My least favorite holiday

I don't like New Year's Eve.

Never have, really.

We don't go out--though we have standing invitations to an annual New Year's Eve dinner party.

I think we should reflect on the Old Year rather than celebrate and drink too much to the new one.

2023 was not a stellar year.

Two horrible wars going on.

States taking away a woman's rights to say what happens to her body.

High anger toward GLBTQ rights.

A former President under 91 felony charges.

The bad year the Yankees had (needed to add that).

Homelessness and poverty on the rise in a very good economy.

Books being banned.

Mass shootings and no move in Congress for gun control.

Racism rampant.

On and on the list goes.

I'm glad to say good-bye to 2023.

But I'm not convinced 2024 will improve things much.

"Thoughtful Pondering in the New Year" is my greeting tonight....

 

I lost a day

 The week between Christmas and New Year's Day is usually a blank for me. I lose track of the day.

This morning I changed clothes because I need a shirt I could roll up to get my biweekly shots.

Then I heard a show on NPR that is on Saturday.

I checked my phone and realized my shot appointment was yesterday!

How did I lose Friday?

Now I have to call Tuesday and reschedule.

Hope I don't lose another day before then....

Leaving Day

Mimi came and picked Eleanor up before noon.

Eleanor woke up at 3:42 a.m., she told Bern, when Bern got up at 5:30 and saw the light on under her room's door.

Long day for Bern and she was very tired.

Luckily it was my day to cook dinner.

Coconut shrimp, asparagus with Bela mushrooms and cauliflower puffs with cheese pumped her up a bit.

But 24 hours with Eleanor and not much sleep is rough.

Her visit was wondrous but exhausting.

Keeping up with a 7 year old is beyond our means.....

 

 

An even better day

 Today my daughter, Mimi, dropped off my granddaughter, Eleanor, for an overnight with us while Mimi went on to New York on the train.`

Eleanor is 7 and much more interested in Bern than me.

She's much more interested in Brigit, our dog, than me.

But just being around her makes me joyful and full of wonder.

Someday, in a few years, I'll have the 'only child' talk with her.

Being an only child is a whole different experience than having siblings around.

I think I can help her recognize the good parts and negotiate the not so good parts.

I wish I'd had an 'only child' mentor....

Her being here makes the day special and unique.

A good day

 Today I ate well.

Didn't do much of anything except wash my clothes.

Finished a book called "The K-9 Citizen" by my favorite writer, David Rosenfelt.

And I watched West Virginia University (my alma mater) win a bowl game.

Besides that, I won 9 games of Hearts in a row on my computer.

A good day.

Winter vacation

I went to Trinity, Milton on Christmas Eve afternoon for a lovely Eucharist.

My face time meeting on Tues is cancelled.

So is this Wed's Bible Study.

I'm off on Sunday.

So I have nothing to do until a week from Wednesday.

It's like I'm retired.

Which, technically, I am.

I get pension checks--very generous--from the Church Pension fund and a 734 dollar Christmas bonus. Plus Social Security every month.

But I work, very part time, at Trinity.

I love the people there and get paid well for what is essentially 2 hours a week, plus driving time, plus Sunday coffee hour--always great.

I love my life and will be practically asleep until Wednesday next!

Not bad....

 

Christmas Day

     Bern and I are having Christmas dinner alone.

    Josh and his family are in California visiting members of Kathy's family.

    Mimi, Tim and Eleanor wanted their own Christmas.

    I understand completely. We did it too.

    Our friend, John, was supposed to come but he is sick and stayed at home.

    Strange--but not 'bad'--to be alone on Christmas.

    We talked to Josh and family on the phone and Mimi and family on Face Time.

    We are alone most of the time--with only Brigit, our dog, for company and it's fine.

    And I prefer a quiet Christmas.

    I really do.

    Silent and Holy....

    Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

 

The day before the day before

 I went to Big Y this morning early (9 a.m.) to get some thing for tonight's dinner.

I've never seen such a crowd in a super market!

I got in the shortest of 5 lines and was six back and everyone bought lots of stuff.

It took nearly 50 minutes to get out of there.

The traffic going home was like rush hour in LA.

Cheshire seldom has much traffic.

The day before the day before Christmas is a busy time....

I'''m halfway there

 I've gotten all of Bern's Christmas presents.

They're under the tree

All that is left is for her to open them and like them.

We'll do that on Christmas Eve when I get back from the 4 p.m. service at Trinity, Milton.

One of the members, C.O., got me a driver to take me.

Amazing!  

I just hope she likes her presents....

I'm dreaming of a dry Christmas

 I don't like the cold--I know I've told you that before.

And I also don't like snow--to drive in it walk in it see it out the window of my office.

Where I grew up--in the mountains of West Virginia--it snowed a lot.

Everyone had chains to put on their tires because it was hard to get anywhere without driving over a mountain.

Mountains and snow are bad news.

It didn't bother me as much back then, but it does now.

No snow for Christmas is what I'm dreaming of....

Xmas Eve Sermon

 

CHRISTMAS EVE 2023

          OK, what can I say on Christmas Eve that hasn’t been said hundreds and thousands of time before any of us was born?

          It’s talked out….

          I’ll let the music tonight tell you that wondrous story of the birth of Jesus.

          I’ll just reflect of what is going on tonight.

          Two major wars are going on—one of them in the land where Jesus was born.

          Israelites and Palestinians have very close DNA. And yet they are killing each other in disturbing fashion.

          Likewise, Russians and Ukrainians are closely related. Yet their conflict continues.

          Besides that—members of our United States Congress are trying to deny immigrants from coming into our country.

          Beloved, unless you are a Native American, you are immigrants to this land.

          Mass shootings are frequent in our country.

        So much is wrong as we wait for the Babe to be born in Bethlehem.

          The ‘have’s’ and the ‘have-nots’ in our nation and around the world continue to become more separated.

          Racial discrimination against people of color is rampant in the U.S.

          States are taking away women’s rights to have a say over their own bodies.

          And the Christian church is being torn apart by theological and social disagreement.

          Tonight is not a ‘silent night/ Holy night’.

          It is a night full of turmoil.

          But a fiend of mine sent me a poem called “Sharon’s Christmas Prayer” by John Shea that put all that behind me and brought me to the creche on bended knee and in tears of joy.

          Let me share it with you.

          This is my Christmas gift to you.

SHARON’S CHRISTMAS PRAYER

          She was five,

          Sure of the facts,

          And recited them

          With slow solemnity

          Convinced every word

Was revelation.

          She said

They were so poor

They had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

To eat

And they went a long way from home

Without getting lost. The lady rode

On a donkey, the man walked, and the baby

Was inside the lady.

They had to stay in a stable

With an ox and an ass (hee-hee)

But Three Rich men found them

Because a star lit the roof

Shepherds came and you could

Pet the sheep but not feed them

Then the baby was born

And do you know who he was?

          Her quarter eyes inflated

          To silver dollars.

The Baby was God.

                   And she jumped in the air

                   Whirled round, dove into the sofa

                   And buried her head under the cushion

                   Which is the only proper response

                   To the Good News of the Incarnation.

 

          Be five years old again and dive into the sofa over the Good News of the Incarnation.

          Merry Christmas and Amen.

 

         

A wonrous poem

 I want to share a poem by John Shea that a friend sent me.

                        Sharon's Christmas Prayer

        She was faive,

        sure of the facts,

        and repeated them

        with slow solemnity

        convinced every word

was revelation.

        She said,

They were so poor

they only had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

to eat

and they went a long way from home

without getting lost. The lady rode

a donkey, the man walked and the baby

was inside the lady.

They had to stay in a stable

with an ox and an ass (hee-hee)

but the three Rich Men found them

because a star lighted the roof

Shepherds came and you could

pet the sheep but not feed them.

Then the baby was borned.

And do you know who he was?

    Her quarter eyes inflated

    To silver dollars.

The baby was God.

 

        And she jumped in the air

        whirled round, dove into the sofa

        and buried her head under the cushion

        which is the only proper response

        to the Good News of the Incarnation.

 

 

        

The storm and us...

Our power went out at 4:30 a.m. or so and didn't come back on until  almost 7 p.m.

Luckily, it was warm for December and we had candles and a flashlight.

I finished a book on the front porch as the light dimmed, went to the library, almost went to sleep reading with a flashlight and the electricity came back.

Alleluia!!!

The furnace is bringing us back to warm.

I can use the internet.

The TV is on.

All is once again, right with the world.

(Brigit hates the dark as much as I do. We match on that.)

 

And so it goes...

It's rained some today--but tonight a storm is coming.

A storm all the networks are calling really bad.

It's made it's way up from Florida--which got drenched--and now it's here.

So much rain this year.

And so much in the last few months.

Climate change?

I don't know.

But not a typical Connecticut December.

And so it goes.... 

This Sundays Sermon

ADVENT III

          This is the 3^rd Sunday of Advent. The season of Watchful Waiting.

          Advent is the 4 Sundays before Christmas—except this year. Because Christmas falls on Monday this year, the 4^th Sunday is Christmas Eve.

          Let’s look at today’s readings.

          Isaiah’s passage describes ‘the Lord’s anointed’ in astonishing fashion. Listen:

          “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn in Zion—to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteous, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.”

          If we didn’t know those words were written in the 6^th Century, B.C., we could imagine they were the words of Jesus.

          But Jesus certainly knew those words and drew inspiration from them.

          Today’s Psalm could also be heard as the arrival of the Messiah. Listen, again:

          “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,* then were we like people who dream.* Then was our mouth filled with laughter,* and our tongue with shouts of joy.* Then they said among the nations,* ‘The Lord has done great things for them.”

          But then we get to the Gospel and John the Baptist when priests and Levites came from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

          The Jewish authorities are already suspicious of John since he is making such a name for himself. They question his right to be baptizing people in God’s name. Their distrust of him with ultimately lead to his death.

          John tells them firmly that “I am not the Messiah!”

          They ask him if he is Elijah or a prophet and he says ‘no’.

          When they demand to know who he is and he says: “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”

          (Those words are a quote from Isaiah!)

          Then he tells them one who they do not know is coming after him and that he is unworthy to untie the thong of his sandal.

          John, like us, is waiting and watching for Jesus—testifying to the light that was coming.

          The folks who publish Forward Day by Day—always available at Trinity--have been sending me Advent words. There’s always a paragraph about the words, but I want to just share the words with you to given you something to ponder this week as we await Jesus.

          “Watch”…”Awake”…”Glory”…”Herald”…Valley…Patience.

          Listen and ponder.    {repeat words}

Come Lord Jesus, come. Amen.