Tom Murphy
@tommurphe
Episcopal priest in Baltimore suburbs / Jersey City forever / Baptismal Covenant / Poetry tommurphe.blogspot.com
"So much of life is repetition, after all, isn't it? We perform the same actions again and again, day after day. This might sound mundane, but when repetition is reverent, it also forms rituals - repetitions which give our life meaning." - Maggie Smith, (b. 1977)
On the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene: "Here is a very Magdalen of bird weeping her music at the feet of day, who in a moment more will be interred and in his shroud of silver laid away. (1/3)
“The way to God lies through love of people.” - Maria Skobstova, (1891-1945)
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
The importance of storytellers: I love this paragraph by Darren Walker in his excellent op-ed, "Hollywood Needs to Listen to Gen Z" (New York Times, 7/18/26):
"At the trial of God, we will ask: why did you allow all this? And the answer will be an echo: why did you allow all this?" - Ilya Kaminsky, (b. 1977)
"Grief is praise, because it is the natural way love honors what it misses." - Martín Prechtel, (b. 1951)
“some rivers flow back toward the beginning” - Lucille Clifton, (1936-2010)
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1: 16-17)
"Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way; the love of Christ must come before all else. You are not to act in anger or nurse a grudge. Rid your heart of all deceit. (1/2)
"If you love something, you give it a lot of attention, and if you give something a lot of attention, you very often learn to love it. (1/2)
"If God is never done creating us, then we can never be done finding ourselves." - Matt Gaventa
Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. (Hosea 10:12)
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
"Were we to be judged by our deeds, we each would be found wanting. Instead, we are creatures of grace, made and kept by forgiveness." - Melissa Florer-Bixler #grace #forgiveness
A Prayer for the Nation on Independence Day: Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, (1/2)
"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. (1/2)
“Dark Testament Verse 8” Hope is a crushed stalk Between clenched fingers Hope is a bird’s wing Broken by a stone. Hope is a word in a tuneless ditty — A word whispered with the wind, (1/3)
"The most beautiful moment in life is not defined or made by something we create. No one is excluded from the love of God, and love is the very reason we exist. Love is the reason to live." - Jessica Lee
"Through God, we are transformed, rooted, and grounded in the true meaning and purpose of life, which is belovedness. With hearts oriented toward God, we become realigned - not only with God, but with everyone else throughout time and space." - Jessica Lee
"Love is drawn from an inexhaustible well. The more we drink, the more like it we become. Mercy is the activation of this love. I am merciful because I am a creature to whom God has extended mercy." - Melissa Florer-Bixler
O Lord, we come this morning Knee-bowed and body-bent Before Thy throne of grace. O Lord—this morning— Bow our hearts beneath our knees, And our knees in some lonesome valley. (1/2)
"I never saw a tree that was no tree in particular." - Annie Dillard, (b. 1945)
Jesus said, "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets." (Matthew 7:12)
"Summer is a reminder that, for this single season at least, we might cease our anxious machinations and give ourselves to the abiding and abundant grace of our common life." - Parker Palmer, (b. 1939)