Glad tidings from various sources:
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas sermon.
Bishop John Bryson Chane’s Christmas sermon.
Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III’s Christmas sermon.
All the windows are now open on our online Advent calendar, and we’ve saved the best for last. Window 25 opens on a magnificent creche made entirely of driftwood pulled from the Gulf of Mexico.
As the accompanying text says:
“This lovely driftwood nativity was created by Mildred Hanson of Gasque, Alabama. Mildred came across an unusual, small knotted and dented piece of driftwood while walking on a beach and thought it resembled Mother Mary, with her hands lifted in prayer, looking down at Jesus in the manger. Over many years she collected other interesting little pieces of driftwood in the hopes that she could build the manger scene with Mary and her family. The shape of the driftwood dictated the posture of each figure. Mildred interfered little with the forms. Diluted acrylic paint, brushed on in thin coats, reveals the unifying flow of the driftwood grain from figure to figure. Imperfections in the wood are not “corrected” but allowed to stand proud.”
My other favorites were windows 5, 7 and 23.
There has been news today, as readers of The New York Times know, but we will discuss it at another time.
Merry Christmas.