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Life is a Gift/Love is a Verb
We don’t get to walk without wounds, Or talk with words that have not been forged and shaped in the crucible of suffering. Yet, still,...
Jon Swales
Jan 19, 20241 min read
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Trinity of Love
Father of Creation, God of Compassion, We thank you that you take your place within a Holy Trinity of Love who rules and reigns with...
Jon Swales
Jan 19, 20242 min read
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Jesus and the Kingdom Community
- A few notes and reflections as I approach the Sermon on the Mount Jesus, the Jewish Palestinian peasant and the brown-skinned God-Man,...
Jon Swales
Jan 19, 20243 min read
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Hope Whispers
Hope whispers my name, And speaks to my soul. ‘Rest a while, I have a healing balm and will tend your wounds.’ I counter, ‘But have you...
Jon Swales
Jan 19, 20241 min read
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Magnificat- A Song of Kingdom Revolution
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus initiates his public ministry with the proclamation , "The time is fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand....
Jon Swales
Jan 16, 20244 min read
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Jesus and Mass Civilian Death
In the relentless bloody chaos unfolding on the streets and amidst the ruins of Gaza, civilians—men, women, and children—are subjected to...
Jon Swales
Jan 16, 20242 min read
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Two Stories: Love in a World of Climate Breakdown
Let's cut to the chase. We find ourselves in the midst of a climate breakdown saga, with global temperatures currently at 1.2 degrees...
Jon Swales
Jan 10, 20242 min read
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Falling without a Parachute
Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to...
Jon Swales
Jan 8, 20243 min read
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The Wild Ride: Love in a World of Climate Breakdown
In the midst of this wild ride called climate breakdown, a sort of prelude to a societal shakeup, our once-familiar carbon-heavy world is...
Jon Swales
Jan 6, 20242 min read
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Faith in a Secular Age- A Poem
My faith, delicate as spun glass, Intertwined and enfleshed with doubt. Hope, the quiet confidence in things unseen, Is woven into the...
Jon Swales
Jan 5, 20241 min read
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Hereford Cathedral
Amidst weathered stones, History and tradition intertwine, A sanctified haven, Set apart from the hustle and bustle of the high street. A...
Jon Swales
Jan 1, 20241 min read
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New Year 23/24: A Prayer
Father of Creation, God of Faithfulness, The First and the Last, You show your love to us through time. Every moment of existence is a...
Jon Swales
Dec 27, 20232 min read
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Advent Four
Father of Creation, God of Hope, We marvel at the sacred mystery of faith, The incarnation, The enfleshment of your Son, Fully God, Fully...
Jon Swales
Dec 20, 20231 min read
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The Return: A Poem
We found ourselves east of Eden, Estranged and alienated, Hostile and unholy. We, broken sinners, yearned for a Savior, Homesick exiles...
Jon Swales
Dec 18, 20231 min read
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Advent 3: A Prayer
Father of Creation, In our bleak mid-winter, we are confronted again With Something startling Something shocking And something profoundly...
Jon Swales
Dec 15, 20232 min read
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Advent Two: A Prayer
Father of Creation, God of Hope, The prophets speak, And dream and hope For a different world, The age to come. Maranatha. Father of...
Jon Swales
Dec 9, 20232 min read
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Incarnation: The Word Made Flesh
‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made...
Jon Swales
Dec 9, 20232 min read
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Incarnation: A Christmas Reflection
In the incarnation, God confronts man face to face—a confrontation, a holy mystery, a sacred enfleshment full of both grace and mercy....
Jon Swales
Dec 9, 20231 min read
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Advent Pilgrimage - A Poem
Stumbling towards Bethlehem to gaze upon the humble King, While the city lights entreat me to linger, to stay, to spend. Stumbling...
Jon Swales
Dec 9, 20231 min read
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Lament
Lament is a gift for a church tempted to deny reality, residing in a world of romanticized, spiritualized abstraction. The language of...
Jon Swales
Dec 6, 20232 min read
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