December 16/Second Saturday of Advent Once again, O LORD of hosts, look down from heaven, and see; Take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted. ~ Ps 80.15-16 My husband, whose thumb is verdant beyond compare, likes to say that if you want to kill a plant, all you have to do is to put it…
Keeping Advent 13: Capriccioso
December 15/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: Blessed Are the Peacemakers
December 14/Second Thursday of Advent “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force.” ~ Matt 11.12 At the close of 2017, our world is riven by violence — wars, terrorism, and human trafficking, not to mention acts of individual cruelty and a divisive civic discourse…
Keeping Advent 11: The Things We Carry
December 13/Second Wednesday of Advent “Come to me, all you that are weary and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” ~ Matt 11.28 Whenever I find myself tempted to judge or criticize friend or stranger, I try to remember the saying that a dear friend used to have taped inside her kitchen cabinet: ”Be kinder than necessary, because…
Keeping Advent 10: Only Connect
December 12/Second Tuesday of Advent During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ~ Luke 1.39-40 Announcing a pregnancy to a beloved friend or family member has to rank up near the top of life’s most joyful moments. But…
Keeping Advent 9: Circular Thinking
December 11/Second Monday of Advent They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. ~ Luke 5.18-19 Earlier this…
Keeping Advent 8: Memento Mori
December 10/Second Sunday of Advent Since everything is to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness? ~ 2 Peter 3.11 In Muriel Spark’s 1959 novel Memento Mori, the plot revolves around an anonymous telephone caller who informs each of the elderly characters, “Remember, you must die.” The…
Keeping Advent 7: Payback
December 9/First Saturday of Advent You received without payment; give without payment. ~ Matt 10.8 Sometimes when I am driving around town, I get miffed when I choose to yield to another driver, a cyclist or a pedestrian, and don’t get a wave of thanks. After all, I have acted graciously, and I want my generosity properly acknowledged! Indeed, lack…
Keeping Advent 6: Seeking and Hiding
December 8/First Friday of Advent The Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” ~ Gen 3.9-10 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with…
Keeping Advent 5: How Firm a Foundation
December 7/First Thursday of Advent The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. ~ Matt 7.25 One of the valuable pieces of homeowner wisdom that my husband has impressed upon our children over the years is the danger that water poses…