Illumination

Christine, at Abbey of the Arts, has issued invitations toPoetry Party #28! Posted on Monday, she notes that December 8th is both the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in Christian Tradition and the Enlightenment of the Buddha in Buddhist Tradition. The Immaculate Conception honors the conception of Mary without sin, illuminating her purity and grace from the moment she was conceived in her own mother’s womb in preparation for her to give birth to God. In Orthodox tradition, Mary is know as Theotokos, which means God-bearer. December 8th also marks the observance of the Buddha achieving enlightenment under the Bodhi tree. The word enlightenment is derived from the idea of becoming filled with light, light symbolizing clarity and wisdom.

The invitation is to write a poem in honor of the call to illumination. To become illuminated means that one carries a light within rather than seeking it from another source. Just like Mary and Buddha, we each carry the spark of the divine flame. The mystics have told us this for centuries.

Christine also posted the photograph below as a focus for creativity. In the growing darkness of these days, might you discover your own brilliance and the brilliant beauty of the world? The image below was taken at the retreat center (on the Hood Canal) one evening when the world was luminous.

light
shines
in dark places
Justice
Healing
Joy
overcome
war
greed
self-interest

in me
in every place

please put away the snuffer and nurture the flame
NOW

Advent longings

A wonderfilled seasonal Friday Five from Sally this week:

"Imagine a complex, multi-cultural society that annually holds an elaborate winter festival, one that lasts not simply a few days, but several weeks. This great festival celebrates the birth of the Lord and Saviour of the world, the prince of peace, a man who is divine. People mark the festival with great abundance- feasting, drinking and gift giving....." (Richard Horsley- The Liberation of Christmas)

The passage goes on, recounting the decorations that are hung, and the songs and dances that accompany the festival, how the economy booms and philanthropic acts abound....

But this is not Christmas- this is a Roman festival in celebration of the Emperor....This is the world that Jesus was born into! The world where the early Christians would ask "Who is your Saviour the Emperor or Christ?"

And yet our shops and stores and often our lives are caught up in a world that looks very much like the one of ancient Rome, where we worship at the shrine of consumerism....

Advent on the other hand calls us into the darkness, a time of quiet preparation, a time of waiting, and re-discovering the wonder of the knowledge that God is with us. Advent's call is to simplicity and not abundance, a time when we wait for glorious light of God to come again...

Christ is with us at this time of advent, in the darkness, and Christ is coming with his light- not the light of the shopping centre, but the light of love and truth and beauty.

What do you long for this advent? What are your hopes and dreams for the future? What is your prayer today?

In the vein of simplicity I ask you to list five advent longings....

In this time of waiting
for the coming of the Saviour
For what do I long?

• For a world where justice and peace are rampant
• For every child to be born in a context of love and concern
• For meaningful connections with family and friends across seas and continents
• To be in touch with nature; to feel the sand between my toes and the wind on my face
• To eat well and share abundantly; and know this experience is universal
  

The Award

Ruth at Visions and Revisions surprised me with a Superior Scribbler Award recently. Thank you so much! And now I have the pleasure of passing it on to five deserving bloggers.

The difficulty of this task is made only a little easier by seeing that some authors of my regular reads have already received The Award. But there is still a certain randomness to choosing just five of so many people I enjoy visiting.

The rules of the award, set by the scribbler are listed below:

• Each superior scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to five most-deserving Bloggy friends
• Each superior scribbler must link to the author and the name of the blog from whom she received The Award
• Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to this post which explains The Award
• Each blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr Linky List. That way we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honour!
• Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog

And my nominees are:

Sally at Eternal Echoes, who introduced me to the world of blogging and who scribbles superior sermons and stories and poetry that engage and inspire
Whitney, who has crossed the Atlantic and scribbles superior glimpses of grace that resonate all the way to the Antipodes
Sophia at Sophia's Call, who scribbles words of wisdom that reflect growing in faith and understanding
Joan Elizabeth, a superior photographer and scribbler, whose Blue Mountains Journal never ceases to delight and who experiences the same seasons that I do
Singing Owl, a wise and wonderful woman who in the Owl's Song scribbles challenges to preconceptions and remains true to herself

Prayer for Advent

Wondrous Creator

You break forth

In the midst of darkness

Your light shines

Without regard for boundaries

Of space and time

Light of the world

In a world

of fractured relationships

You were born as one of us

Challenging global powers

That compete for our allegiance

Spirit of light and truth

You illumine our lives

You illumine our world

Showing clearly

What is and what can be

We come to you in wonder and in praise

We seek your light

that we may turn from

attitudes and actions that destroy

We seek your wisdom

that we may rightly discern

and live for justice and in love

We seek your life-giving breath

that we may truly live

Amen

These are the words we can trust:

When a person recognises that the most important truth is that there is one and only one God, and that human purpose is to love God with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself

Jesus says to that person, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’

Spread the Word

World Aids Day. A quick post to remind us that menopausal women are one of the groups most at risk of HIV AIDS, especially in developed nations. Especially women of our generation who followed a traditional pattern of marrying first heterosexual partner and remaining monogamous. Until death or divorce leads to singleness, without experience or knowledge to negotiate safe sex in any new relationship. Of course many women equate condoms with pregnancy prevention, which seems irrelevant after 'the change of life' (as my mother used to refer to menopause). And the sort of middle-aged men that middleaged heterosexual women might choose to date are not necessarily ones they would have qualms about unprotected sex with. It's over seven years now since the article about Jane Fowler was written, but it is the most eloquent and relevant piece that I could find. I am surprised at medical students who assume that people aged over 50 years don't engage in risky behaviour. And surprised that Viagra doesn't come with safe sex warnings. As Monica Rodriguez is quoted in the article, "This isn't a population that grew up talking about sex or condoms or HIV/AIDS. But we can't let our discomfort around issues of sexuality get in the way of conversations about safe sex."

Advent 1

Advent 1 powerpoint
Originally uploaded by Will Humes

Fifth Sunday. Means I am liturgist for the evening worship. And skipping the morning to prepare (the joys of the laity who have a certain discretion about attendance :-) Looking around I found on Textweek a link to this wonderful powerpoint slide by Will Humes. This man is a gem and has a lot of resources for busy pastors (and lay people although we don't get a mention in the header) I made a compilation of Advent readings and images for Friday night that I can reuse. Blessings friends as we together prepare and wait ...

Mix and stir

Songbird posted this week's Friday Five over at RevGalBlogPals. She writes:
In a minor domestic crisis, my food processor, or more precisely the part you use for almost everything for which I use a food processor, picked the eve of the festive season of the year to give up the ghost. A crack in the lid expanded such that a batch of squash soup had to be liberated via that column shaped thing that sticks up on top.

Can you tell this is not my area of strength?

Next week, I'm hosting Thanksgiving. I need your help. Please answer the following kitchen-related questions:

1) Do you have a food processor? Can you recommend it? Which is to say, do you actually use it? Just a few weeks ago I picked up a second-hand very inexpensive Moulinex at the market. My Bamix is wonderful but unfortunately all the little bits got thrown out by visitors (who probably thought they were off cans or something.

2) And if so, do you use the fancy things on it? (Mine came with a mini-blender (used a lot and long ago broken) and these scary disks you used to julienne things (used once).)
Basically I use it for soup and some baking. I have never used most of the parts. The lemon squeezer thing looks good for lemonade though - which I must start making as the weather warms up.

3) Do you use a standing mixer? Or one of the hand-held varieties?
Neither. I mix by hand (or food processor for carrot cakes etc)

(And isn't that color delightfully retro?) I love it!

4) How about a blender? Do you have one? Use it much?
My children wish I did. But no. I have an old 'shaker' that my Mum used to make milkshakes (large metal tumbler thing with a lid that fits on - then hold in your hand and shake madly) I figure it is exercise!

5) Finally, what old-fashioned, non-electric kitchen tool do you enjoy using the most?
The spurtle. Mine are made by my Dad and the flat (not round) kind. Kind of like this

Bonus: Is there a kitchen appliance or utensil you ONLY use at Thanksgiving or some other holiday? If so, what is it?
No.