Singing Along the Journey

Christmas season

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
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Pilgrim in place

No, I have not confused Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'm referring to another kind of pilgrim. Today is the 12th Day of Christmas for those who observe such things.  I try, but somehow that observance becomes more difficult as the world begins its wind-up called "the new year."  People return to school and work, expectations start to rise, traffic patterns return to their pre-celebration insanity and winter settles in for the next few months of who-knows-what.  And here I sit in one of my favorite landscapes, looking out the window at the sunrise that will not stay long  because of a massive rain storm that is changing my plans for this…
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Subversive Christmas…

I'm a little obsessed with the idea of the 12 Days of Christmas.  It all began last year, when we visited George Washington's Mount Vernon for the Illuminations. You can read some of my thoughts about the true 12 days of Christmas (meaning the days following Dec. 25 and ending at Epiphany on January 6) in this article from the archives.  I haven't changed my thinking much since then, in fact, I am more than ever convinced that the truly subversive act of faith would be to observe these 12 days following our now mostly secular extravaganza known as the Christmas season (since, except for little subversive pockets of people, has…
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Circles, lines and time….Christmas Day 7

Yes, I did not write while I was travelling.   Daily writing did serve its purpose -- I was able to get my work done and submitted; so as this year and this time of rest draw to a close, I am picking up the digital pen again, because I have a lot of writing ahead of me these next days and months. To prepare for the work and the new year ahead, I spent my vacation reading a book recommended to me over a year ago -- Receiving the Day by Dorothy C. Bass.  I could not have chosen a more wonderful book to read as I try to wrap my…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Pilgrim in place

No, I have not confused Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'm referring to another kind of pilgrim. Today is the 12th Day of Christmas for those who observe such things.  I try, but somehow that observance becomes more difficult as the world begins its wind-up called "the new year."  People return to school and work, expectations start to rise, traffic patterns return to their pre-celebration insanity and winter settles in for the next few months of who-knows-what.  And here I sit in one of my favorite landscapes, looking out the window at the sunrise that will not stay long  because of a massive rain storm that is changing my plans for this…
Read More

Subversive Christmas…

I'm a little obsessed with the idea of the 12 Days of Christmas.  It all began last year, when we visited George Washington's Mount Vernon for the Illuminations. You can read some of my thoughts about the true 12 days of Christmas (meaning the days following Dec. 25 and ending at Epiphany on January 6) in this article from the archives.  I haven't changed my thinking much since then, in fact, I am more than ever convinced that the truly subversive act of faith would be to observe these 12 days following our now mostly secular extravaganza known as the Christmas season (since, except for little subversive pockets of people, has…
Read More

Circles, lines and time….Christmas Day 7

Yes, I did not write while I was travelling.   Daily writing did serve its purpose -- I was able to get my work done and submitted; so as this year and this time of rest draw to a close, I am picking up the digital pen again, because I have a lot of writing ahead of me these next days and months. To prepare for the work and the new year ahead, I spent my vacation reading a book recommended to me over a year ago -- Receiving the Day by Dorothy C. Bass.  I could not have chosen a more wonderful book to read as I try to wrap my…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Pilgrim in place

No, I have not confused Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'm referring to another kind of pilgrim. Today is the 12th Day of Christmas for those who observe such things.  I try, but somehow that observance becomes more difficult as the world begins its wind-up called "the new year."  People return to school and work, expectations start to rise, traffic patterns return to their pre-celebration insanity and winter settles in for the next few months of who-knows-what.  And here I sit in one of my favorite landscapes, looking out the window at the sunrise that will not stay long  because of a massive rain storm that is changing my plans for this…
Read More

Subversive Christmas…

I'm a little obsessed with the idea of the 12 Days of Christmas.  It all began last year, when we visited George Washington's Mount Vernon for the Illuminations. You can read some of my thoughts about the true 12 days of Christmas (meaning the days following Dec. 25 and ending at Epiphany on January 6) in this article from the archives.  I haven't changed my thinking much since then, in fact, I am more than ever convinced that the truly subversive act of faith would be to observe these 12 days following our now mostly secular extravaganza known as the Christmas season (since, except for little subversive pockets of people, has…
Read More

Circles, lines and time….Christmas Day 7

Yes, I did not write while I was travelling.   Daily writing did serve its purpose -- I was able to get my work done and submitted; so as this year and this time of rest draw to a close, I am picking up the digital pen again, because I have a lot of writing ahead of me these next days and months. To prepare for the work and the new year ahead, I spent my vacation reading a book recommended to me over a year ago -- Receiving the Day by Dorothy C. Bass.  I could not have chosen a more wonderful book to read as I try to wrap my…
Read More

Christmas 1: Getting Started on the Journey

Merry Christmas, one and all.  You may have heard me say it before, but, Christmas is not a day.  Christmas is a season.  If you want to read more about that idea, you can do that here or here. This year, I have decided to follow my own advice (a rare occasion I might add), and focus on a practice of reflection and writing for these important days.  I cannot complain that others ignore these days if I myself do not engage them. As my guide on this journey, I have chosen Bruce Epperly's The Work of Christmas, his own reflective journey  spent in dialogue with the works of Howard Thurman,…
Read More

Pilgrim in place

No, I have not confused Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I'm referring to another kind of pilgrim. Today is the 12th Day of Christmas for those who observe such things.  I try, but somehow that observance becomes more difficult as the world begins its wind-up called "the new year."  People return to school and work, expectations start to rise, traffic patterns return to their pre-celebration insanity and winter settles in for the next few months of who-knows-what.  And here I sit in one of my favorite landscapes, looking out the window at the sunrise that will not stay long  because of a massive rain storm that is changing my plans for this…
Read More

Subversive Christmas…

I'm a little obsessed with the idea of the 12 Days of Christmas.  It all began last year, when we visited George Washington's Mount Vernon for the Illuminations. You can read some of my thoughts about the true 12 days of Christmas (meaning the days following Dec. 25 and ending at Epiphany on January 6) in this article from the archives.  I haven't changed my thinking much since then, in fact, I am more than ever convinced that the truly subversive act of faith would be to observe these 12 days following our now mostly secular extravaganza known as the Christmas season (since, except for little subversive pockets of people, has…
Read More

Circles, lines and time….Christmas Day 7

Yes, I did not write while I was travelling.   Daily writing did serve its purpose -- I was able to get my work done and submitted; so as this year and this time of rest draw to a close, I am picking up the digital pen again, because I have a lot of writing ahead of me these next days and months. To prepare for the work and the new year ahead, I spent my vacation reading a book recommended to me over a year ago -- Receiving the Day by Dorothy C. Bass.  I could not have chosen a more wonderful book to read as I try to wrap my…
Read More