Arts Articles

Faith songs

22 September 2022 | by Michael Saunders

Photo by Cedrik Malabanan on Unsplash |

I I have faith, not in God, but in the infinite tenderness of your touch, in the fragility of this.

Read more

Recycling facility

15 September 2022 | by RV Bailey

'Recycling’s the word that makes it OK To throw so many things away.' | by Jilbert Ebrahimi on Unsplash

What shall I do with this, the old lady asks, Offering a telephone. It still works. Not now, it doesn’t. He chucks it in a skip.

Read more

IMHO

25 August 2022 | by Dana Littlepage Smith

‘Her gentle look turned the spider, crawling up the side of the tub into a miracle, in a tuneful minor key.' | by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Jesus did not appear to me today in a burnt a piece of toast. Nor in the face of the cornbread, nor in the sad black eye of the sunflower. Maybe he was lingering in the musical shadows of children singing in my morning dreams.

Read more

Refuge

18 August 2022 | by Roger Iredale | 1 comment

'We take their boat and promises, fight off rollers, reach God’s shore...' | by Sereja Ris on Unsplash

The queen my mother taught me how to lead her people out of danger when I had fifteen years and only thoughts of life and love.

Read more

I AM

11 August 2022 | by Derek Guiton

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash |

I am the adder under the stone, I am the mouseling, wary, alone, I am the sea-wave ready to strike, I am that rusty clapped out bike.

Read more

Through the eyes of the children: a lament

04 August 2022 | by Harvey Gillman

'There were so many dreams we could have dreamed together.' | by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash

We were taught to look for the good in everyone. But when your eyes are filled with the blood of your brothers; your ears echo with the cries of your sisters; your head overwhelmed with numbers beyond counting of splinters of dreams scattered profusely over broken pavements, how then are...

Read more

John Dee

28 July 2022 | by Bob Ward | 1 comment

John Dee performing before Elizabeth I. By Henry Gillard Glindoni (1852-1913) |

What’s known as his ‘magic mirror’   is polished obsidian   that reflected his obsessive   probing the dark surface   for a glimpse of angels   harbouring divine secrets   drawn from all times past   and those even yet to come.

Read more

Feet

21 July 2022 | by Angela Arnold

'Meeting-still or shufflesome, either way they truly light up the room...with their God’s-footprint histories' | by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

Firmly grounded, side by side, orderly. While others dangle nonchalantly, mid-careless-air, an imper- ceptible swing to them.

Read more

Meeting for Zooming

14 July 2022 | by John Lampen

'Some say they feel the unity; others, it does not ‘work’ for them...' | by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

The screens reflected in their eyes, each sits in a familiar room, Friends – silent, chatty, busy, wise – united by the Quaker Zoom.

Read more

Ukraine

07 July 2022 | by Richard Stewart

'The longest queues are for seeds.' | by Xiangkun ZHU on Unsplash

In the market place Where the few stalls left Are flanked by the rubble Of shopping centres, apartment blocks And a still smouldering maternity clinic, The longest queues are for seeds.

Read more