This is a Thankful Tuesday completely committed to my four-week trek through the homes of all my family members. I keep having friends from San Francisco texting to see if we’re finally home yet, like normal people ought to be. I know it’s extreme, but I’m really thankful that August and I have been able to spend large chunks of time with our family (and that Chris has been able to spend two of those four weeks with us). As much as I may sometimes be a complainy-face about my status as … [Read more...]
On Mary: Faith and Doubt
December 20, 2010 By 11 Comments
Whenever I spend time reading the biblical story of Mary, the mother of Christ, I imagine her to be like me, a sincere believer who can still find a way to doubt, to say yes, then run. This Advent season, I haven’t been able to get past Mary’s doubt. It’s not that I can ever know she was a doubter, it’s just that I sort of hope she was. The more I know Jesus the more I grasp my need for what John chapter one calls “grace and truth,” a spiritual rescuing of those of us (all of us) who … [Read more...]
Christ’s Mother Reflects, His Childhood
December 17, 2010 By 4 Comments
Each day this week, I'll be sharing from a series of five Advent poems I wrote for John Knox Presbyterian Church in Seattle. I hope they will bless you as you prepare for the coming of Christmas. Christ’s Mother Reflects, His Childhood “and for him to see me mended / I must see him torn.” -Luci Shaw “Mary’s Song” He stood at the door, wet-faced and panting. in his hands three baby birds. They’re hungry, he sniffed, nested them in a bowl with grass, fed … [Read more...]
Darkness
December 16, 2010 By 10 Comments
Each day this week, I'll be sharing from a series of five Advent poems I wrote for John Knox Presbyterian Church in Seattle. I hope they will bless you as you prepare for the coming of Christmas. Darkness "For Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." -Handel’s Messiah (from Isaiah, chapter … [Read more...]
The Lord is With Thee
December 15, 2010 By 4 Comments
Each day this week, I'll be sharing from a series of five Advent poems I wrote for John Knox Presbyterian Church in Seattle. I hope they will bless you as you prepare for the coming of Christmas. The Lord is With Thee -from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1 They hail me Mary, full of grace. They bless me: brave, obedient—holy. What would you have said to the twelve-foot, light-soaked man, a gold flecked tower whose honey lips spoke your name? I said Yes. Then ran, traveled … [Read more...]
How He Entered
December 14, 2010 By 6 Comments
Each day this week, I'll be sharing from a series of five Advent poems I wrote for John Knox Presbyterian Church in Seattle. I hope they will bless you as you prepare for the coming of Christmas. How He Entered “…a son, a male child, who will rule all nations with an iron scepter.” -Revelation 12:5 He entered, not a barn, not a hay-filled nursery, but a galaxy, a kingdom groaning for his rule. He arrived, not from a young woman, trembling and homeless, but a queen … [Read more...]
Star
December 13, 2010 By 17 Comments
Each day this week, I'll be sharing from a series of five Advent poems I wrote for John Knox Presbyterian Church in Seattle. I hope they will bless you as you prepare for the coming of Christmas. Star “A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.” -Revelation 12:1 “…keep warm this small hot naked star/ fallen into my arms.” -Luci Shaw, “Mary’s Song” After the … [Read more...]
Good Like Medicine
December 10, 2010 By 1 Comment
A couple of weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal published an article that proves why Thankful Tuesday is important. Not only does it have a “How Grateful are You?” test, it testifies to research we don’t have to hear to believe: Grateful people are happier people. Remember how your mom told you your face would stick in the sad position forever if you didn’t fix it into a smile? We all know that’s true. We’ve all encountered the grouchy elderly person and thought, surely they … [Read more...]
Theotokos of the Sign
December 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Note: I ran this post around three months ago, but am feeling like it's even more relevant for us in these weeks leading up to Christmas. Rereading it tonight has been an important reminder to me (now that I've moved from the nauseated and exhausted stage of pregnancy to the achey, complainy stage) of what it means to live in this season of my life with gratitude and joy, despite the sacrifices I've been asked to make. * * * When Pastor Beverly joined the clergy at our church in the … [Read more...]
“Come now, let us argue it out…”
December 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
That’s the New Reformed Standard Version of Isaiah 1:18. If you’ve read (or heard) this verse before, it probably went something like, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (King James Version). The NIV says: “Come now, let us settle the matter…” But, the NRSV, bless its heart, quotes God as saying, let’s fight about it. This passage is often … [Read more...]
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