Greed

"The store was closed

so I went home and hugged what I own."

Brooks Palmer

OK, so this little girl isn't exactly embracing this concept,

but perhaps, like the rest of us,

 she can learn to at least loosen her grasp

on her excess of material gods (oops, I meant goods.)

Feast of Epiphany

Finally! Those very wise Gentile priests from the East

have arrived to bring their gifts to this newborn king!

"The magi who traveled long and hard to worship Jesus with extravagant gifts remind us that He is not only the King of the Jews; he's the King of all nations and peoples. In contrast to our propensity to privilege one ethnicity or people (usually "mine") over another, to view one's own people as exceptional to God and others as at best unexceptional, and to exclude other people who are different (usually "yours"), the pagans from Persia show that God welcomes the worship and the gifts of all people everywhere."  (excerpt from a reflection written by Dan Clendenin)

I'd love to know the artist for this rendition of the Magi.  Anyone know?

Twelfth Night

It's Twelfth Night - a day in ages past when there would be great carousing with rich feasts of food and the drinking of fine wassail as people celebrated the end of the Christmas season. This is a custom that has almost died out as we usually stop celebrating Christmas after New Year's Day.

And for the past 20 years my parents would drive a very long distance to a British bakery to purchase an authentic British Christmas Cake and send it to me on Christmas Eve. My father died earlier this year and I really didn't expect the infamous cake to appear. But my sweet sister Becky drove my mother to Santa Monica to get the cake and mail it to me - just in time for Christmas.

If you've never tasted Christmas cake it's quite similar to fruit cake with a "wee" bit of alcohol thrown in. The white icing on top is hard and it covers a thin layer of marzipan. It's really rich and one piece is usually more than enough. And so I am celebrating this 12th Night by cutting into the cake (which gets better with age) and raising a toast to my dad - knowing he is with us in spirit.

11th Day of Christmas

It's the 11th day of Christmas and frankly I'm beginning to feel like this dead christmas tree. Are we just so over this whole Christmas season or what? I arrived at work at just before noon today and I swear it was beginning to get dark. Really.

I am very aware of the darkness this winter here in the Northwest. And frankly, if "11 pipers piping" came dancing through my door at this very moment I'd probably shoot them. All of them.

Fortunately I don't have to depend on my emotional state for joy. Emotions pass by like clouds. I know that I will feel the warmth of the sun again. (Of course, that might take quite awhile.) So I leave you with my last Christmas focused quote of this season. It's a great one by Thomas Merton.

"Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, his place is with those others who do not belong, who are rejected by power, because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world. " Thomas Merton

photo from here

Almost there...

It's the 10th day of Christmas and the Magi have traveled so far.

Determined to follow that star, they aren't letting anything stand in their way!

Of course, it would really help if everyone pitched in.

(ok, this graphic is supposed to show the dirt coming
out of the hole as the 3rd wisemen digs under the wall.
i have no idea why it isn't working, but if you click on the
picture you will see it move:)

9th Day of Christmas

"Seasons of Love" is from the Broadway musical "Rent." The lyrics speak of how we measure a year of life & they come to the conclusion that the only way to do so is in seasons of love. As we come closer to the end of the season of Christmas (Day 9) and edge closer to the season of Epiphany, it is good to look back and forward for we all have something in common - we have all experienced 525,600 minutes in 2009. How did you measure those days? How much love did God measure in sending his son to the stable in Bethlehem? As the song says "know that love is a gift from up above." How do you plan to measure your days in 2010? Click here to enjoy the song.

ALL

Five hundred twenty-five thousand

Six hundred minutes,

Five hundred twenty-five thousand

Moments so dear.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand

Six hundred minutes

How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights

In cups of coffee

In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand

Six hundred minutes

How do you measure

A year in the life?

How about love?

How about love?

How about love? Measure in love

Seasons of love. Seasons of love

JOANNE

Five hundred twenty-five thousand

Six hundred minutes!

Five hundred twenty-five thousand

Journeys to plan.

Five hundred twenty-five thousand

Six hundred minutes

How do you measure the life

Of a woman or a man?

COLLINS

In truths that she learned,

Or in times that he cried.

In bridges he burned,

Or the way that she died.

ALL

It's time now to sing out,

Tho' the story never ends

Let's celebrate

Remember a year in the life of friends

Remember the love!

Remember the love!

Seasons of love!

JOANNE

Oh you got to got to Remember the love! remember the love,

You Measure in love know that love is a gift from up above Seasons of love.

Share love, give love spread love Measure measure your life in love.

8th day of Christmas

What? How can it be the 8th day of Christmas if it's New Year's Day? Haven't we moved on? Aren't we busy making resolutions that will last about as long as it takes us to write them down? According to several online news sources the following are the most popular resolutions made by Americans:

1) Spend more time with family

(and with the high level of unemployment this is becoming much easier to do)

2) Exercise

       3) Lose Weight

        4) Quit Smoking

5) Enjoy life more (which if you did #2,#3,#4, & #6, could actually happen,

unless of course your only enjoyment in life comes from #2, #3, #4 & #6.)

      6) Quit Drinking

        7) Get out of debt

                   8) Learn something new

 9) Help others

   10) Get organized

Over the years I've made almost all of those & broken every one of them. They are all great things to do and I would not discourage anyone from attempting any of them. It's the hope of being human that we want to make changes both in and for ourselves. So no matter where I'm at with any of these desires for change, I want to delight in the realization that God is in all aspects of life. And here is the good news - this has been gifted to us through the love and light of a child born to Mary, who on this 8th day of Christmas is given the holy name of Jesus - Savior.

And this is my resolution for 2010. To live each day in that love - by becoming more present to the good and the bad, the light and the darkness, the joys and the sorrows, the extraordinary and the mundane moments - remembering that God is "with me" in all of it. May you know that God will be "with you" in all the moments of this coming year.