Synopsis: The accomplished poet and preacher, J. Barrie Shepherd, retells a series of dramatic Old Testament "encounters" from a contemporary point of view, using poetic imagery and diction. Among the stories he reexamines are Jacob at Jabbok, Moses on the Mountain, Jacob at Bethel, Elijah and the Voice, Gideon at Harod, Adam and Eve at the Garden, Abraham in Moriah, Sarah at the tent flap, Joshua at Jericho, Isaiah at the Altar, and Ezekiel and the Wheel. By retelling these familiar stories in new and unexpected ways, Shepherd challenges us to reexamine many of the basic issues of biblical...

Description: In this volume, Shepherd selects from these, and from other unpublished works, to shape a series of poems that seek to portray and even illuminate, to some extent, the life of the spirit. They begin by tracing the progress of a typical year--January through December--but also by noting, and celebrating at times, the high points of ""The Christian Year"": Lent-Easter, Pentecost, Thanksgiving, Advent-Christmas, and Epiphany. Other, more generally themed, less calendar-related poems follow, including poems that reflect on the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center--an...

This book is intended as a devotional guide for the Advent season. Through the mediums of meditations, poetry, and prayer, it offers a spiritual resource for readers seeking to explore the many dimensions of this beloved season, and to deepen their appreciation of its mystery and wonder. Each day the reader is provided with either a prose meditation, based in Scripture, or a selection of poems, composed around the traditional themes of Advent/Christmas. The overall effect is that of a journey--a journey which moves, devotionally, through the days and weeks of December, toward Bethlehem, the...