of love i have become the giver of light Rumi
watchful
Posted on by James Woodward
watchful If you value yourself watch that self, carefully; the wise should be watchful. Self must govern self. Who else would do this work? If the self is well controlled you have found a good master. It is your self that does wrong it is your self that suffers it is your […]
reflected
Posted on by James Woodward
Love there is enough magic here inside this one word to change our world forever mountain snow lying across life’s pasture a shadow reflected over stone moss forest dream man’s ability to under stand nature’s living need green comet seen in the sky time’s gift, another universe visiting our earth there […]
Where everything is Music
Posted on by James Woodward
Don’t worry about saving these songs, And if one of our instruments breaks, It doesn’t matter. We have fallen, We have fallen into the place, Where everything is music… Today, like every other day, We wake up empty and frightened Don’t open the door to the study And begin reading. Take down a […]
Feast on your life !
Posted on by James Woodward
Love after Love The time will come when, with elation, you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror, and each will smile at the other’s welcome and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart […]
Sometimes best to admit : mystery ?
Posted on by James Woodward
Wherever we go exploring in the world around us, we find mysteries. Our planet is covered by continents and oceans whose origin we cannot explain. Our atmosphere is constantly stirred by poorly understood disturbances that we call weather and climate. The visible matter in the universe is outweighed by a much larger quantity of dark […]
HumanBeing
Posted on by James Woodward
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience -Teilhard de Chardin
Always Growing and Moving?
Posted on by James Woodward
Generous orthodoxy is aware of the need to keep listening and learning in openness to the Spirit and to the world for the sake of the gospel, it seeks to keep conversations going and not to end them. Generous orthodoxy does not so much specify a particular point or position as it establishes a spacious […]
HAPPINESS AND ITS DISCONTENTS
Posted on by James Woodward
In our era, the idea that we should lead happy, balanced lives carries the force of an obligation: We are supposed to push aside our anxieties in order to enjoy our lives, attain peace of mind, and maximize our productivity. The cult of “positive thinking” even assures us that we can bring good things into […]
Love – always Love?
Posted on by James Woodward
eyes Love is the cure. Your pain will keep giving birth to more pain. Just let your eyes breathe out love as easily as a flower breathes out its sweetness. Rumi, Love is the cure
Gifts and Graces
Posted on by James Woodward
I have come to admire the way different individuals function in their professional roles. Yet finally I represent the role my way, in my person, in terms of my gifts and my graces. These “gifts and graces,” as the Methodists put it, are not better or worse. They simply are different. Different gifts, different graces; one […]
Long Dark Days
Posted on by James Woodward
fall, leaves, fall Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away; Lengthen night and shorten day; Every leaf speaks bliss to me Fluttering from the autumn tree. I shall smile when wreaths of snow Blossom where the rose should grow; I shall sing when night’s decay Ushers in a drearier day. Emily Brontë
The sacred
Posted on by James Woodward
The sacred is the interference of the uncreated in the created, of the eternal in time, of the infinite in space, of the supraformal in forms; it is the mysterious introduction into one realm of existence of a presence which in reality contains and transcends that realm and could cause it to burst asunder in […]
Posted on by James Woodward
The beautiful changes The beautiful changes as a forest is changed By a chameleon’s tuning his skin to it; As a mantis, arranged On a green leaf, grows Into it, makes the leaf leafier, and proves Any greenness is deeper than anyone knows. Your hands hold roses always in a way that says They […]
New Books on Poetry
Posted on by James Woodward
Making Nothing Happen Five Poets Explore Faith and Spirituality Gavin D’Costa, University of Bristol, UK, Eleanor Nesbitt, University of Warwick, UK, Mark Pryce, Diocese of Birmingham, UK, Ruth Shelton, Director of Emmanuel House Day Centre, UK and Nicola Slee, Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological […]
Ministry: Seeing and Serving
Posted on by James Woodward
Ministry is about a way of seeing and a way of serving. That is to say, it is a way of giving attention to God and his creation, to yourself and to others, in order to learn to love them; and it is a lifelong commitment to that kind of service of others who […]
New Year Resolution: Silence and Reflection
Posted on by James Woodward
cushion it’s possible to sit in meditation until the cushion is worn flat and never know the thing that is. let me tell you about that thing. it’s inside you (and me) already right here yay end of. Lu Tung Pin
New Year Resolutions : Dig deeper into God
Posted on by James Woodward
a tree God is a tree said Kabir a tree in the forest; when the woodsmen come to cut Him down He will not defend Himself He will not shame them. And God, he said, is the earth an endless wonder that allows Himself to be ruined by us but He […]
New Year Resolution: Embrace Change
Posted on by James Woodward
hammered gold and gold enamelling An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing For every tatter in its mortal dress, Nor is there singing school but studying Monuments of its own magnificence; And therefore I have sailed the […]