Advent (Day 8)
The word for this second week of Advent is ... prepare. Let the master of the house wash your feet and hands. Let him wrap you in fine clothes. He has invited us to feast. A prayer for the second Sunday of Advent: Most merciful Lord, your love compels us to come in. Our hands were unclean, our hearts were unprepared; we...
Advent (Day 7): These Farmhouse Bookshelves
Saturdays are reserved for a peek at the bookshelves which fill so many rooms in this old farmhouse. Books live everywhere here. This month, this Advent month, I'll be sharing some of our favorite books for the season. Advent books. Christmas books. Wintery and snowy books. These are books that live most of the year in two big boxes in a...
Advent (Day 5)
A hymn for this, the first Thursday. "See the Lord of earth and skies; / Humbled to the dust ... ." GLORY be to God on high, And peace on earth descend! God comes down, he bows the sky, And shows himself our friend: God the invisible appears! God, the blest, the great I AM, Sojourns in this vale of tears, And Jesus is his...
Advent (Day 4): O These Many Holy Nights
“… the weary world rejoices …” We are baking together, the little boy and I, but I am also listening to the radio. It is 75 years since the kindertransport brought German Jewish refugee children to England. An elderly man is speaking. He was only seven when he boarded that train. Only seven when his mother and father made a promise they would...
Advent (Day 3)
On Thursday, we said thank you around the table. We passed the big bowl with potatoes like mountain peaks. We passed the medium-sized bowl with its cranberry jewels. We passed the tiny, wooden bowl. Three times we passed that particular bowl, and three times we tipped in our little kernels of corn. With each kernel came a thank you. I said...
Advent (Day 2)
A poem for this, the first Monday of Advent. Henry Vaughan's sonnet is an echo of Song of Solomon 2:11-12: "For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land." These verses hold special meaning for me and my family. They...