Advent
Candle-Lighting Tradition
According to tradition, the duty of lighting the second candle of the Advent wreath falls to the oldest child. While the youngest child likely leaped at the chance last Sunday, you may have to nudge a curmudgeonly teen towards the task today. Still, tradition is … Read more
Heritage of an Ancient Hymn
Veni, the imperative form of the Latin verb venire, to come, figures high up in the poetic texts of Advent hymns. For that matter, it lies at the root of the word Advent itself! Most striking of such hymns are these three: Veni Redemptor gentium … Read more
Return & Retrospective: Lessons and Carols
The decade our family spent on a ranch in North Central Texas remains a highlight of our lives. The intense, valuable education we received was not just about raising livestock (goats, cows, horses), but about partaking in the tender, joyful community life of a real … Read more
A Conversation About Fruitcake
Since the first phalanx of holiday bakers will attack the stove this weekend, we’d better have a conversation about fruitcake. Fruitcake, according to what I read, is making a comeback among Americans who never experienced it growing up. The key words here are “never experienced … Read more
No Christmas on the Shelves
A few weeks ago, the headlines began screaming: Will Christmas be on the Shelves in 2021? My mother would not have understood this question. People certainly went Christmas-shopping in her generation, and with enthusiasm: the stores were beautifully decorated; the show windows breathtaking. Everything looked … Read more
Advent Hope
When living in Oregon during the eruption of Mount St. Helens in May 1980, I received with skepticism the predictions that shoots of green would sprout through the ash by the following spring. How could that be? Plumes of volcanic dust had been so pervasive; … Read more
Advent Snails
The color violet made its appearance yesterday in many Christian churches. Of all the colors of the church year, violet stands as the second or third most prominent, appearing during Lent and Holy Week as well as during the 22 to 27 days of Advent … Read more
Advent: First Sunday
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. We light the first of four candles and think ahead to the first week of a liturgical season much of the world ignores. The word “first” generally has happy connotations: baby’s first step, the first child to graduate … Read more
On Christmas Eve
It is Christmas Eve. The Advent Season and this calendar now come to a close. Many things tonight will not occur as they ought. Who ever could have envisioned a year in which the divine services for Easter, Advent, and Christmas would be snatched away? … Read more