Christmas Book Flood

December 19, 2023 By Greg Richardson

Christmas Book Flood A few years ago I read about a Christmas practice in Iceland called Jolabokaflod, or Christmas book flood. Iceland separated from Denmark in 1918 and did not become a fully autonomous republic until 1944. During the Great Depression Iceland enacted an intricate system of import restrictions. Many of those policies continued even after the Second World War. High inflation and strict rationing made it challenging for people in Iceland to buy most imported goods. The one imported... Read more

Following the Example of Ebenezer Scrooge

December 14, 2023 By Greg Richardson

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Following the Example of Ebenezer Scrooge For some reason, Ebenezer Scrooge has been on my mind lately. It could be because we have been inundated with versions of A Christmas Carol this month. Whether in writing or on film, the story captures our attention and our emotions. A movie called The Man Who Invented Christmas describes how Charles Dickens sparked Victorian holiday celebrations. Many of the practices in his story have become our familiar holiday traditions. We feel nostalgia for... Read more

Desolation and Consolation

December 12, 2023 By Greg Richardson

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Desolation and Consolation It is easy for us to see ourselves living in a world swinging between desolation and consolation, between despair and comfort. Our dreams and expectations seem to have evaporated. We experience frustrations and disappointments and we remember the pain of each one. Everything we believed was dependable and certain slips through our fingers like dust. People we love are threatened by diseases we had never heard of a month or two ago. Entire countries disappear from the... Read more

Is Enjoying Life a Spiritual Practice?

December 7, 2023 By Greg Richardson

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Is Enjoying Life a Spiritual Practice? Many of us are convinced spiritual life is extremely serious. Could enjoying life be a spiritual practice? We push ourselves to work hard on spiritual life and we believe we are doing serious work. Some of us describe what we do with words which sound serious, like theology or hermeneutics. Our understanding of spiritual life involves challenging thought about complicated ideas and concepts. We give ourselves headaches trying to analyze and understand deep spiritual... Read more

Reading and Reflecting in 2024

December 5, 2023 By Greg Richardson

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Reading and Reflecting in 2024 A healthy practice of reading is more than simply loving to read. Today can be our first step into reading and reflecting in 2024. I have loved to read since I learned how to do it. It teaches me about the magic and power of words. Developing contemplative life strengthens our love for reading and reflection. It is ironic how appreciating contemplation and stillness feeds the ways we value words. Our practice of reading and... Read more

Listening on the Final Morning of November

November 30, 2023 By Greg Richardson

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Listening on the Final Morning of November There were times this year when we were not sure we would make it to the final morning of November. This year has threatened to overwhelm many of us. We have pushed through, over, and around obstacles this year. Some of us have survived the loss of people we love. Many of us have persisted in the face of losing dreams we worked hard to try to fulfill. We may have lost jobs... Read more

Wrapping Ourselves in Darkness

November 28, 2023 By Greg Richardson

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Wrapping Ourselves in Darkness The daylight hours are growing shorter where I live. It is as if we spend October and November wrapping ourselves in darkness, preparing for the shorter days and longer nights which are coming. What was it like before we learned about electricity, when our only light was from the sun or from a flame? Now we are surrounded by bright light, light which overwhelms the light of the stars in the night sky. We obliterate the... Read more

Practicing Advent Online

November 21, 2023 By Greg Richardson

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Practicing Advent Online Like many of us, the Pandemic revealed to me how much of my spiritual community exists online. My spiritual practices have been transformed by people I know electronically. This year I am preparing to practice Advent online. One thing which makes us “liturgical” is following an annual pattern of the parts of our story we remember called the liturgical year. Each year has something in common with other years; each year is unique. Our liturgical years have... Read more

Who Do We Hate the Most?

November 14, 2023 By Greg Richardson

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Who Do We Hate the Most? Who we hate the most appears to define our world. We live in a world which has been been at war for longer than we can remember. Large groups of people who hate each other and take violent actions to express their hatred. It is almost impossible to go onto social media without hearing about what or who someone hates. Other media are essentially the same. Hatred seems to be everywhere. Some of us... Read more

Stillness on a November Morning

November 9, 2023 By Greg Richardson

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Stillness on a November Morning November can be a contemplative month. It begins as we sit in the stillness on a November morning. The month begins in the wake of costumes and frivolity; false selves on display for all to see. The days grow colder and darker, almost as if the month itself were turning inward. Candles and treats give way to the early darkness of standard time. Like contemplation, November is a process of letting go. Leaves fall from... Read more