It is OK to cry out to Him in my loneliness, in my frustrated sexual being, in my uncertainty, to mourn the life He called me out of, even if I find myself desiring it once more. It is OK to weep for the loss of a broken life. We must, in fact, let go of every “if” or “might have been” to truly follow Him without reservation. Let them float away like balloons, in an array of tears, offerings to Him that set us on the good path. He knows what we gave (give) up, and He can take the tears of pain and anger as we grieve our vinegar thirsts.
Read MoreWelcoming Christ Again, and Again
A Conversation with Luci Shaw
Interviewed by Tamara Hill Murphy for Englewood Review of Books, Advent 2017 print issue
I read Luci Shaw’s prose before I ever knew about her poetry. The anthology, The Christian Imagination: The Practice of Faith in Literature and Writing (edited by Leland Ryken), included her essay, “Beauty and the Creative Impulse,” that taught me about the mutuality of art and faith. Throughout the more than 30 books of prose and poetry she’s written, Luci Shaw’s words reflect a Damascus-sized jolt that awakens readers again and again to the tandem beauty of body and spirit, heaven and earth. It was an honor to interview Ms. Shaw for this Advent issue.
Read MoreThe past five years I have lived in Lent. The church calendar has ticked by but I have stayed here in the barren place, the dark place where hope is for others and resurrection is a belief but not tangible. It’s one of those long stories, too long certainly for this space, with long emotions and long components, but familiar too – grief, hurt, expectations not met, illness, grief, uncertainty, abuse, adoption, mental illness, destruction. Many families enter into these lands, and many families fall apart. We did. Some families are able to weather the storm. We couldn’t.
Read MoreSometimes love feels fierce as hate-
mingling down in howling tears.
It's hard to tell the difference
Am I crying for my kid?
Am I crying for myself?
Which makes me wonder
What your mother felt the day she cradled
your dead body?
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