Sunday-Ps.80 moves us toward the big day.Thrice it begs for restoration. I love that we move toward the visit of the shepherds when god is called shepherd here. fr people facing blue Christmas v. 5 is a witness to tears shed, or here, even ingested. where do you hope for Advent and Christmas restoration? what areas of restoration would you like as a present?
Monday-”Incarnation. It is not tame. It is not touching. It is not beautiful. It is uninhabitable terror. It is unthinkable darkness riven with unbearable light. Agonizing. Laboring. Vast upheavals of intergalactic space. Time split apart. A very wrenching and tearing of the sinews of reality itself. You can only cover your eyes and shutter before it. Before this. God of God – Light of Light – Very God of Very God – who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven. Came down. Only then do we dare uncover our eyes and see what we can see. It is the resurrection and the life she holds in her arms”(Frederick Buechner).In what ways do you imagine the full humanity of Jesus?
Christmas Eve-”Here is a human being, the Virgin Mary, and as he comes from God, Jesus comes also from this human being. Born of the Virgin Mary means a human origin for God. Jesus Christ is not only truly God, he is human like every one of us. He is human without limitation. He is not only similar to us, he is like us.” ― Karl Barth, Dogmatics in Outline How would you spell out Barth’s careful words more fully on this night? How Christmas Eve services help that?
Christmas Day-“Love never comes just a little bit at a time, I thought, as I watched him, absorbed in contemplation of the Virgin. The previous day, the world made sense, even without love's presence. But now we needed each other in order to see the true brilliance of things.” ― Paulo Coelho, By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept Please make sure you contemplate a figure of the creche scene today. Please read Matthew or Luke’s version of the Nativity. Please listen to some carols.
Thursday-Connie Schultz-Thomas Merton wrote, "If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I think I am living for, in detail, and ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for. Between those two answers you can determine the identity of any person."Posted with the hope that we will dare to dive in. What are you living for? What is keeping you from living fully?
Friday- John Philip Newell-You have shown us the way of compassion, O Christ./You have shown us the heart of kindness./Awaken the depths of compassion in us/that we may be alive to one another's suffering./Awaken the heart of kindness in us, /that we may be truly alive.” where did you notice holiday kindness this year?
Saturday John Philip Newell-You are above me, O God,you are within.You are in all things yet contained by no thing.Teach me to seek you in all that has life that I may see you as the Light of life.Teach me to search for you in my own depths that I may find you in every living soul. where were you able to detect Christmas in other beings this year?
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