A New Year's Poem by Tennyson

This poem was the "hymn" in tonight's Vespers prayers in The Divine Hours, and I thought it highly appropriate to share with you all as 2009 begins:

Ring out the old, ring in the new
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out false, ring in true.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

-- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

New Year's Day and Another Holy Day...

The kids and I spent New Year's Day up the mountain at my parents' cabin on Mount Laguna, at 6000 feet elevation. Despite the 70 degree weather extending even to our mountain town at 3700 feet, we found the first signs of snow at 5000 feet and a good covering at 6000, especially on northern slopes, as we drove up the winding mountain roads. Lots of other San Diegans were also playing in the snow, parking in every available spot even if some of the regular spots consisted of more mud than snow. We did fine in my little '91 Corolla (Molly by name -- yes, we named her) until we turned off the dry highway and started down the dirt, um, mud, road that leads to my parents' cabin. Molly slid a bit and we had San Diegans in front and driving the other ways who were not used to driving in either snow NOR mud. We managed to get Molly into the cabin's driveway under my dad's direction where we promptly got stuck. Knowing getting out would be interesting if not problematic, we unloaded and got the kids onto the slopes behind the cabin.

My parents' cabin sits on a north-facing slope, so the snow was still quite deep; I stepped into a drift that took me into the snow to my knees although most of the snow was 4-6 inches deep. The kids were immediately flying down the slope on the toboggan and disc and a couple of sledding mats. The temperature reached fifty by 1:00 PM, so off came the coats as the kids and my brother and his kids hit the slopes hard. Mom made a crock pot of chili for lunch, and we also had the traditional sauerkraut, which the Germanic side of my family insists brings prosperity in the New Year if eaten. I choked down a tiny forkful -- ugh! Disgusting stuff. We had a wonderful afternoon, playing Set and Apples to Apples, and I made more genealogy notes while talking to my parents. Mom said she'll pay for the software program I need to make sense of all the genealogy stuff I've collected, so I'll purchase Roots Magic very soon.

After seven or eight tries with my brother pushing her backwards, my dad finally dislodged Molly with the kids inside and drove her backwards the quarter-mile to the highway, with me following in my brother's truck. Then I took over driving Molly home after handing Dad the flashlight so he could walk back to the cabin in the MUD. Fortunately, we left around 5:45 PM before the temps dropped to freezing so we weren't slipping around too badly. It seemed much later than 6:00 PM when we got home, Keith getting home from a painting job just before we did.

Today is also the Eighth Day of Christmas, and also the Circumcision of Christ. As Jesus was indeed born a Jew, on the eighth day after birth he would have been circumcised, and liturgical churches remember this date as it shows how completely Jesus indeed became man for us.

The Collect for this day, January 1, reads:

Almighty God, who madest thy blessed Son to be circumcised, and obedient to the law for man; Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit; that, our hearts, and all our members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey thy blessed will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At circumcision, the child would be formally named. Philippians 2, the Epistle for this day reminds us of Jesus' complete humanity and absolute divinity showed in His Name and in His power:

God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation in fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

So today takes us to a New Year and to a new resolve to love and serve in the Name of our Holy and Righteous Lord who became Man for our sakes.

Father Acker of Alpine Anglican Church of the Blessed Trinity wrote today on his blog Thursday Evening News:

"Born of Mary, a Jewish girl, Jesus was a Jew by birth. It was by circumcision that families were brought into the covenant relationship with the Lord God. In Jesus we are born into the family of God and circumcised into the covenant relationship with God; both in the reality of the flesh of Jesus. Yes, it is a messy business God being born of woman and the flesh of his foreskin. God came among us not in outward appearance, but in what we are, fully human and into our human existence. He came to fulfill The Law given by God as we humans had been unable fulfill because of our sin, our turning away from God.It is fitting that the Circumcision of the Child Christ is also New Year's Day on our modern calendar. Jesus is bringing about a new beginning for those are adopted into his death and resurrection. Our resolutions are begun upon what God has done for us; it is not in expectation that we are working to be better men and women. Our resolve centers upon responding to God's love, that our lives might reflect what God has given unto us. It is not our taking on or giving up, but letting our lives show what has been given. The gift of God is already there for those who have received Christ.If you haven't received Jesus into your heart, now is the time to ask him into your life. Now is the time to ask for the power of God to make you new in the sacrament of Baptism. This is the start of what begins every Christians' day, to ask Jesus to be Lord, Savior, and King in this new day, in this new year, and asking that power of God might fill our lives this coming day, and this coming year. And we know that no matter how messy our lives may get, real problems, real people, real tragedy, 'God is with us.' It is Jesus' name, Emmanuel, 'God with us.' Not in appearance, not in fancy words, but incarnate, in the flesh, the blessings of the Child Christ."

A blessed 2009 to you all!

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen 2008!

So, on this seventh day of Christmas and final day of the year, we wave goodbye to 2008 and stay up late to greet 2009....

The kids and I drove "down the hill" today as they had gift cards and Christmas money burning holes in their respective pockets. After I saw Dr. Burns, our chiropractor, and picked up a check from his receptionist for work Keith has done at her place (she is sooooo pleased and even showed us photos from her camera of his work), we continued on with our long list of errands....

-- Henry's (natural food store) for yogurt and freshly-baked French bread to go with our soup tonight

-- Our Credit Union, to deposit the check into our account

-- Target, where we ate our packed lunches in the car before going in. The kids were given gift cards to Target. I bought TicTacs, while B and T bought Bionicles and E found a new purse and candy canes on sale.

-- GameStop, where we looked but didn't buy.

-- 99 Cent Store, where E stocked up on peppermint sticks (she's our peppermint girl!) and I bought two pairs of brown socks so I don't have to keep rewearing the one pair of brown socks I currently own. B also stocked up on peppermint sticks -- these are the big ones that were being sold 4 for $1.

-- Payless Shoes, where I saw a great purse (olive green suede) on sale for $8 but restrained myself.

-- WalMart, where E bought the third Twilight book, B and T bought more Bionicles, and J bought a small Star Wars figure.

-- Guitar Class for J, while E read her new Twilight book and T & B built Bionicles. I wrote a little in my journal until Dru came, and we chatted.

-- WalMart again, where E purchased the 4th Twilight book that she realized she could afford after all, and T helped J buy the Star Wars set he really wanted. I bought Chex Mix for our New Years Eve family party tonight.

So after eating chicken vegetable soup with French bread tonight, we'll settle down with board games to wile away the time until 2009 arrives. We'll see if B makes it. Keith has to leave for work by 8:15 tomorrow, so he'll be heading to bed by 11 PM or so. And then tomorrow the kids and I are headed up the mountain to play in the snow and play more board games at the cabin with my parents and my brother and his kids. It should be a fun day.

So, auf wiedersehen 2008, and tag 2009!

Happy Sixth Day of Christmas and Favorites of 2008

A Happy Sixth Day of Christmas to everyone!

As I'm taking the kids "down the hill" tomorrow to spend some of their Christmas money, today is the day that I'll look back on 2008 and list "a few of my favorite things." 2008 has not been an easy year financially (to say the least), but it's been a good homeschooling year, a good writing year, and a good friendship year.

Homeschooling has been fun -- I just love spending my days with my kids, most of the time. ;) I would love to have one day off a month to sit in a coffee shop and write, but otherwise, we're doing fine. E is a bit behind in her chemistry experiments (which she will be remedying this week), but we're up-to-date in everything else and are enjoying most subjects. I haven't yet found a solid astronomy book for the boys, and as I know little of the science myself, it's our one weak point. But the boys are always reading science books on their own, so they're doing fine.

I feel quite successful with writing this year, having a poem published, completing NaNoWriMo (50,000 words of a novel in a month), and publishing a few stories for our small town monthly newspaper. I've made little progress on my BIG work, mostly because of lack of research time. In my new Rule of Life, I'm trying to clear half an hour a day for writing, either my novel or my non-fiction work on liturgy. And blogging has been going well, with nearly 5000 hits here since last March. Not a huge readership, but I'm quite pleased to have you along on the ride and am astonished that anyone at all reads my little meditative meanderings.

Friends have been wonderful this year. Judith continues to love me, even when I had to resign my secretarial duties with MECAC (our local arts council). We celebrated 50th birthdays of Kitty and Linda, Kitty's with a day at the beach and Linda's with a lunch at Olive Garden. Our Logos Literary Group at church has been wonderfully fun as we read and discuss very divergent writings. I miss the Lady Bereans, the Tuesday morning Bible study I've participated in for years, but I've become closer friends with Dru of Alpine Anglican, plus Sheri and I have enjoyed a spiritual retreat or two. (And I still owe Kitty one in celebration of her birthday in August.) The Lake Murray Women's Retreat was a highlight of my year, as always, with highjinks and fellowship mixed with time for reflection and prayer. And Facebook brought all of my friends closer, despite the computer issues caused by viruses on my laptop that Veneta resolved for us.

But now onto some favorites of 2008. Not all of these movies, books, and music came out this year, but I experienced them this year and declare them as my favorites.

Favorite Movie: Mamma Mia!, 2008

Favorite New TV Show: The Mentalist, CBS

Favorite Returning TV Show: House, MD, FOX

Favorite Novel: Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James, 2008

Favorite Nonfiction Book: Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande, 1934

Favorite Devotional Book (besides Bible/BCP): The Divine Hours in Three Volumes by Phyllis Tickle, 2000 (link takes you to only one volume of the three)

Favorite Blog: The 10-Minute Writer

Favorite Website: Act 3 Ministries (John H. Armstrong)

Favorite Social Networking Site: Facebook

Favorite Song: "Our Last Summer" from Mamma Mia!, sung by Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan

Favorite CD: Mamma Mia! Soundtrack

What are some of your favorite things/activities/etc. of 2008? I'd love to read yours ... and get some new ideas for books to read, movies to see, devotionals and websites to check out.

Fifth Day of Christmas and Saint Thomas Beckett

(Image from "Just a Slice" Flickr page, located through Google Images)

In addition to today being the Fifth Day of Christmas (I'd take five golden rings right now, thankyouverymuch), today is also the Feast Day of St. Thomas Beckett. The candle above in Canterbury Cathedral marks the place where St. Thomas was murdered by henchman of King Henry II, who apparently mistook his frustration at Thomas to be an order for the Archbishop's murder.

Here is the Saint of the Day from AmericanCatholic.org:

St. Thomas Becket (1118-1170)
A strong man who wavered for a moment, but then learned one cannot come to terms with evil and so became a strong churchman, a martyr and a saint—that was Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, murdered in his cathedral on December 29, 1170.
His career had been a stormy one. While archdeacon of Canterbury, he was made chancellor of England at the age of 36 by his friend King Henry II. When Henry felt it advantageous to make his chancellor the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas gave him fair warning: he might not accept all of Henry’s intrusions into Church affairs. Nevertheless, he was made archbishop (1162), resigned his chancellorship and reformed his whole way of life!

Troubles began. Henry insisted upon usurping Church rights. At one time, supposing some conciliatory action possible, Thomas came close to compromise. He momentarily approved the Constitutions of Clarendon, which would have denied the clergy the right of trial by a Church court and prevented them from making direct appeal to Rome. But Thomas rejected the Constitutions, fled to France for safety and remained in exile for seven years. When he returned to England, he suspected it would mean certain death. Because Thomas refused to remit censures he had placed upon bishops favored by the king, Henry cried out in a rage, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest!” Four knights, taking his words as his wish, slew Thomas in the Canterbury cathedral.

Thomas Becket remains a hero-saint down to our own times.

Comment:
No one becomes a saint without struggle, especially with himself. Thomas knew he must stand firm in defense of truth and right, even at the cost of his life. We also must take a stand in the face of pressures—against dishonesty, deceit, destruction of life—at the cost of popularity, convenience, promotion and even greater goods.

Quote:
In T.S. Eliot's drama, Murder in the Cathedral, Becket faces a final temptation to seek martyrdom for earthly glory and revenge. With real insight into his life situation, Thomas responds:

"The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason."

Although I found the above image via Google, Keith took an almost identical photo when we were in England in 1988. I loved Canterbury: the gigantic cathedral visible from everywhere in the town, the school kids in their plaid uniforms streaming out of their schools, the quiet of the cathedral and the hollows in the stone steps where perhaps millions of pigrims over the centuries crawled on their knees to the shrine of St. Thomas. And being the medieval scholar (a nice word for "fanatic") that I am, it was the place that Chaucer's famous cast of characters were heading to "on pilgrimage" and they told their (sometimes) notorious "tales" to while away the time on their trip from London to Canterbury. Some of the Canterbury Tales seem so modern that it's difficult to believe that Chaucer died in the year 1400.

As I spent a little time yesterday, reveling in research time now that my laptop is again Internet-worthy, I checked out some doctoral programs. Two caught my attention, but only one is a low-residency program. Living in England for a year (or a few) has always been one of my Big Hairy Audacious Goals (B-HAGs). The doctoral programme in English at the University of Kent in Canterbury is a dream programme, enabling doctoral candidates access to the historical and literary documents of the cathedral; however, it requires full residency for three years (full time). A dream, but such a lovely one! The doctoral programme in English at the University of Wales, Lampeter, can be accomplished almost totally from home as it requires just one short residency of two weeks at the beginning of the programme and then the rest can be done via electronic means. Doctoral candidates choose an area of research that matches with a research area of the professors (and Old and Middle English is one of them!), and a research PhD mostly from home is indeed possible. This university, established in 1822, seems to be the "real deal" and may be a possibility in five to ten years if I decide to pursue doctoral studies.


Back to Canterbury: the cathedral awed me, and, even in photos, still awes me. Its sheer size is daunting enough from the outside, but inside it's even more spectacular, especially considering its age. The surrounding roofs barely visible in the above image are all five to six stories tall, and the cathedral looms over them all, a beneficent giant guarding the town.

So today I think of St. Thomas, willing to stand up for what was right even when he knew the truth tolled his death knell, and of Christ whom we celebrate on this fifth day of Christmas.

Holy Innocents and Fourth Day of Christmas

Although today is the Fourth Day of Christmas, it is not a particularly joyful day. December 28 marks the remembrance of the Holy Innocents, the male children aged two and under, who were ordered to be killed by the paranoid King Herod "the Great." Most Biblical historians seem to believe that only about twenty children were murdered as a result of Herod's inhumane order, but even the death of one child would make this day one of sorrowful remembrance.

Yet this event was foretold in the Old Testament as Saint Matthew tells us in his gospel, Matthew 2:13-18 (ESV), which is also the Gospel reading for this day:

13 Now when they [the Wise Men] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted,
because they are no more.”

The Collect for this day from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer:

O Almighty God, who out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast ordained strength, and madest infants to glorify thee by their deaths; Mortify and kill all vices in us, and so strengthen us by thy grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and constancy of our faith even unto death, we may glorify thy Holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today is also a day wherein the Church remembers those who have never had a life outside the womb through abortion. At the lovely California Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside is a lovely memorial park/graveyard with stones dating back into the early 1800's to the present day. And along one wall is a large plaque reminding us of the millions of Holy Innocents who have perished via abortion, reminding us to pray for their mothers, sometimes children themselves, who have also suffered, often for years and years afterward.

The "Coventry Carol" of the 15th century also reminds us of the slaying of the Holy Innocents which we recall today:

Lully, lulla, thou little tiny child
By by, lully, lullay, thou little tiny child
By by, lully lullay

O sisters too, how may we do
For to preserve this day
This poor youngling
For whom we do sing
By by, lully lullay?

Herod, the king
In his raging
Chargèd he hath this day
His men of might
In his own sight,
All young children to slay

That woe is me
Poor child for thee!
And ever morn and day,
For thy parting
Neither say nor sing
By by, lully lullay!

Third Day of Christmas and Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

Today is the Third Day of Christmas and also the Feast Day of Saint John the Evangelist; following is the Collect for the Day:

Merciful Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church, that it, being illumined by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. John's is my favorite Gospel, perhaps my favorite book in the New Testament. John's Gospel reveals Jesus the Divine so wonderfully as it focuses on Christ's last week on earth as the Son of Man. His prayer for unity among His followers in the 17th chapter is perhaps my favorite chapter, with the sixth chapter a close runner-up. I love how St. John refers to himself throughout the Gospel as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and that he relates how Jesus, hanging on the cross, entrusted His Mother to St. John.

The daily email from americancatholic.org relates this information about St. John the Divine (as he is called to distinguish him from the many other Johns who became saints):

It is God who calls; human beings answer. The vocation of John and his brother James is stated very simply in the Gospels, along with that of Peter and his brother Andrew: Jesus called them; they followed. The absoluteness of their response is indicated by the account. James and John “were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him” (Matthew 4:21b-22).

For the three former fishermen—Peter, James and John—that faith was to be rewarded by a special friendship with Jesus. They alone were privileged to be present at the Transfiguration, the raising of the daughter of Jairus and the agony in Gethsemane. But John’s friendship was even more special. Tradition assigns to him the Fourth Gospel, although most modern Scripture scholars think it unlikely that the apostle and the evangelist are the same person.

John’s own Gospel refers to him as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (see John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2), the one who reclined next to Jesus at the Last Supper, and the one to whom he gave the exquisite honor, as he stood beneath the cross, of caring for his mother. “Woman, behold your son....Behold, your mother” (John 19:26b, 27b).

Because of the depth of his Gospel, John is usually thought of as the eagle of theology, soaring in high regions that other writers did not enter. But the ever-frank Gospels reveal some very human traits. Jesus gave James and John the nickname, “sons of thunder.”

On the first Easter, Mary Magdalene “ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, ‘They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him’” (John 20:2). John recalls, perhaps with a smile, that he and Peter ran side by side, but then “the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first” (John 20:4b). He did not enter, but waited for Peter and let him go in first. “Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed” (John 20:8).

John was with Peter when the first great miracle after the Resurrection took place—the cure of the man crippled from birth—which led to their spending the night in jail together. The mysterious experience of the Resurrection is perhaps best contained in the words of Acts: “Observing the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men, they [the questioners] were amazed, and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus” (Acts 4:13).

The evangelist wrote the great Gospel, the letters and the Book of Revelation. His Gospel is a very personal account. He sees the glorious and divine Jesus already in the incidents of his mortal life. At the Last Supper, John’s Jesus speaks as if he were already in heaven. It is the Gospel of Jesus’ glory.

Comment:
It is a long way from being eager to sit on a throne of power or to call down fire from heaven to becoming the man who could write: “The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 John 3:16).

Quote:
A persistent story has it that John's "parishioners" grew tired of his one sermon, which relentlessly emphasized: "Love one another." Whether the story is true or not, it has basis in John's writing. He wrote what may be called a summary of the Bible: "We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him" (1 John 4:16).

Happy 2nd Day of Christmas -- Happy Boxing Day -- Feast of Saint Stephen

"Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen...."

Many, if not most evangelicals, have no idea when the "Feast of Stephen" referenced in the above carol occurs. For many, the day after Christmas is the day to clean up the detritus of Christmas and to pack away the tree and other decorations as Christmas is now over. Some head to malls to return gifts or to take advantage of "After-Christmas" sales. Until about eight years ago, I was one of them, although our family tradition was to pack up the Christmas decorations on New Years Day.

But as I've learned more about liturgical worship, specifically Anglican traditions, I've unearthed several joyful surprises. The first, and most important, is that Christmas Day is only the FIRST Day of Christmas, which lasts for twelve days, finishing with a wonderful Twelfth Night feast. Thus today is merely the Second Day of Christmas, and we have much more celebrating to do over the next ten days or so.

I also discovered the uniquely English tradition, also practiced in Australia and Canada, of Boxing Day. I found this explanation on the British Shoppe website (They also have the history behind the Cracker, which we had fun "pulling" at my parents' house on Christmas night):

Boxing Day takes its name from the ancient practice of opening boxes that contained money given to those who had given their service during the year. It was also the day when alms boxes, placed in churches on Christmas Day, were opened. The money was then given to the priest or used to help the poor and needy. Another name for Boxing Day used to be Offering Day.

The earliest boxes of all were not box shaped, as you might imagine, nor were they made of wood. They were, in fact, earthenware containers with a slit in the top (rather like piggy banks.)

During the seventeenth century it became the custom for apprentices to ask their master’s customers for money at Christmas time. They collected this money in earthenware containers, which could be opened only by being smashed, and on Boxing Day the apprentices would eagerly have a ‘smashing time’, hence the expression, seeing how much they had collected.

A later tradition, and the one which has survived to this day, was the distribution of Christmas ‘boxes’, gifts of money to people who had provided services throughout the year – the postman, the lamp-lighter, parish beadles, parish watchmen, dustmen and turn-cocks – which happened on the day after Christmas Day.

And today is also the Feast Day of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. I dragged myself out of bed, exhausted after days of cleaning and preparing for Christmas then having Christmas Eve here with Keith's family and Christmas afternoon and early evening with my family at the beach, and made it (a little late) down the hill to Victoria House for the celebration of St. Stephen's Day. Here is the Collect (collective or public prayer) for this day:

Grant, O Lord, that, in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost [Spirit], may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those who suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate.
Amen.

During Morning Prayer which precedes Holy Communion, we read 2 Chronicles 24:17-22, the story of the prophet Zechariah being murdered by his own people, and for the NT reading, Father read aloud the sixth chapter from the Acts of the Apostles which tells of Stephen being chosen as a deacon and of his capture and the accusations against him. Then for Holy Communion, I read the Epistle reading, Acts 7:55+, of Stephen's martyrdom. Father Acker then read the Gospel reading: St. Matthew 23:34+, Jesus' words of condemnation to Jerusalem which mentioned the murders of the righteous, from Abel to Zechariah (the same story we read from 2 Chronicles in Morning Prayer). Christ's Words to Jerusalem often makes me tear up; His sorrow is palpable as He cries:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."

So today is a three-fold day: the 2nd Day of Christmas, Boxing Day, and the Feast of St. Stephen. As Stephen's assignment as Deacon in the early church involved caring for the poor, we also ought to remember the story told in the carol, "Good King Wenceslas." One of my favorite Christmas devotional books, Christ in the Carols, tells of King Wenceslas:

"King Wenceslas the Holy, who ruled Bohemia from A.D. 1378 to 1419, was known for his good works and his care of the poor.... Rather than order his servants to leave a few morsels for the underprivileged peasant or send his page out to find the man and deliver some seasonal gift, Wenceslas chooses to take action himself. Leaving the warmth of his castle, the king braves fierce wind and bitter cold to search out the man. Whether factual or myth, Wenceslas' great compassion in this song reflects God's heart for the lost and the poor.

"Jesus said that he came to seek and save the lost. This is the primary reason that God chose to become man. Not content to send others in his place, the King of glory left heaven and came looking for us. Braving hostile elements, even unto death, he personally sought us out.... Like the page, we are to follow in our Master's footsteps as He continues to pursue the abandoned, the orphaned, the poor, and the lost...."

Here is the closing of the familiar carol, "Good King Wenceslas": the end of the fifth verse:

"Therefore Christian men, be sure,
wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor,
shall yourselves find blessing."

A Joyous Christmastide to You!

Today's celebration in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer has quite an extensive name: The Nativity of Our Lord, Or The Birthday of Christ, Commonly Called Christmas Day. Whew! The Epistle reading is from the beginning of the book of Hebrews, and the Gospel reading is from the beginning of St. John's Gospel. And here is the Collect (collective prayer) for Christmas Day:

Almighty God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen.

The note below this Collect states that this Collect is to be prayed daily throughout the Octave, but most Anglicans pray it daily throughout the Twelve Days of Christmas. Yes, the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is truly that: a celebration of the twelve days between the birth of Christ and Epiphany, the arrival of the Wise Men who followed the Star that led them to the Christ-child.

For the last few years, our family (the kids and I, at least) have been following the Catholic and Anglican practice of celebrating Christmas for twelve days. If one looks back into the Old Testament, many annual festivals went on for seven to ten days, if not longer. And how can one jam all the joy of Christmas into one single day? It is impossible, especially after all of the preparations that go into making Christmas Christmas.

Tonight we celebrated with Keith's side of the family. His older sister Karen, and his younger brother Kevin's family (wife and five children), along with his dad, all drove up the mountain to celebrate Christ's birth with us. Keith was in the kitchen ALL day (while I cleaned ALL day), making pumpkin pies for our Christmas dinner with my family, and a huge pot of jambalaya for the celebration tonight. He also dipped pretzels into melted dark chocolate which we'll give out as gifts tomorrow to family friends and also enjoyed tonight, and I helped in bagging his famous toffee into gifts for our extended family members.

After we enjoyed our dinner of jambalaya and sandwiches, along with veggies and dip, I read portions of some Psalms from our Advent devotional and also St. Luke 2:1-21. Usually Keith's dad, the patriarch of the family, reads to us, but his Parkinson's is getting more troublesome, and he asked me to read. Earlier in the day, I hid our little baby Jesus from our nativity scene on our mantel and the little kids (9 and under) got to go look for it. Em found it and won a special bag of toffee just for her. Em also insisted on lighting our Advent wreath tonight, including the Christ Candle, even though it was E's turn in our regular rotation. I had forgotten about making our traditional "birthday cake for Jesus" until late this afternoon, but we had cookies and toffee and treats galore, so I don't think a cake was entirely necessary.

The sad thing about tonight was that J was sick. My dad and brother (and his two kids) came by around ten this morning to pick up our four and take them up the mountain to play in the 8-12 inches of snow at my parents' cabin. J wasn't feeling too well before leaving, and after he threw up for the third time, Dad brought him back down the mountain and I put him to bed with some ginger ale to sip. We kept him isolated from Kevin and Re's kids, and during the Christmas Eve festivities, I took in my laptop and set him up with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; he also watched part of the first Pirates of the Caribbean.

We'll spend tomorrow morning with just our family and will head down to my parents' place at the beach for Christmas dinner with my mom and dad, my brother and his kids, my mom's cousin and his family, and my parents' good friends Dan and Francie and Willie (Pam) and Geoff. We hope that J will feel much better by then and will be able to go. If not, Keith will probably stay home with him.

I really missed going to church tonight. Because of Re's work schedule, the bulk of our guests (everyone but Karen) arrived around 5:20 tonight and the Christmas services at Alpine Anglican start at 6:00 as do other services (Lutheran) in our town. We started eating at ten minutes until six. And after they left, I just couldn't make myself head down to Alpine to Christ the King Episcopal, knowing how far from the Truth they are, and I was far too tired to drive all the way to Holy Trinity in Ocean Beach, a 100-mile round trip. I would LOVE to attend Alpine Anglican tomorrow for Christmas (Christ's Mass), but there's no way Keith or the kids would want to go. I'll have to see if Alpine Anglican will be having a St. Stephen's Day service (Dec. 26), and I'll at least attend that one.

A Joyous Christmastide to you all! Happy First Day of Christmas!

Four Classical Marks of the Church, Part 2

Last week I posted the first part of John H. Armstrong's series on the Four Classical Marks of the Church which discusses the closing of the Apostles' Creed: "one holy catholic church."

The second part of the series landed in my e-mail box this morning, and I find it utterly fascinating. You may read it here. Armstrong discusses especially the use of the word "catholic."

The few times we've used the Apostles' Creed in our evangelical church, we've had to substitute the word "Christian" for "catholic." Armstrong, an evangelical himself, explains why such a substitution can be "dangerous" to our understanding of the church itself. Even the word "universal" falls short of the complete meaning of "catholic."

The writers of the Creed chose their words with the utmost prayer and care, agreeing on each and every word in the Creed, making sure each expressed the Scriptural basis for the Creed as well as the common beliefs every Christian must agree to in order to truly be a Christian.

Armstrong's articles are of the utmost importance for all evangelicals. His "new ecumenism" does not compromise all that is most dear to evangelicals yet opens the doors to Christians of differing traditions, allowing us to see that other traditions also point to Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith. Other traditions support a true, loving relationship with Christ. I can't encourage strongly enough the need for Christians of all traditions to read Armstrong's articles and take his teachings to heart.