Acclaim the One whose breath is your bounty

Let the room be filled with laud and laughter, oh people of Mercy. Fill the air with music and merriment, with the sound of delight annulling the wail of indigence.

Praise your Maker, you wind and wave. Sun and moon and Bethlehem’s star, shout in exultation!

Let all that swim in the sea give thanks; all that walk on the land, rejoice; all that traverse the open sky, extol.

Read more ›

Abiding in the shadow

Attend to my cry, O Lord; hide me in the
shadow of your wings.

Beloved One, my mouth praises you with
joyful lips; and in the shadow of your wings
my voice resounds.

“I will protect those who know my name,”
says the Strength of Day and the Guardian of Night.
“When they call me, then shall I answer.”

Read more ›

A Christian-Muslim call to worship

Of God’s Unity, God says in the Holy Qur’an:
​      Say: He is God, the One! God, the Self-Sufficient
           Besought of all! So invoke the Name of thy Lord
           and devote thyself to Him with a complete devotion.

Of the necessity of love for the neighbor, the Prophet
Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—said:
     “None of you has faith until you love for your
     neighbor what you love for yourself.”

Jesus said:
     “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One;
     you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
     and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and
     with all your strength.”

Read more ›

Grace upon grace

In the beginning, all formless and void, the Breath of Heaven hovered deep within darkness. And the Word appeared, a Word beyond speech, tender, full of grace, issuing light and life from the Womb of God to water and stone and all creaturely flesh.

Oh, Breath of Heaven, Word of the Beloved, Song of Creation and Presence of Peace, grant grace upon grace to all creaturely flesh.

 Oh, Weaver of Days and Rest-giving Nights, your Word-shaped world has grown deaf to your voice and blind to your light. Against every dark threat shine again the Sun of your righteous radiance. Let the chorus of angels sound again your melody of pardon.

Read more ›

Signs of the Times: Annotated news, views, quotes and notes

Welcome to the premier of prayer&politiks, an online journal “at the intersection of spiritual formation and prophetic action.” Welcome as well to the first issue of Signs of the Times, a weekly column featuring annotated news, views, quotes and notes, for discerning the times in which we live.

¶ The launch of this site on 27 November, “Black Friday” (in the US), is intentional, as it occurs at the edge of Advent, whose first Sunday is this weekend.

¶ For readers outside the US: The day after the celebration of Thanksgiving (since 1941 always the fourth Thursday of November) in our country has effectively become the start of the Christmas shopping season. The phrase “Black Friday” was originally a derogative term, beginning in the early ‘50s, for the practice of workers calling in sick the day after Thanksgiving in order to get a long weekend holiday. (At the time, the holiday was limited to the single day.) In the early ‘60s the phrase was used by the Philadelphia Police Department in reference to the traffic jams caused by shoppers. Since then the day has emerged as the nation’s busiest shopping day of the year, when merchants provide steep discounts—though some major stores are now opening on Thanksgiving Day itself.

Read more ›

St. Augustine

In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery? — St. Augustine