The Church year started in September, so I have had plenty of time to prepare for the secular New Year. Here are twenty observations, speculations,  or what to watch in 2020. Church  1. The media will tire of the story of generalized religious decline and begin to note the persistence of religious belief. Stories will begin about revival of religious faith in “surprising places.” Monastic communities, particularly nuns who are traditional, will lead the way. 2. This will not be... Read more

You appeared to the world today, and Your light, O Lord, has left its mark upon us. With fuller understanding we sing to You: “You came, You were made manifest, the unapproachable light.” Christ was born and God came to the world. However, while anyone could have seen what came to Bethlehem, and many did, most of humanity did not. Isn’t this natural since Christ was born in a place that many humans could not reach? We could and could... Read more

The last night of Christmas break when I was a boy was hard, a bit depressing, somewhat exciting. There were always books I had wanted to read, work that I had thought would get done, and games that were not played. Yet the tree was dry and the cupboard (long) emptied of holiday treats. After most excellent jollifications, the time had come to go back to the regular schedule. The Old Order Changes and the Sin of Elves  This was not... Read more

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shined the light of knowledge upon the world; for thereby they that worshipped the stars were instructed by a star to worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high. O Lord, glory be to Thee. Jesus Christ is the Sun of Righteousness. This verbal icon points us from something we know and can see to Someone we can know, but presently most often cannot see: from... Read more

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shined the light of knowledge upon the world; for thereby they that worshipped the stars were instructed by a star to worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high. O Lord, glory be to Thee. Christmas matters so much more than the secular New Year. The longer I live the more this is obvious. Each year there is a party, people (including me) make predictions for the... Read more

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shined the light of knowledge upon the world; for thereby they that worshipped the stars were instructed by a star to worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high. O Lord, glory be to Thee. Worship is our work and liturgy our guide. This is a hard saying as for many of us “church” seems dull, full of long periods of time when our characters do... Read more

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shined the light of knowledge upon the world; for thereby they that worshipped the stars were instructed by a star to worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high. O Lord, glory be to Thee. A star instructed the wisemen or so says this ancient prayer. The star, whatever this heavenly sign was, did not speak with words or come with written instructions. (Batteries were not... Read more

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shined the light of knowledge upon the world; for thereby they that worshipped the stars were instructed by a star to worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high. O Lord, glory be to Thee. Putting out our crèche each year reminded us that Christmas in the cave where Jesus was born was (almost surely) crowded. If not, then it certainly was not alone time for... Read more