NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

This email landed in my inbox a few weeks ago: “ This January, why not start the year with an empty jar and fill it with notes about the good things that happen. Then, on New Year ’ s Eve, empty it and see what awesome stuff happened that year. ” My initial response was ‘ What a good idea! ’ However, in the weeks since then, this image stayed with me niggling away inside my head. What was bothering me? This story from Luke: that has the rich young man who built more barns in order to store the excess crops he had harvested popped into my mind. ‘… . “ I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry. ” But God said to him, “ You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? ” So it is with those who store up treasures for themsel...

"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.”                                  ~ Hamilton Wright Mabie This Christmas is different!!!   Christmas decorations, for inside and out, traditionally have appeared in our house on the first Sunday in Advent and disappeared by Epiphany [one of the advantages of an artificial tree!]. Last year, the only Christmas decoration that went up was the table-top Christmas Tree: not the crèche, I had made 38 years ago, not the wreath on the door, no Christmas music, not even the Christmas Teapot made it out into the light of day. To be perfectly honest, if it hadn't been for the two grandchildren living upstairs, the tree wouldn't have put in a appearance either! This year, Advent 1 saw the tree up and decorated, the wreath hanging on the door, the cr è che scene in place, and Christmas music playing. What...

On the fourth Sunday in Advent, the last candle on the advent wreath will be lit in our homes and our churches. One of the popular carols  is " A Candle is Burning ", words by Sandra Dean. A candle is burning, a candle of LOVE, A candle to point us to heaven above A baby for Christmas, a wonderful birth For Jesus is bringing God's love to our earth.        Jesus, for Christians, epitomizes LOVE. We also hear in the writings of the Bible that God is LOVE. " God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. " 1 John 4:16(b)  The word used the most in the New Testament that we translate as love is the Greek word agape. Wikipedia has this to say " Agápe ( ἀ γάπη agápē ) means "love: esp. brotherly love, charity; the love of God for man and of man for God." ... This type of love was further explained by Thomas Aquinas as "to will the good of another." " To say that I am made in ...

Each Sunday in Advent, a candle on the advent wreath is lit in our homes and during our worship services. The lighting of the candle can be accompanied by readings and/or singing. One of the popular tunes for singing is " A Candle is Burning ", words by Sandra Dean and   sung to the tune of "Away in a Manger" . Here is the verse for Advent 3. A candle is burning, a candle of JOY, A candle to welcome brave Mary's new boy Our hearts fill with wonder and eyes light and glow As joy brightens winter like sunshine on snow The word that jumps out of this verse to me this year, as never before, is the word 'brave'. Quoting from the book "The First Christmas' by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan: " We raise immediately one major problem in that Matthean narrative. It is the question of Joseph ’ s presumption that Mary has committed adultery against his exclusive marital rights as already established by their formal   “ ...

Each Sunday in Advent, a candle on the advent wreath is lit. This lighting can be accompanied by readings and/or singing. One of the popular tunes for singing is " A Candle is Burning ", word by Sandra Dean and sung to the tune of "Away in a Manger" . Here is the verse for Advent 2. A candle is burning, a candle of PEACE, A candle to signal that conflict must cease For Jesus is coming to show us the way A message of peace humbly laid in the hay.   WOW!!! Do we hear what this verse is saying to us? Do we really hear that word PEACE? Along with passages written by the gospel writers, Dean, also seems to feel that the message of Christmas, the message Jesus died to bring to us, is that conflict must cease. ‘ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. ' (Matthew 5:9) We have a proud history of peace-keeping in Canada. Lester B. Pearson, the 14th prime minister of Canada from 1963 to 1968 , was award the Nobel Peace...