December 2/First Tuesday of Advent “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” ~ Luke 10.21 No matter how often I read this passage from Luke, it always leaves me a bit defensive. What’s wrong with being “wise…
Category: Keeping Advent
Keeping Advent 2: Using Your Words
December 1/First Monday of Advent “Simply say it with a word, and my servant shall be healed.” ~ Matt 8.8 “We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord,” the prayer begins, “trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.” Growing up in the Episcopal Church, I recited this prayer every week…
Keeping Advent 1: What Next?
November 30/First Sunday of Advent Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. ~ Matt 24.44 On this first day of Advent, in a time when the world already feels unpredictable and even perilous, Matthew sounds a suitably ominous note. Today’s Gospel is almost Hitchcockian in its dire warnings to the…
Coming Soon: Daily Advent Reflections
Again this year I am offering daily Advent reflections by email. These brief meditations are accompanied by a prayer, a link to the day’s readings, and a musical offering. There is no cost to subscribe, email addresses are not shared, and you may unsubscribe at any time. The reflections will begin on the first Sunday of Advent, November 30, and will…
Keeping Advent 24: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
December 24/Fourth Saturday of Advent Christmas Eve “You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way.” ~ Luke 1.76 We are on the cusp of Christmas. The last Advent calendar window has been opened; the four candles on the Advent wreath have been lit; all the…
Keeping Advent 23: Have You Heard?
December 23/Fourth Monday of Advent And all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. ~ Luke 1.65 Some years ago I came across a marvelous poem in The New Yorker, composed by the Italian Giovanni Pascoli and translated by the late, great Irish poet Seamus Heaney, that begins: “In a huddle by the fence/Neighbour women, hard at…
Keeping Advent 22: Showing Up
December 22/Fourth Sunday of Advent 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. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice. ~ Luke 1.39-41 Between the…
Keeping Advent 21: Twist and Shout
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…