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The Voice of God
Below is another post in what is becoming a series about my own life. I rarely write autobiographically or in memoir style. But I want to start doing more of it. I want to be more open about my past experiences and about the things that have shaped me. In line with the conventions of memoir Continue reading
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Winter
This is the time when the sky bleeds, impaled on the brittle, clawed fingers of dead trees, and when the icy darkness pours early into the streets, constrained only by pale lights and silent flames. This is the time when you and I beat out love and warmth through the steady rhythm of our hearts, Continue reading
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Why I Am Not Quitting My PhD
I’ve thought about quitting my PhD on multiple occasions. It’s not just that tenure-track jobs in the humanities will be hard to find once I graduate, nor is it merely that I could be making a lot more money right now if I wasn’t in academia at all (money seems more important than it used Continue reading
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A Poem for the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord
Last night I celebrated a Christmas Holy Eucharist with the people of the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Dallas. We started at 10:30 and went until about midnight. As we left the church, the bells rang out their joy at the coming of Christ into the world. The mass was one of the most Continue reading
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Advent Week Four: Love
Advent is nearing its end. All four candles are lit, and the darkness is starting to retreat. Christmas is just around the corner. This week of Advent is focused on love. And, like “O Holy Night” sings: His law is love and his gospel is peace. Amen. Continue reading
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Advent Week Three: Joy
Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. (found Continue reading
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“All Who Hear”
A desert voice calls out Lend him your ear, your heart Though we are scattered stones, We’re not alone So we, the road, prepare For heaven’s eternal heir At last, our Savior’s near Let all, who hear, make way And may these hearts Prepare, a place What is this grace divine? That earth and sky Continue reading
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Advent Week Two: Peace
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now Continue reading
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Advent Week One: Hope
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living Continue reading
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A Prayer for Thanksgiving
Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love. We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the Continue reading
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My Problem with Bad Writing
I must confess something: I am intellectually biased toward coherence, clarity, and order. I not only dislike reading unclear academic prose, but it frustrates me. It frustrates me because I assume that the ordinary purpose of language is to communicate meaning, and unclear academic prose inhibits the communication of meaning. And, most of the time, Continue reading
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Poetry of the Dawn
I once imagined that Death would find me sprawled on the floor surrounded by my books with a pen in my hand and half a poem scribbled on my arm. But then I met you and Death changed plans; not on the floor so much as in our bed with my arms around you and Continue reading
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The Virtuous Life Part 1: Anxiety
I often wonder whether a psychiatrist would diagnose me with some kind of anxiety disorder. There have been moments in my life, lasting for several weeks at a time, when I exhibit relatively serious OCD symptoms. This usually occurs around times of high stress or when experiencing big change–like the last six months. But even Continue reading
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Red Embers and White Stars
I suddenly wake from a now forgotten dream. And the faint memory of the song we all sung rings silently in unstopped ears while the tears of nostalgia well beneath closed eyelids. I can remember the smell of the biting cold air and the taste of tobacco on my lips while above us the smoke Continue reading
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The Originality of Texts in a Manuscript Culture
“Let me embellish this conception of writing as textual intervention with a note on the Grammarian’s Mythology, which is full of rich and contrary themes. One theme is that the letters of the alphabet contain the universal range of words, and these in turn harbor or conceal all that can be said about all that Continue reading
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Virtue
To judge kata ton orthon logon is indeed to judge of more or less and Aristotle tries to use the notion of a mean between the more and the less to give a general characterization of the virtues: courage lies between rashness and timidity, justice between doing injustice and suffering injustice, liberality between prodigality and meanness. For Continue reading
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Hell
I have gone to church my entire life. For a good chunk of my life, I made winning at church one of the sources of my self-esteem. Winning at church meant that I knew all of the answers in bible class and that I never misbehaved in a way that would embarrass my parents. When Continue reading
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Words and The Poisonwood Bible
I sometimes sit out back (that’s where the breath of creation lurks around here) and wonder about words. St. Augustine thinks that words are signs (which is fine as far as it goes). And St. Derrida, along with his band of merry men, thinks words are infinitely regressive signs, which is a mouthful. (Incidentally, if Continue reading
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Fall and the Coming Renewal
In St. John’s Apocalypse, God declares to all of creation: Behold, I make all things new. Growing up, I heard that sentiment in the sense that, at the end, God will make a different Heaven and a different earth. They will be “new” in the same sense as a new pair of shoes from the Continue reading
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House Hunting
Three weeks ago, we started looking for a new place to live. It feels more like three months ago. All of our stuff is in a portable storage pod waiting to be delivered to our new house, when we find a new house. I’ve had to learn to adjust to the situation, to change my Continue reading
About Me
Gregory C. Jeffers
Anglican Christian | Husband | Father | Teacher | Scholar | Poet
G. C. Jeffers 