By Kim Redigan
this advent i need a woman’s space.
a dark space.
a silent space.
somehow i’ve got to find my way
back to the womb of my own life.
this advent i need shawls and songs.
the sacramentals of ceramic mugs
and solitary candles
standing like sentries
throwing shadows on the darkened walls
of my winter heart. Continue reading “Advent Song”
Advent 4B
Luke 1:26-38, 46b-55
You have deposed the mighty from their thrones and raised the lowly to high places. Luke 1:52
By The Reverend Marilyn Zehr
I met her this afternoon when I went for a walk. She was throwing the ash from her woodstove onto the snowy road just outside her front door.
“Helps the cars get traction,” she said. “You’re the new minister aren’t you? Want to come in and see my Christmas decorations?” Continue reading “Wild Lectionary: Mary, Hildegard and the anawim”
My mom died New Year’s Eve when I was 19. We knew it was coming so that Advent as we sang “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” each night before dinner, I paid attention to the voices. I knew them so intimately- the tones and harmonies that our four voices made together. It was the sound of home and I ached to imagine how our singing would change with just three voices. So each night I zeroed in on the sound of my mom’s voice- desperate to not let it be forgotten. Memorizing deep within, in hopes that whenever I sang “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” that I would always hear her voice within it.
Continue reading “Learning from Laughter and the Trees: The Gift in Their Voices”
By Brittany Caine-Conley (Rev. Smash)
Mark 13: 24-37
Blessing When the World is Ending by Jan Richardson
Look, the world is always ending, somewhere.
Somewhere the sun has come crashing down.
Somewhere it has gone, completely dark. Continue reading “Sermon: Dwelling in the Dark”
By Bill Ramsey
December’s first day dawns,
presenting an unexpected sketch
between my beaten path’s margin
and a recently resurgent river’s bank.
A patch of park is neatly etched
beneath a tree’s elongated umbra.
The tall rusty cypress unknowingly
casts a silhouette of a Christmas tree. Continue reading “Cradles Unsuppressed”
There is a moment between sleep and awakening
When the dream world makes itself available
For us to deeply remember
What it is we need to know
Original instructions
On how to be human
On how to be in creation
On how to risk
On how to care for one another
On how to find joy
Continue reading “Prayer: There is a moment between sleep and awakening”
By Chava Redonnet, Oscar Romero Inclusive Catholic Church, Rochester, NY
Bulletin for Sunday, December 10, 2017
Second Sunday of Advent
Dear friends,
I’m writing this a bit late… it’s Tuesday, December 12. It’s the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe: this morning in Mexico, people got up early and processed through the town with candles, singing “Las Mananitas”… at least, they did years ago and I expect they still do, now. Continue reading “Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe”
By Joyce Hollyday Reposted from www.joycehollyday.com.
Two days ago, a calf was born on the 120-acre mountain farm next-door. On my morning walk that day, I rounded a turn in the trail and spied him under a chestnut tree by the creek, just hours old, still wobbly on his legs, his mother licking him vigorously. Last night a coyote tried to kill that newborn calf. His mother successfully thwarted the attack, but not without injury to her ear and face. On this morning’s walk, I noticed that all the cattle are huddled together at the bottom of the mountain, the calves in the center of their protective circle. Continue reading “Lions and Coyotes and Calves, Oh My!”
By Rianna Isaak-krauss
we sit in darkness
longing for light
death all around us
yearning for life
remember the advent call to wait
to wait with pregnant hope
as we watch Mother God conceive
and give birth with Mary
give the gift of birth to Mary
By 
