Category: Theological reflection
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Among Women, Blessed
The following poem, for a long time while I kept revising it, bore the working title, “Closing in on Christmas.” I’m glad my poetry group agreed I should change the title once it found its final form. And now that we’re deep into Christmas, why don’t I share my Advent…
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“And the Word Became Flesh”
Back to poems! And stay tuned for a special announcement at the end of this post. This poem was published August 25, 2022 in Earth & Altar Magazine. Elaine Elizabeth BelzAND THE WORD BECAME FLESH O, Bread my tonguehas taken and my teethhave crushed: leave your imprintdeep in my molars,…
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Aesthetics, the Church, and the “Spirit of the Age”
I interrupt this poetry series to bring you some thoughts sparked by arguments on Twitter. (Clearly I know how to engage readers…) I say “arguments” because attempts at discussion or conversation on that platform invariably lead to arguments—not necessarily because people are terrible, but more, I think, because the limited…
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Habitus
Read it here on Earth & Altar‘s website Elaine Elizabeth Belz HABITUS Crossing this threshold, I dip my hand in water,re-inscribe my birth. Stolid airushers me in, thick with dustand smoke and resin and with voices, shuffling feet,creaking floorboard and pew—all musicto uncloak my solitude.A votive wick receives my longing,…
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Full Circle
Today is the second and last time this century that Good Friday and the Feast of the Annunciation fall on the same day. Historically, though, they’re linked. In the earliest centuries of the Church, the death and resurrection of Christ were observed, but Christ’s birth was not. However, the symbolic…
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Merry Christmas! God is with us!
Gaudete! Christus natus est! Alleluia! Tonight God’s purpose in creation is fulfilled. I love this gaudily-colored painting from the reredos of one of the side-chapels in my church. Christ is born, and everybody, human and otherwise, has shown up to celebrate! I’m reminded of a phrase from the requiem Mass (quoting…
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Lift Every Voice for Charleston
I have a friend who believes the correct response to whatever befalls a community of faith is: “What, then, shall we sing?” This morning in church, many of us throughout the United States joined in solidarity with the congregation at Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC by…
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Being there
“I probably shouldn’t be grinning on Good Friday,” I said to the Dean after today’s Good Friday service. But one of the features of bipolar illness is that sometimes you just aren’t in charge of your emotions. On a day like today, when I’m teetering on the edge of hypomania,…
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The ordinariness of God
I work in a church—literally, in the church, not in the offices attached to it. My work is mostly preparing for worship services. Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, which involved a fair amount of preparation. But that’s not what I want to write about. Because the church where I work combines…
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The Spirit of Detroit and Christian Hope
The Detroit city motto has become better known in recent years, thanks to the proliferation of books—about the city’s history, and, yes, about the ruins, by authors who live in the Metro Area and love the city—and of merchandise such as bookbags, t-shirts, postcards, and other items you might find…
The Sound 