Advent 2012 (Second Saturday)
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free; from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee. Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the...
Advent 2012 (Second Friday)
"When God seems silent and our prayers go unanswered, the overwhelming temptation is to leave the story - to walk out of the desert and attempt to create a normal life. But when we persist in a spiritual vacuum, when we hang in there during ambiguity, we get to know God." - Paul E. Miller, A Praying Life Explore the growing...
Advent 2012 (Second Thursday)
(This post was originally published last year.) It is St. Lucia’s Day, the day the poet John Donne called “the year’s midnight.” It is a short, dark day even here in Florida, thanks to a windy, rainy nor’easter. The firstborn and I are determined to mark the day as they would in Sweden. Whether this is because of our drop of...
Advent 2012 (Second Tuesday)
I drive around and keep hearing these words from Christina Rossetti's Christmas poem: "in the bleak midwinter." They seem to fit the landscape this time of year. Bare trees. White barns. Grey silos. Black laundry flapping on the clothesline at every Amish farm. I'm trying to figure out why I love it so much. Why does this place feel...
Advent 2012 (Second Monday)
If there is one thing I am sure of after two years of desert living, it is that darkness can be a gift. It is often (perhaps always?) the only possible beginning for new life. After all, the very darkest night is the night of the new moon. Here is one more poem from one of my favorite collections, Luci Shaw’s Accompanied by Angels: Poems of...
Advent 2012 (Second Sunday)
Prayer to Welcome the Sabbath Lord of Creation, create in us a new rhythm of life composed of hours that sustain rather than stress, of days that deliver rather than destroy, of time that tickles rather than tackles. Lord of Liberation, by the rhythm of your truth, set us free from the bondage and baggage that break us, from the...