O Dayspring, Come: Frodo's Salvation through Mercy
When Frodo raises the star glass and cries out, “Hail, Eärendil, O Brightest of Stars!” he invokes a history of which, with Sam, he is now a major part. Throughout the history of Arda…
Tag: Advent & Christmas
King and Priest and Sacrifice: A Review of Charles William’s Play "Seed of Adam"
Charles Williams wrote many plays during his lifetime, and many of them were commissioned for special occasions and were performed. This is the case with Seed of Adam, which was commissioned by Phyllis Potter,…
When All Other Lights Have Failed: The Christmas Message and The Lord of the Rings
There was a huge hubbub of anticipation in Palestine before Jesus was born. All sorts of people rising up and gathering some followers and saying that they were the messiah and then getting killed…
Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar
“Are we there yet?” “Balthazar, you know the star hasn’t stopped moving yet,” grumbled an older man. “I know, I was asking the star that,” quipped Balthazar. His older comrade merely rolled…
The Inside is Bigger than the Outside: A Christmas Thought from Narnia and for Our World Too
“Always winter and never Christmas.” This is the condition where we first discover Narnia in The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe. It is not so much blanketed in white as smothered in it, frozen…
Following the Light: An Epiphany Reflection
The feast of the Epiphany completes the Octave of Christmas and brings the mission of Christ full circle. The little Child Jesus came first to his own Jewish people, and to the Shepherds who first…
Yule on the Quest: A Lord of the Rings Story
“May I help you, Master Peregrin?” Glorfindel asked. Pippin abruptly straightened and jumped off the chair he had brought up aside a high shelf in the kitchens of Rivendell. He colored…
Birth of a Prince
A mantle white, a woman’s handOn back of donkey in strange landsShe travels far on hard, dry earthWhile she awaits her baby’s birth. A gasp of pain, the woman startsShe knows it in her heart…
An Answered Longing
Years upon long yearsOf men and ages past,Waiting on the dawn,When came our God at last Like light to all the earth,A trumpet call to breakThe silence of all time,Salvation in its wake. “Hail thou…
The Spirit of Christmas Past
There are some of us, who send out all our Christmas greetings with a hidden sigh, And gaze with weary eyes and jaded palate at the banquet, – like a spectre at the feast. The…