Backward Mutters

  • To Grasp

    To Grasp

    This sonnet is based on Ephesians 3:14-19. It seems to me that there are two kinds of grasping. There is the taking in hand of something so that one may posses it, control it, and own it, and there is the taking in hand of being taken in hand. It…

  • Your Love’s Breadth

    Your Love’s Breadth

    This sonnet draws its inspiration from Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians in Ephesians 3:14-21. What strikes me about the passage is that Paul invites the Ephesians to do what they cannot in fact, do. He prays that they “may have strength to comprehend” the size of God’s love when we…

  • Falling Fire

    Falling Fire

    This sonnet is based on Acts 2:1-13 and the Holy Spirit’s coming at Pentecost which the church will celebrate this coming Sunday. Pentecost seems to be an under-realized holy day in the church. One it seems, cannot trust to rely on anyone relegated to “spirit” status. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit…

  • Had You Not Gone

    Had You Not Gone

    Tomorrow is Ascension Thursday which marks the fortieth day after Easter Sunday and is the day we remember when Jesus led his disciples out to the Mount of Olives, and after giving last instructions, ascended up into heaven as Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:1-14 record. The practical, encouraging, benefit of…

  • All These Tears

    All These Tears

    I have been reading Eugene Peterson’s book, Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, and I came across this quote which like a seed in a sidewalk crack germinated and sprouted, not in leaf, but as a poem. “All these tears are gathered up and absorbed in the tears of Jesus.”…