Legendary Literature and Celtic Dreams
The story of the Transfiguration is not a mere collection of facts. It’s a legend that rings with truths.
The Gulf of America
I wrote and arranged this song about the real Gulf of America. Maybe someday I’ll do a music video for it. For now, I just want to get the song out there.
If it speaks to you, please share.
Bright blessings, Merry Mystics!
Eminently Practical
In Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain, he gives some pretty plain teachings. Why do we act as if we’re excused from listening to them?
Everyday Prayer
Prayers for everyday occasions—like Rabbi Irwin Keller’s prayer for watching the news—help us to be recollected in God throughout the day.
Why Prophets Have Short Lives
Offending the spirit of tribalism is never a safe thing to do.
What Love Is
Right in the middle of one of his apostolic smackdowns, Paul sings us a love song.
Who Can Detect Their Own Errors?
Psalm 19 teaches humility—the wisdom to know that we are all fallible, that we can’t always detect our own errors. Like respectfulness, truthfulness, and mercy, humility isn’t weak, as Bishop Budde reminded us last week. You can leave space for the possibility that you might be wrong, but still take a stand for the things you believe are right.
The Gulf of America
There’s a gap between Martin Luther King’s dream for America and the reality of America. No, not just a gap: more like a gulf.
Five Stories of the Baptism of Jesus
The four gospels have four interesting stories of the baptism of Jesus. There’s a fifth I wish we had as well.
The Bird Is the Word
Hello, Merry Mystics!
This coming Sunday, in many churches, we’ll celebrate the baptism of Jesus. I wrote this song about that story—from the perspective of the dove. I borrowed most of the melody from Sir Arthur Sullivan (H. M. S. Pinafore). When I started the lyric, I thought it was going to be something for congregational singing, but on the whole I think it works better as a solo:
If you’d like to try it, there’s sheet music here.
Bright blessings,
Adam
P.S. Here’s that lyric:
I Am but a Little Dove To the man of God I came, where the Jordan’s waters flow. When the Spirit called his name, what it meant I did not know. I am but a little dove; all I know of God is love. Sore afraid, I shut my beak, but in me, the greater Dove flew that day. I heard Her speak words of sure, parental love. Though I’m just a gentle bird, let me tell you what I heard: Wings aflame and feathers flared, Her unending love She sang. Love for him, Her coo declared, till the earth and heavens rang. Neither far nor fast I fly, yet Her flight made light the sky. When you baptize, do you know that Her sky remains alight? Do you feel Her love still flow down to earth from heaven’s height? Do you see, inside your church, what I see from where I perch? Turn your face up to Her sky; let Her wingtip brush your brow. On Her love you can rely— just don't ask me why or how. I am but a little dove; all I know of God is love.