“It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.”
— William Carlos Williams
Hi! I am Andrew King. I’m in my 60s, an almost-retired part-time staff member of a church in Oakville, Ontario, but as my former Twitter profile once said, “I am a fan of dogs, poetry, the Sunday lectionary, the daily news. . .” and to which I add: Maple Grove United Church, (a member congregation of The United Church of Canada). But poetry is currently my principal part-time passion, reading it and sometimes writing it.
I do not send a lot of poems out to literary magazines — not even close — so this blog will be a place where I can share some of my passions and poetic efforts — as well as, very occasionally, links to other poetry that I like from around the web. My goal for the year is to post a poem a week about the Sunday Scripture lessons from the lectionary (the words from William Carlos Williams about poetry apply equally well to the Bible itself). I cannot claim that my poems will be of prize quality; I write primarily for spiritual self-nourishment. However, if someone else can derive even a small benefit from my work, then that will be an answer to prayer.
I hope you will visit me from time to time. May you enjoy what you find here.
Hi Andrew. Thanks for sharing your talents with the world. I like the poetry you write very much. You have a gift to share with the world. Thanks for using your reflections to teach others.
Andrew, your poem is powerful! Thanks for sharing your passion. I have added your blog to my favorites and look forward to reading it often. I’m preaching on John 9 Sunday and want to share your poem with my congregation, with full credits, of course. I hope many of my people will join in following you. God bless you as you continue to inspire us to use our sanctified imagination to dwell richly in the Word!
[…] with something that I don’t do very often. I want to offer a poem. This one written by poet Andrew King called Love That Has No […]
Andrew: I really like your Easter poem. Might I quote it with appropriate citation in our church bulletin? Michele Rowe, Knox United Church, Langham, SK
Thank you for your comment! You may indeed quote my poem(s) with appropriate citation — thank you for asking — and I hope you will visit again.
Andrew, I would have thought your poem Now the Dawning was written by a pastor. It is beautiful. I wonder if I might use it in my Easter sermon.
Hello Andrew, I am a Church of Scotland minister serving a parish in the West of Scotland. I shared your poem, Thomas the Twin, last Sunday with my congregation and told them about you and your goal for the year of posting a lectionary-based poem each week. Many thanks for sharing your God-given gift with us all, and I wish you every blessing in this ministry of yours.
Many thanks for visiting. God bless you and your congregation and all my Scottish readers (and all my readers everywhere)!
Hi Andy, I am now serving a different congregation, still in the West of Scotland, and tomorrow I am going to introduce those people to your wonderful and powerful poetry. Many blessings on your ministry, Alison
God bless you in your new congregation, and thank you so much for your appreciation of my poetry!
Andrew, This is the first time I have discovered your blog. What a blessing! I just read your poem, “Pasture.” What an intimate relationship it describes with the “voice.” I am an Episcopal priest and would appreciate having your permission to share this poem with my congregation. I will give appropriate credit to you. Blessings, Ronnie
Permission granted! Thank you for visiting, and for your very encouraging words. Blessings to you and your congregation!
Hi Andrew, I’d like to ask your permission if I could use your poems in our parish newsletter, I am a Rev. Alfredo Garcia, a catholic priest from New Zealand
Hi Andrew, thank you for sharing your special gifts with others. I would like to share your “Pasture” with my face book friends if it’s ok with you. I wasn’t sure if you are on face book…. Thank you so much . Peace. vivian
Hi Andrew,
What a blessing. Thank you for sharing the fruits of your practice this way. With your permission, I will use your poem for this week as the opening to my sermon on the Binding of Isaac, and will of course credit you and direct folks to your blog. Keep up the good work.
Michael McSherry
Senior Minister
Edwards Church (UCC)
Northampton, MA, USA
I have really enjoyed reading your poetry. I will be reading your poem “Becoming Our |Calling” this Sunday as part of my service at Oasis United Church in Penticton, B.C. Several members of our fantastic congregation act as pulpit supply when our minister is away. I am always pleased and excited to find such lovely words as yours to help in worship planning! Thanks very much:)
Thank you for your words, and for reading my poems. God bless your worship and all members of Oasis United Church!
Hi Andrew, Such a gift, your poetry is. Thanks for sharing. A little late notice, but I found The Ten Words while preparing for worship for tomorrow, and hope it is alright that I share it with the congregations I service, as part of my reflection – with of course credit to you. It captures the essence of what I am focusing on tomorrow, so very well. I serve Olds and Sundre United Churches, in Alberta. With thanks and blessings, Tammy Allan
I am honoured by your reading and enjoying my poems, and even more honoured by your request. Please use my poem any way that you feel is helpful (and I do appreciate the credit). God bless you and your congregations!
Andrew- I just want to say how much I love your poetry. I regularly include as an opening or closing to my sermon, your poem of the
lectionary reading for the week, always with credit given to you of course. I just really appreciate the art and beauty of your work, thank you so much for sharing your gift!
I am very grateful for your kind words. Thank you for reading my poems!
Andy, thank you for posting Sonnet of the Star and Ship. May I quote this poem for my sermon this Sunday? It reminds me some of Frost’s Choose Something Like a Star. I serve at Charter House, Mayo Clinic, and I am a Lutheran pastor ordained 33 years ago.
Peace to you–
A remarkable and wonderful idea – thanks for sharing it with the web. Peace – from Pictou County, Nova Scotia.
Thank you for the poem “I Was Afraid”. I would like to use a portion of it in this week’s sermon … giving you full credit and acknowledgement, of course.
I am honoured by your request. Thanks for asking — and for visiting my blog!
Thank you for these very insightful words. Based on this fine poem, I will look up others by you. I’m an Episcopal priest and – with your permission – I’d like to read this in my sermon tomorrow, giving you credit, of course!
I have just today discovered your blog. Your poem “The One Whose Heart is Searching” is beautifully crafted and is the exact ending for which I have been searching for this Sunday’s sermon meditation. I see above that you have granted permission for its use and hope that permission may again be granted. Thank you.
Thank you for discovering my blog! I am very happy that you have enjoyed my poem. Please use it any way that you feel will be helpful. Blessings to you and your congregation!
“Mending Their Nets” My grandfather was a preacher, and he knew how to make fishing nets. Don’t know why or how he learned. He lived far away and died while I was young, so I was never able to ask him. Your image of the fisherman mending their nets and using it as a metaphor for what Jesus calls us to brought tears to my eyes. Thank you.
And I am moved and deeply honoured by your comment. Thank you.
Thank you Andrew. Your words again caused me to stop and think about lectionary readings that I had almost discarded as irrelevant to my faith journey.
Thank you SO much for “And he was with the wild beasts,” which opened my eyes in a new way to the connections between the Noah story and Jesus’ experience in the wilderness.
You are a great example of how much talent we have been blessed with!
Thank you for this poem [“Hands Of The Passion”]. I have included it in my sermon at Grace in the Desert Episcopal Church in Las Vegas, giving you full credit if you so permit. I will read it before the Passion so our congregation can more fully into the Passion using the “hands.” You are graced with words. JoAnn
Andy,
I am just loving your work, and sharing your poetry with my congregation. Many, many thanks!
Veronica
Hi Andrew. I’d like to ask if I can have permission to use your poem “Into the River” during our worship. It will be read silently as a prayer encouraging them not to look at the river but what is beyond. Thanks for your talents. Rev. John Paeng
knoxgalt.org
[…] PENTECOST FIRE (Acts 2:1-21) by Andrew King […]
Thanks for your beautiful poem “Face of God.” I’ll be using it for a sermon this week on John 14:1-14.
Hi Andy. I “discovered” your blog and your poetry today. You have a beautiful gift. Your poems are a visual art in that you take us on a reflection with a clarity that paints a picture. Thank you for your gift. I would like to use your poem, “The Questioning” as part of a reflection for Evensong in our Cathedral, in Taranaki, New Zealand. Acknowledging your gift and your blog. Thank you again. I hope that you keep writing and sharing. You are very generous in this your offering to us all.
Thank you for your wonderfully encouraging, uplifting words. I am so glad you discovered my blog! Please feel free to use my poem(s) any way that seems good. Blessings to you and your congregation in Taranaki, NZ!
Andrew, I just discovered your blog. Oddly, your poem for this week has the same title as my sermon. And since you seem to have given permission, I will be using it as the conclusion to my sermon. Thank you so much for sharing your gift with us.
Hi Andrew
Found your amazing poem Love That Has No limits. I hope to use it, with your permission when I preach on All Souls/Remembrance Sunday at St. James Anglican Church in Dundas Ontario this Sunday.
I would be honoured to have it read in your church. Thank you so much for your visit and your interest!
Hi Andrew,
Our pastor used your poem, River of Grace, today in his homily. Beautiful! Thanks so much. I am delighted to have found you!
I am delighted too! May God bless the Sisters of Mercy in all that you do.
I came across your poem, “The Jars Stand Empty” and it is stunning. I would like to include it in my sermon on Sunday. God’s continued blessings to you!
Thank you so much for your comment. Today I really needed the lift this gave me. May God continue to bless you too!
This morning I happened across your blog and read Lord, be the one who reads to us…
May I use this in my Australian church (with appropriate credit of course)?
I would be honoured. . . as I am by your visit and your comment. Thank you so much!
Thank you for your poems which I frequently turn to. I hope you might allow me to reproduce for our congregation your one on the Passion from 2014 as now we approach this season of Easter. I will fully cite your details.
[…] The Pentecost resources table in the Hall had on it the following poem by Andrew King. […]
Thank you, Andrew for sharing your talent with us.
I love your poem for this Sunday, I AM LEGION. I would like your permission to read it tomorrow during my services. Thank you.
Dianne
Permission granted! Thanks so much for your visit, and your comment.
Thank you for this poem, would it be possible to use it in my 2 congregations on Sunday please, obviously with appropriate credit.
Andrew, As someone who “breaks open the Word” for my faith community each week, I find your poems insightful and inspiring. I look forward to more lectionary poems from you in the weeks and months to come. –Michael E. Moynahan, SJ
Andrew, As someone who “breaks open the Word” for my faith community each week, I find you lectionary-based poems insightful and inspiring. May you continue to post these poetic lectionary reflections for many many moons. Gratefully, Michael E. Moynahan, SJ
Hello Andrew. I serve a two-point United Church pastoral charge just north of Toronto. I stumbled across your blog quite by accident and shared “At An Unexpected Hour” with our faith discussion group. The discussion around the table was rich and deep. As such, I am writing to ask permission to use your poetry as a starting point for reflection during our weekly mediative service entitled “Deep: A Guided Exploration of Self and Soul”, of course, with proper credit given for your fine work. Please say yes – my co-facilitator and I are excited by the possibilities your vision has raised before us!
Andy, do not ever stop writing your poetry; it is beautiful!
Thank you for sharing and making it available to the rest of the world!
Your friend from Maple Grove.
Andrew, would you grant me permission to use your poem in my sermon for this Wednesday–St. Thomas?
[…] Christmas Eve, let’s make these words of poet Andrew King our […]
Andrew,
Thanks for sharing your poetic gift of insight. I come to your page most weeks as I plan to bring a word to my congregations. You are always a source of inspiration, bearing the truth of the text in cadence and verse. I have shared your words from time to time, enriching sermon and conversation on themes of faith. With much gratitude…
Andrew, thank you for “The Disciple Ship” !. I found your blog by accident and consider it a gift! Would like to use the poem mentioned this Sunday in my sermon (with proper credit) and printed in our bulletin so that the “disciples” can take it with them. What requirements might you have for gaining permission to do this? I noted above that you have done this in other instances. Again, most grateful for your marvelous art!
Hi Andrew, you kindly let me use your poem, Escaping From the Boxes in the past, and I would like to do so again. I will include the copyright with your name as used previously. I do hope that this is okay. My contact information is below should you need to touch base. Thank you for your wonderful gifts. I really appreciate your blog!
Hi Andrew, I have just found your website and your wonderful poem “The Story of Palm Sunday” and would like to ask your permission to use some of the verses in our church bulletin at Gladstone Baptist Church, Queensland, Australia.
Hi Andrew am following your blogs in Canada and Australia. .keep up the good work brother..
Hi! Thank you for your poems! I would like to read the “And Plenty for the Pilgrimage Home” this Sunday if that is permissible? I am a United Methodist Pastor serving the Crescenta Valley United Methodist Church in southern California.
Hi Andrew,
My congregation and I enjoy using your poetry when centering during worship. We are so grateful for the way the Spirit moves in your heart. Thank you!
The Rev. Lucas King
HOPE United Church of Christ
Naperville, IL USA
Thank you so much, Lucas, for your comment. May you and your congregation be richly blessed!
Hi Andrew, I have come once again to check for your poem about this week’s gospel reading from the lectionary. And once again I find great inspiration as I write about the Parable of the Talents. I introduced my Iowa churches to your work and now I will share with a new church in PA. Thank you for sharing your wonderful and insightful words.
Judy Brandon
UCC Greenawalds
Allentown, PA
Blessings to you, Judy, in your new congregation!
Hello Andrew. Your poems are beautiful and understandable. I would love to share some of them with my members. Would it be permissible for me to use some of them in our church newsletter (with appropriate credit, of course)?
Moved by your words and inspired by your
unpretentious honesty
Thank you
Blessings to you from another soul somewhere
In the creative zone
Tom Bentley
Gloucester MA (USA)
Andrew, I’m curious if you are still creating poetic reflections on the scriptures. You have such a wonderful insight and gift. Please continue to use it and share it. Gratefully, Michael E. Moynahan, S.J.
Hello Andrew, I just stumbled onto your wonderful site and am hoping to use your poem The Serpent Dies in my homily next week. I am so very grateful for your gentle, truthful insight into both the gospel and the human heart. Thank you!
Andrew, I asked my musician to put one of your poems to music. It’s “That All May Be One”. It’s a beautiful poem and, now, song. How can I get it to you? The Rev. Susan Bock
Hi Andrew,
It’s good to know that you are part of my faith community – United Church of Canada.
My name is Richard C. Choe and am ministering with people of St. Paul’s United Church in Brampton.
I would like to get a permission to use your poem below for the upcoming Sunday. My hope is to use it as a responsive reading.
Poem For World Wide Communion 2015
Please let me know. My e-mail address is rcc1fides@gmail.com.
Peace,
R
THE TABLE WITH NO EDGES
Andrew,
I have enjoyed reading your poems. Would it be okay to occasionally quote some of your poems in the newsletter or bulletin of our small congregation?
Rev. Mark Liller, First Presbyterian Church, Tyrone, PA, USA