I looked at the goals I had set for myself for this past year, and I did okay. I don't feel bad about the ones I didn't keep well, and generally I think I get a 'B'.
Lots of folks are doing year-end round-ups, and I don't want to go back and read through a bunch of old posts (but feel free).
Instead, here's what I'm proud of:
I've survived, and fairly well, the first 3 semesters of my doctoral work. I have a project planned for this spring that has potential for doing some real good in the church. And I have some new, great friends in my DMin cohort (we're calling it a cabal).
We're still here. My grandmother and uncle died, my back's still not my friend, Ben's had some real problems with pain, but we're still here. The house may not be as clean as I'd like it to be, and we've eaten out rather more than I prefer, but we're okay. Financially, we're better off than we have been, despite a very dificult few months--which is to say, it's not as bad as it could be. A windfall here and there and years of trying to be careful (and not eat out so much--FAIL!) are starting to really pay off. One resolution for this year: no more debt, apart from student loans.
I've developed old hobbies, including photography, and picked up new ones, like kayaking. They make me feel good about myself and what I can do, and feed my creative drive.
I keep learning new things, whether it's adding an audio track to a powerpoint presentation for church or a new cooking technique.
I keep writing, even if it's very little. For the year ahead, I'm going to continue with Friday Fives and Poetry Parties. They're fun. And while at some point, I think I've got a book or two in me, I'm not ready to deal with that just yet. Dissertation first!
I have great friends. I have great friends who are clergy. I have great friends who are not. I have friends on both coasts and various places in between, and one in Europe. I have friends I've never met in person. I've reconnected this year, thanks to Facebook, with long-lost friends from high school and college. I'm very proud of that.
And so I'm not making New Year's resolutions. I'm not going to rest on my laurels, such as they are, either. But this past year I set some good goals that were pretty open-ended, and so I'm going to keep up with those. And this time next year, I'll have more to be proud of.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Today's Five Graces
Still trying to touch on this from time to time...
Five graces for today:
1: we celebrated our anniversary last night. Yay!
2: My desk, while neither clean nor well-ordered, makes sense to me and I know where everything is.
3: Tomorrow is payday.
4: I already have a plan for Sunday's sermon.
5: the weather is sunny and beautiful.
Five graces for today:
1: we celebrated our anniversary last night. Yay!
2: My desk, while neither clean nor well-ordered, makes sense to me and I know where everything is.
3: Tomorrow is payday.
4: I already have a plan for Sunday's sermon.
5: the weather is sunny and beautiful.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Post Holiday Sigh of Relief
Funerals over.
Too-short trip to Mom's for the holidays, over.
Senior pastor recovering well.
Church (don't want to jinx this) in good shape.
Office (thanks be to God) closed until Friday (not that the work stops, of course...but it slows!).
Today is our 9th anniversary, and Ben and I are celebrating with a special dinner tonight.
Too-short trip to Mom's for the holidays, over.
Senior pastor recovering well.
Church (don't want to jinx this) in good shape.
Office (thanks be to God) closed until Friday (not that the work stops, of course...but it slows!).
Today is our 9th anniversary, and Ben and I are celebrating with a special dinner tonight.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Grump
I'm cutting my holiday with my family short for a funeral this weekend.
I feel like such a grouch. I had to tell the widow that I am not available on Friday--and I'm not--if I had to be here for a Friday funeral there would be no point is going to Virginia Beach, and I would basically have no Christmas. And part of me wishes I'd said no to Saturday as well, but I couldn't. She's in pain, and needs the church, and I'm the designated representative, although there are many others.
So there you go. Tomorrow night after our worship services, my truck and I hit the road. I've got way too many presents wrapped and a Christmas Eve sermon drafted and ready to go. Thursday and maybe Friday I will see Exceptional One (I've even got an early gift for Exceptional Two). For now, I'm tired and going to bed!
I feel like such a grouch. I had to tell the widow that I am not available on Friday--and I'm not--if I had to be here for a Friday funeral there would be no point is going to Virginia Beach, and I would basically have no Christmas. And part of me wishes I'd said no to Saturday as well, but I couldn't. She's in pain, and needs the church, and I'm the designated representative, although there are many others.
So there you go. Tomorrow night after our worship services, my truck and I hit the road. I've got way too many presents wrapped and a Christmas Eve sermon drafted and ready to go. Thursday and maybe Friday I will see Exceptional One (I've even got an early gift for Exceptional Two). For now, I'm tired and going to bed!
Monday, December 22, 2008
more animals
Too busy to blog: sr. pastor had surgery today, funeral tomorrow, 2 Christmas Eve services plus helping with Ben's 11 pm service...but this is one of my all-time favorite pics.
Merry Christmas, interwebs!
Revised: There's been another death...yeesh. And how awful to lose a loved one so close to such a family-oriented holiday (sympathetic me). No clue yet if/how this affects my plans (selfish me).
Friday, December 19, 2008
Early thoughts on Christmas Eve
Revised 11:40 pm
Working title: What (more) do you want?
What (more) are you looking for?
In this season when we celebrate Jesus’ birth, the infant in the manger, I wonder what more are we looking for?
In hindsight, there has been plenty to notice.
Angels visited Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and some shepherds guarding their flocks by night.
A star shone in the sky, and if astronomers suggest that it might have been June rather than December, still it doesn’t detract from the majesty of the sight, and its portents.
Some number of wise men (the Bible says 3 gifts, not necessarily 3 kings…but we have our traditions) from somewhere else (from off) followed that star to find the infant Jesus.
Generations of Christians have lived lives of faith, some spectacular and well-known, others in relative obscurity. We have stories of martyrs who died for their faith, tales of men and women like John Wesley and Francis of Assisi and Mother Theresa, and stories about our own people, like my grandmother, like Ralph Thomas, who have shown us and taught us about Jesus.
Yes, there has been plenty of notice that this child would be extraordinary…and that’s discounting all the other evidence we have of who Jesus was.
And yet we might ask, what (more) are we looking for?
Despite the stories, despite the persistence of the impact of Jesus Christ on the lives of countless people over the centuries since his birth, somehow we are still looking for him…or perhaps we don’t know him when we see him. Maybe we’re distracted by the baby in the manger. Maybe we don’t let him grow up in our minds. Maybe we just don’t connect, don’t see what difference he could really make in our lives, how he could help us live through our pain and bring joy to our sorrow.
He’s not what we expect. We often look for a magic wand to wave over our lives and transform all our grief…instead we get a constant companion, full of grace and love.
We look for a shining figure to come in the clouds and wipe our tears away…instead we get a Lover of our souls who treasures every tear.
We look for a voice to speak from on high…instead we get a quiet whisper, speaking truth and peace into the business and distraction of our lives.
We look for a conqueror to right all wrongs and fight injustice…instead we are invited to work on it together with him.
In this busy season, what (more) are we looking for?
A baby in a manger? No offense, but babies are good for the cuteness and for the diaper and formula industries…but they’re not all that powerful.
A wise teacher whose lessons have withstood the test of time? We’ve had those, and they are important people…but what has Einstein or Plato or Curie done for us lately?
A martyr who gave his life as a shining example of humility and mercy? Once he’s dead, what good is he?
I think what we are looking for first and foremost is relationship. I spoke with someone this past weekend who has never attended our church on Sunday, although she’s been here for a funeral. She spoke of the spirit of the Ann Street parish, and how her sister needed and valued that connection. The sister’s never worshiped here either, but she feels connected to us because we helped her when she needed it, we’ve been in prayer for her family for years, and when her husband died of the cancer he’d been fighting for more than two years, here is where she found comfort and a sense of belonging. What (more) might we be looking for? I think it’s that sense of relating to loving people, and through them, to the love of Christ.
And what love God has to offer us in Christ: the love of a Father who gave his only Son into our world, a world of pain and sickness, suffering and evil, but also a world of goodness and grace, of kindness and love. In Jesus, God became one of us so that we could know God better. In Jesus, God reached out—reaches out—to us and says, “I am always here. I love you. I want to know you. I want you to know me.” In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have the unending gift of a love that reaches out to us, triumphing over every adversity, even death, even our own failure, and always wants to know and love us, even when we don’t want to know and love God back.
And the miracle of this love—we could even call it our Christmas miracle—is that God’s love, God’s reaching, God’s presence, God’s graciousness to us never ever ends. As the months pass and the seasons take their course, we are reminded of life’s cycle: birth, growth, decline, death…but it does not stop there. There is also resurrection and eternal life in heaven. That is true love. That is a Christmas gift worth having, and it is ours, all the time, any time we will accept it and welcome it into our lives.
The simplicity of Christmas, of Jesus’ birth, is that God wants to know you, and me. Not the face we show our coworkers or family or even our best friend, but every thought, every feeling. God wants to be known, too, for us to pierce some of the mystery and come to know the best friend and closest companion we can ever have. I can tell you tonight about changing your life, but instead I invite you to live your life whole-heartedly, openly, knowing that God loves you. I invite you to welcome Christ into your heart tonight, as angels and shepherds and a manger welcomed him into this world: with awe, and wonder, and with great joy.
And tonight I invite you, with awe, and wonder, and joy, to share in Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist: the true gift of life from our life-giving Savior. In this simple meal of bread and what we call wine (it’s really grape juice, so that everyone can share it), we meet Christ, so that a little bite of bread and a small sip of juice become a spiritual feast that nourishes our hearts and spirits. And this is a free gift, offered to anyone without price. Everyone is welcome at this table: we do not require that you be a member of this church, of the Methodist Church, or any church. If you wish to come, we want to have you, and Christ wants to meet you. Everyone is welcome, everyone is worthy, everyone is wanted. On this night of nights, let us share this gift together.
Working title: What (more) do you want?
What (more) are you looking for?
In this season when we celebrate Jesus’ birth, the infant in the manger, I wonder what more are we looking for?
In hindsight, there has been plenty to notice.
Angels visited Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and some shepherds guarding their flocks by night.
A star shone in the sky, and if astronomers suggest that it might have been June rather than December, still it doesn’t detract from the majesty of the sight, and its portents.
Some number of wise men (the Bible says 3 gifts, not necessarily 3 kings…but we have our traditions) from somewhere else (from off) followed that star to find the infant Jesus.
Generations of Christians have lived lives of faith, some spectacular and well-known, others in relative obscurity. We have stories of martyrs who died for their faith, tales of men and women like John Wesley and Francis of Assisi and Mother Theresa, and stories about our own people, like my grandmother, like Ralph Thomas, who have shown us and taught us about Jesus.
Yes, there has been plenty of notice that this child would be extraordinary…and that’s discounting all the other evidence we have of who Jesus was.
And yet we might ask, what (more) are we looking for?
Despite the stories, despite the persistence of the impact of Jesus Christ on the lives of countless people over the centuries since his birth, somehow we are still looking for him…or perhaps we don’t know him when we see him. Maybe we’re distracted by the baby in the manger. Maybe we don’t let him grow up in our minds. Maybe we just don’t connect, don’t see what difference he could really make in our lives, how he could help us live through our pain and bring joy to our sorrow.
He’s not what we expect. We often look for a magic wand to wave over our lives and transform all our grief…instead we get a constant companion, full of grace and love.
We look for a shining figure to come in the clouds and wipe our tears away…instead we get a Lover of our souls who treasures every tear.
We look for a voice to speak from on high…instead we get a quiet whisper, speaking truth and peace into the business and distraction of our lives.
We look for a conqueror to right all wrongs and fight injustice…instead we are invited to work on it together with him.
In this busy season, what (more) are we looking for?
A baby in a manger? No offense, but babies are good for the cuteness and for the diaper and formula industries…but they’re not all that powerful.
A wise teacher whose lessons have withstood the test of time? We’ve had those, and they are important people…but what has Einstein or Plato or Curie done for us lately?
A martyr who gave his life as a shining example of humility and mercy? Once he’s dead, what good is he?
I think what we are looking for first and foremost is relationship. I spoke with someone this past weekend who has never attended our church on Sunday, although she’s been here for a funeral. She spoke of the spirit of the Ann Street parish, and how her sister needed and valued that connection. The sister’s never worshiped here either, but she feels connected to us because we helped her when she needed it, we’ve been in prayer for her family for years, and when her husband died of the cancer he’d been fighting for more than two years, here is where she found comfort and a sense of belonging. What (more) might we be looking for? I think it’s that sense of relating to loving people, and through them, to the love of Christ.
And what love God has to offer us in Christ: the love of a Father who gave his only Son into our world, a world of pain and sickness, suffering and evil, but also a world of goodness and grace, of kindness and love. In Jesus, God became one of us so that we could know God better. In Jesus, God reached out—reaches out—to us and says, “I am always here. I love you. I want to know you. I want you to know me.” In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have the unending gift of a love that reaches out to us, triumphing over every adversity, even death, even our own failure, and always wants to know and love us, even when we don’t want to know and love God back.
And the miracle of this love—we could even call it our Christmas miracle—is that God’s love, God’s reaching, God’s presence, God’s graciousness to us never ever ends. As the months pass and the seasons take their course, we are reminded of life’s cycle: birth, growth, decline, death…but it does not stop there. There is also resurrection and eternal life in heaven. That is true love. That is a Christmas gift worth having, and it is ours, all the time, any time we will accept it and welcome it into our lives.
The simplicity of Christmas, of Jesus’ birth, is that God wants to know you, and me. Not the face we show our coworkers or family or even our best friend, but every thought, every feeling. God wants to be known, too, for us to pierce some of the mystery and come to know the best friend and closest companion we can ever have. I can tell you tonight about changing your life, but instead I invite you to live your life whole-heartedly, openly, knowing that God loves you. I invite you to welcome Christ into your heart tonight, as angels and shepherds and a manger welcomed him into this world: with awe, and wonder, and with great joy.
And tonight I invite you, with awe, and wonder, and joy, to share in Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist: the true gift of life from our life-giving Savior. In this simple meal of bread and what we call wine (it’s really grape juice, so that everyone can share it), we meet Christ, so that a little bite of bread and a small sip of juice become a spiritual feast that nourishes our hearts and spirits. And this is a free gift, offered to anyone without price. Everyone is welcome at this table: we do not require that you be a member of this church, of the Methodist Church, or any church. If you wish to come, we want to have you, and Christ wants to meet you. Everyone is welcome, everyone is worthy, everyone is wanted. On this night of nights, let us share this gift together.
A Christmas Countdown F5
From Songbird:
1: more cooking! more cleaning!
2: wrap gifts and enjoy thinking about who receives them
3: Write sermon for Christmas Eve worship
4: get ready for Cookies and Carols service
5: see the chiropractor at least one more time
It's true.
There are only five full days before Christmas Day, and whether you use them for shopping, wrapping, preaching, worshiping, singing or traveling or even wishing the whole darn thing were over last Tuesday, there's a good chance they will be busy ones.
So let's make this easy, if we can: tell us five things you need to accomplish before Christmas Eve.
1: more cooking! more cleaning!
2: wrap gifts and enjoy thinking about who receives them
3: Write sermon for Christmas Eve worship
4: get ready for Cookies and Carols service
5: see the chiropractor at least one more time
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Five Graces for Thursday
1: It's only a week until Christmas!
2: The house smells of chocolate and spices. Yum!
3: I've begun wrapping presents...I love looking over all the gifts I've bought for my loved ones.
4: I took a long nap today.
5: Tomorrow is my morning in the coffee shop. I love the folks I hang out with there. I'm taking cookies and snack mix (if I get it made).
2: The house smells of chocolate and spices. Yum!
3: I've begun wrapping presents...I love looking over all the gifts I've bought for my loved ones.
4: I took a long nap today.
5: Tomorrow is my morning in the coffee shop. I love the folks I hang out with there. I'm taking cookies and snack mix (if I get it made).
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Highs and Lows
High: I sold a photograph today. Yes, I have in my possession a check for a picture I took. I think that's so cool! Last year, a magazine article, this year a photo.
Low: I'm having more trouble with my back. This time it's my neck and shoulders. There's definitely a degenerating disk there, but what's causing the pain right now is inflammation in the muscles of my shoulders and upper back. It might have been caused by an injury, but I can't remember one, and it's been going on for months. If it doesn't go away on its own (plus judicious use of the heating pad and regular doses of ibuprofen), then sometime after the New Year I'll be looking for a referral to a rheumatolgist, because then we'll be looking for an autoimmune disease like lupus, fibromyalgia, or rheumatoid arthitis.
So I need 5 graces today, and here they are:
1: getting to see Ben preach, thanks to the local cable station.
2: baking Christmas cookies. I love to bake and to try new things.
3: giving away Christmas cookies. I need to get on that, it's fun. We've got folks at 3 local restaurants, plus the coffee shop and the bank.
4: lots of youth participating in this weekend's Cookies and Carols service. 6 pm Sunday in the Fellowship Hall, if you're in town!
5: all the wonderful folks at church who love us. We've had lots of Christmas gifts and even more wonderful goodies to eat, and lots of hugs and good wishes. I really am happy here.
Low: I'm having more trouble with my back. This time it's my neck and shoulders. There's definitely a degenerating disk there, but what's causing the pain right now is inflammation in the muscles of my shoulders and upper back. It might have been caused by an injury, but I can't remember one, and it's been going on for months. If it doesn't go away on its own (plus judicious use of the heating pad and regular doses of ibuprofen), then sometime after the New Year I'll be looking for a referral to a rheumatolgist, because then we'll be looking for an autoimmune disease like lupus, fibromyalgia, or rheumatoid arthitis.
So I need 5 graces today, and here they are:
1: getting to see Ben preach, thanks to the local cable station.
2: baking Christmas cookies. I love to bake and to try new things.
3: giving away Christmas cookies. I need to get on that, it's fun. We've got folks at 3 local restaurants, plus the coffee shop and the bank.
4: lots of youth participating in this weekend's Cookies and Carols service. 6 pm Sunday in the Fellowship Hall, if you're in town!
5: all the wonderful folks at church who love us. We've had lots of Christmas gifts and even more wonderful goodies to eat, and lots of hugs and good wishes. I really am happy here.
It's a BOY!
Jamie, who for blog purposes shall henceforth be known as Exceptional One, is going to have a little BROTHER! who shall henceforth be know as Exceptional Two.
I am so so so excited!
I am so so so excited!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Musings on home
For this week's newsletter...or maybe next week's, since I'm running a lot late:
They say you can’t go home again, and in some respects that’s true. For Christmas, I’ll be going to a “home” I’ve never lived in. I didn’t grow up in the house my mother lives in now; she’s only lived there a few years. I still can’t find anything in the kitchen because it’s not laid out the way the kitchen was in the house I grew up in, but even so, it’s home.
It is home because that’s where we all meet up: my mother, my sister and brother-in-law and their daughter, Ben and me. It is home because of the love we bring to it. It is home because it’s where my sister and I have the same tired squabbles we’ve had our entire lives (except now sometimes we laugh at them). I think another cliché fits best here: home is where the heart is.
This year, I’m going back to another home at Christmas. Not only am I going to spend a few days with my family, I’m going to make a visit back to my home church on the Sunday after Christmas. I haven’t been back to Foundry UMC in Virginia Beach since I became a pastor a decade ago, and I’m curious to see who is still there, and what’s changed. I’m looking forward to it, to the little things like seeing if the sanctuary still looks the same (and if one of the lambs in the stained glass window still looks like it has only three legs) and what the renovations to the youth building look like.
It will be interesting to see how home-like that visit is. It's been a long time, and there's another kind of home for me, the home I make in each church I pastor. So when the holiday is over and it's time to leave Mom's home for my own, I'll be glad to be home in Beaufort and at Ann Street. Home truly is where our hearts are.
They say you can’t go home again, and in some respects that’s true. For Christmas, I’ll be going to a “home” I’ve never lived in. I didn’t grow up in the house my mother lives in now; she’s only lived there a few years. I still can’t find anything in the kitchen because it’s not laid out the way the kitchen was in the house I grew up in, but even so, it’s home.
It is home because that’s where we all meet up: my mother, my sister and brother-in-law and their daughter, Ben and me. It is home because of the love we bring to it. It is home because it’s where my sister and I have the same tired squabbles we’ve had our entire lives (except now sometimes we laugh at them). I think another cliché fits best here: home is where the heart is.
This year, I’m going back to another home at Christmas. Not only am I going to spend a few days with my family, I’m going to make a visit back to my home church on the Sunday after Christmas. I haven’t been back to Foundry UMC in Virginia Beach since I became a pastor a decade ago, and I’m curious to see who is still there, and what’s changed. I’m looking forward to it, to the little things like seeing if the sanctuary still looks the same (and if one of the lambs in the stained glass window still looks like it has only three legs) and what the renovations to the youth building look like.
It will be interesting to see how home-like that visit is. It's been a long time, and there's another kind of home for me, the home I make in each church I pastor. So when the holiday is over and it's time to leave Mom's home for my own, I'll be glad to be home in Beaufort and at Ann Street. Home truly is where our hearts are.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
We have a winner!
The contest is over, and we have names for my niece and her new sib. In the spirit of Dr. Seuss, they will be Exceptional One and Exceptional Two (which also allows for future new sibs).
Thanks to reverendmommy and Dogblogger for playing!
Dogblogger's the winner--thanks!
Thanks to reverendmommy and Dogblogger for playing!
Dogblogger's the winner--thanks!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Sermon: "I'll be home for Christmas"?
And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
I wonder what Mary’s family must have thought about this pregnancy of hers. Would her father have wanted the wedding to take place right away? Were all her relatives out to get Joseph, thinking he was the father? Were they disappointed in her for failing to honor her betrothal and not staying chaste until her wedding night? How hard was it for them to believe that the Holy Spirit had overshadowed this ordinary young woman, and made her mother to the Messiah?
She was just a girl. Young, perhaps a little silly…or maybe she was the somber type. Who knows? We know very little about who she was, and would have known nothing at all had it not been for God’s intervention in her life. Mary is mostly a mystery to us.
What we know is this: many hundreds of years ago, Mary was forced to go to her fiancé with a confession: she was pregnant. Joseph knew the child wasn’t his, and would have been well within his rights to not only ruin her reputation in town, but also to bring censure upon her family. Instead, he chose to stay with her, to live out her pregnancy and then begin their lives as a married couple. There must have been something special about Mary that she inspired such generosity and loyalty from Joseph. Of course, he had had his own angelic visit, too.
When the news got out, the pregnant Mary left her home and went to visit with her older cousin Elizabeth. I’m sure she wasn’t feeling very much at home, with the stares of her family and friends, the questions about whose child she was carrying, the speculation about whether Joseph would cast her aside, or accept the child, or something in between. Elizabeth was pregnant too, a miracle in itself. Elizabeth and Zechariah might have been the only people in the world at the time who could understand what Mary was going through: while their child may have been conceived in the ordinary fashion, it took divine intervention for this couple, long past the age of child-bearing, to get their long-awaited son. An angelic messenger gave them the good news…so perhaps Mary thought that Elizabeth would be able to hear her own story.
Before Elizabeth and Mary could sit down for a good talk over a cup of tea, something strange happened: the child in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy in recognition of Mary’s unborn child. Elizabeth caught on to the joy in her babe, and Mary began to feel a little acceptance instead of suspicion, grace instead of condemnation, a sense of home and comfort instead of alienation.
Whatever else she might have been, Mary turned out to be a remarkable person. An unwed mother. Joseph’s fiancée, wife, and the mother of his children. The Orthodox Church calls her Theotokos: God-bearer. The mother of the Savior. In today’s passage, Mary proved herself to be quite an exceptional individual: a prophet in her own right, one favored by God, a woman unafraid to testify about the goodness of God, one with the words to explain why, in the face of her unorthodox circumstances, she should find the words to rejoice. And what words she finds:
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Mary’s song of praise defies all reason. She should have felt lost, confused, uncertain, to say the least. She would have been aware of what the neighbors were saying…after all, people talk, you know. She had left her home, possibly to escape the whispers and stares and rude comments. In a real sense, she had lost her sense of comfort, of safety, of home: Few would believe that God was the father of her child, and if it wasn’t Joseph (which would have been scandal enough to satisfy any dedicated gossip), then everyone in town would be wondering who he might be. They say “you can’t go home again,” and how true that must have felt for Mary as she made her way to Elizabeth and Zechariah’s home. She should have felt very much alone and far from home, and yet she found a way to rejoice.
To rejoice is to celebrate, to take joy in, to find one’s heart uplifted by that in which we rejoice. When we rejoice, we feel at home, in charity with all that is around us, in awe at what is going on around us. We can all find a reason to rejoice in the Christmas season and the promised return of Jesus. The song, “I’ll be home for Christmas,” is partly about going home…but home means something different for Christians than it does for others, as we’ll see a little later.
The birth of a baby is generally an occasion for rejoicing. This Christmas, my family is celebrating my sister’s pregnancy: my niece, Jamie, will have a little brother or sister next May. We will all be home together this Christmas—even though we will all gather in Virginia Beach, at my mother’s house. Jamie’s home is in Falls Church, Virginia. My home is here in Beaufort, but when we are at Mom’s for the holiday, we will all be home together.
Mary, once her family and Joseph had accepted her pregnancy, had plenty of reason to rejoice in the new life she was carrying, and in the potential this son of God’s and Mary’s had to change the world. Even before she had a chance to share her rejoicing with Elizabeth, John was doing it for the two of them. Happy news: the savior was soon to arrive!
The Bible tells us to rejoice continually, and in all circumstances…in the words of Paul, “again I say, rejoice!” But what, I wonder, are we to make of the days when it’s not so easy to rejoice? When Joseph first heard the news of Mary’s pregnancy, was he able to rejoice? When Mary’s parents heard of her pregnancy and feared for their contract with Joseph, did they rejoice? When the neighbors began to ask questions, seeing Mary’s swelling belly and knowing that the wedding had not yet taken place, was there room for rejoicing? When her father went to the market to work and found a neighbor there, collecting taxes to feed the Roman oppressors, was there rejoicing there? It becomes a very difficult word, something very hard to do, this rejoicing.
Think about your own lives, your own families. Where is it easy to rejoice? Where do you find the rejoicing hard? I’m going home this Christmas to spend some time with my father, who is mourning the death of his wife last year, his brother and mother this year. He’s having a hard time thinking of a reason to rejoice; in fact, he’s told me a couple of times he wishes he could just skip Christmas this year, that his house no longer feels like home. Are you dreading travel? Fearing the arrival of the post-Christmas credit card bills? Anxious about having anything to put under the tree? Sleepless over a friend or family member overseas? We find ourselves living our faith in a most practical way when we are able to rejoice, to find joy, celebrate and find our spirits uplifted in the midst of the circumstances that most seem to defy rejoicing—to create a sense of home in the midst of uncertainty, anxiety, and worry.
Mary’s song of praise in today’s reading is called the “Magnificat,” after the first line: My soul magnifies the Lord. She speaks of what God has done for her in choosing her to be Jesus’ mother. She proclaims herself to be his “lowly servant,” and certainly we know of nothing special about her before the angel’s visit. She rejoices in God’s favor, and declares that “all generations shall call [her] blessed,” not a very modest thought, to be sure, but she has very little reason to be modest at this point. She has plenty of reason for rejoicing, for not only has an angel delivered to her the good news that she would bear God’s own Son, but she knows that God’s Son, the Messiah, will come and change the world—will make a home for God’s people.
Mary goes on in this praise hymn to prophesy about what God will do in this Savior that is coming, and we have to have a little grammar lesson here before we go forward. The Greek verbs used here are translated using the past tense, but have instead the sense that these are things God has done, is doing, and will continue to do in Jesus: turn the world upside down, giving privilege to the deprived and depriving the privileged, care for those in need, and continue to show God’s favor to Israel, as God has promised. Jesus will speak to those who have no home, and in himself, create a new home, a new kingdom, a new place for God’s people.
This praise of Mary’s, this rejoicing, flies in the face of the circumstances around her. One wonders if her neighbors talked, because everyone knew there had not yet been any wedding festivities. They might have been muttering about town about that flighty young girl, and the way she and Joseph have gotten a little ahead of themselves. Life was not easy, and perhaps she worried about the Romans and the crucifixions she had heard about. Maybe her family had problems with money, or another child in trouble. There could have been sickness in the family. There certainly was a degree of political unrest and a sense of a fragile peace, bought mostly by the Jews as victims of Rome.
Mary’s rejoicing defies logic. To quote that venerable old gentleman, Ebenezer Scrooge, John’s stirring in Elizabeth’s womb might have been nothing more than indigestion: a crumb of cheese, a spot of mustard, a bit of underdone potato. Elizabeth herself might well have wondered how a child would change her life, and Zechariah’s, coming so long after they’d given up hope. Zechariah’s service at the Temple contradicted the Roman emperor’s desire to be worshiped as a god…their position in the community might be considered tenuous.
But our rejoicing is at its best when it defies logic, when, like our faith, it states a conviction in that which we can’t see, can’t prove, but know to be true. And so Mary rejoices: the Lord has always looked after his people, still does, and always will. Despite Exodus and Exile, enslavement and poverty, flood and famine, despotic rulers and human greed, God has always loved God’s people, and always sought their good. Wherever we live, we find our home in God’s kingdom, both the kingdom we are living into reality here and now, and the kingdom to come in our resurrection.
Even today, with traumatic news of economic crisis, God has, does, and will love his people and seek their good. Despite continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite conflict between Pakistan and India, God has, does, and will love his people and seek their good. Despite sickness and death, despite debt and fear, despite school and work and Christmas shopping and all the other events that cause our stress levels and blood pressure to rise, God has, does, and will love his people and seek their good. Are you sensing a trend yet? Whatever else goes on, God creates a sense of home for us…in God, we are at home.
This is our reason to rejoice, to celebrate, to lift up our hearts, to feel at home in God: because our God always has loved us and sought our good. God always does love us and seek our good. God always will love us and seek our good. It’s that simple. In Advent, as we celebrate the light of Christ that breaks into the world’s darkness, we light candles to remind us of Jesus, the Light of the World. In the midst of our darkness, be it the dark of 4 am when we really should be sleeping, the never-quite-dark-enough of a hospital room as we keep vigil, or the dark storm clouds overhead, God loves us…forever. And so even in the midst of our darkness, even in the strangest and most painful and least comprehensible moments of our lives, God is there, loving us, and we find ourselves at home.
This is what Mary knew: her world was no place to be an unwed mother. It was no place to be a pregnant teenager. It was no place to be a follower of any God besides the Roman Emperor. It was no place to do anything but keep your head down and try to be as inoffensive as possible. It was certainly no place to stand out. It was no place that felt like home. But Mary had no choice: into the darkness of an occupied Israel, into the darkness brought about by centuries of oppression by one nation after another, into the darkness of human lives that couldn’t find a way to reach God, God found a way to reach us, to bring Mary, and us, home.
In the form of an angel, God sent good news. In the pregnancy of an unwed teenager, God sent good news. In the form of an infant named Jesus, God sent good news. And the news is this: Rejoice. You have a home in Christ. Rejoice continually, and in all things because God always has, always does, and always will love his people. In the darkness, there is God’s love. In our aloneness, Christ is always with us. In our pain and suffering, in our doubt and confusion, in our mourning and loss, God is always reaching out to us—there is always room for rejoicing, there is a home for our weary hearts. This year, “I’ll be home for Christmas” is true for us, wherever we are, because it is a statement of faith and of the reality of the kingdom of God, made real by Christ’s people. I’ll be home for Christmas.
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
I wonder what Mary’s family must have thought about this pregnancy of hers. Would her father have wanted the wedding to take place right away? Were all her relatives out to get Joseph, thinking he was the father? Were they disappointed in her for failing to honor her betrothal and not staying chaste until her wedding night? How hard was it for them to believe that the Holy Spirit had overshadowed this ordinary young woman, and made her mother to the Messiah?
She was just a girl. Young, perhaps a little silly…or maybe she was the somber type. Who knows? We know very little about who she was, and would have known nothing at all had it not been for God’s intervention in her life. Mary is mostly a mystery to us.
What we know is this: many hundreds of years ago, Mary was forced to go to her fiancé with a confession: she was pregnant. Joseph knew the child wasn’t his, and would have been well within his rights to not only ruin her reputation in town, but also to bring censure upon her family. Instead, he chose to stay with her, to live out her pregnancy and then begin their lives as a married couple. There must have been something special about Mary that she inspired such generosity and loyalty from Joseph. Of course, he had had his own angelic visit, too.
When the news got out, the pregnant Mary left her home and went to visit with her older cousin Elizabeth. I’m sure she wasn’t feeling very much at home, with the stares of her family and friends, the questions about whose child she was carrying, the speculation about whether Joseph would cast her aside, or accept the child, or something in between. Elizabeth was pregnant too, a miracle in itself. Elizabeth and Zechariah might have been the only people in the world at the time who could understand what Mary was going through: while their child may have been conceived in the ordinary fashion, it took divine intervention for this couple, long past the age of child-bearing, to get their long-awaited son. An angelic messenger gave them the good news…so perhaps Mary thought that Elizabeth would be able to hear her own story.
Before Elizabeth and Mary could sit down for a good talk over a cup of tea, something strange happened: the child in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy in recognition of Mary’s unborn child. Elizabeth caught on to the joy in her babe, and Mary began to feel a little acceptance instead of suspicion, grace instead of condemnation, a sense of home and comfort instead of alienation.
Whatever else she might have been, Mary turned out to be a remarkable person. An unwed mother. Joseph’s fiancée, wife, and the mother of his children. The Orthodox Church calls her Theotokos: God-bearer. The mother of the Savior. In today’s passage, Mary proved herself to be quite an exceptional individual: a prophet in her own right, one favored by God, a woman unafraid to testify about the goodness of God, one with the words to explain why, in the face of her unorthodox circumstances, she should find the words to rejoice. And what words she finds:
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Mary’s song of praise defies all reason. She should have felt lost, confused, uncertain, to say the least. She would have been aware of what the neighbors were saying…after all, people talk, you know. She had left her home, possibly to escape the whispers and stares and rude comments. In a real sense, she had lost her sense of comfort, of safety, of home: Few would believe that God was the father of her child, and if it wasn’t Joseph (which would have been scandal enough to satisfy any dedicated gossip), then everyone in town would be wondering who he might be. They say “you can’t go home again,” and how true that must have felt for Mary as she made her way to Elizabeth and Zechariah’s home. She should have felt very much alone and far from home, and yet she found a way to rejoice.
To rejoice is to celebrate, to take joy in, to find one’s heart uplifted by that in which we rejoice. When we rejoice, we feel at home, in charity with all that is around us, in awe at what is going on around us. We can all find a reason to rejoice in the Christmas season and the promised return of Jesus. The song, “I’ll be home for Christmas,” is partly about going home…but home means something different for Christians than it does for others, as we’ll see a little later.
The birth of a baby is generally an occasion for rejoicing. This Christmas, my family is celebrating my sister’s pregnancy: my niece, Jamie, will have a little brother or sister next May. We will all be home together this Christmas—even though we will all gather in Virginia Beach, at my mother’s house. Jamie’s home is in Falls Church, Virginia. My home is here in Beaufort, but when we are at Mom’s for the holiday, we will all be home together.
Mary, once her family and Joseph had accepted her pregnancy, had plenty of reason to rejoice in the new life she was carrying, and in the potential this son of God’s and Mary’s had to change the world. Even before she had a chance to share her rejoicing with Elizabeth, John was doing it for the two of them. Happy news: the savior was soon to arrive!
The Bible tells us to rejoice continually, and in all circumstances…in the words of Paul, “again I say, rejoice!” But what, I wonder, are we to make of the days when it’s not so easy to rejoice? When Joseph first heard the news of Mary’s pregnancy, was he able to rejoice? When Mary’s parents heard of her pregnancy and feared for their contract with Joseph, did they rejoice? When the neighbors began to ask questions, seeing Mary’s swelling belly and knowing that the wedding had not yet taken place, was there room for rejoicing? When her father went to the market to work and found a neighbor there, collecting taxes to feed the Roman oppressors, was there rejoicing there? It becomes a very difficult word, something very hard to do, this rejoicing.
Think about your own lives, your own families. Where is it easy to rejoice? Where do you find the rejoicing hard? I’m going home this Christmas to spend some time with my father, who is mourning the death of his wife last year, his brother and mother this year. He’s having a hard time thinking of a reason to rejoice; in fact, he’s told me a couple of times he wishes he could just skip Christmas this year, that his house no longer feels like home. Are you dreading travel? Fearing the arrival of the post-Christmas credit card bills? Anxious about having anything to put under the tree? Sleepless over a friend or family member overseas? We find ourselves living our faith in a most practical way when we are able to rejoice, to find joy, celebrate and find our spirits uplifted in the midst of the circumstances that most seem to defy rejoicing—to create a sense of home in the midst of uncertainty, anxiety, and worry.
Mary’s song of praise in today’s reading is called the “Magnificat,” after the first line: My soul magnifies the Lord. She speaks of what God has done for her in choosing her to be Jesus’ mother. She proclaims herself to be his “lowly servant,” and certainly we know of nothing special about her before the angel’s visit. She rejoices in God’s favor, and declares that “all generations shall call [her] blessed,” not a very modest thought, to be sure, but she has very little reason to be modest at this point. She has plenty of reason for rejoicing, for not only has an angel delivered to her the good news that she would bear God’s own Son, but she knows that God’s Son, the Messiah, will come and change the world—will make a home for God’s people.
Mary goes on in this praise hymn to prophesy about what God will do in this Savior that is coming, and we have to have a little grammar lesson here before we go forward. The Greek verbs used here are translated using the past tense, but have instead the sense that these are things God has done, is doing, and will continue to do in Jesus: turn the world upside down, giving privilege to the deprived and depriving the privileged, care for those in need, and continue to show God’s favor to Israel, as God has promised. Jesus will speak to those who have no home, and in himself, create a new home, a new kingdom, a new place for God’s people.
This praise of Mary’s, this rejoicing, flies in the face of the circumstances around her. One wonders if her neighbors talked, because everyone knew there had not yet been any wedding festivities. They might have been muttering about town about that flighty young girl, and the way she and Joseph have gotten a little ahead of themselves. Life was not easy, and perhaps she worried about the Romans and the crucifixions she had heard about. Maybe her family had problems with money, or another child in trouble. There could have been sickness in the family. There certainly was a degree of political unrest and a sense of a fragile peace, bought mostly by the Jews as victims of Rome.
Mary’s rejoicing defies logic. To quote that venerable old gentleman, Ebenezer Scrooge, John’s stirring in Elizabeth’s womb might have been nothing more than indigestion: a crumb of cheese, a spot of mustard, a bit of underdone potato. Elizabeth herself might well have wondered how a child would change her life, and Zechariah’s, coming so long after they’d given up hope. Zechariah’s service at the Temple contradicted the Roman emperor’s desire to be worshiped as a god…their position in the community might be considered tenuous.
But our rejoicing is at its best when it defies logic, when, like our faith, it states a conviction in that which we can’t see, can’t prove, but know to be true. And so Mary rejoices: the Lord has always looked after his people, still does, and always will. Despite Exodus and Exile, enslavement and poverty, flood and famine, despotic rulers and human greed, God has always loved God’s people, and always sought their good. Wherever we live, we find our home in God’s kingdom, both the kingdom we are living into reality here and now, and the kingdom to come in our resurrection.
Even today, with traumatic news of economic crisis, God has, does, and will love his people and seek their good. Despite continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, despite conflict between Pakistan and India, God has, does, and will love his people and seek their good. Despite sickness and death, despite debt and fear, despite school and work and Christmas shopping and all the other events that cause our stress levels and blood pressure to rise, God has, does, and will love his people and seek their good. Are you sensing a trend yet? Whatever else goes on, God creates a sense of home for us…in God, we are at home.
This is our reason to rejoice, to celebrate, to lift up our hearts, to feel at home in God: because our God always has loved us and sought our good. God always does love us and seek our good. God always will love us and seek our good. It’s that simple. In Advent, as we celebrate the light of Christ that breaks into the world’s darkness, we light candles to remind us of Jesus, the Light of the World. In the midst of our darkness, be it the dark of 4 am when we really should be sleeping, the never-quite-dark-enough of a hospital room as we keep vigil, or the dark storm clouds overhead, God loves us…forever. And so even in the midst of our darkness, even in the strangest and most painful and least comprehensible moments of our lives, God is there, loving us, and we find ourselves at home.
This is what Mary knew: her world was no place to be an unwed mother. It was no place to be a pregnant teenager. It was no place to be a follower of any God besides the Roman Emperor. It was no place to do anything but keep your head down and try to be as inoffensive as possible. It was certainly no place to stand out. It was no place that felt like home. But Mary had no choice: into the darkness of an occupied Israel, into the darkness brought about by centuries of oppression by one nation after another, into the darkness of human lives that couldn’t find a way to reach God, God found a way to reach us, to bring Mary, and us, home.
In the form of an angel, God sent good news. In the pregnancy of an unwed teenager, God sent good news. In the form of an infant named Jesus, God sent good news. And the news is this: Rejoice. You have a home in Christ. Rejoice continually, and in all things because God always has, always does, and always will love his people. In the darkness, there is God’s love. In our aloneness, Christ is always with us. In our pain and suffering, in our doubt and confusion, in our mourning and loss, God is always reaching out to us—there is always room for rejoicing, there is a home for our weary hearts. This year, “I’ll be home for Christmas” is true for us, wherever we are, because it is a statement of faith and of the reality of the kingdom of God, made real by Christ’s people. I’ll be home for Christmas.
F5 Windows of the Soul Edition
from Sophia at RevGalBlogPals:
This Friday Five is inspired by my husband's Lasik surgery yesterday....He'd been contemplating it for a while and was pushed over the edge by the fact that we put too much money in our healthcare spending account this year and it would have been gone anyway. (There was only enough for one eye, but the kind people at the eye clinic figured out a way to divvy up the charges between surgery and followup in January=next year's spending account). So please say a little prayer for his safe recovery and share with us your thoughts on eyes and vision.
1. What color are your beautiful eyes? Did you inherit them from or pass them on to anyone in your family?
2. What color eyes would you choose if you could change them?
3. Do you wear glasses or contacts? What kind? Like 'em or hate 'em?
4. Ever had, or contemplated, laser surgery? Happy with the results?
5. Do you like to look people in the eye, or are you more eye-shy?
Bonus question: Share a poem, song, or prayer that relates to eyes and seeing.
This Friday Five is inspired by my husband's Lasik surgery yesterday....He'd been contemplating it for a while and was pushed over the edge by the fact that we put too much money in our healthcare spending account this year and it would have been gone anyway. (There was only enough for one eye, but the kind people at the eye clinic figured out a way to divvy up the charges between surgery and followup in January=next year's spending account). So please say a little prayer for his safe recovery and share with us your thoughts on eyes and vision.
1. What color are your beautiful eyes? Did you inherit them from or pass them on to anyone in your family?
My eyes are hazel...sometimes they appear blue or gray depending on what I'm wearing, but they are mostly a warmish green/amber.They are more like my dad's (green) than my mom's (brown), but I'm not sure where they came from.
2. What color eyes would you choose if you could change them?
Wouldn't change a thing. Love the color.
3. Do you wear glasses or contacts? What kind? Like 'em or hate 'em?
Oh yes. Couldn't live without them. I'm extremely near-sighted. Love my soft contacts--due to dryness from allergies, I wear extended-wear lenses, take them out each night, and change pairs every month. I'd be miserable in glasses--even with the lightest high-idex lenses, they're heavy. And now I wear reading glasses, too.
4. Ever had, or contemplated, laser surgery? Happy with the results?
Not me. The results would be questionable, anyway, if the goal was to free me from my glasses. I'm thinking about lens implants (like what they do in cataract surgery) in a few years, maybe.
5. Do you like to look people in the eye, or are you more eye-shy?
I like to look at them...but prolonged eye contact seems very intimate to me.
Bonus question: Share a poem, song, or prayer that relates to eyes and seeing.
"Open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me"
Thursday, December 11, 2008
5 graces for today
1: While the weather is unsettled, I love listening to the thunder.
2: Tomorrow, winter will be back and it will be cold and lovely again.
3: The WonderMutt is sleeping under my chair. He's rarely that quiet inside...he loves to be outdoors. Or sleeping in my bed. I like having him close.
4: I make cookies and stuff today, as a treat for the choir. Cranberry bars, cheesecake brownie bites, and cereal mix. I also baked oatmeal cookies and my grandmother's brownie mounds, but somehow there wasn't room for them in the tub I sent to the choir. Hmmm. Whatever shall I do with them?
5: We have a funeral Saturday, which is not a grace in itself. What is lovely and gracious about it is that I can honestly say that the man who died had no regrets. He had recently confronted his personal demons, made a major turnaround in his life, and spent lots of time with those he loved. He would have loved to have more time with his family, but he had take the opportunity to become a new person seriously, and so we can celebrate his resurrection with joy, even as we mourn his passing.
Now here's a little whining. I can't help myself.
In the next two weeks, our church will have a wedding (maybe two, I'm not sure), three funerals (at least--morbid, but true), 4 Sunday morning services, two cantata performances, three special worship services...and a partridge in a pear tree.
Next week sometime I'll wrap Christmas presents...at least I'm mostly done with the shopping.
I'm looking forward to Christmas Day, and time with my family, and fun with the Exceptional One...whose sib still needs a blog name. The contest is almost over, time is running out!
2: Tomorrow, winter will be back and it will be cold and lovely again.
3: The WonderMutt is sleeping under my chair. He's rarely that quiet inside...he loves to be outdoors. Or sleeping in my bed. I like having him close.
4: I make cookies and stuff today, as a treat for the choir. Cranberry bars, cheesecake brownie bites, and cereal mix. I also baked oatmeal cookies and my grandmother's brownie mounds, but somehow there wasn't room for them in the tub I sent to the choir. Hmmm. Whatever shall I do with them?
5: We have a funeral Saturday, which is not a grace in itself. What is lovely and gracious about it is that I can honestly say that the man who died had no regrets. He had recently confronted his personal demons, made a major turnaround in his life, and spent lots of time with those he loved. He would have loved to have more time with his family, but he had take the opportunity to become a new person seriously, and so we can celebrate his resurrection with joy, even as we mourn his passing.
Now here's a little whining. I can't help myself.
In the next two weeks, our church will have a wedding (maybe two, I'm not sure), three funerals (at least--morbid, but true), 4 Sunday morning services, two cantata performances, three special worship services...and a partridge in a pear tree.
Next week sometime I'll wrap Christmas presents...at least I'm mostly done with the shopping.
I'm looking forward to Christmas Day, and time with my family, and fun with the Exceptional One...whose sib still needs a blog name. The contest is almost over, time is running out!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Jaw-Cracking Yawns
The pre-Christmas season is in full swing at church.
Tonight, it was a Christmas play called "O Savior, Where Art Thou?," a retelling of the Christmas story by way of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
Singing, dancing, much merriment was had by all. Plus I ate way too much spaghetti sauce at dinner. So, a good time.
Small graces for today:
1: found yet another Christmas gift for the Exceptional One
2: started crocheting a blanket for the new baby
3: I have the cutest dog
4: the car is almost paid for
5: there's a lovely warm down-alternative comforter on my bed...and it's calling me!
Tonight, it was a Christmas play called "O Savior, Where Art Thou?," a retelling of the Christmas story by way of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"
Singing, dancing, much merriment was had by all. Plus I ate way too much spaghetti sauce at dinner. So, a good time.
Small graces for today:
1: found yet another Christmas gift for the Exceptional One
2: started crocheting a blanket for the new baby
3: I have the cutest dog
4: the car is almost paid for
5: there's a lovely warm down-alternative comforter on my bed...and it's calling me!
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Don't forget the contest...
Details here--my soon-to-be niece or nephew needs a blog name. Big sis is the Exceptional One...what I call the new one has to be as good! Help!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Friday Five: Advent Longings
Sally poses this contemplative Friday Five:
I long for:
Peace. Peace on earth. Peace in our homes. Peace in our hearts. A peace that tells us that our longing is not in vain, that this world is not our final home, that we are not along.
Time. This time of year is one of the busiest in the church. Christmas parties, children's plays, and musical programs crowd our schedules. I'm longing for time to relax, to take it all it, to enjoy it all without feeling pushed, and time to spend with my family.
Home. Ben preached last week about Christ bringing home to us, and I think I'm preaching something similar next week (no good idea goes uncopied, I guess). He aslo pointed out that UM preachers are never really home...we come to a church for a time, and then we leave and go somewhere else. I'm longing for a sense of home this Advent.
Mercy. So much is so hard for so many people. It is a time for us to be merciful with one another, to be kind, to be gentle, and to speak the truths we must in love and with mercy.
Love. Like mercy, it seems to be in all-too-short supply sometimes. We hear the occasional wonderful story of selfless love, but they are overshadowed by stories of "Black Friday" frenzies, the next great sale, the job losses, and the latest economic indicators. That leaves it to us to tell the "love" stories.
"Imagine a complex, multi-cultural society that annually holds an elaborate winter festival, one that lasts not simply a few days, but several weeks. This great festival celebrates the birth of the Lord and Saviour of the world, the prince of peace, a man who is divine. People mark the festival with great abundance- feasting, drinking and gift giving....." (Richard Horsley- The Liberation of Christmas)
The passage goes on, recounting the decorations that are hung, and the songs and dances that accompany the festival, how the economy booms and philanthropic acts abound....
But this is not Christmas- this is a Roman festival in celebration of the Emperor....This is the world that Jesus was born into! The world where the early Christians would ask "Who is your Saviour the Emperor or Christ?"
And yet our shops and stores and often our lives are caught up in a world that looks very much like the one of ancient Rome, where we worship at the shrine of consumerism....
Advent on the other hand calls us into the darkness, a time of quiet preparation, a time of waiting, and re-discovering the wonder of the knowledge that God is with us. Advent's call is to simplicity and not abundance, a time when we wait for glorious light of God to come again...
Christ is with us at this time of advent, in the darkness, and Christ is coming with his light- not the light of the shopping centre, but the light of love and truth and beauty.
What do you long for this advent? What are your hopes and dreams for the future? What is your prayer today?
In the vein of simplicity I ask you to list five advent longings....
I long for:
Peace. Peace on earth. Peace in our homes. Peace in our hearts. A peace that tells us that our longing is not in vain, that this world is not our final home, that we are not along.
Time. This time of year is one of the busiest in the church. Christmas parties, children's plays, and musical programs crowd our schedules. I'm longing for time to relax, to take it all it, to enjoy it all without feeling pushed, and time to spend with my family.
Home. Ben preached last week about Christ bringing home to us, and I think I'm preaching something similar next week (no good idea goes uncopied, I guess). He aslo pointed out that UM preachers are never really home...we come to a church for a time, and then we leave and go somewhere else. I'm longing for a sense of home this Advent.
Mercy. So much is so hard for so many people. It is a time for us to be merciful with one another, to be kind, to be gentle, and to speak the truths we must in love and with mercy.
Love. Like mercy, it seems to be in all-too-short supply sometimes. We hear the occasional wonderful story of selfless love, but they are overshadowed by stories of "Black Friday" frenzies, the next great sale, the job losses, and the latest economic indicators. That leaves it to us to tell the "love" stories.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Two Graces for today
I know, it's not five, and I've hardly been faithful...but here are two really big ones:
First, my best friend called from Germany and we talked for an hour and a half. I so needed that!
Second, my prospectus for my doctoral project was approved. Yay! Yay! Yay!
First, my best friend called from Germany and we talked for an hour and a half. I so needed that!
Second, my prospectus for my doctoral project was approved. Yay! Yay! Yay!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
A contest, just for fun!
How about a contest?
I need a name for the new baby. It has to be at least as superlative as Jamie's blog name, the Exceptional One. I'll take suggestions in the comments of this post for 10 days...until Dec. 12. The winner will receive their choice of a handmade journal or a care package of Christmas cookies. Tell your friends...spread the word! I need help on this one!
I need a name for the new baby. It has to be at least as superlative as Jamie's blog name, the Exceptional One. I'll take suggestions in the comments of this post for 10 days...until Dec. 12. The winner will receive their choice of a handmade journal or a care package of Christmas cookies. Tell your friends...spread the word! I need help on this one!
A Getting Ready for Christmas Meme
Play along...let me know if you do in the comments.
For today, we'll consider this at least 5 graces:
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both -- I love to wrap packages
2. Real tree or Artificial? No tree at all here lately. The dog peed on the last live one we had (the first year we had the dog). When I put one up, it's artificial. I only put one up when I'm sure I can really enjoy it and not feel burdened by it.
3. When do you put up the tree? Right after Thanksgiving (when I do it).
4. When do you take the tree down? New Year's Day, except the last time I put it up, it was getting toward February...
5. Do you like eggnog? Not really
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Oh, so many...games, I think.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My sister
8. Easiest person to buy for? Ben
9. Do you have a nativity scene? several
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Neither
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Can't think of one I'll admit to here!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Miracle on 34th Street or Winter Wonderland
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year long, but I really get to it a week or two before Thanksgiving.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies. Although Christmas is one of only 2 times a year I actually _like_ to eat turkey.
16. Lights on the tree? Yes. All white now, but we've done colored lights too.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Welcome to Our World by Chris Rice
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel, most years, so I can be with my family and the Exceptional One
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? There was Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen,Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen! But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph, of course!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star. Not a big angel fan.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both. We've always opened one on Christmas Eve. Ben and I open ours on Christmas Eve before church, and then leave in the morning to go see my family.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Rude salespeople and shoppers
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I collect Hallmark Noah's Ark ornaments, but they stay out all year. I love blue and white, and snowmen, but I have a little of everything.
24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Turkey and dressing or ham.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? For us to be together and healthy, especially my sister, who is pregnant with a sibling for the Exceptional One.
For today, we'll consider this at least 5 graces:
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both -- I love to wrap packages
2. Real tree or Artificial? No tree at all here lately. The dog peed on the last live one we had (the first year we had the dog). When I put one up, it's artificial. I only put one up when I'm sure I can really enjoy it and not feel burdened by it.
3. When do you put up the tree? Right after Thanksgiving (when I do it).
4. When do you take the tree down? New Year's Day, except the last time I put it up, it was getting toward February...
5. Do you like eggnog? Not really
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Oh, so many...games, I think.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My sister
8. Easiest person to buy for? Ben
9. Do you have a nativity scene? several
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Neither
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Can't think of one I'll admit to here!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Miracle on 34th Street or Winter Wonderland
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year long, but I really get to it a week or two before Thanksgiving.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies. Although Christmas is one of only 2 times a year I actually _like_ to eat turkey.
16. Lights on the tree? Yes. All white now, but we've done colored lights too.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Welcome to Our World by Chris Rice
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel, most years, so I can be with my family and the Exceptional One
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? There was Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen,Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen! But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph, of course!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star. Not a big angel fan.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both. We've always opened one on Christmas Eve. Ben and I open ours on Christmas Eve before church, and then leave in the morning to go see my family.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Rude salespeople and shoppers
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I collect Hallmark Noah's Ark ornaments, but they stay out all year. I love blue and white, and snowmen, but I have a little of everything.
24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Turkey and dressing or ham.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? For us to be together and healthy, especially my sister, who is pregnant with a sibling for the Exceptional One.
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