You have not danced so badly, my dear, Trying to hold hands with the Beautiful One. You have waltzed with great style, My sweet, crushed angel, To have ever neared God’s Heart at all. Our Partner is notoriously difficult to follow, And even His best musicians are not always easy to hear. So what if [...]
Posts Tagged as ‘Writing’
June 9, 2010
Just Say the Word
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering.” Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him.” The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the [...]
May 3, 2010
The Springboard, Or A Prayer for Finals
The Springboard by Adrienne Rich Like divers, we ourselves must make the jump That sets the taut board bounding underfoot Clean as an axe blade driven in a stump; But afterward what makes the body shoot Into its pure and irresistible curve Is of a a force beyond all bodily powers. So action takes velocity [...]
February 7, 2010
Wide White Margins, And A Few Words
On the days when I particularly overwhelmed–when I am convinced that any reform in my church will require at least 10 million perfect words, when I am sure that nothing I can think or say or write will ever make any difference, when I am tempted to think that the countless number of books in [...]
January 13, 2010
If Your Voice Is Shaking
“Speak your mind, even if your voice is shaking.” -Maggie Kuhn I have memories of being a typically-gregarious little girl who was afraid to speak in class. Maybe it was more self-consciousness than fear. My young male peers taunted me on the basketball court at recess and inside the classroom walls–”like children do”–because I was [...]
November 25, 2009
Writing and Prayer: A Meditation
Check out my latest post on From the Pews in the Back: Young Women and Catholicism, entitled, “Writing and Prayer: A Meditation.”
November 21, 2009
Scruples (Or, How The Protestant Reformers Might Just Save Me)
Scruples. It is a silly-sounding world, and it describes what is possibly one of the most influential forces in Christian history. Scruples literally means “an uneasy feeling arising from conscience or principle that tends to hinder action,” or “a doubt or hesitation as to what is morally right in a certain situation.” In the context [...]
November 15, 2009
Jesus, I’m Waiting
Check out my reflection on this Sunday’s liturgical readings on the From the Pews in the Back blog. It’s entitled, “Jesus, I’m Waiting.”
October 27, 2009
Fire.
Lately each time I enter the gates of Harvard Yard from the concrete and brick of the Square, I am greeted with the opening word from Pascal’s Mémorial. The demanding red foliage of this one large tree declares, “Fire.” Mémorial is Pascal’s cryptic account of the two-hour mystical vision he experienced one night at age [...]
August 29, 2009
How to Change A Church
Yesterday I sat on the steps of Harvard Divinity School with Tim, a learned, enthusiastic lawyer who has returned to grad school to study church history. Guided by Tim’s astoundingly well-rounded studies, our conversation weaved in and out of a number of topics, including our faith lives and religious traditions–he, a practicing Mormon, and [...]
