“I heard a jazz pianist play “Linus and Lucy” from the Charlie Brown TV specials from years ago and felt my shoulders drop in relaxation, the hamster-wheel slow down, and a smile come to my face. It made me feel like a kid again in a time where things weren’t so tense and scary, where I felt safe and happy, and where I could open the daily paper and find the Peanuts comic strip.”
“We may find ourselves wondering from whence light will come in this troubled world, with its long nights and short and sometimes gray days. Lucy is a turning point, toward a time when the light will overcome the darkness in hours of daylight, but also when the Light will overcome darkness in giving new understanding of God.”
“During this season in particular, as we wait for the light of Christ to illumine us, and as we light candles on our Advent wreath, I look at that moon under Mary’s feet and think about what a perfect symbol the moon is for what Mary teaches us as a faithful servant of God. Just as the moon itself reflects the light of the sun, Mary’s boldness, agency, and compassion reflects the light of Christ, her son, who was associated with the sun in medieval Christian iconography. The moon with its monthly cycle of birth, growth, death, and rebirth reminds me of the hope we have in resurrection and new life through Christ.”
“Spiritual growth requires patience and self-compassion. Whether we are picking up an instrument or reading the Bible for the first time, trying something new is never easy. It won’t go the way we want it to. Progress will be slower than we hoped.”
“Coming Lord, we wait for you in this season of darkness looking to the light found on trees, on city streets, in candles and wreaths.”
“A group of Sadducees approached Jesus with a question. One woman is successively married to seven brothers as each brother dies. The Sadducees asked which brother would be the real husband according to the law if there were resurrection.”
“And Christ is with us, gazing into our souls with the eyes of the peace that passes understanding. Challenging us to risk, encouraging us to love, he goes before us, showing us the way.”
“Looking at photos of migrant children and those who are incarcerated simply because their parents sought to bring them to safety, as Mary and Joseph tried to find in Egypt, is almost more than I can bear.”
“Nicholas’ popularity has only grown in subsequent centuries, perhaps simply because this broken old world still cries for his generosity of spirit and humility in anonymity.”
“We thank you especially for sending prophets among us, to teach us to return to the ways You have hallowed and blessed.”