Advent Basket Day 10

Today's Advent read is John 9:1-7. The miniature is a small bar of soap. And the paper reads, "Do you like to wash? Happy time when met Jesus."

Yes, Jesus can bring healing and happiness. The disciples were asking questions of "Why?" which I've heard is not a good question to ask. They were looking for someone, something, to blame. Jesus said, "You're asking the wrong question ... Look instead for what God can do".

Read the whole chapter - not so happy a time! His simple story of mud and washing was not accepted. "All I know is, I once was blind ... but now I see." 

Who is blind here?!

Advent Basket Day 9

Focusing on Jesus' ministry daily advent, the bag for December 9 has a piece of a road map in it. I had ripped a piece from a Colorado map that shows Evergreen and then folded it up.

Read John 14: 1-6. "We use a map when we travel. Jesus can be our guide."

The word Trinity may not actually be in scripture, but what it means is there, and this chapter 14 of John spells it out beautifully. Though to the disciples it's still all a riddle, to us, it takes us past the "We ... Us ... Our" we've been given prior to this passage.

Jesus is soon to leave the disciples. They've lived with Him for three years. While they're hoping for their physical place in time to change for the better, with Jesus as ruler, they've missed the deeper meanings of Kingdom that Jesus keeps talking about. They'll put it all together as they wait in the upper room after Jesus leaves them ...

Sit with John 14. Jesus tells the disciples, "it's to your advantage that I go away ..." 

The world seems a mess. "Let not your hearts be troubled ... Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives ... I am the way (the road), and the truth, and the life ... I will not leave you as orphans ... Because I live, you will live ... I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you ... Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

Ambrose / Immaculate Conception

Yesterday, Dec 7, was Ambrose's calendar day. He was trained in rhetoric and the law, was a governor, and became Bishop of Milan in 374. He was a great preacher and lecturer. It was he who converted Augustine, showing him that a person of intelligence could find the Christian faith totally satisfying. When baptizing people, he first washed their feet, which was not customary.

The one thing that sticks out to me is that Augustine was amazed at Ambrose reading silently to himself. The history of the written language is fascinating. We just think it's been forever as currently is, but originally, everything had been oral. Homer and Plato were the first persons to have things written (prior to that only history of kings and kingdoms and laws were written - like on papyrus and in clay). They were uncomfortable with their writing. And still it was not read silently. It boggles my mind. They say we're returning to a more oral society with the media today. I think we've got a good mix.

Ambrose lived at the time Arianism was strong. In his locality he set up separation of church and state since the state was made up of many Arian/pagan people. Ambrose is one of the Fathers of the church. He wrote many commentaries on scripture, and books on the Trinity. Since Arianism did not believe in the deity of Jesus, Ambrose was a strong contender for the Nicene Creed and it's wording - even promoting devotion to Mary as Jesus' virgin mother. Ambrose also championed congregational singing and composed a number of hymns. The singing in his church was written about by people.

Ambrose also introduced allegorical interpratation of scripture to the west. He admitted a literal sense, but sought everywhere a deeper mystical meaning that he converted into practical instruction for Christian life. Ambrose also broke away from a strong legalism, and Augustine, his pupil carried on writing about grace.

Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. You'd think of Jesus and the Incarnation, but no, it's what's believed of Mary's conception. It seems that Mary's parents did not 'couple' in 'human mire' - taking no pleasure in the act and not conceived with the taint of original sin. Thus a fit vessel for God's son to be hatched in. It's been a hotly debated thing for years.

We've come a long way baby! I don't know how many people still think of sex in marriage as dirty and evil. If God did not like our humanness, why did he choose to enter history as a seed in a womb and go through the birth process and be laid in an animal feed trough, needing to be nursed and burped and diapers changed, and announce his birth first to the lowest of society, dirty shepherds! There's such joy in sex as the Sacrament of Marriage!

My thoughts remember the picture on the Sistine Chapel where God stretches out his hand to Adam, calling him out of the dirt of the earth, kissing into him his breath of Life. How beautifully humanity is created. And God stretches out his arms to those who wait for his touch.

Advent Basket Day 8

As we feel our Advent bags, trying to guess what's inside, most of the items have a hardness to them. Today's bag is squishy soft (other than the slip of paper). Day 8 has two cotton balls in it. Maybe you're starting to catch on, but my Advent Basket days, as we're waiting for the coming of the Messiah, remembering His entering our history, our chronos time, are focused on Jesus' Ministry.

Two cotton balls? Well, we already encountered one account of Jesus healing a deaf person's ears. That would be my first guess. What else might cotton balls be for? I may not have cotton balls on hand, but I've wadded up Kleenex to put in my ears if there's a cold wind ...

Matthew 8:23-27 is the suggested scripture read for the day and the paper says, "Cotton can muffle loud noises when in our ears. Some one controls the weather."

I sat with the three gospel accounts. John has the time Jesus walked on water. The phrases that popped out at me were: "Do not be afraid ... Have you no faith? ... Why can't you trust Me?"

Advent Sunday 2

This second week's candle in the Advent wreath is the Bethlehem candle. The bedraggled Joseph and Mary searched for a place to sleep.

"Love" was born in Bethlehem and Love asks us to be open.

I love the song "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" written around 1868 by Phillip Brooks. During a sabbatical he traveled from Jerusalem to Bethlehem by horseback on Dec 24, imagining Mary and Joseph on their journey and a field of the shepherds. He was overcome by the beauty and felt the peace. Then he attended a five hour service at the Church of the Nativity. This experience never left Brooks and he wrote the song for his church's children's choir to sing.

"How proper it is that Christmas should follow Advent. For him who looks toward the future, the manger is situated on Golgotha, and the cross has already been raised in Bethlehem."
- Dag Hammarskjold


This reminds me of a drawing a friend's son drew while doodling in church.

Advent Basket Day 7

Day 7 miniature in my Advent Basket bag? A tiny loaf of bread. I can't remember if I bought it, but I'm guessing I baked it - taking a tiny piece of dough off one of my 6 loaves of bread I grind flour for and bake to freeze regularly. After letting it dry, I probably varnished it.

The suggested scripture to read is Matthew 14:13-21, and the writing says, "We eat bread. Jesus made a lot out of little." All four Gospels tell this story, and pretty similarly too, except John in chapter six.

In the first three Gospels the story follows the beheading of John the Baptist. Last year I did a post titled "Yes". Our church was going through an emotional upheaval and I spent a lot of the Advent season sitting with the nativity setting, putting myself in their shoes (sandals), starting with the genealogy, listening the stories Jesus grew up with, including those of the four women. In the "Yes" post I walked with Mary to Elizabeth's home, and the baby John leapt in her womb, the first to recognize the Incarnate God, in Mary's womb. And now I'm wondering what Jesus felt when he heard of his cousin John's death?

We see a 'moved to compassion' Jesus when seeing the large crowd of people following Him. He knows they want to see more miracles. It sounds like they, the disciples and Jesus, are exhausted. Jesus feeds the crowd. Now beyond just seeing miracles, they're going to want to follow Him for full bellies. I'm imagining this miracle was more for the disciples than for the people.

I posted on Andrew's calendar day about his noticing a boy with fish and loaves of bread. Buy food for all those people? Were there stores around? Did homes always have a lot of bread on hand for someone to buy? Having seen Jesus do all sorts of miracles would my mind immediately turn to the possibilities of all Jesus could do? Do I today, knowing the whole story - that resurrection power - think first of letting go and letting Jesus do?

John 6 carries the story further: Jesus tells the people, who he knows want to make him king so he can meet all their physical needs, that He's talking about a spiritual realm, an eternal kingdom. Beyond manna in the wilderness to the Bread of Life. "My flesh is true food ... whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life" WAIT! That's weird! I'd probably walk away grumbling too, and hungry.

I'm sure glad God drew me! romanced me, wooed me to Him!

Advent Basket Day 6

Once upon a time ... Who doesn't love a great story?! Some tell us about familiar things and some are from long ago and far away. Some stories are told as truth, some are believed only by children. Stories appeal to our imagination. They lift us out of the day-to-day and take us to a different, more fantastic place.

I just posted about the value of story, like the St Nicholas story. Jesus' birth sounds like many popular stories. We read of singing mice, fairy godmothers, talking animals; and we read about singing angels, wise men guided by stars, a birth in a stable ... God becoming human. We read of charming princes, pumpkins becoming carriages; and of a virgin birth, fulfilled prophecy, a humble child who grew up and healed the blind and sick.

Bag 6 of my Advent Basket has a bell in it. The paper says, "This makes noise. Read Mark 7:31-37. This man could not hear this until he met Jesus."

This is one of those fantastical and miraculous stories: Jesus put his fingers in a deaf man's ears and some spit on his tongue. He looked up in the sky and said, "Ephphatha!" And it happened. The man's hearing was clear and his speech plain - just like that.

Jesus' story is different. His story offers unmerited grace, not what we deserve. Because of His love, we get way more than we deserve. Jesus is real and it matters what we do with Jesus. There's very little at stake if we don't believe in Santa or Cinderella. What if we don't believe in Jesus' claims and accept the whole story of Jesus - His birth, death, and resurrection. Jesus said, "I am come that you might have life and have it in abundance."

Once upon a time ... Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Those who believe in Him ... will live happily ever after. Everyone loves a good story. But this is a story like no other.

Santa lives at the North Pole - Jesus is everywhere.
Santa comes but once a year - Jesus is an ever present help.
Jesus is as close as the mention of His name.
Santa lets you sit on his lap - Jesus lets you rest in His arms.
Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly -
Jesus has a heart full of love.
All Santa can offer is goodies and "Ho, ho, ho" -
Jesus meets our needs, offering healing, help, and hope.
Santa says, "You better not cry" -
Jesus says, "Cast all your cares on Me for I care for you."
Santa's little helpers make toys -
Jesus makes new life, mends wounded hearts ...
Santa may make you chuckle - Jesus gives joy.
While Santa puts gifts under your tree -
Jesus became our gift and died on a tree.

St Nicholas

Last night driving, Monte and me saw Mr and Mrs Santa Claus on a motorcycle in busy downtown Evergreen. I remembered reading that this was the night children could come see Santa. And then the other day at the Post Office, the postal worker was directing a mom and her kids to a box in the foyer for letters to Santa that went directly to the North Pole.

I've talked on my "Cycle of Celebrations" stuff across the country for quite some years now. I take a filled Christmas stocking along as a visual aid. I talk about the value of story and that the Bible mentions remembering the stories ... "tell the children ... that the grandchildren will know ... pass it on" ... over 300+ times. I researched Christian holidays, Jewish festivals, and then on to Saint Days.

I did not grow up with much of this and thought saint stuff was just Catholic. But it's all a part of church history. We have the Old and the New Testaments with their stories, and then what I call the Third Testament, carries on the stories. The apostle Paul refers to all of us believers as saints.

The Church for years started putting these stories on the Calendar. The dates are the people's death days - thus thought to be their Heaven birth dates. When Protestantism took off they threw out the calendar, as they did with so much (you know, the 'baby out with the bathwater' phrase).

As a result, since the St Nicholas story was not told for many generations, we end up with Santa Claus along with Jesus on Christmas. Instead, on December 6, we put up socks and fill them with stuff that reminds us of the real St Nicholas story and celebrate. We don't have to fear all the Santa stuff, just feel sad about the missing pieces of the whole story.

St Nicholas was a real person from present-day Turkey (288-354). He had lived through much persecution as a Christian and lived to see Christianity become the empire religion under Constantine. It's rumored he was at the Council of Nicea, where he was condemning the heresy of Arianism (not believing in the deity of Jesus). It's also said he slapped the heretic Arius.

There's SO many stories surrounding St Nicholas. The one he's most noted for is him throwing coins in a window, landing in socks hanging to dry, of a family who lost everything and the girls were going to give themselves to prostitution to make money. Nicholas employed people to make wooden toys to give away, and food - like ginger cookies, and even gave gifts of clothing. So these are things we put in the stockings: chocolate candy coins, ginger cookies, fruit, mittens or socks, and something wooden. So I'm always on the lookout for wooden toys and the candy coins. As Heather got older, I gave her wooden kitchen tools.

There's lots of silly stories (hagiography) ... but who knows. In those days people had eyes to see miracles. Do we look for miracles in our everyday - like God 'winks'? People used to wake up and say, "This is so-and-so's day" and remember their stories. If God was there for them, then he's here for us too. We wake up and it's just another Monday, or Friday, or Sunday. Our calendar days could be rich with stories - a Story Calendar.

Many saint stories are wild. Like maybe close to being heretics walking the edge over a precipice. But they are humans who hear the Gospel and walk it uniquely for their place and time. If not for them we'd not have much learning and healing institutions and inner city care. We'd not have kings, rulers, and church leadership hearing the Truth.

So use this day to celebrate and tell the real story of Santa Claus (who the Dutch brought to our country and it grew from there). Then the rest of December when people ask, "did you tell Santa what you want?" we can say, "his name is St Nicholas, and he's already been to our house". Then he's separated from Jesus.

Some have said, "I'm not going to tell my kids about Santa, cuz then they'll think Jesus is a myth too." Well I heard of a 10 year old telling college kids that he knew about Santa Claus, like he knew about elves, the easter bunny, and other pretend things. "I never got him mixed up with Jesus because I could tell from the way my parents talked and acted all year long that Jesus was true."

One year when we lived in Tucson, Monte took ashes from the fireplace and drew ash footprints coming out into the living room. We had left milk and cookies for Santa. At 31 and 29, I don't think Heather and Travis are psychologically crippled. Actually their sense of wonder (next to worship) is alive and well. Memories are the library of the soul.

Enjoy the cute books. I found that JRR Tolkien had written Father Christmas letters to his kids, and all his illustrations along with the 20 some years of letters are all in a fun book: Father Christmas Letters.

Sing the song "You better watch out ..." and then talk about the message of 'naughty or nice'. Because in Jesus, God gives salvation and adoption into the trinity family as a gift. We do not earn it.

"The giver of every good and perfect gift has called upon us to mimic His giving, by grace, through faith, and this not of ourselves," said Nicholas.

"We who still enjoy fairy tales have less reason to wish actual childhood back. We have kept its pleasures and added some grown-up ones as well." - CSLewis

"Come to me as a child," says Jesus.

Advent Basket Day 5

You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope.

With less of you there is more of God ...

You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you.

Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

You're blessed when you're content with just who you are - no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God.

He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.

You're blessed when you care.

At the moment of being 'care-full,' 

you find yourselves cared for.

You're blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperated instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom ... you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble. 

My Advent Basket Day 5 bag has a Smiley Face in it, and says to "read Matthew 5:1-12. Jesus told us how to be happy."

Do you hunger and thirst after God, His righteousness? which is in the middle of The Beatitudes? The first three: poor in spirit, grief (those who mourn), constraint (those who are meek), I see as life experiences that can recycle throughout life. But how many people work up an appetite for God?

Children are poor - totally dependent. As adults it's hard to ask for help or admit our neediness and depend on God. Today, we tend to dull or sedate grief, working hard to avoid it, and not processing it and dealing with it. As a child, meekness is having to brush my teeth and make my bed, growing into accountability in the workplace, marriage vows, disciplines - all helping to shape who we are.

Jesus didn't just preach at us, but acted it out himself, and gave himself. Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full". "Follow Me."

Tapestry of Life

I was going to go to FoodNetwork and look at broccoli recipes since I have lots of broccoli from our farm share to use, and I got sidetracked ... I was remembering a tapestry poem I read years ago, that I probably have filed away, but I've not organized my files yet since I've moved everything around. I ended up Googling "tapestry poem" instead.

I also downloaded the pictures off my camera from a recent felting picture I did and hung at church last night. So I'll post the picture's stages: from the layering colors of sheep wool which I cover and pour hot soapy water over and agitate, to felt ... to the finished framed picture.

Here's the Tapestry poem I was remembering. Apparently Corrie Ten Boom (my Grandmother got to talk to her - and in Dutch!) used to say this poem as she spoke around the world. (And why am I thinking of tapestry? Cuz that's the textile art I'm returning to, having sold my large weaving loom and found the tapestry loom I want posted on Craigslist on Thanksgiving Day.)

My life is but a weaving between my God and me,
I do not choose the colors; He works so steadily.
Oft times He weaves in sorrow, and I in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and me the underside.
Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly,
Will God unroll the canvas, and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful in the weavers skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.

The poem was read at my weaving mentor's funeral after her sudden death when scuba-diving (she was in her 80's) on vacation with her husband. One story told of her: during the war (and she continued for other needs too) she'd unravel knit things and reknit sweaters and socks.

And another poem I found when searching by a Debbie Milam -
When we embrace the many parts of our experience we discover a magnificent creation.

Every moment is but a thread, a thread of consciousness embracing the very essence of life.

Some threads are brilliant and dazzling while others are tattered and torn.

When looked upon in isolation the tattered threads look inferior.

Yet when woven together by the wondrous hands of the creator the light magically blends with the dark.

As joy coalesces with pain God creates the magnificent tapestry that is life.

Monte came in from his office and just whipped up something for our supper using the broccoli! And is saying, "Time to eat".