Tag Archives: Jesus

God’s Word, the Ultimate Poetry

By Robin Bates | Published: December 31, 2017

Poet Jeanne Walker riffs off the opening passage of the Book of John to compare poetic creation to the coming of new truth.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "In the Beginning Was the Word", "John", Jeanne Murray Walker, John the Baptist | Comments closed

Curling Up with a Good Book

By Robin Bates | Published: February 4, 2017

This Scott Bates is a testimony to the solitary joy of reading.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Retiring Candle", Charles Perrault, Erewhon, Evangelism, Lewis Carroll, reading, Samuel Butler, Scott Bates, Thorstein Veblen, Through the Looking Glass, Yevgeny Yevtushenko | Comments closed

Emily Dickinson’s “Smart Misery” of Doubt

By Robin Bates | Published: July 23, 2016

Emily Dickinson struggled with religious doubt all of her life. Because she desperately wanted to belief, some of her poems show her faith being tested.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Of Course I Prayed", "The World is not Conclusion", belief, Bible, Christianity, Doubt, Emily Dickinson, Faith, John Calvin | Comments closed

Stop and Smell Mary’s Perfume

By Robin Bates | Published: March 12, 2016

The scene in John where Mary anoints Jesus’s feet with a costly perfume, Judas, who chastises her for wastefulness, reminds me of those earnest activists who can’t stop and smell the perfume. D. H. Lawrence explores a similar theme in “The Man Who Died.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged anointing of Jesus's feet, D. H. Lawrence, Man Who Died, Mary, work ethic | Comments closed

What in Me Is Dark Illumine

By Robin Bates | Published: January 9, 2016

An epiphany is the moment when something divine enters the human realm. During the Epiphany season, Christians celebrate such moments. In the famous opening of “Paradise Lost,” Milton notes that the Holy Spirit is his muse and connects his own inspiration with a number of famous visitations of the Holy Spirit throughout Biblical history.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged epiphanies, Epiphany, Holy Spirit, John Milton, John the Baptist, Moses, Paradise Lost | Comments closed

A Guest Worthy To Be Here

By Robin Bates | Published: September 5, 2015

Jesus learned to accept a Canaanite woman at his table and George Herbert learns that he belongs at that table. We can use them as models as we face refugees and immigrants.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Love(3)", George Herbert, immigrants, Pope Francis, refugee crisis, refugees, Spirituality | Comments closed

Look Down on Us Who Journey by Night

By Robin Bates | Published: July 5, 2015

Alfred Noyes’s “Night Journey” looks to God to find hope in the night.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Alfred Noyes, Night Journey, Spirituality | Comments closed

“Is My Son Mad?” Mary Asks

By Robin Bates | Published: May 10, 2015

In Thomas Hardy’s version of Mary, she’s a mother wondering whether her son is mad.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Evening in Galilee", Childhood, Mary, Thomas Hardy | Comments closed

Something Different Crosses the Threshold

By Robin Bates | Published: August 10, 2014

Mary Oliver gives a powerful reading of Jesus calming the storm.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Maybe", Christianity, Jesus calming the storm, Mary Oliver, nature poetry | Comments closed