Author Archives: chappelltemple

“Christmas Eve Gift!”

Posted on December 24, 2023 by chappelltemple

It was a tradition within my mother’s family.  For growing up with her four sisters and their widowed mom on a cotton farm in Central Texas, when it came to extras, there simply weren’t many at all.  But every December … Continue reading →

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Bethlehem is Broken

Posted on December 20, 2023 by chappelltemple

(As the Israel-Hamas war continues and the town of Bethlehem has “cancelled” Christmas celebrations this year, a poem that I wrote several years ago after visiting there and seeing the Wall of Separation between Israel and the West Bank seems … Continue reading →

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Soldiers at the Wall

Posted on October 31, 2023 by chappelltemple

His father Elyada is said to have been the first Israeli Jew to move back into the Jewish quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem following its restoration to Israel in the fabled 1967 Six Day War.  And reflecting the resilience … Continue reading →

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A Long-Ago Word from Philly

Posted on July 4, 2023 by chappelltemple

It’s been quite a week in my hometown of Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, so they call it.  Got some Greek words in the name, I guess, the kind that preachers like to use in sermons, you know.  Not sure just … Continue reading →

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Borrowing the Crown

Posted on May 4, 2023 by chappelltemple

It will be a spectacle on Saturday, to be sure.  For when Charles III–perhaps the longest man ever to wait for his real job to finally kick in–is crowned in Westminster Abbey the symbolism will more than outweigh the sentiments.  What’s more, … Continue reading →

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The God of Thunder (no, not Thor)

Posted on April 21, 2023 by chappelltemple

The fierce storms that rolled through our Houston area neighborhood last night, with more thunder and lightning than I can ever remember hearing and seeing, made me think of him.  For it was on a hot summer’s day in 1505 that … Continue reading →

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How “Terribly Strange?”

Posted on April 6, 2023 by chappelltemple

He was only twenty-four when he wrote the words, so we can forgive him if he got it a little wrong.  For while beautifully extolling the virtues of “old friends,” Paul Simon posed the question, “can you imagine us years from … Continue reading →

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Emmanuel

Posted on December 17, 2022 by chappelltemple

(For many years it has been my practice to write a new poem each Advent.  Here’s my offering for 2022.) Amidst the changes bold and deep That sometimes steal away my sleep Your promises You always keep Emmanuel And when the … Continue reading →

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Leaving Home

Posted on December 1, 2022 by chappelltemple

When they dropped me off at my dorm in Dallas, I’m fairly sure than neither my parents nor I had any idea of what was actually happening that day.  For though I went home for holidays many times after I moved … Continue reading →

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Walking the Long Road

Posted on July 15, 2022 by chappelltemple

It felt a little like watching the odometer turn over in my car.  For when my watch hit “1,461 days” this morning it seemed momentous to me indeed.  Because for four years now—through hurricanes, heat waves, and hotel parking lots—I’ve not missed … Continue reading →

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