The voice in the wilderness

After Luke 3:1-22 

The prophet appears

in the wilderness,

crying in the wilderness,

his message simple:

Prepare.

Prepare the way

of the Lord. 

The salvation

of the Lord

is at hand.

 

The crowds heard,

they came, bringing

themselves to be

baptized, like

Gentiles becoming

Jews. Did they expect

to hear themselves

called a vipers’ brood,

hypocrites, incompetent,

objects of wrath?

 

Bear fruit, he says.

Heritage and blood

mean nothing. Taking

refuge in Abraham

is futile. Repent,

you brood of vipers.

Repent!

 

Photograph by Annie Spratt via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Perfect Sabbath --- poem by Cody Ilardo at Power & Glory.

 

Christ Delights in Work Well Done – Ryan Dembeck at Desiring God.

Saturday Good Reads – Sept. 26, 2026

My first novel, Dancing Priest, begins at the University of Edinburgh with a conversation between a theology student, Michael Kent, and his roommate and best friend, Tommy McFarland. Michael will earn his theology degree and move to San Francisco. More adventures await in the next four books in the series. But if I was writing that novel today, I’d have to do something different – the University of Edinburgh, after 440 years, is dropping its divinity program.  

If you wander around Poet’s Corner in London’s Westminster Abbey, you’ll find an amazing array of tombs and memorial stones – Charles dickens, Geoffrey Chaucer, the World War I poets, Samuel Johnson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis, W.H. Auden, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, and so many more. And now joining them with a memorial plaque will be J.R.R. Tolkien.

 

It was a big week for people reading and writing about classic novels. Richard Rensch at City Journal considered Walker Percy and his novels’ prophetic vision.  Lincoln Michel at Counter Craft read Don Quixote. Henry Oliver at The Common Read delved into Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. And Fiona Macdonald at the BBC found a program in which J.R. R. Tolkien talked about the most tragic moment in The Lord of the Rings. 

 

More Good Reads

 

Television

 

The making of a masterpiece – John MacLeod at The Critic Magazine.

 

America 250

 

The Battles of Saratoga – Chris Farmer at Old Dominion Post.

 

What the Revolution Can Teach Us About Liberty: Conversation Starters with…Wilfred M. McClay – Anthony Sacramone at Acton Institute.

 

The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union – Keli Holt at Just Enough History.

 

Life and Culture

 

We know what kind of society we are. We’re just haggling over the price – Stephen McAlpine.

 

Narnia Among the Deathworks – Tim Challies.

 

The Illiterati – Mark Malvasi at Th Imaginative Conservative.

 

10 Reasons Why Marxism is Bad for Humanity – Patricia Engler at Answers in Genesis.

 

What Nikole Hannah-Jones Wouldn’t Let Herself See – Jennifer Weber at City Journal.

 

The Homes That Stick With Us – Gracy Olmstead at Granola.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Books Will Never Die – if Publishers Remember What Books do and How They Do It – Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review.

 

Literary Landscapes: Justin Hamm – Tom Darin Liskey t the New Territory.

 

J.R.R. Tolkien on ‘the most tragic moment in The Lord of the Rings’ – Fiona Macdonald at BBC.

 

Faith

 

The Repeating of Christian History – Shannon Holzer at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

The Coming Tsunami – Scot McKnight.

 

The Lost Art of Manners and Why Children Still Need Them – Brenden Bott at The Gospel Coalition / Canada.

 

News Media

 

The New York Times Sued by Shareholders Over Biased Israel Coverage – Maya Sulkin at The Fre Press (story unlocked).

 

Poetry

 

“Spring and Fall,” poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Our Grieving and Our Staying – David Bannon at Front Porch Republic on Wendell Berry’s poetry.

 

“Recessional,” poem by Rudyard Kiplung – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient & Modern.

 

Abide with Me – King Harald of Norway Funeral

 Painting: A Girl Reading, oil on canvas (1932) by Vanessa Bell (1879-1961).

Setting the scene

After Luke 3:1-22 

To introduce the prophet,

who in turn introduces

the One, the scene is set,

to place these arrivals

in the historical context

of man:

 

First, the fifteenth year of

Tiberius, emperor of Rome;

next, the Roman governor

of Judea, Pontius Pilate;

next, the tetrarchs 

of the region: Herod,

Philip, Lysanius;

next, and last,

the high priests, Annas

and Caiaphas.

 

It is a list of rulers.

the political,

the regional,

the religious.

 

It is a setting 

of the scene, but

it is also the prelude

to the prophet and

the one to be heralded,

 

a descending earthly order,

an ascending heavenly order.

 

Photograph by Elijah Ekdahl via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

“Why so many forms,” poem by Annie Dillard – D.S. Martin at Kingdom Poets.

 

“All People That on Earth Do Dwell,” hymn by William Kethe – Athony Esolen at Word & Song.

 

Bearing Good Fruit in Season – Lancia Smith at Cultivating a Writer’s Life.

 

Trust and Obey – poem by Megan Willome at Poetry for Life.

 

Ubi Vut Spirat – poem by Cody Ilardo at Power & Glory.

Poets and Poems: James Tweedie and “Love Found, Yearned For, and Lost”

I’m a sucker for a good love poem. Apparently, I’m not the only one. Poetry about the subject of love is as old as poetry itself. Some of the most famous poems in literature are about love. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” Shakespeare’s “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Lord Byron’s “She walks in beauty.” “Endymion” by John Keats. Robert Burns’ red, red rose. William Butler Yeats’ “When You Are Old.” Virtually every poet has written about love. And it’s no wonder. Love may be the emotion, the feeling, the condition, and the presence we experience across languages, culture, histories, and geographies. 

 

As poet James Tweedie demonstrates in his new collection, Love: Found, Yearned For, and Lost, love is a big topic, not only covering a range of conditions and realities but also poetic forms. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Thursday Readings

 

Bird Lands – poem by Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper.

 

“Heredity,” poem by Thomas Hardy – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

The Tomb of Poetry: A reading of Shakespeare’s 15^th, 16^th, and 17^th sonnets – K.S. Bernstein at Apple Blossoms in a Mournful Wood.

 

“Little Orphant Annie,” poem by James Whitcomb Riley – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

“To a Louse,” poem by Robert Burns – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.

Some Wednesday Readings - Sept. 23, 2026

 

How I Accidentally Became a Church Librarian – Carolyn Leiloglou at Story Warren.

 

The Joy of Unexpected Books – K.E. Colombini at Front Porch Republic.

 

Nathan Hale Gave His Life for America. We Should Honor That – Michael Freund at Real Clear History.

 

The Painter of the Night: Gerard van Honthorst – Michael De Sapio at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

10 things that don’t belong in a query letter – Nathan Bransford.

 

The Challenge of Wendell Berry: A Personal Assessment – Brian Volck at Church Life Journal.

 

Samuel Johnson: A Great Thinker and a Great Man – Karen Swallow Prior at The Priory.

 

The Rabbit Room Community’s Top 50 Books – The Rabbit Room.

 

Painting: Christ Crowned with Thorns, oil on canvas (circa 1620) by Gerard van Honthurst (1590-1656). 

Poets and Poems: Jessica Covil-Manset and "To Sing You, and to Shout"

You don’t understand the title of the chapbook To Sing You. and to Shout until you finish reading all its 17 poems. Poet Jessica Covil-Manset packs powerful emotion, reflections on a family, and eventual resolution into those few poems in a way that leaves you impressed with the impact and reflecting on your own family dynamics. 

Much of the focus is on the mother of the family, the one who leaves length voicemails, sings out of tune (and knows it), whose messages are sometimes, but not always spiteful, the one who is “my heartache / My biggest fan.” It’s not a flattering portrait, but it is also not entirely critical. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

Farewell Letter – poem by David Whyte.

 

Poetry Club Tea Date: Daily Practices – Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

Neruda’s Updated Edition Totals 3,522 Pages – poem by L.L. Barkat at Every Day Poems.

 

Annunciation – poem by Alex Mouw at Rabbit Room Poetry.

 

“The Day is Done,” poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

Some Monday Readings - Sept. 21, 2026

 

Great Books and the Good Life – Peter Sikkema at Comment.

 

My plea to English students: Read the canon – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.

 

My Books Needed a House of Their Own – Karen Swallow Prior at Miller’s Book Review.

 

A Friend for Life – Peter Mommsen at Plough.

 

Bury St. Edmunds, 1952 and 2026 – A London Inheritance.

 

Fit as a philologist – Joshua Katz at The New Criterion.

 

The Ivory Tower Is Falling – R.R. Reno at First Things Magazine. 

 

The Art of Friendship – Tara Isabella Burton at Plough.

 

Photograph: The cathedral at Bury St. Edmunds by Karen Cann via Unsplash. Used with permission.