Reflections for Advent 2019
Added Friday 1st November 2019
Light a fire, pull up a comfortable chair, and let Kevin Carey's Advent Firesiders gently provoke your comfortable Christmas contemplation.
This year's reflections include:
Reflections for Advent 2018
Added Tuesday 20th November 2018
Light a fire, pull up a comfortable chair, and let Kevin Carey's Advent Firesiders gently provoke your comfortable Christmas contemplation.
This year's reflections include:
A Christmas Carol for 2018
Added Thursday 15th November 2018
Never was star so bright,
never was smile so sweet,
never was gold so bright
when kings knelt at your feet.
Never such dark disguise,
never such innocent blood,
never such piercing cries
for your first brotherhood.
Never such opulence,
never so little cheer,
never such ignorance
of your being here.
Excess is on the rise,
Christmas is on the wane;
it will be no surprise
if it does not come round again.
A Trinitarian Yardstick for the General Election
Added Friday 12th May 2017
Vote for those who, no matter how imperfectly: nurture God's creation; prosecute Christ's social justice; live in the love and Grace of the Spirit; and who favour the communal life of the Trinity to the competitive life of the idolater.
Meditations for Advent
Added Monday 28th November 2016
Light a fire, pull up a comfortable chair, and let Kevin Carey's Advent Firesiders gently provoke your comfortable Christmas contemplation.
This year's reflections include:
The Role of the Christian Librarian in a Theologically Turbulent Age
Added Wednesday 4th November 2015
In the Annual Public Lecture of Christians in Library and Information Services, Kevin Carey argues that the 20th Century was the most theologically fruitful since the 16th, seeking to address a wide range of issues, both systematic and ethical, and that such diversity of approach and topic presents the librarian with a peculiar set of challenges whose resolution is vital to the non-academician seeking to broaden and deepen their Christian faith.
You can read the full lecture, which was given by Kevin Carey, Chair RNIB, on Saturday 17th October 2015 at Salisbury Library.
Refugees
Added Friday 2nd October 2015
It is right and proper that we should contribute to the temporary expedient of caring for refugees in their camps but that is only a starting point. Politicians have believed for some years now that we are a mean spirited people who want to keep foreigners out, no matter what their reason for wishing to be among us. Before Aylan Kurdi's corpse went global, they believed that the way to stay popular was to stay immoral, to pander to our worst xenophobia, to deliberately conflate the issues of Eastern European workers, West African paupers, Eritrean victims of torture and Syrian refugees. Well, they have been found out but, in a sad way, so have we. And it is time to make amends by publicly stating that we are prepared to accept and finance the residence here of hundreds of thousands of refugees if that is how many want to come here. Grudgingly talking about fair shares is an inadequate response.
The question being asked of us is not being asked by the refugees, it is being asked by Jesus. It is time to respond by opening our arms in welcome.
Emmaus
Added Saturday 4th April 2015
1. Trudge down the windy road,
A house without a light,
The chill of empty fires
And soon the lonely night:
A triumph for a day,
The panic of the tomb;
Enigmas cloud the brain,
Sprung from the Upper Room.
2. Our heavy hearts pick up
A traveller's quickened pace
Who walks a step behind
Hiding his eyes and face:
His words burn deep as fire
Where coldness lay before;
A pattern to explain
A message to restore.
3. Though we were still downcast
His gentleness was such
We asked him to come in:
We could not offer much
Late on a Sunday night,
Having been so long away;
But he would ease our grief
If he agreed to stay.
4. He acted like our host,
Giving the wine and bread
And then we understood
The things that He had said:
First in the Upper Room,
Next in the empty tomb,
Then on the open road,
Now in our humble home.
5. Lord, now that You have gone
Back to Your Father's care,
May we be comforted
As if You were still here:
The light within our home,
Our brother in distress,
Our daily sustenance,
Our guide to happiness.
Taken from Hymns for Ash Wednesday to Pentecost.
The Cruel Implements
Added Tuesday 31st March 2015
1. The first lash was an accident
Inside a mine of gold;
Thirteen for muck, thirteen for luck,
Thirteen were bought and sold:
But the walls were high and the walls were thick,
So nobody was told.
2. The first thorn from a President
In a palace full of rings
Joined thorns of stone and human bone
From emperors and kings:
But the crowning went unwitnessed
As they hated suffering.
3. The first nail was a precedent
Set down in a decree;
One for the great, one for estate,
A last for property:
But as long as there is argument
We still have liberty.
4. The scimitar's hilt was an ornament
To artifice and grief
With filigree veins and bloody stains
In clots of bas relief:
But its blade was the final reckoning
For the soul of a dying thief.
5. The Holy Cross was a testament
Barbaric, cruel and raw
Yet its wood was sold and dipped in gold
To edify the poor:
But would Jesus fare much better
If he came to earth once more?
Taken from Hymns for Ash Wednesday to Pentecost.
Palm Ash and Oil
Added Thursday 5th February 2015
The ash upon my brow
Has made its heavy way
From those who shouted "King"
To those who would not say:
A warning of the slope
Which leads us to betray;
No need to do the deed,
Stay quiet, walk away.
The palm Cross by my bed
Rustles a jarring note
Of people steering clear
Of things they should promote,
Promiscuously bland
In promising their vote,
No gap between the hat
And the collar of the coat.
The oil that welds the ash
Reminds me of a king
Who, tortured and betrayed,
Accepted suffering,
Whose silence was as sharp
As crystal shattering,
Whose word is always true
As an infant's lettering.
The Cross upon my brow
Says that I must not wait
To turn against my ease,
Confronting what I hate;
It says my sins, though small,
Add up to something great,
That I so often fall
Because I hesitate.