I’m sure what the following says about me. Am I: (a) Hypocritical? (b) Too enmeshed in the culture? (c) (Oh, I hope this is the answer…) someone who lives in the tension? Because tonight, I’m showing my youth group this movie clip: And then, after a little discussion, we’re going to watch Elf.
It’s been a long day. Mostly church related. Not bad. Just long. I am tired, body, soul, spirit, voice and joints and the soles of my feet. So, one quick thought, jumping off from a conversation with a colleague last week: Advent is really supposed to be a season of preparation, pulling back, pulling away [...]
In the middle of all these Advent stories about naming remarkable babies (Jesus and John), here’s a poem that has had me thinking lately about the importance of naming: How badly the world needs words. Don’t be fooled By how green it is, How it seems to be thriving. “Willow” rescues that tree From its [...]
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens: Revelation 3:7 I’ve been to all sites of the 7 churches in Revelation. Eight years [...]
Dinner tonight is a good bellweather of how I’ve been eating lately…good intentions mixed with crap. I made enchiladas from “scratch”: corn tortillas (which I obviously didn’t make myself) wrapped around: locally grown squash that I roasted yesterday in a moment of inspired advanced preparation pulled chicken BBQ of the big-grovery-store-bought kind, which I did [...]
But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may [...]
A quick thought today: Zora, through the miracle of Hulu, enjoyed her first ever viewing of the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I never noticed before: when Charlie Brown is about to give up on his Christmas tree, he hears Linus reciting the Luke 2 Christmas story again. And this causes him to give the tree [...]
Snow and advent… What I am really waiting for, this time of year, is snow. Today, the snow is here. Dangerous and beautiful. Quiet and white, blowing, refreshing, even astringent. And how that fits with Advent? I’m not sure. It might be the quiet stillness, the way it forces us to slow down and take [...]
I found out I was pregnant with Zora during Advent. It immediately changed how I felt about waiting. I’ve since seen churches that actually use an ultrasound photo as a symbol of advent waiting. It’s a great image to wait with…for many of us, that time of waiting while pregnant was one of the most [...]
Erik and I are grammar nerds. (However, I would appreciate it if you didn’t take this opportunity to critique my grammar because I am not having a very good day.) Which explains why we were reduced to giggles the other night for a good 10 minutes over the phrase “metaphorically speaking”. It seems to us [...]