Okay, okay. I'm caving to the pressure. Jen at Conversion Diary and Kathy at 10 Minute Writer have both been posting these 7 Quick-Takes each Friday -- just short little blurts of posts on seven different random topics at the end of each week. Brilliant. Jen's idea, but it's slowly spreading across blogdom.
And I'm caving.
So, here we go......
1
Jeff Dunham is the funniest man on the face of this earth. I'm watching him as I type this and I'm having severe problems in not totally ROTFLOL. I never thought that a ventriloquist could be so hilarious, but I simply love his characters. Peanut is my favorite -- he's nearly as random as I wish I were. Walter's curmudgeon act is wonderful, even if much bleeping from the censors must occur. The new Christmas special is dang funny -- don't miss it if it happens to roll across Comedy Central during your watch.
2
Today we enjoyed a lovely Christmas party with our local homeschooling Park Day group. We haven't been able to do anything with them yet except for a field trip to the Star of India at the San Diego Maritime Museum, but I know many of the families involved. Having a homeschool group in our small town of 1200 is simply wonderful, and I'm replanning our schedule (as in skipping a chiropractic appointment after Mass) so that we can do more activities with the Park Day group. Sheri, my best friend here in town, opened her home and we enjoyed tea, coffee, and a lovely potluck lunch while kids jumped on the trampoline, ran around, chased the goats, played in the treehouse, made Christmas crafts, etc. Such a lovely way to finish up our homeschooling for the calendar year.
3
Grading essays is the bane of my existence. Truly. I adore one-on-one tutoring, I love being in front of a classroom. But a stack of essays waiting to be graded always seems to remind me of something extremely pressing I need to be doing instead, like trimming my toenails or plucking my eyebrows, Once I get going, I don't mind it tooooooo much, except for the students who haven't turned in their best work. Then I feel my frustration level rising as I mark the ninth sentence fragment or the seventh comma splice, not to mention the fifteenth misspelling. But when a student who has been struggling finally makes a breakthrough, it's sheer joy. I love teaching literature and writing ... so I guess if grading comes along with the territory, I'm just gonna hafta deal with it.
4
Tomorrow night two of my kids are going to be in our community's first Christmas play. Tomorrow we have to go set up the hall before the final rehearsal, and I was counting on our oldest son helping us set up two hundred chairs. But Number One son has spent all evening hanging over the toilet after getting sick three times so far. Why does it always happen that whenever we have a family event of some sort, one of the four children become very ill? It seems to be some twisted sort of karma or something. Not funny, Lord.
5
At Lake Murray I am somehow involved in all of our liturgical events. In February, I remind the staff of Ash Wednesday and Lent so we can send out a little blurb about Lent. During Holy Week I set up the Stations of the Cross in the sanctuary and *beg* for a Good Friday service. And during Advent, I get to line up the families to light the Advent candles. I love doing all these things because, as my regular readers know, liturgy is my life. But I don't attend the first service, so I'm always at a loss to ask people to light the candles and read the Scriptures for that service. Veneta, our church assistant and general go-to woman, is going to e-mail me some names, cuz I'm at a loss again. Yep, again....
6
You know, it's not easy to come up with seven random mini-posts when one is a linear thinker. I will have to think these little seven thingymajiggies out more in advance. I promise they'll get better. At least they can't get worse, right?
7
And yes, I'm still laughing at Jeff Dunham while I'm typing this. My ribs hurt. My throat hurts. My face hurts. Gotta love him... and Peanut. Lotion or no lotion.
Between Morning Prayer and Holy Communion this morning, I talked with Father Acker about Advent. I know that the Anglican/liturgical churches have a different classification for Advent Sundays than the one we use for Advent which I took from Focus on the Family's Advent guide years ago. The more evangelical (for lack of a better word) order of candles is First Sunday: Prophecy; Second Sunday: Bethlehem; Third Sunday: Shepherd; and Fourth Sunday: Angel, with the white Christ Candle being lit on Christmas Eve.
However, Father Acker explained this morning that Advent really doesn't have as much in common with Christmas as we might think. Advent really is in no way a "countdown to Christmas" as it is generally considered today. Instead, it is a penitential season quite separate from Christmas as the focus is not so much on celebrating the First Advent (Coming) of Jesus in the Incarnation as it is a looking forward in anticipation to the promised Second Coming of Christ "to judge the living and the dead." It's about Last Things far more than the coming joy of Christmas.
In keeping with waiting for the Second Coming, the Advent candles are quite different in liturgical traditions. The First Sunday is about Death; the Second Judgment; the Third Heaven (thus the lightening of the penitential purple candles to a rose-colored one), and the Fourth, Hell. Much more sobering than the common Advent calendars covered with images of Santa Claus and filled with 24 little chocolates behind the windows, eh?
Father Acker continued to explain that the Anglican Church has a bit of a different twist on the Day of Judgment. Rather than seeing the Final Judgment as a "weighing in the balance" of our past deeds, the Anglican tradition views Judgment as a face-to-face encounter with God. Either we will love His Face because we indeed are His, or we will run in terror because we do not know or love Him. Interesting thought, that.
Advent is so much more than anticipation of Christmas. It's all about our hearts -- are they truly His? Do we long to see His Holy Face? Do we look joyfully forward to being in His Presence? Advent is a time to consider Last Things -- to ask Him to cleanse our hearts of selfish indulgence (not made particularly easy by all the Christmas parties!) and anticipate seeing the Face of our Beloved, our Light shining in the darkness. May the Light of His Presence be yours this Holy Season, my friends.
This Saturday, December 13, the Pine Valley Players, the theatre branch of the Mountain Empire Creative Arts Council, will be presenting their First Annual Christmas production, A Journey Through Christmas, written and directed by Dianne Holly with musical direction by Teri Carpentier-Antti. The Pine Valley Bible Conference Center (8668 Pine Creek Road) had kindly allowed the Pine Valley Players use of their lovely and large Worthington Hall venue. Curtain will be at 7:30 PM sharp.
Donations will be gratefully accepted in lieu of set ticket prices, and refreshments will be served during Intermission. The Free Teen Guitar Class, under the tutelage of Father Keith Acker of Alpine Anglican Church of the Blessed Trinity, will provide music before the performance. And a Silent Art Auction, benefitting the Pine Valley Players and the Mountain Empire Art Council's children's programs, will take place during Intermission.
Both E and J will be performing in A Journey Through Christmas, in two tableaus in which E plays J's mother both times. J will also be performing with the Free Teen Guitar Class before the play begins. My parents and brother and his two kids are coming up to meet us for dinner at Major's Diner before the play. T has been helping with props, and I will be the House Manager on the night of the performance.
Our local friends are all invited to come, whether living in PV or "down the hill." We hope that they will all appreciate the hard work of the Pine Valley Players in producing their first Christmas play.
On Sunday, we celebrated the Second Sunday of Advent. In our evangelical church (which differs from more liturgical churches), we light the Bethlehem Candle for the Second Week of Advent, and when the family who had agreed to light the candle couldn't make it, our family stepped in to light the two candles, the Prophecy Candle from last week and this week's Bethlehem Candle. T lit the candles while Keith read from the fifth chapter of Micah:
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.
Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of his brothers shall return
to the people of Israel.
And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.
And he shall be their peace.
In the Anglican tradition, the Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent is my favorite Collect of the entire liturgical year; in fact, it's my e-mail signature during Advent:
BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
So as our family gathers around our Advent wreath this week, we'll also be praying this prayer from another Advent resource:
O King of all nations, Jesus Christ, only joy of every heart, come and save your people. Amen.
May you and yours enjoy a blessed Advent as we focus our minds and hearts on the First Incarnation of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and prepare for His imminent Second Coming to judge both the living and the dead, rejoicing that His Kingdom will never end.
Yesterday our youngest turned nine, and I feel oooooold. :)
B ordered bacon and pancakes for his birthday breakfast, so I got up early and made him his special request. Just before leaving for church, he opened his gift from Keith and myself: Indiana Jones Legos. J also gave him a small Lego kit. At church he made ice cream as part of his Sunday School class, and at the beginning of the second service, our family went forward to light the candles for the second Sunday in Advent.
After church, we drove to the San Diego Zoo where we met my parents and my brother with his two kids. We had cheeseburgers and fries near the front of the zoo. The skies were very cloudy with the promise of rain, but fortunately it held off until well after we left. B's preference was to see the monkeys and the turtles, and peacocks seemed to follow us wherever we went.
Years and years ago my mother bought the birthday cake hat seen in B's photo above. Wherever we are when we celebrate a family birthday, the birthday person must wear the hat IN PUBLIC. Keith has long been plotting the demise of said hat but has not yet been successful. B, however, is the only family member who wears the hat with pride. Last year he received a free book at the Natural History Museum for wearing it, and this year he received nine kisses from a special Zoo puppet besides the shout-outs on the zoo bus (see below).
The older boys, my dad, and my brother took turns pushing my wheelchair, so it worked out well enough. Keith's sister, Karen, works at the zoo as a bus tour guide, so we were able to board a bus and take a 40-minute tour around the zoo which gave us a look at 70% of the grounds. Karen also told everyone on the top level to wish the boy with the birthday cake hat a happy birthday, both as we pulled out at the start of the tour and again as we pulled in at the end. It was a bit cold on the bus, but we really enjoyed the tour -- Karen is an excellent guide.
My parents left around 4 PM while my brother and his two kids stayed with us while we visited the meerkats and otters in the Children's Zoo before heading to the gift shops where E and T bought B a stuffed hamster, much like ones that J and T, own as their gift to him. He also spent the money from my brother in purchasing a stuffed bush baby that we christened Jabberwocky (Jabbers for short) on the way home.
At home we enjoyed pizza, B's request for dinner -- one of those take-home-and-bake pizzas from Costco. And for dessert B requested cherry vanilla ice cream with peppermint JoJos (oreo-like cookies from Trader Joe's) rather than cake. We celebrated while watching the third Librarian movie starring ER's Noah Wylie. So B had a lovely birthday and had a wonderful time.
So, Happy Birthday, B! We love our comical boy!
It's been a busy few days in our household with the Christmas Tea on Saturday and B's ninth birthday on Sunday (photos and post forthcoming). So today I am getting to the celebration of St. Nicholas' Day a few days later than planned.
From the wonderful Saint of the Day e-mails from americancatholic.org, which notes that although we can't truly "prove" the legends about St. Nicholas, we can still extract lessons that we can then apply to our lives:
The absence of the “hard facts” of history is not necessarily an obstacle to the popularity of saints, as the devotion to St. Nicholas shows. Both the Eastern and Western Churches honor him, and it is claimed that, after the Blessed Virgin, he is the saint most pictured by Christian artists. And yet, historically, we can pinpoint only the fact that Nicholas was the fourth-century bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor.
As with many of the saints, however, we are able to capture the relationship which Nicholas had with God through the admiration which Christians have had for him—an admiration expressed in the colorful stories which have been told and retold through the centuries.
Perhaps the best-known story about Nicholas concerns his charity toward a poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters of marriageable age. Rather than see them forced into prostitution, Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man’s window on three separate occasions, thus enabling the daughters to be married. Over the centuries, this particular legend evolved into the custom of gift-giving on the saint’s feast. In the English-speaking countries, St. Nicholas became, by a twist of the tongue, Santa Claus—further expanding the example of generosity portrayed by this holy bishop.
Comment:
The critical eye of modern history makes us take a deeper look at the legends surrounding St. Nicholas. But perhaps we can utilize the lesson taught by his legendary charity, look deeper at our approach to material goods in the Christmas season and seek ways to extend our sharing to those in real need.
Quote:
“In order to be able to consult more suitably the welfare of the faithful according to the condition of each one, a bishop should strive to become duly acquainted with their needs in the social circumstances in which they live.... He should manifest his concern for all, no matter what their age, condition, or nationality, be they natives, strangers, or foreigners” (Decree on the Bishops' Pastoral Office, 16).
***
This year I didn't have the time or the money to get the chocolate gold coins that I usually insert in the kids' shoes for them to find on the morning of St. Nicholas Day. With all the busyness with the ladies' Christmas Tea, St. Nicholas Day kind of passed unnoticed in our household this year. (Especially when the only gold coins I ran across were "High School Musical" ones - blech!) But St. Nicholas, as the precursor to our Santa Claus, is a saint to remember for his generosity to the poor and his giving spirit, which we all need a reminder of at times during this Holy Season.
Aaaah, tea. The magic elixir. The nectar of the gods. The infusion of scent, grace, and caffeine that keeps us all civilized as well as sane.
And what is tea without a little something to nibble with it? Whether it be a simple cookie or a buttery scone or a fancy confection, a little something to consume along with tea is a must.
Well, tomorrow afternoon is our annual ladies' Christmas Tea at Lake Murray. We have sixteen tables planned, all consisting of eight to ten ladies. Each table has an assigned hostess who brings her own tea things: china cups and plates, silverware and teapots, napkins and tablecloths, candles and centerpiece. Other ladies prepare the two courses: sandwiches and fruit, and a dessert course. The sandwiches are lovely, usually some chicken salad in mini-croissants, some ham and cheese, some cucumber and cream cheese, etc. The desserts are delicate and divine, with chocolate truffles, fruit tarts, slices of cake, and Christmas cookies. My favorites are the almond cookies covered in powdered sugar --- mmmmm! And tea -- all sorts are provided, from typical blacks to delicate greens to fragrant herbals. Lemon, sugar, and cream are available at every table.
And there's the chatting that takes place over tea. This year we have assigned tables, so we'll have some women we know, and others we don't know so well. Many women bring friends, mothers, sisters from outside the church to sample the delicacies and enjoy the afternoon. We talk about all sorts of subjects, warming to complete strangers over the civilizing influence of tea.
The program is also fun and brings a mixture of laughter and tears. The door prizes (very nice ones at that!) are fun to give away, and much laughter always ensues. Adrienne, our resident stand-up comedienne, always gives us food for thought along with our not-so-ladylike guffaws. And the speaker, always different each year, brings us to tears somehow as the Holy Spirit touches our hearts in a new-old way that we never seem to expect.
But my favorite part is the carols. Joan leads us from her seat at the grand piano in the classics, and all the women's voices rise and fall as one -- the sheer beauty of the voices melding together into a beautiful euphony almost always brings me to tears. I hope that at least one of my favorite carols will be sung: "O Holy Night," "Angels We Have Heard on High," or "What Child Is This?" (In that order.)
Somehow we always enter the tea frazzled, harried, busy with whatever part we play in the tea (mine is lettering all of the place cards and name tags for 135 women), and we find ourselves relaxing over hot tea, warm friends old and new, and delicate eatables. We pray, sing, listen, laugh, hug, and pray some more, and somehow we leave, at peace with the world and ready for the Christmas season to swing into full gear. Yes, we may feel frazzled and harried throughout the month, but there will be a little well of peace in our innermost hearts that wouldn't be there without our afternoon tea on the first Saturday of December.
John H. Armstrong has posted another wonderful article on the minimum beliefs for Christianity. It's an excellent blog post, one that set me to thinking about what our steps should be to help promote unity among Christian traditions and to use that unity to both spread the Gospel and also obey God's commands about caring for the poor, both physically with food and clothing and also with literacy programs and other educational assistance. The old song, "They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love" rings hollow for me currently now as I hear some evangelicals question Catholics' salvation and as I hear some Catholics sneer at a six-day Creation. Armstrong suggests that the litmus test for Christian belief should be found in the Apostle's Creed. Here it is, from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer:I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary: Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead: He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty: From thence he shall judge the quick and the dead.I believe in the Holy Ghost: The holy Catholic Church; The Communion of Saints: The Forgiveness of sins: The Resurrection of the body: And the Life everlasting. Amen. That indeed is our litmus test, and one that has been used as such throughout the centuries, as it was indeed designed to be. "Creed" comes from the Latin "creo" which means, "I believe." The beliefs of the Church since the earliest centuries have been demonstrated in this Creed, and Armstrong is right to bring it up again as a modern measuring tool in promoting the New Ecumenism, based on the beliefs that Jesus Christ is Who He said He was in the Scriptures: the Son of God Who came to reconcile us to our Creator. What do you think?
Eleven-year-old J has been literally counting the hours to his guitar class today. After playing an acoustic guitar borrowed from Father Acker's wife, Alice, since he started lessons in July, J received wonderful news from Fatehr Acker following the Free Teen Guitar Class' (FTGC) performance at the ecumenical Thanksgiving service in Alpine last Wednesday: someone had donated several new electric guitars as "loaners" to the FTGC. And J gets first pick! He's chosen the wine-red Silvertone Rockit 21 (pictured above) and this afternoon he'll be able to play it for the first time and also bring it home for practicing. I've rarely seen J's face light up the way it did when Father Acker gave him the good news. He has never complained about being the only guitar student using an acoustic, but he's thrilled to be able to make the transition to electric, especially with such a cool electric guitar that is brand-new!
Father Acker's Free Teen Guitar Class is such a blessing for the students of Alpine and the backcountry. He's a patient and encouraging teacher, and he doesn't mind me and B completing B's schoolwork in a corner of the big room in the Alpine Community Center while he teaches the class. Currently the Beginning Class that J is part of has two to three students, and there are students also in the Intermediate and Advanced levels. Six students played at the Thanksgiving service.
J can also be seen playing at the Thanksgiving service on the FTGC website by clicking right here. He is so excited about playing this brand-new electric guitar. So many thanks to the donor(s) who made this "loaner" possible, and many, many thanks to Father Acker for his willingness to spend his Wednesday afternoons patient teaching squirrely boys (girls are welcome, too, but right now most of the students are boys). J is our musical kid who has taken piano lessons for over two years and truly enjoys playing both the piano and the guitar. He's simply thrilled to "trade up" his loaner acoustic for a cool red electric!
Advent is one of my favorite times of the year. I enjoy it almost more than Christmas in several ways. I love gathering around the Advent wreath, a simple wooden one that Keith made for us seven years ago -- just an oval wooden plaque with five wooden candle holders glued on -- four around the outer edges and one in the center. I've added silk greenery -- holly strands and some evergreens with purple and silver pears to match the candles. We use the traditional colors of three purple candles, one pink candle, and a center white Christ Candle.
Since we've moved to this house, we have celebrated Advent -- this is our eighth year of doing so. After dinner the kids and I gather at the kitchen table with the Advent wreath in the middle, and each child gets his or her "turn" once every four nights. When it is a child's turn, her or she lights the candle(s), reads the Scripture passage, and chooses the carol we sing (badly), and after we finish at the table, he or she gets to read the Scripture card attached to that day's pocket of the Advent calendar, a large wall hanging made by Keith's sister for us the same year we moved here. The child also gets the candy or small wrapped gift hidden in the pocket after reading the Scripture card. This year I placed either a York peppermint patty or a Reese's peanut butter bell in each pocket. I pray after the Scripture and also read the devotional.
Our devotionals have changed over the years. We started off with Jotham's Journey and Tabitha's Travels which are out-of-print and very hard to obtain. Last year I saw them on e-Bay for close to $100 each! I'm missing the second book in the series but definitely can't afford it. Last year we read a little book called Christ in the Carols that contained the words to a carol, a story about the inspiration of the carol, a Scripture verse, and a short prayer.
This year we are using my own devotional, The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle, a lovely gift from Dru that I am enjoying immensely. I pray the Morning Office, Midday Office, and Compline myself, but we have been doing the Vespers Office for our Advent devotional. It includes several short passages from the Psalms, a longer Scripture passage, the words to an Advent hymn, and closes with the Collect for that particular week of Advent. The Scriptures are from the New Jerusalem Bible which is easy for the kids to understand, and the Collects have been put in slightly more modern language which works well for us.
Here is the Collect for the First Sunday in Advent that we will pray together each night this week:
Almighty God, give us all grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which Your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when He shall come again in His glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through Him who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
I really enjoy gathering around the lit candles in a darkened room, watching our children's faces in the flickering light as we read the Scriptures, pray, and sing together. It's a precious time, and I always hate to see each Advent end, even though Christmas Joy is right around the corner....
