Stone of Witness: Friday Five: For this Friday Five: T'is the Season

Friday, December 3, 2010

Friday Five: For this Friday Five: T'is the Season

I've been a follower of Revgals for some years and have played the Friday Five. Today's from Katherinzj asks

For this Friday Five please let us know five of the things that mark the season for you

My tradition celebrates Advent and I get a little churlish when I have to do Christmas things too early. When we lived in NY Black Friday did bring craziness, but here in TX it is over the top. Christmas lights were on when we came home from Thanksgiving Dinner! Even the classical music station was pumping out the First Noel on Nov. 29th. Add to this, all our household tradtions are in flux because we have moved. We haven't the foggiest what we are going to do to decorate, celebrate with family, attend church. For over the past 30 years Christmas was celebrated in the parish. Now we haven't got one yet. All our usual markers are gone and we will have to invent new ones. So here are somethings we MAY do to begin new traditions.

Sunday a big parish in Dallas is having a tradtional Lessons and Carols with choir and orchestra. We may take that in.
Look for a wreath for our front door that we can change from purple trimming to red and green the week of Christmas.
We already have our tree--a 2 1/2 rosemary bush that is still on the patio--so far we haven't had a freeze yet. And we will use its branches to fix our Christmas roast.
I am meeting with a rector on Tues. to see if he can use me for Christmas Eve services. If not, I will sing in the choir for Christmas. It has been a long time since I have done that.
And for the first time in many years, I will be able to celebrate Christmas Day afternoon with my family.

4 comments:

Sally said...: Oh I love that ribbon changing idea, might look into that!Have a great time with your family.; December 3, 2010 at 2:43 PM
Auntie Knickers said...: Sometimes different is good! Especially if it lets you sing in the choir and spend Christmas with family. Blessings on your new location and hope and prayers for you to find a call soon.; December 3, 2010 at 3:15 PM
Kirkepiscatoid said...: Hmmmm. Reminds me of the "Living Social: Five Things" craze on Facebook a couple of years ago....

1. My big, honkin' 12 inch Advent pillar candles arrive via UPS.

2. Our fancy blue paraments at Trinity-Kirksville.

3. Sometime this month, there's bound to be a snowfall on a pitch dark night and dusts the world of NE Missouri.

4. SIRIUS radio switches "Classical Pops" channel 79 to "Holiday Pops" and the 40's channel 4 to "40's Christmas music."

5. Pap smear business really picks up b/c everyone wants to get it done before the new deductible year. (Ok, so you have to work in a pathology lab to appreciate that one fully.); December 3, 2010 at 5:12 PM
Muthah+ said...: Auntie, I am of the group of 'gainfully retired'. ;-D We are even some of those who have moved South to retire--but for me it is a return to roots.; December 3, 2010 at 8:12 PM

Quotes

"Faith is different from theology because theology is reasoned, systematic, and orderly, whereas faith is disorderly, intermittent, and full of surprises.... Faith is homesickness. Faith is a lump in the throat. Faith is less a position on than a movement toward, less a sure thing than a hunch. Faith is waiting." Frederick Buechner “I realized that an oyster is an organism that defends itself by excreting a substance to protect itself against the sand of its spawning bed. The more sand in the oyster, the more chemical the oyster produces until finally, after layer upon layer of gel, the sand turns into a pearl. And the oyster itself becomes more valuable in the process. At that moment,” I said, I discovered the ministry of irritation.” Joan Chittister

Quotes

So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.(Molly Ivins 1944-2007)

Dorothy Sayers (Creed or Chaos?)

Let us,

In Heaven's name,

drag out the Divine Drama

from under the dreadful accumulation

of slipshod thinking

and trashy sentiment heaped upon it,

and set it on an open stage

to startle the world

into some sort of vigorous reaction.

If the pious are the first to be shocked,

so much the worse for the pious

--others will enter the Kingdom of Heaven before them.

If all men are offended because of Christ,

let them be offended;

but where is the sense

of their being offended at something

that is not Christ

and is nothing like Him?

We do Him

singularly little honor by watering down

'til it could not offend a fly.

Surely it is not the

business of the Church

to adapt Christ to man,

but to adapt man to Christ.

Just Something to Think About...

"The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision." (Lynn Lavner, an American comedian and musician from Brooklyn, NY). and...none of the six came from Jesus

"Religion isn’t about believing things. It's ethical alchemy. It’s about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness." - Karen Armstrong

"A church that doesn't provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed — what gospel is that?"

-Archbishop Oscar Romero

"If the truth be told, my attitude towards all gatherings of bishops is to avoid them. I have never seen a good outcome to any synod, or asynod which produced deliverance from evils rather than the additionto them … rivalries and manoeuvres always prevail over reason … and intrying to decide between others it is easier to get accused ofwickedness itself than to deal with their wickedness. Consequently Ihave withdrawn to myself. I consider retirement to be the only meansof saving my soul." Gregory of Naziansus (bishop, 4th century)

The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals and 362 admonishments to heterosexuals. That doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals. It's just that they need more supervision." (Lynn Lavner, an American comedian and musician from Brooklyn, NY).