Tag: Jesus
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Whose is the kingdom, the power, and the glory?
Holy Week is here again: that annual liturgical reminder of the horrors humans are capable of. We tame it—make it about the provision of a meek and mute divine sacrificial victim to atone for our personal sins. It’s such a familiar story. Our hymnals automatically flip themselves open to “All…
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I disagree with myself ALL THE TIME.
In grad school, I attended an inter-religious consortium of seminaries and institutes. One term while taking a class over at the Unitarian Universalist seminary, I recall telling a UU classmate that I am a “Trinitarian Universalist.” That might well be a fancy way to say “Episcopalian,” although I doubt it.…
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First Sunday in Lent
I am not a fan of Lent. There is altogether too much breast-beating for my taste. Or, rather, for my mental and spiritual health. I’m trying to recast it in my own mind, because I know it means so much more. As one of the Proper Prefaces for Lent says,…
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Trying so hard to be ordinary
It’s a weird calendar this year for us church folk. Christmas Eve was on the Fourth Sunday in Advent, and Ash Wednesday will be on Valentine’s Day again. This past Saturday, January 6, was the Feast of the Epiphany—a feast you would think would be transferred to the nearest Sunday,…
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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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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…
The Sound 