One of my holiday traditions is to listen to Handel’s Messiah at the beginning of Advent. I’ve been doing this since high school when my brother gave me a vinyl recording of it. It combines two of my favorite things: exquisite music and the words of the prophet Isaiah. This year as I listened, I […]
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There’s a story I read once about a grandfather giving his grandson a kite. The grandson asked him years later why he had given him the kite. The grandson had had a troubled childhood. The last thing he had wanted was a kite. He didn’t know how to fly it and never liked it. He […]
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When I was growing up, each Easter, the Easter bunny hid candies in our basement. This meant we kids had to clean the basement because the Easter bunny wouldn’t leave candy in a dirty basement. Thus my mom got her basement cleaned every year and a jump on her spring cleaning. I was not as […]
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A voice whispers late in the night, “You are my beloved child, in you I am well pleased.” Words God spoke to his Son thousands of years ago. Words God continues to speak to each of us if we but have ears to hear. In this stained glass window, we see Jesus, garbed in a […]
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Looking at those two deck chairs, which one is mine, and which one is reserved for my writing companion, my dog, Seamus? Last week I spent Monday through Friday at my nephew’s cottage at Lake St. James. (It’s a tough life, the life of a writer.) It was just what I needed to kick start […]
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Reds swirl throughout the church, red streamers, red banners, red dresses and shirts, all to capture the spirit of flames. It is a fiery end to the Easter season, this celebration of Pentecost. We celebrate the coming of the spirit upon the apostles so long ago, the birthday of the church. It is not an […]
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Easter – Preparing for Pentecost So often the Spirit is depicted as a gentle dove bringing gifts of wisdom, peace, joy, compassion. But God’s spirit is not a weak, wimpy one. It is also a spirit of courage, wild and untamed. Celtic Christians referred to God’s Spirit as a wild goose, wild, untamed, unpredictable, uncontrollable. […]
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Easter – preparing for Pentecost Children . . . running, playing, making demands, moving constantly . . . signs of life, signs of youth. Yet a newborn baby lies peacefully–most of the time. She sleeps and eats and sleeps some more during the first few weeks of her life. Those of us who cradle her […]
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Easter – Preparing for Pentecost Oh, what joy, when I first followed Jesus, when I experienced God’s presence and forgiveness. The sky was bluer, the sun burned brighter, flowers more radiant and colors more brilliant, touched by God’s love. But I also feared losing my new found joy, feared falling into sin and out of […]
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Easter – Preparing for Pentecost New life stirs within me, a life slow and quiet and steady-paced. I possess a new sense of peacefulness, such a contrast to the unrest of earlier days. I possess a quiet confidence that I will be able to handle life’s challenges. I feel a sense of stability and security. […]
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