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Today, January 6, is the Feast of the Epiphany.
It's the day we celebrate the Magi coming to worship the Christ Child. Epiphany is all about God revealing Himself to these three Gentiles, thereby foreshadowing His plan of salvation for the Gentiles as well as the Jews. The Collect for Epiphany, or The Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, is: O God, who by the leading of a star didst manifest thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles; Mercifully grant that we, who know thee now by faith, may after this life have the fruition of thy glorious Godhead; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Tonight we lit our Advent wreath for the last time in our darkened kitchen, symbolizing the light of Christ shining into a dark, sinful world. Then we read the Collect as well as the Scripture reading from the second chapter of St. Matthew's gospel. After dinner we cleared away the wreath and placed the three Magi and the baby Jesus in the center of our table, and there they shall stay through Epiphanytide. We also cleared away all the Christmas decorations this afternoon -- one of the jobs I hate the most! The kids helped, but it still took three hours and we were all grumpy while we dismantled the tree, packed up most of the Nativity scene, and took down the stockings. Candles were changed from red and gold back to pale green and rose, but we did decide to keep out some of our snowmen collection to be a centerpiece on the school table -- 'til spring, at least. A blessed Epiphanytide to you and yours! Enjoy the next eight days! |
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Happy Twelfth Night! Yes. today was the Twelfth Day of Christmas, and tonight we celebrated Twelfth Night with Alpine Anglican. I made a gluten-free spice cake to take to Father Acker and Alice's home. We arrived at 6:30, and Father asked me to read from St. Luke's gospel, the third chapter, the fifteenth to the twenty-second verses. Then we proceeded out to their backyard, where Father had set up an metal washtub with some kindling. It took three tries, but Father finally got the fire started (with jokes flying from the Beadle), and then we laid in the dried greenery branches Father had given us, making quite a little conflagration. The light of the fire symbolizes Christ, the Light of the World, and His Light going out to the Gentiles. The light also symbolizes our light, our witness, as it goes out to those who do not yet believe. Father prayed that we, as Christians, would shine into this dark world with the Light that is Christ our Lord. Then, gazing into the flames of the fire, we broke into the "Phos Hilaron," an ancient Eventide prayer that we learned from Pastor Rollo at Lake Murray several years ago: O gracious Light, pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven, O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed! Now as we come to the setting of the sun and our eyes behold the vesper light, we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices, O Son of God, O Giver of life, and to be glorified through all the worlds. And then to close the service, we sang "Silent Night" together around the fading fire before proceeding back into the house. Then we chatted together over trifle, spice cake, fudge, sherry, tea, coffee, and cocoa. Father and I talked about our visits to England; he loved Salisbury Cathedral and the southern area best, while I preferred Cambridge and the middle section of Great Britain. The boys were flitting about here and there, rather high on sugar, especially after everyone left after only an hour. We stayed a few minutes later and were sent back up the hill with warm wishes for a Merry Twelfth Night and a Blessed Epiphany. Tomorrow is Epiphany -- the time to celebrate the Wise Men coming to find and see the Christ Child, the Gentiles coming to worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Also celebrated on this day is the Baptism of Christ and the Wedding Feast at Cana. Too see a great outline about Epiphany, see Beth's post on our new yet-unnamed forum: http://forum.sixredheads.com/showthread.php?t=128 Twelfth Night also reminds me of Shakespeare's wonderful play which E and I saw performed at Point Loma several years ago and which E just read for school a few weeks ago. I also bought Marchette Chute's Shakespeare of London today at Maxwell's House of Books where I had a short chat with Craig Maxwell, the owner. He wasn't open when we first got there, but he turned up as I read the newspaper clippings about his bookshop in the front window; in doing so, I found out that he is the grandson of the original Wahrenbrock, who started my favorite used bookstore in downtown San Diego (now owned by Chuck Valverde). I used to frequent Wahrenbrock's very often when I worked at Harcourt Brace years ago. Craig also attended the University of San Diego, where I did my graduate degree. (I even found out today that Dr. Burns' grandson is currently attending USD as a freshman.) Speaking of USD, I drove out there with B today and was able to check out that Master's thesis I mentioned earlier this week from the library. I'm very glad to get a hold of that book for my genealogical research. Woo-hoo! It's been a wonderful Christmastide for us -- lots of fun times and precious memories. I hope it was for you, too. So a Happy Twelfth Night of Christmas! And a blessed Epiphany to you as well! |
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This is from my morning devotional, the classic My Utmost for His Highest: "There are times when you cannot understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings the blank space, see that you do not fill it in, but wait. The blank space may come in order to teach you what sanctification means, or it may come after sanctification to teach you what service means. Never run before God's guidance. If there is the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt -- don't." Dear Oswald really nailed me here. There is much I desire to do, especially physically, that I just can't do. So I've often "filled in" the blank space of my life instead of waiting to see what God has for me. I've been in a blank space for nearly five years; on January 11 it will be five years since the doctor spoke those words: "fibromyalgia," which were then followed by "rheumatoid arthritis" and "chronic fatigue syndrome." I went from jogging through my town to needing a wheelchair in four months. I went from being a carefree, joyful person to being a pain-ridden, joyful person, but the joy is the gift of God; it has nothing to do with me. I am only the recipient of His grace. Yes, there have been low times when joy makes itself scarce, but that's usually my own fault because I'm looking too closely at myself instead of broadening my focus so I could glimpse joy waiting in the wings. But WAITING. What a huge thing it is! It's especially hard in these days of fast food and instant gratification to think about waiting. We chafe at waiting, whether it be at a stoplight or in an emergency room. But waiting is what both Advent and Lent teach us: to wait with expectation, to wait with joy, to wait for Him to speak, to reveal Himself, to perhaps even put a stop to our waiting. I love the twenty-seventh Psalm that concludes: "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." (KJV) The NIV version of the same verse reads: "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." That's where my joy comes from: from waiting for my Lord and my God. So I wait, full of the strength He gives and "taking heart" -- which means to me to be joyful in the midst of all that's going on -- and yes, WAIT. Happy Eleventh Day of Christmas! And enjoy the WAIT.
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Happy Tenth Day of Christmas!
After getting my new non-metallic crown put in today (ugh - dental work!), I stole off to the University of San Diego library. It's one of the most beautiful libraries I've ever studied in -- I remember cramming for my comprehensive exams (in place of a thesis) for hours in there -- overlooking the rose garden. The wooden floors and Gothic-styled chairs of the Reading Room are lovely, lit by large east-facing windows. I came in search of a Master's thesis on the architects of my family. When I Googled my great-great grandfather's name a few weeks ago, a history thesis from USD popped up which recounts the firm's history and buildings (William, Edward, and Charles Quayle). Since this one document may provide a great deal of info, I thought it was worth the trip to locate it. First of all, it wasn't on the shelf, and it took the librarian quite a while to locate it. When he handed it to me, I was a bit nonplussed; it was at least four inches thick, so my plans for photocopying went right out the rose-scented window. Then I realized that my USD Alumni card, which allows me to check out books, was fifty miles away, in my desk drawer at home. And I wasn't in the computer system since I haven't used my USD library card for nine years. So the tome is on hold, and I hope to pick it up Friday. It looks very much like it will be worth the trip. There was a huge list of EVERY building the Quayles designed from Illinois to Colorado to San Diego, including family dwellings, buildings for the 1915 Exposition in Balboa Park, and theatres, fire stations, police stations, etc. Lots of stuff -- I'm excited about reading it all and finding all the information in one place. I hope that finding this thesis will save me a LOT of time and the trouble of going to the archives in Balboa Park. From past experience, it is NOT easy to find material there. So that was the main event of the day. We're also looking forward to the Twelfth Night celebration Friday night at Father Acker's home. I picked up a gluten-free spice cake mix that we used for Christmas Eve so that our kids will have something nice and fun to eat. Gluten sensitivities can be a pain! At least there are a few good gluten-free mixes and products available. Since the cake was absolutely delicious on Christmas Eve, I think it will be agreeable even to those who don't have gluten issues. Again, Happy Tenth Day of Christmas!
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Happy Ninth Day of Christmas! Today I took the kids to see a movie, not something we do often as a family. But this afternoon after my chiropractic appointment, I took the kids to see Night at the Museum. And what a great, fun family movie! Woo-hoo!
Any movie that combines Robin Williams, Ben Stiller, Dick Van Dyke, Andy Rooney, Owen Wilson, and a host of amazing character actors is sure to be a winner -- and it was! It was fun, amazing, suspenseful, touching, romantic, and plain hysterical! We laughed SO hard! And many times. Definitely a two-thumbs-up. I highly recommend Night at the Museum! Don't miss it - especially in the theatre. It's one of those movies where you'll something new each time you see it. It's a KEEPER. |
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Yes, today is a new year -- a new beginning! Last night, Luke, Sheri, and their four (youngest adopted from Taiwan just two months ago) came over and we enjoyed nearly two-and-a-half hours of their company before their smallest two began needing their own beds. We toasted the New Year with champagne around New Years, EST (9:00 PM Pacific) and chatted, played, and ate delicious snacks until they had to go. After they left, the kids and I broke out our new board game, LIFE, Pirates of the Caribbean edition, and played until 11:50. So we waited out the last ten minutes of 2006 and welcomed in 2007 with Dick Clark and ringing the brass ship's bell on our front porch. We sent the kids to bed with special prayers and blessings, and headed to bed now too long after. I slept in today until nearly 1:00 PM, and was soon grafted into a new round of LIFE Pirates. We played until now, 5:00 PM, sometimes with all the boys, and a couple games with just E and myself. In the Anglican Church calendar, this is also the Eighth Day of Christmas, which is known as the Circumcision of Christ. Here is the Collect for the Day (1928 Book of Common Prayer): Almighty God, who madest thy blessed Son to be circumcised, and obedient to the law for man; Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit; that, our hearts, and all our members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey thy blessed will; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Today is also a day to contemplate, to ponder, to plan dreams and goals for 2007. My aims are this: 1. To improve my physical being by getting to bed earlier (11:00 at the latest) and by keeping sweets to one small serving per day (mostly dark chocolate). When I am able, I would like to add some mild exercise into my routine. 2. To improve my spiritual being by committing to Morning and Evening Prayer daily, and to the reading of the Holy Scriptures at one or both prayer times. 3. To improve both my spiritual and emotional being by taking a weekday off from homeschooling and having Keith take over, twice per month. During this time I want to pray, journal, write, read, and study. 4. To improve my emotional being, I wish to journal daily as often as possible and to write in this blog at least four times per week. When I can express myself in words, I find myself much more content. So, I wish you all a blessed New Year! May God work mightily in your lives this year and every year! |
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Happy Seventh Day of Christmas! The Collect for today is the same as for Christmas Day -- this Collect is in use throughout the Octave (eight days), including Christmas and until a week past: Almighty God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit ever, one God, world without end. Amen. Tonight is also New Year's Eve. We invited friends in our small town, Luke and Sheri and their four children, to come spend the evening with us. Champagne for celebrating the New Year is ready for pouring, and both families will be providing fun snacks to eat while playing board games, etc. Thinking back over this past year, I'm thankful for Keith, for our children and our ability to educate them at home, for extended family, for dear friends, for the blessing of two churches with two very different worship styles, both of which speak to my heart. I'm thankful for the opportunities of this year: speaking at retreat, quiet days of study, reading a few of my poems at Ad Lib, becoming closer friends with Judith and Kitty, writing more and feeling more sure about the quality of what I write. Today we're shifting B out of the toddler bed and into the bottom bunk, J from the bottom bunk into the top bunk, and T into a "new to us" IKEA bed from our piano teacher that Keith picked up yesterday. So T will move into the play room while the other two will have the bedroom. E is directing the shifting of furniture and the cleaning of floors while I wash sheets. Keith has taken down the toddler bed that he built for E, and now he's setting up T's IKEA bed. We stopped by Target after church to buy B new sheets and a comforter -- a nice orangy red, his favorite -- and thanks to sales and a gift card, our only output was $13. So now my "baby" is getting a big bed, and I feel OLD. Nice way to end the old year, eh? Tonight we'll ring out the old year and ring in the new, and tomorrow I'll post some dreams and goals for 2007. Happy New Year! |
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Perhaps the saddest day after Good Friday on the Church Calendar is the Remembrance of the Holy Innocents, which takes place on the Fourth Day of Christmastide. On this day, we remember and mourn that horrific terror of the killing of Jewish male children as ordered by King Herod. As Saint Matthew's gospel, in the second chapter starting at the sixteenth verse, relates: When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." The Collect in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer reads thus: O Almighty God, who out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast ordained strength, and madest infants to glorify thee by their deaths; Mortify and kill all vices in us, and so strengthen us by thy grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and constancy of our faith even unto death, we may glorify thy Holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. On the occasions that I have visited the lovely San Luis Rey Mission in Oceanside, one of the original California Missions that remains an active parish to this day, I have found myself drawn to the cemetery. In a corner of the cemetery is a plot dedicated to children who died at birth, and on a wall is a huge plaque, dedicated to the Holy Innocents of our age, who have perished by abortion. I can't help to be touched by these sacred places, and I get a small inkling of the grief of the Rachels of this world, two thousand years ago and even now. And I also mourn for those who don't mourn, for those who have aborted their babies without thought and without remorse. Here's the Mission:
If you live in the San Diego area, stop by there sometime. Enjoy the gorgeous architecture, the amazing church, the wonderful history. Then stroll around through the cemetery and give a thought and a prayer for those Innocents who have perished, both 2000 years ago in Bethlehem as well as daily in our country and around the world. |
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On the Third Day of Christmas, December 27, St. John is celebrated. Through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, St. John wrote not only his gospel, but also three epistles and the Revelation given to him by God. He was on of the iside circle of apostles, present at the Transfiguration of Christ, and he referred to himself repeatedly in his gospel as the "disciple whom Jesus loved."
In the Scripture readings to commemorate this day, we are told to read St. John's first Epistle, starting at the first verse of the first chapter, and St. John's gospel, the twenty-first chapter, starting at the nineteenth verse. The Collect for the 27th day of December (1928 BCP) reads thus: Merciful Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church, that it, being illumined by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to life everlasting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. May God empower us to love as St. John loved, to see as he saw, and to spread the gospel of Good News as he so faithfully did. |
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Christmas is more than the celebrations of Eve and Day. Christmastide lasts for Twelve Days, until the Eve of January 5, with is Twelfth Night Eve. But a lot to commemorate occurs in these twelve days. These celebrations were completely foreign to me within my evangelical community, and I wanted to share them here so others may learn as well.
The Second Day of Christmas is Saint Stephen's Day. We read about St. Stephen in the sixth and seventh chapters in St. Luke's Acts of the Apostles. In the sixth chapter of Acts, starting in the eighth verse, we are told: "Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue...." Then, as the sixth chapter closes: "All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel." St. Stephen then gave a rousing speech to the Jewish leaders, recounting their history and the birth of the Messiah. The leaders were so angered by Stephen's testimony and accusations that he was immediately stoned. Thus St. Stephen is remembered as a saint who stood up for Jesus the Christ against great odds, and became the first martyr of the New Way. The Collect in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer for December 26 reads thus: Grant, O Lord, that, in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly look to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those who suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen. May your Christmastide shine with the Light of Christ our Lord!
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First of all, Happy Fifth Day of Christmas! Well, we made my annual trek to beloved Barnes and Noble to purchase new journals, calendars, etc. See my new journal:
Yes, it's a Shakespeare Journal! I also had to purchase "Much Ado About Nothings: Shakespearean Sticky Notes." Inside are a rainbow of small tab stickies, then medium-sized stickies with Shakespeare's signature and a dip pen, and on the other side of this mini-book are larger stickies with Shakespeare's face, signature, and dip pen. Perfect! (Question: Must I use my dip pen to write journal entries? Answer: I'll see if the ink dries sufficiently well first; then I'll decide.) [Note to self: Remind children that the wonderful Shakespeare canvas bag at B&N was only $10 and that my birthday is in early March.] I also nabbed the very LAST copy of the precise calendar I wanted:
Lovely, isn't it? Nothing like beautiful paintings of women reading, especially when the art is from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston! (I shall go there some day -- I shall!) I also bought my traditional Farmer's Alamanac Gardening calendar that we use for school. Gardening reminders are a handy-dandy thing to have on one's wall, even if it's mostly used for keeping attendance for our home school. We trekked all over East County before locating E's Harry Potter calendar, even though we found her a beautiful antique-look red leather journal at B&N. We found a gorgeous Castles calendar for Keith's office (he is tired of Escher), and the boys discovered a hilarious calendar for their room with ferrets dressed to represent different TV shows (Lone Ranger, Miami Vice, Gilligan's Island, etc.). We are all amused. Since Keith bought me my New Yorker 2007 Desk Diary for Christmas, I spent much time yesterday transferring all my birthday reminders for family and friends from this year's B&N Desk Diary to the 2007 New Yorker Diary. So now I am OFFICIALLY ready for the New Year, sly cartoons included. Come, 2007! We're ready for ya! |
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Even in Christian circles, we often hear that Jesus' birth wasn't really in December. And even if the Messiah WAS born in December, then how in the world can we say that He was born on the 25th? Most Protestant and Catholic resources I've seen report that Christians co-opted the pagan solstice celebrations, placing Christmas on that date in order to "Christianize" the pagans. Well, my dear online friend, Cheryl, investigated the actual date of Christmas. Raised in Christian family who didn't celebrate Christmas because they viewed it as a "pagan" holiday, she intended to "prove" that the Christ wasn't born in December at all, much less on the 25th. But what she discovered in ancient documents proved precisely the opposite. Read her story here: http://www.geocities.com/cmeggers/Christmas.html A blessed Christmastide to you! |