Happy New Year!

As this year draws to its end,
We give thanks for the gifts it brought
And how they became inlaid within
Where neither time nor tide can touch them.

The days when the veil lifted
And the soul could see delight;
When a quiver caressed the heart
In the sheer exuberance of being here.

Surprise that came awake
In forgotten corners of old fields
Where expectation seemed to have quenched.

The slow, brooding times
When all was awkward
And the wave in the mind
Pierced every sore with salt.

The darkened days that stopped
The confidence of the dawn.

Days when beloved faces shone brighter
With light from beyond themselves;
And from the granite of some secret sorrow
A stream of buried tears loosened.

We bless this year for all we learned,
For all we loved and lost
And for the quiet way it brought us
Nearer to our invisible destination.

John O'Donohue. To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings. NY: Doubleday, 2008. 159-160.

Questions for 2012

Today being the last day of 2012, it is a time to look back upon the year and consider what I learned from its events. I liked the questions asked by Elizabeth O'Connor as quoted on Inward/Outward that are below. I numbered the questions in the arrangement that pleased me. You may want to choose one or two to ponder.

1. What took place in your home relations? Your work relations? Your church relations? What events in the larger community of city, country and world most captured your attention?

2. Who were the significant people in your life? What books and art instructed your mind and heart?

3. Did you create anything this year? Did you make any new discoveries about yourself? How were you gift last year to a person, a community or an institution?

 

4. What was your greatest joy in this year gone? What was your greatest sorrow? What caused you the most disappointment? What caused you the most sadness?

5. In what areas of your life did you grow? Were these areas related to your joy or your pain?

What are your regrets? How would you do things differently, if you could live the year again? What did you learn?

6. Did you have a recurring dream? What theme or themes ran through your year?

7. Did you grow in your capacity to be a person in community--to bear your own burdens, to let others bear theirs? Did you have sufficient time apart with yourself?

8. Did you root your life more firmly in Scripture? Did you grow in your understanding of yourself? What was your most important insight? Did God seem near or far off?

9. How do you want to create the new year? What kind of commitment do you want to make to yourself? Your community? To the oppressed people of the world? How do the questions about commitment make you feel? Angry? Challenged? Hopeful?

10. Who are the people with whom you would like to deepen your relationships in the year to come? Do you have relationships that need to be healed? What can you do to heal your own heart? What can others do to assist in your healing?

11. Is there a special piece of inward work that you would like to accomplish? Is there a special outward work? 

12. What are the goals that seem important to you? What are your hopes? What are your fears? What are the immediate first steps that you can take toward the goals that seem important to you?

From Inward/Outward. Subscribe here.

Mary and Jesus

Ever since having my own children, nursing and loving them intensely, I have wanted to find art showing Jesus' parents holding him as a baby, instead of sticking him in the itchy manger all by himself. I look for nativity scenes with him being held, which are rare.

Today I found a link to early Christian art showing Jesus as a babe being breastfed (and obviously held) by his mother. That was the most natural way to raise a child 2000 ago, just as it is now.

Madonna and Child (Madonna Litta)
by Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519

 

 

IF you want to look at more paintings of Mary and baby Jesus, go here.

Final Friday Five for 2012!

As we take a breather from the busy weekend of Sunday/Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, it's time to reflect on the past year. It's hard to move out of this holiday season with its delights and celebrations. Here at our home, we've barely finished the eggnog. The tree is still up and our cats delight in knocking off the lower (unbreakable) ornaments. As we are rounding the final turn on the year 2012, I hope you'll play along with these questions. :)

I haven't found the time to play a Friday Five for weeks, even when I hosted it last week, so I am glad Deb came up with this fun idea!

RECYCLE:

1. What is some "old news" this year that you'd like to repeat for 2013?
Sticking with the Weight Watchers program, which helped me to get back to healthier eating again.

2. What "new thing" have you started that you want to keep going in 2013?
Piano lessons! I never practiced as a child, and now I am finding it to be fun! I loved learning to play "Away in the Manger" for Christmas and Epiphany.

RE-GIFT:

3. What event, experience or gift would you just as soon "Return to Sender"? Maybe it was a disastrous sermon, a congregational kerfuffle, a vacation nightmare, or your own mis-step. It can be funny or sad. 
Not continuing to work on the church library after it was painted. It still needs art on the walls and perhaps one wall painted a more vibrant color. Books have to be re-shelved and some removed that are outdated and in poor shape. Hoping to start over in 2013!

REFLECT:

4. Share the brightest bit of joy that was a part of your year. 
Always my granddaughter Avery and my family, but the most hopeful and happy thing going on for me is the absence of pain and RA symptoms for the past 6-8 months, which I hope will continue with the meds I am taking. 

5. Share a picture that says far more than words. (You can use it to illustrate one of the above.) 

Yearning for God post on Happiness

 

Jan and Chuck: 41 years of marriage

BONUS:

Share a recipe! I'm in the doldrums and need some healthy eating options for my menu planning. Soup, stew, main dish, side dish or a healthy dessert - any and all are welcome!

Here is a recipe (shared with me by my friend Katherine) that I re-tried last week for my vegetarian daughter MJ's visit here; it is easy and delicious (though not a vegan recipe).

Black Bean Chilaquile from Moosewood Restaurant
1 cup chopped onions
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (15 ounce can, drained)
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp salt
1/ tsp ground black pepper
2 cups rinsed, stemmed, and chopped Swiss chard or spinach
2 cups crushed baked tortilla chips
8 ounces grated fat-free sharp Cheddar cheese
2 cups prepared Mexican-style red salsa

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute onions inoil for about 8 minutes, until translucent. Stir in tomatoes, corn, black beans, lime juice, salt pepper and continue to saute another 5-10 minutes, until heated through.

Meanwhile, in another saucepan, blanch he greens in boiling water for 1-3 minutes, until just wilted but still bright green. Drain immediately and set aside.

Prepare an 8x8 casserole dish with a light cooking of vegetable spray. Spread half of the crushed chips on the bottom.Spoon the sauted vegetables over the chips and sprinkle on about two-thirds of the grated Cheddar. Arrange the greens evenly over the cheese and spoon on half of the salsa. Finish with the rest of the tortilla chips and top with the remaining salsa and Cheddar. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown.

Casserole order (shortcut):
spray
chips
vegetables
cheese
greens
salsa
chips
salsa
cheese 

For the New Year!

My blogging friend Ellie posted this on Facebook from Suzy's Daily Quotes, and I think it's a good idea. In fact, I wish I could do this for 2012 on New Year's Eve this year.

Start on January 1st with an empty jar. Throughout the year write the good things that happened to you on little pieces of paper. On December 31st, open the jar and read all the amazing things that happened to you that year.~pinterest

Love at Christmas

Maria Lactans
Artist: Reni, Guido, A.D. 1575-1642

Love came down at Christmas,
love all lovely, love divine;
love was born at Christmas:
star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
love incarnate, love divine;
worship we our Jesus,
but wherewith the sacred sign?

Love shall be our token;
love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
love for plea and gift and sign.

---

Words: Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), 1885

Happiness!

Jan and Avery with a toy made for Avery's dad David

We are happy with most of our children home for Christmas. Avery is the star with us all, especially with her aunts AE and KA in Cincinnati on a video of a rocking horse! Go here to see that.

Our two sons have to go back to work on Wednesday and so they are driving back to Austin and Houston early on Christmas afternoon. So we won't be in such a rush tomorrow, we are having our traditional Christmas feast tonight. In fact, the turkey is cooking right now.

In between two church services we will eat. Avery, her parents and Aunt MJ are going to go to First United Methodist Church for the children's service at 5 o'clock. While they are there, I will be finishing up the side dishes for our dinner. Then at Chuck's and my usual bedtime (10 pm), we'll go to the late service at All Saints Episcopal Church for the Christmas Cantata, as performed by the amazing choir, of which Chuck is a member.

We are glad that after everyone leaves tomorrow, MJ will be staying until New Year's Eve Day!

Merry Christmas!

Advent with Caryll Houselander

Here are some of the pieces that Caryll Houselander wrote about Advent in The Reed of God.

Advent is the season of the secret, the secret of the growth of Christ, of Divine Love growing in silence. (28)

It is a time of darkness, of faith. We shall not see Christ's radiance in our lives yet; it is still hidden in our darkness; nevertheless, we must believe that he is growing in our lives; we must believe it so firmly that we cannot help relating everything, literally everything, to this almost incredible reality.
This attitude it is which makes every moment of every day and night a prayer. (29)

We must not try to force Christ's growth in us, but with a deep gratitude for the light burning secretly in our darkness, we must fold our concentrated love upon him like earth, surrounding, holding, and nourishing the seed. . . . carrying him to wherever he longs to be. . . . (34)

In the seasons of our Advent--waking, working, eating, sleeping, being--each breath is a breathing of Christ into the world. (38)

It was said of Caryll Houselander that she was a "neurotic mystic" and a "sharp-tongued recluse with overwhelming empathy for the suffering." A good article about her says this:

"Halfway through the war, doctors had begun sending patients to Houselander for counseling and therapy. Badly educated, she nevertheless had an uncanny ability to rebuild trust and self-confidence. These people, like the infant Jesus, were unable to fend for themselves and needed "mothering." Never married, Houselander had no children of her own to mother, nor had she ever been properly mothered. She saw these children (and adults) of war as the infant Christ, for whom the only acceptable response was the gift of self. The infant Christ depended on each person to be as a mother, carrying him into the world, and this is what she worked hard to do. One eminent psychiatrist who referred troubled patients to her, Dr. Eric Strauss, said Houselander "loved them back to life." She was, he said, a "divine eccentric.""

Come, Lord Jesus, Come.

Advent
by Christina Rossetti

"Come," Thou doest say to Angels,
To blessed Spirits, "Come";
"Come," to the Lambs of Thine Own flock,
Thy little Ones, "Come home."

"Come"--from the many-mansioned house
The gracious word is sent,
"Come"--from the ivory palaces
Unto the Penitent.

O Lord, restore us deaf and blind,
Unclose our lips tho' dumb;
Then say to us, "I come with speed,"
And we will answer, "Come."

Fourth Sunday of Advent reading in Run, Shepherds, Run: Poems for Advent and Christmas selected and presented by L. William Countryman, London: Morehouse, 2005. 47.

I think I like this so much, because it reminds of the early morning mass at Lebh Shomea in Sarita where the priest says over the Eucharist, "Come, Lord Jesus." The people respond with, "Come."

I haven't gone there for over a year. I miss the quiet time spent there.

Looking at their website, I am reminded of the beautiful creches they arrange with plants and flowers they have dried in the time before Advent. Here are pictures from their website:

As we prepare for the birth of our Lord Jesus, we invite you
to share some Advent scenes at the House of Prayer.

---

To join in our joyful celebration of the Incarnation, we invite you
to spend time with some Christmas scenes at the House of Prayer.

Stick 'em Up!

Hope

"Every time in history that men and women have been able to respond to the events of their world as the occasion to change their hearts, an inexhaustible source of generosity and new life has been opened, offering hope far beyond the limits of human prediction."

~~Henri J. M. Nouwen, Reaching Out

Are we ready to become Light?

"In the beginning, the Spirit brooded over the face of the waters and God spoke and there was Light. Likewise, in the fullness of time, an angel announced to Mary and the same creative Spirit visited her and she conceived the Son of God. This Advent, our Advent, is equally a time of creation. God's same Spirit abides in us--brooding over our waters--shaping and forming us, being formed and shaped by us. We are God's creative works in process. God alone knows what we shall become. What might God have in store in the fullness of our time? In the beginning, God created Light. In Mary, God became flesh. What will God become in us this Advent? Is there room in us for God's seed to take root and grow? God has visited us with grace and favor. Are we ready to become Light?"

~~by Thomas Hoffman

Hoffman, Thomas. Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany with Caryll Houselander. Franklin, Wisconsin: Sheed and Ward, 2000. 20.

Advent Thought

"The birth of Christ is an example both unique and eternal of how the will of God is worked out on this earth. It is the birth of love in our hearts, which transforms life. God's love overwhelms us and breaks into our lives leaving our human good will behind. It was never Christ's purpose to bring about self-improvement. He became poor not to offer us a moral toning up, however good this may be. The Word became flesh so that the same amazing life that broke into the world when Jesus Christ was born actually becomes realized in our own lives here and now.

"The meaning of Advent and Christmas is thus the coming down of God's love. This love alone revolutionizes our lives. . . ."

~~by Philip Britts

Britts, Philip. "Yielding to God," 109-117. Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas. Farmington, PA: Plough Publishing House, 2001. 116.

Hope as a Sign that "God is With Us"

©2010 Susan Elliott and Jay Sidebotham;
Courtesy of Church Publishing, Inc.

Avery's School PIcture

Avery's recent school picture. She is 2 years old.

Advent Longing

Eagle Nebula, Hubble Telescope
(what I cannot see)

In the darkness of the season, in the silence of Mary's womb,
new life waits and grow.
Hope is shaped in hidden places,
on the edges, in the depths
far from the blinding lights and deafening sounds of consumer frenzy.

In the darkness and silence of my own life,
I wait,
listening for the whisper of angel wings,
longing for a genuine experience of mystery,
hoping for a rekindling of joy and the establishment of peace.

I lean into the darkness
and silence.
Expectant.

~~Larry J. Peacock

(Larry James Peacock is pastor of Malibu United Methodist Church, Malibu, California. For over 20 years he has visited monasteries and retreat centers to chant the Psalms and learn a daily rhythm of prayer. Among the places he has traveled are the Taize Community in France and the Iona Community in Scotland. A spiritual director since 1988, Larry has served on the faculty for both the Five-Day and Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation (sponsored by Upper Room Ministries) and has led numerous retreats. Beyond college and seminary, Larry's continuing education includes a sabbatical at Pendle Hill, a Quaker center for study and contemplation; the Two-Year Academy for Spiritual Formation; and the Institute for Spiritual Direction and Retreat Leadership. Larry is married to author Anne Broyles; they have two children. He is a part-time potter and an occasional juggler.)

This prayer is also posted at A Place for Prayer today. Please visit this ministry blog of RevGalBlogPals.

Four Calling Birds, Three French Hens

On the Horizon

Waiting dogs from here.

"The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before. . . . What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God's (back) fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon."

~~Jan L. Richardson

More Advent reflections from Jan Richardson are here.

Cat on the Rug

Our cat Gracie found the only rug on our new wooden floors today. We keep looking at rugs but haven't been able to find the area carpet for the living and dining rooms that we like and will fit within our budget!

"Consent" by Denise Levertov

This was the minute no one speaks of,
when she could still refuse.
A breath unbreathed,
Spirit,
suspended,
waiting.

She did not cry, "I cannot, I am not worthy,"
nor, "I have not the strength."
She did not submit with gritted teeth,
raging, coerced.
Bravest of all humans,
consent illumined her.
The room filled with its light,
the lily glowed in it,
and the iridescent wings.
Consent,
courage unparalleled,
opened her utterly.

~~Denise Levertov

Source: "Annunication" in Breathing the Water

From Inward/Outward. Subscribe here.

Advent Book!

We are reading this book in the weekly Wisdom Class at All Saints Episcopal Church:  John Polkinghorne's Advent devotional book, Living with Hope: A Scientist Looks at Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. This is available from Christian Book.Com at 78% off its price (which I originally paid at Amazon)--go to the book link or here. I wish I had found this good deal when I ordered books for the members of my Wisdom Class!

This is the most thought-provoking Advent book I have in my possession. It is written by John Polkinghorne, who was a Professor of mathematical physics at Cambridge until he decided to become an Anglican priest when he was 47 years old. If I was rich enough, I would give a copy to everyone I know!

The Shape of Color

The Shape of Color by Diane Walker who blogs at Contemplative Photography:

The shape of night,
the shape of day,
the shape of color,
the shape of us.  
What holds all this?
Who made this miraculous mold
and then too, cast everything.
Imagine the form
that poured all forms,
and then try to conceive the Being 
that whittled out the Holy Spirit
from a single thought
that took over the Inconceivable.
What can entwine all this in its arms?
What a container that must be!

-- Hafiz

When Disagreeing:

This makes so much sense!

I found it at Episcopal Church Memes on Facebook.

Small Talk

I'm not very good at small talk, so this struck me as funny.

Journal Prompts for Advent

From a blog post dated December 5, 2007:

The 2007 post at  ExploreFaith.org , which is no long available on the website:

 I found these suggestions for journaling each day of Advent. I'm not sure that I'll do it, but I may pick and choose a few. Here they are for your perusal:

Journaling Daily During Advent

Day 1 When I see someone in pain, I respond by… Day 2 When someone is being spoken of in a mean-spirited way, I respond by… Day 3 When I see a child laughing, I respond by… Day 4 When I feel my heart is heavy, I respond by… Day 5 When I encounter someone I dislike, I respond by… Day 6 When my activities are more numerous than the hours of the day, I respond by… Day 7 When I see a handicapped person, I respond by… Day 8 When someone is unkind to me, I respond by… Day 9 When I am asked to do an unpleasant task, I respond by… Day 10 When I have questions about my faith (or lack of it,) I respond by… Day 11 When people disagree with me, I respond by… Day 12 When I am surprised by grace, I respond by… Day 13 When my child or grandchild misbehaves, I respond by… Day 14 When I partake of an excellent meal, I respond by… Day 15 When things aren’t going my way, I respond by… Day 16 When a decision I make turns out to be wrong, I respond by… Day 17 When someone I love is thoughtless, I respond by… Day 18 When I feel warmed by another’s presence, I respond by… Day 19 When I lack what I need, I respond by… Day 20 When God seems far away, I respond by… Day 21 When I meet someone completely different from me, I respond by… Day 22 When others don’t listen to me, I respond by… Day 23 When I hear bad news, I respond by… Day 24 When I hear good news, I respond by… Day 25 What is the gift of my life that I will offer heaven this day?

Love Cannot Be Silenced!