Season 4 - Episode 4

To listen to an audio version of this post, visit www.covenantchurch.ca/podcasts/covenant-weekly.

On this first Tuesday of the month, I am away with Angie and some friends at an event I enjoyed last year during my sabbatical. Doxology is a conference of sorts. It is an environment in which the hosts "hope to nurture humility, joy, contemplation–and even a bit of holy belligerence." Last year we were encouraged and inspired by Malcolm Guite (among other presenters). While away, I share one of Malcolm's poems written for this "ordinary time" during the liturgical church calendar. It fits somewhat with our current focus on belonging.

O Radix

All of us sprung from one deep-hidden seed,

Rose from a root invisible to all.

We knew the virtues once of every weed,

But, severed from the roots of ritual,

We surf the surface of a wide-screen world

And find no virtue in the virtual.

We shrivel on the edges of a wood

Whose heart we once inhabited in love,

Now we have need of you, forgotten Root,

The stalk and stem of every living thing

Whom once we worshipped in the sacred grove,

For now is winter, now is withering

Unless we let you root us deep within,

Under the ground of being, graft us in.

Among the line-up of presenters we'll be blessed by at Doxology this year is musician Andy Gullahorn. For something completely different from Malcolm's poem, enjoy Andy's musical reflection on Teenagers in this video.