Advent is here and I am ready for an adventure. Advent is the four weeks before the celebration of the birth of Jesus. November 29 was the first Sunday in this season this year and on our online church service, we lit the first of the four candles surrounding the white Christ candle. The candles symbolize joy, hope, peace, and love. I dug out my home Advent wreath and began with the first candle here too. This time before Christmas is a time of anticipation and waiting for the gift of this holy season. If we pay attention, God will surprise us with his presence. If we wait in stillness, we will find him in unexpected places like a manger in Bethlehem. I like the concept of adventure too. An adventure means to take the chance and enter into an exciting and possibly lifechanging experience. The word adventure comes from the Latin word ‘adventurus’ meaning ‘a thing about to happen’. I am ready to cast off 2020 and move forward into new direction. "A new … [Read more...]
A Spiritual Side Dish for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love the family getting together. The delicious smells showering my kitchen. The turkey browning in the oven. The laughter and chatter even while washing the dishes and scrubbing the pans. I smile with the memories of past holidays with loved ones now in heaven and still in our hearts. And of course, the side dishes. We will have my sister in law's sweet potato dish. Katie's homemade pumpkin pie. My mom's crockpot dressing. Good ol' green bean casserole and our family joke about needing the recipe to make it just right (We don't really but we always cut it out of the magazine ads each year and send it to each other) And cranberry jello the grandkids request and we all enjoy. Gratitude for all God's gifts overwhelmed my heart this week as I got out the recipes and made these plans for Thursday. Thank you for family. Thank you for the ones not in our near bubble we can't be with this year. We miss them. Thank you for … [Read more...]
Hello! November 21 is World Hello Day!
Hello! A simple delightful greeting we all say. I didn't know though until recently that November 21 celebrated this word. November 21 is the 48th annual World Hello Day. The purpose of this day is simple – to encourage communication and dialogue between people of different backgrounds in order to achieve peace and understanding. And we all need peace and understanding especially in turbulent times like we have experienced this year. World Hello Day began in 1973 as a simple response to the conflict between Egypt and Israel. The conflict was called the Yom Kippur War. Two brothers, Brian McCormack and Michael McCormack, founded World Hello Day. They mailed 1360 letters in 7 languages to encourage world leaders to participate. Today it is a global expression of peace in 180 countries. Did you know that: This is one of the first words a baby says. My kids started with Da-da but learned early on how to wave hello and bye-bye.Thomas Edison was the first to say this word … [Read more...]
God’s Palette – Colors of the Season
God's palette of brilliant colors ignited the trees in northwest Ohio this month. Autumn exhibits meaningful messages if we pay attention to her music. "Of the four seasons, autumn is by far the most paradoxical. Wedged between an equinox and a solstice, it moors us to cosmic rhythms of deep time and at the same time envelops us in the palpable immediacy of its warm afternoon breeze, its evening chill, its unmistakable scentscape. It is a season considered temperate, but one often tempestuous in its sudden storms and ecstatic echoes of summer heat. We call it “fall” with the wistfulness of loss as we watch leaves and ripe fruit drop to the ground, but it is also the season of abundance, of labor coming to fruition in harvest. " Maria Popova I gaze at trees gathered together like patchwork quilts across auburn fields of corn, showcasing their pigmented performance. They blend together in a murmuration of color. God's palette contains some colors that on their own are not … [Read more...]
Pentecost – Quotes to Ponder
Pentecost Sunday is May 31. And you thought that was only Memorial weekend. Ha! But the joke is on me. My internal sense of calendar and time are so warped in this pandemic as I wrote this post I didn't realize Memorial Day arrives May 25! I have certainly lost track of the days and dates in this strange time of Covid 19. Is it the same for you? But I digress...back to Pentecost. In 2010 I wrote a blog post about Pentecost and thought I would update that info and offer new quotes for you to ponder. What is Pentecost? Pentecost is the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit to the early Christians. It marks the birth of the Christian church and means “fiftieth day,” as it is celebrated fifty days after Easter. Red is the liturgical color for this day. Red recalls the tongues of flame in which the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples. A tradition of some churches in ancient times was to baptize adult converts to the faith on … [Read more...]
What’s Today? Shrove Tuesday!
Today is Shrove Tuesday. I didn't know much about this special day until a few years ago and now include its celebration as part of my yearly practice of entering into the season of Lent. What is Shrove Tuesday? Shrove Tuesday is the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and the start of the Lenten Season. I am sure most of you have heard of New Orleans grand party – Mardi Gras – that is celebrated on the same day. Shrove Tuesday is the last day of what traditionally was called “Shrovetide,” the week preceding the beginning of Lent. The word itself, Shrovetide, is the English equivalent for “Carnival,” which is derived from the Latin words carnem levare, meaning “to take away the flesh.” Does sound like Mardi Gras, doesn't it? While this was seen as the last chance for merriment, and unfortunately in some places resulted in excessive pleasure, Shrovetide was the time to cast off things of the flesh and to prepare spiritually for Lent. Actually, the English term provides the … [Read more...]
Preparing Your Heart – Advent Devotional Resources
Christmas is fast approaching but first Advent. Advent Advent is the four weeks before the celebration of the birth of Jesus. December 1 is the first Sunday in this season this year and at our church, we will light the first of the four candles surrounding the white Christ candle. The candles symbolize joy, hope, peace, and love. This time before Christmas is a time of anticipation and waiting for the gift of this holy season. If we pay attention, God will surprise us with his presence. If we wait in stillness, we will find him in unexpected places like a manger in Bethlehem. “Advent, like its cousin Lent, is a season for prayer and reformation of our hearts. Since it comes at wintertime, fire is a fitting sign to help us celebrate Advent. If Christ is to come more fully into our lives this Christmas, if God is to become really incarnate for us, then fire will have to be present in our prayer. Our worship and devotion will have to stoke the kind of fire in our souls that can … [Read more...]
Finding Joy and Direction in Seasonal Rhythms
Seasonal rhythms erupted in northwest Ohio this past week. Trees ignited in reds, yellows, and oranges. We actually experienced several sunny days accentuating the fall colors. One season brilliantly illuminating the way into another sequence of time. Time changed a few weekends ago too – bringing darker mornings. Now we are transitioning from colors to drab. Yet I hold the promise of new life as bird nests once hidden suddenly appear. Read more here about my lessons about bird nests. I am not a fan of the gloomy winter days. I long for the joy found in the light and warmth of summer. But there is a comfort in living into the rhythms of each year. The discovery of each season's gifts. The understanding that there is a time of everything in life. A few weeks ago I heard a speaker say we really only deal with 2-4 main issues our entire lives. Like a spiral, we keep coming back to the same flaws, strengths, and desires over and over again but with a different perspective, … [Read more...]