New Year's Resolutions

With our kids giggling at a comic book they received as a Christmas present, I'm smiling as I start to think about New Year's Resolutions. Perhaps you find yourself in the same boat? Even if there are no kids, I hope there is laughter and relaxation during this holiday season.

I came across the following site with a very organized New Year's Resolution worksheet: (The Art of Non-Conformity: How to Conduct Your Own Annual Review). Chris' plan is much more detailed than anything I've done before, but then maybe that's why it works. I think on of the keys to his process is that he doesn't set vague, unmeasurable goals, but works towards "a road map" for the goals he wants to accomplish for the year. The entire process starts by asking some reflective questions: What went well last year? When did not go well last year? One of the pieces I like about it is that he has categories for health, finance (Income, Saving, Giving), travel, etc. You can add your own categories, too: how about a spiritual discipline? He then breaks this down into measurable goals for each section: To meet my goal savings, I need to save n about each month. To run a marathon I need to run x miles each week.

The entire process strikes me as a spiritual practice: an Ignatian Examen on a large scale. Perfect for this time of year.

And maybe to get you in the mood, how about a Weston Martyr short story: The £200 Millionaire.

Have a Blessed New Year,

Joel

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Merry Christmas.

May your day be full of wonder and delight.

Blessed be,
Joel

Christmas Eve

As many of you might be looking for a Christmas Eve service earlier in the day, I thought I would post this earlier than the evening. This is the Christmas Eve service that I have use time and again. It always speaks to me. May this service speak to your heart/spirit, too.

Blessed Be and Merry Christmas,

Joel

********

A Choir Service of Lessons, Carols & Readings:

A Vesper Service

Choir - Awake, Awake, A Joyous Noel

Opening Words / Welcome

"God laughed and brought forth Jesus. Jesus laughed and brought forth the Holy Spirit. All three laughed and brought forth us."  ~ Meister Eckhart

Tonight we celebrate the birth of the Christ Child - how God becomes vulnerable to us as an infant, a babe, needing our tender care and nurture and comfort. Tonight as we read Luke's account, we have interspersed readings and carols and choral anthems - sharing some of the ways that this event has inspired others. Tonight as we read and sing these words of inspiration, may our hearts be inspired to look for the Christ in one another and the world at large. May we leave with a new sense of what is important in the world, a new sense at how God is at work, calling us forth to join in with our own hands.

Lighting the 4th Advent Candle  ~ Tonight, Everyone is Displaced ~ Rev. Tom Schade

Tonight, everyone is displaced and homeless.
Tonight, everyone searches for Bethlehem.
On this night, when the darkness comes so close,
We listen, in the stillness, for the songs of angels.
Like shepherds, we aren't too sure of what is happening.
We don't know why we are so expectant.
We don't know why we long so deeply for miracles.
Tonight we pray that we might know the one we are seeking.
Tonight may we kneel like kings,
before that which is greater than any kingdom on earth.
Tonight, may we see the holy family that we are a part of.
And may we hear the music that reminds us of our truest home.

Carol - Joy to the World 

Reading ~ Luke: 1:26-35, 38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! the Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God. ..." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

     ~ This Is No Time for a Child to be Born ~ Madeleine L'Engle

This is no time for a child to be born,
With the Earth betrayed by war and hate
And a comet slashing the sky to warn
That time runs out and the sun burns late. 

That was no time for a child to be born
In a land in the crushing grip of Rome
Honor and truth were trampled by scorn --
Yet here did the Saviour make his home. 

When is the time of love to be born?
The inn is full on planet earth,
And by a comet the sky is torn ---
Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.

Choir - The Angels

Carol - O Come, O Come Emmanuel

 Reading ~ Luke 2:1-7

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

     ~ The Maid-Servant At The Inn ~ Dorothy Parker

"It's queer," she said; "I see the light
As plain as I beheld it then,
All silver-like and calm and bright -
We've not had stars like that again! 

"And she was such a gentle thing
To birth a baby in the cold.
The barn was dark and frightening -
This new one's better than the old. 

"I mind my eyes were full of tears,
For I was young, quick distressed,
But she was less than me in years
That held a son against her breast. 

"I never saw a sweeter child -
The little one, the darling one! -
I mind, I told her, when he smiled
You'd know he was his mother's son. 

"It's queer that I should see them so -
The time they came to Bethlehem
Was more than thirty years ago;
I've prayed that all is well with them."

     ~ A Christmas Reflection ~ Thomas Merton

Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ has come uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, his place is with those others for whom there is no room. His place is with those who do not belong, who are rejected by power because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world.

Choir - Behold That Star

Carol - On This Day Everywhere

Reading ~ Luke 2: 8-12

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for see - I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger."

     ~ Mother of God ~ William Butler Yeats

The threefold terror of love; a fallen flare
Through the hollow of an ear;
Wings beating about the room;
The terror of all terror that I bore
The Heavens in my womb.  

Had I not found content among the shows
Every common woman knows,
Chimney corner, garden walk,
Or rocky cistern where we tread the clothes
And gather all the talk? 

What is this flesh I purchased with my pains,
This fallen star my milk sustains,
This love that makes my heart's blood stop
Or strikes a Sudden chill into my bones
And bids my hair stand up?

Duet - Ave Maria

Reading ~ Luke 2:13-14

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom God favors!"

     ~ Snow in Bethlehem ~ Maya Angelou

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues. 

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.
It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors. 

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. They only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is louder now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.

Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
implore you to stay awhile with us
so we may learn by your shimmering light
how to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting time of hate time.
On this platform of peace, we can create a language
to translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.
At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ

Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues the coming of hope.
All the earth's tribes loosen their voices to celebrate the promise of
Peace.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace.

We look at each other, then into ourselves,
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation:

Peace, My brother.
Peace, My sister.
Peace, My soul.

Choir - Carol for Advent

Carol - The First Noel

Choir - Lo How A Rose

Reading ~ Luke 2:15-20

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

     ~ The Moment of Magic ~ Victoria E. Safford

Now is the moment of magic,
when the whole, round earth turns again toward the sun,

and here's a blessing:
the days will be longer and brighter now,
even before the winter settles in to chill us.

Now is the moment of magic,
when people beaten down and broken,
with nothing left but misery and candles and their own clear voices,
kindle tiny lights and whisper secret music,

and here's a blessing:
the dark universe is suddenly illuminated by the lights of the menorah,
suddenly ablaze with the lights of the kinara,
and the whole world is glad and loud with winter singing.

Now is the moment of magic,
when an eastern star beckons the ignorant toward an unknown goal,

and here's a blessing:
they find nothing in the end but an ordinary baby,
born at midnight, born in poverty, and the baby's cry, like bells ringing,
makes people wonder as they wander through their lives,
what human love might really look like,
sound like,
feel like.

Now is the moment of magic,

and here's a blessing:
we already possess all the gifts we need;
we've already received our presents:
ears to hear music,
eyes to behold lights,
hands to build true peace on earth
and to hold each other tight in love.

Choir/Congregation - Hames um Bole / Silent Night

Closing Reading ~ The Work of Christmas ~ Howard Thurman

When the songs of angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
     to find the lost,
     to heal the broken,
     to feed the hungry,
     to release the prisoner,
     to rebuild the nations,
     to bring peace among the brothers and sisters,
     to make music in the heart.

Benediction ~ Night Has Fallen ~ Rev. Tom Schade

Night has fallen.
Stars beckon in an indigo and velvet sky
Somewhere a baby is being born.
Tonight, the world lazes in a love of goodness
while glories stream from heaven afar
God is meeting us, tonight, where we are.
So be not afraid, and be of good cheer,
We wish you, each and all, Very Merry Christmas -
The hopes and fears of all the years have been met,
so Rest beside the winding road
and Hear the Angels Sing.

Choir - Alleluia Chaconne

Fourth Monday in Advent

Today, I continue to ponder the courage of Mary's "May it be so." Her agreement to go along with God's desire, God's invitation. How much of this invitation matched something with in herself that longed to be called forth? What sorts of dreams are longing forth within us? What is holding us back? What are the discernment procedures we use in thinking these desires through? Would not God take great delight in our acting upon these desires? Would not these desires free us to be truly us? Oh, the courage of Mary's "May it be so."

And after Mary's response, did she, like many of us, have a moment of wondering "What have I just agreed to?"

Blessed Be as you explore the wonders and miracles of Christmas.

Joel

Winter Solstice 2013

Ah, the winter solstice, the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere. I've always enjoyed this day. I'm not sure if it is due to the darkness inviting more time for contemplation. Maybe it is the fact that I know from now until June the day light grows each day and that means summer and cruising is on the way. Maybe it is due to all the celebration of Christmas and this season of light. Maybe it is just that I like winter (as well as the other seasons).

It is also the first day of Winter and I thought I would include a winter reading.

Blessed Be,

Joel

Winter

Let us not wish away the winter.
It is a season to itself, not simply the way to spring.
     When trees rest, growing no leaves, gathering no light, 
     they let in sky and trace themselves delicately against dawns and sunsets.
The clarity and brilliance of the winter sky delight.
The loom of fog softens edges, lulls the eyes and ears of the quiet,
awakens by risk the unquiet. A low dark sky can snow, emblem of
individuality, liberality, and aggregate power.
Snow invites to contemplation and to sport.
     Winter is a table set with ice and starlight.
Winter dark tends to warm light: fire and candle;
winter cold to hugs and huddles; winter want to gifts and sharing;
winter danger to visions, plans, and common endeavoring - and the zest
of narrow escapes; winter tedium to merry-making.
     Let us therefore praise winter, rich in 
     beauty, challenge, and pregnant negativities.
                         ~ Greta Crosby

Friday Film Link -

This Advent, I thought I would show case some fun films regarding the sailing life. Yachting maybe very old, as John Vigor points out, however, it is only rather recently that "average" people could afford this sort of thing.
To continue, I thought I would share a film made quite recently. Christian Lloyd is a young man who took some time out from his job as an engineer (?) to buy a boat and sail to Mexico, then Hawaii before coming back to the Puget Sound area. You can follow his blog at Life On Water. I include his example for a number of reasons. First, there is a sense that one has to be rich, retired, and/or a trustee recipient in order to participate in this life-style. Reading between the lines, I sense that he is a young man who saved up his money, bought a boat on the cheap, fixed the boat up enough to travel, lives quite simply, and works from time to time to keep the cash flow coming.
Secondly, look at he is able to produce with modern equipment. The Hiscocks (see last weeks post) produced an amazing movie using film. As the Pardey's remark, they had take careful notes and work at setting up scenes. With modern equipment, we can now take underwater shots, and do our own editing. While some of the movie making equipment these days is still pricey enough to have me figuring out the need/want ratio, there is a sense that modern equipment has democratized the video making abilities of each one of us.
Anyway, I thought the following video of one of Christian Llyod's friends' boat a fun to watch.

Blessed Be,

Joel

Soup on Wednesday - Food for Thought: Nomadic Humans

National Geographic magazine has an article this month (Dec 2013: To Walk the World) regarding a fellow who is starting out on an incredible journey. He is walking from the Rift Valley (the birth place of modern humans), and tracing the human migration out of Africa through Asia, across the Bearing Sea (in this case via boat), then on down the Americas to Terra del Fuego. They anticipate the journey will take about seven years, as this map shows.

What I find interesting about the journey, is the way it points to how long we humans have been migrating around on this marvelous planet. In fact, one way to read Genesis is watching how a nomadic people (moving herds) slowly settles into towns and communities, mirroring what's happening through out the region.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/12/out-of-eden/longest-walk-map What makes these early humans human? Is it the way they cared for each other? Is it the way they left art in caves? What about working together to build boats? (In my opinion it's all three and more).
"Boats?" you ask. Yes, boats. In May and June of 2006, Plymouth University had a lecture series: "Challenging the Margins of Time" the debate being “When, during the 1.5 million years of Homo Erectus’ existence and the following 100,000 years plus, of Homo Sapiens existence, did the abstract thinking abilities of modern man emerge?” (see Wharram's blog). James Wharram was asked to speak upon the issue. He titled his talk Sailing from the Unconsciousness. Wharram argues that a group of people over looking a body of water can see land across the way. However, it would be impossible to transverse this body of water by merely floating on a "raft" depending upon tides, currents and/or wind to reach the other side. The boat would need to be controllable. To build such a craft would cooperation and a rational and creative thought process (i.e. abstract thinking). Those people became the Aboriginals of Australia, who arrived approximately 50,000 years ago (as established with carbon 14 dating). This occurred prior to the cave paintings which date approximately 35,000 years ago.

Next time your voyaging in your boat, remember you're participating in something ancient and early in human history. Perhaps one of the reasons it feels so good, is it is quite natural. You are participating in an innately human activity.

Blessed be,
Joel

Third Monday in Advent

I'm not sure if it is pondering Mary's Magnificat, reading a week's "diary" from an Amish woman in Iowa, talking to someone about retrofitting an older 1963 sailboat, or changing a front flat tire yesterday morning, but today I'm thinking about the simple life.
During this Advent season, we folks from a Western culture are quite comfortable with celebrating the birth of a baby. Babies are things to celebrate. But how comfortable are we with the "political"/"social" implications if this birth of Jesus the Christ? After all, doesn't Mary proclaim that the poor and down trodden will be lifted up while the rich and powerful be torn down?
What does it mean to live a life in solidarity with the Kingdom/Kindom of God? Does a simpler life automatically mean we live more peacefully and justly? Does the simpler life create a spiritual practice that helps (if we allow) to shape our lives into ones in which we become peaceful and just?
Such are the things I'm pondering this third Monday in Advent.
What are you pondering?
Blessed be,
Joel

Friday Film Link - Hiscock

This Advent, I thought I would show case some fun films regarding the sailing life. Yachting maybe very old, as John Vigor points out, however, it is only rather recently that "average" people could afford this sort of thing.
To continue, I thought I would share a film about one of the earlier cruising couples: Eric and Susan Hiscock (Eric Hiscock: 14 March 1908 - 15 September 1986; Susan Hiscock:  - 12 May 1995). Eric published many books and articles about their voyages. They set out to explore the world and meet people and find a bit of tranquility. Their voyages were planned in depth and well executed.  While Eric was the one who wrote the articles and took the pictures of their voyages, they were definitely an equal partnership with Susan sharing equally in the preparation and execution. Bluemoment has an excellent short piece on the Hiscocks.
The following video pieces are (one) a preview of a video that the Hiscock's took on their second trip around the world: Beyond the West Horizon. Then there are two interviews: Lin and Larry Pardey remembrances of the Hiscocks, and Theis Matzen and Kicki Ericson reflect on sailing Wanderer III.
 Enjoy the videos.

Blessed Be
Joel

 Trailer: Beyond the West Horizon

Lin and Larry Pardey Remember Sailors Eric and Susan Hiscock

Kicki and Theis on Wanderer III

Soup on Wednesday - Food for Thought: And Heaven and Nature Sing

Joy to the World

Joy to the world! the Lord is come:
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World is one of my favorite Advent/Christmas hymns. As a young boy I can remember walking home or to the car with my father whistling this hymn after a church service. Maybe that is, in part, why this is favorite of mine. Maybe it is also tied in with the ways in which it calls forth the natural world to (or rather reminds us humans that the natural world is also) praising forth God.

So imagine my interest when I found out that mice sing. Yes, that's right, sing. When we had a family gathering recently, my wife's cousin Andy's wife (got that?) is doing research on language development in the brain. Her research is using mice, and their ultrasonic songs (two males competing for a female's attention, babies singing for their mother, or when turned over onto their backs, etc.). Fascinating. The Huffington Post has an article regarding this, plus video of a mouse singing.

Maybe we'll find that there really is music of the spheres.

Blessed Be

Joel

Second Monday in Advent

I never thought about the Lord's Prayer being an Advent prayer until my friend and colleague Tom mentioned it. But I think he is right, for the prayer is about waiting for God's Kingdom/Kindom to come on earth as in heaven. We are caught between the times, and yet invited to participate in the work of the Kingdom/Kindom; just as we are during Advent.

The Lord's Prayer (or Our Father)

Our Father who art in heaven,

     Hollowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come,

     Thy will be done

          on earth as in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

     As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

     But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

     and the power,

          And the glory, forever.

Amen.

During this time of Advent (and always) when we await the coming of the Prince of Peace, it is good to reflect upon how we live our lives. Do we live our lives in a way that promotes peace and a kingdom/kindom of peace, or do we live our lives in ways that promote violence and injustice? If you are like me, it is probably a combination of both. Which of course begs reflection: How do I change so that my life promotes peace?
I also appreciate Tom's continual reflection with me that one of the greatest temptations of our times is expediency, for with expediency often comes violence. Maybe expediency is violence. Definitely something worth pondering. When we are in a rush, do we pay attention to how our actions or what we want may promote injustice? In my experience, it is often more work at the beginning (and less later on) when I'm not caught in trying to be expedient. So why is it that I don't always follow what I know?
Of course, peace does not equate with lack of conflict. Conflict is a part of life, it is how we respond to conflict that makes a difference. Are we continuing to pursue justice tempered with compassion? Do we ignore injustice for an easier action?
Blessed Be as you search out how to follow the Prince of Peace
Joel

Friday Film Link - Slocum

This Advent, I thought I would show case some fun films regarding the sailing life. Yachting maybe very old, as John Vigor points out, however, it is only rather recently that "average" people could afford this sort of thing. To start, I thought I would share a film about one of the earlier cruisers: Joshua Slocum (2/20/1844 - 11/14?/1909). Slocum was the first person to sail single-handedly around the world. However, prior to this he made a long voyage with his family. Enjoy the video.

Blessed Be
Joel



Joshua Slocum - New World Columbus from Peter Rowe on Vimeo.
 
This video is approximately 45 minutes

Here is what Peter Rowe shares (and a link to the video on Vimeo):
"The career of Joshua Slocum, one of the 19th Century's most successful sea captains, collapsed with the end of the Age of Sail - until he was given a rotting 100 year old oyster boat and decided to use it to try to become the first person to sail around the world - alone.

"Joshua Slocum - New World Columbus" tells the story of his eventful life, full of wealth, violence,mutiny, murder, poverty and Presidents - and his remarkable 46,000 mile, three year voyage around the world. The film won a Gold Special Jury Award at the Houston Film Festival, a Bronze Award at the Columbus Film Festival, and a nomination for Best Documentary at the Directors Guild of Canada Awards."

Happy St. Nicholas Day - 2013

National Museum of Medieval History, Korca Albania

Happy Feast of St Nicholas to you. Did you find anything in your shoes this morning? If you left them outside where we are, they'd likely been frozen solid. We've got cold weather this year on St. Nicholas' Feast Day.

I particularly like the icon pictured here, as it shows some of Nicholas' life events. A Google search under images will give you other images, too.

On this Feast Day of the patron saint of sailors and voyagers, children and marriageable maidens, paupers, and others,  you might think about ways you can secretly help out others, following in his example. The St. Nicholas Center has lots of history and resources. If nothing else, the sailing community has always been a friendly compassionate bunch who helps one another out. I've been on the receiving end, and I continue to try and pay it forward, too. Hmmm, what to do this year?

So here's to Saint Nicholas!

May Saint Nick be at your tiller!

Blessed Be,

Joel

Soup on Wednesday - Food for Thought: Plastic Challenge

As is typical during Advent, I'm going to offer some "Food for Thought" on Wednesdays and some Friday Fun on Fridays. So, without further ado ...

Jill Dickin Schinas aboard Mollymawk offers a challenge this month: Can you live a month without purchasing any plastic? Yes, she knows that this is the Christmas Season when gifts are often bought and given, which makes it all the more a challenge. She offers in depth background information, too.  Here is a teaser from their website, with a link to the full article.

Enjoy, and Blessed Be,

Joel

The Plastic-Free Challenge – Can you do it?

by Jill Dickin Schinas in November 2013

Everybody’s heard about the Pacific garbage patch. It’s the size of Texas and it’s so dense that you could build a house atop the debris. Last week I read an account by someone who sailed past the floating island and who claims to have faced a constant battering from all the rubbish hitting the hull. “The debris isn’t just on the surface,” he says, “it’s all the way down. And it’s all sizes, from a soft-drink bottle to pieces the…

Continue reading this article… →

First Monday in Advent

Welcome to Advent, this season of celebrating darkness and light. The Earth is making her way once again to the shortest hours of daylight (read this as the opposite if your in the southern hemisphere). For those in the U.S., the harvest festival has come, and we have many reasons for continuing to give thanks.
In many ways Advent is about waiting - a waiting of the tenses: Christ has come, Christ comes, Christ will come again ... . It is also a waiting of the senses: the hours of daylight are getting shorter, we find ourselves baking sweet things, we listen to and sing carols, ... . The season of Advent is an invitation to contemplation.
Where do we sometimes find ourselves resisting such an invitation? In our consumeristic rush to have Christmas come quickly and then be over so we might purchase some other gadget our gizmo, do we miss something?
I thought the following quote fitting for this discussion:

"I did not know when I went [to Cuba the first time] that I would be forced to make the voyage over again. I did not know that it would lead me into the labyrinth of solitude, that it would change my outlook, my attitude to the world around me, my appraisal of myself; that it ...  would change my way of thinking and living, would change my understanding. Just as the ocean wears away the rocks and bends the contour of the shore to its will, so it washes over a man's [sic.] mind, smoothing the sharp edges, knocking off the conceits, flattening the prejudices so that he is left with a different instrument with which to govern his life."
     ~ Frank Mulville. Dear Dolphin. Sheridan House (1992). 29.

May Advent provide times for contemplation, times of wearing away, that you maybe smoothed, and whole.

Blessed Be,
Joel