December 21/Fourth Saturday of Advent Give thanks to the LORD on the harp; with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.Sing to him a new song; pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness. ~ Ps 33.2-3 A wise friend of mine once encouraged me, whenever I felt myself tightening up from the pressures or anxieties of life, simply to dance. …
Keeping Advent 20: Ordinary People
December 20/Third Friday of Advent In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. ~ Luke 1.26 The culture in which we live and breathe idolizes the extreme and the extraordinary. …
Keeping Advent 19: The Waiting Game
December 19/Third Thursday of Advent But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.” ~ Luke 1.13 In the course of raising four children, I have spent a lot of time waiting. Not only waiting out the (+/-) nine months of each pregnancy, but waiting in carpool lines, waiting for toddlers to…
Keeping Advent 18: Planning the Work, Working the Plan
December 18/Third Wednesday of Advent Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into…
Keeping Advent 17: Skeletons in the Closet
December 17/Third Tuesday of Advent The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. ~ Matt 1.1 We look back at the tidy pattern of our family’s generational history, neatly delineated on the genealogy dot-coms or on family trees that we’ve constructed, and it all looks so restrained, so civilized, so orderly. But…
Keeping Advent 16: The Center Holds
December 16/Third Monday of Advent “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?” ~ Matt 21.22 Since about fourth grade, when I first encountered word problems, math has not been my strong suit. A geometry exercise I loved, however, was using the compass to draw a perfect circle. As I pressed the slender leg…
Keeping Advent 15: In the Thick of It
December 15/Third Sunday of Advent The LORD, your God, is in your midst; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival. ~ Zephaniah 3.17 There have been times along the way when my connection to God simply dropped. Many years ago,…
Keeping Advent 14: Conversation Partners
December 14/Second Saturday of Advent As they were coming down from the mountain, the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ~ Matt 17.9a-10 It nourishes the soul to set aside dedicated daily prayer time, but ideally, we won’t limit the occasions where we reflect on Christ. Prayer is, at its core, an ongoing…
Keeping Advent 13: The Answer is No
December 13/Second Friday of Advent Jesus said to the crowd: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said,…
Keeping Advent 12: Around the Corner
December 12/Second Thursday of AdventFeast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” ~ Luke 1.38 Luke does not tell us exactly what Mary is doing when the angel Gabriel appears, but artists from the Italian Fra Angelico in the 15th-century to the…