ADVENT ALPHABET Conclusion

 W = WASSAILING

I for one always wondered exactly what this word meant --- is it a water sport? a beauty treatment?

It has two meanings --- the most common is caroling. I feel safe to express that the majority of us at one time or another have gathered with a group of folks and strolled the neighborhood singing in front of people's homes. It's generally a good time and for a good cause.

 I am not one blessed with the gift of song; as I often say my job is to sing harmony, which by definition is any note one's neighbor isn't singing and trust me there are not many persons who even come close to my tonal expressions.   Apparently, in merry Ol' England when folks went wassailing they at times went to the orchards and sung to the apple trees hoping to influence a sweet crop for grand beverages. Which leads to the second meaning, a reference to a hot mulled cider beverage.  

There you have it, the next time you're invited to go caroling make a stop at the local apple orchard and sing to the trees....it may help to have some mulled cider prior to this event.

X = XERUS        

Betcha' were't expecting that, were you????  As I'm sure you know a xerus is a ground squirrel and I'm confident there were a couple of 'em at the manger in Bethlehem.  In fact legend has it the xerus at the manger are why we have the tradition of cracking and eating nuts during the Christmas season...

Y =    Yule log. 

How many of you at least once during this holiday season (and you may yet utter it) when faced with a plate of cookies or a pie or an adult beverage or a cheese and butter laden holiday feast, said, "Ahhh, what they heck, it's Christmas......"  

Food and treats are central to our celebrations.  I'm one who likes to say that I have friends in food places and part of belonging to a local community is to visit, support and get to know the local eateries and establishments. Trust me, these are good places to know.  

I'm a fan of good, local bakeries that have been around for at least a couple decades. On the North Side of Pittsburgh and one of my all-time favorites is THE PRIORY, so named because a Benedictine monastery once was housed there.  The tag line at THE PRIORY bakery is "Thou Shalt." How can one not love and frequent a place like that!!!! 

Along with beignets on Fat Tuesday (if they know you they'll make them fresh and hot just for you), amazing pies, damn fine doughnuts and a wide cookie selection, they also make Yule logs for Christmas.  Of course, there is the icing and the cake and it's all rolled together...yet, the darn thing is quite aesthetically pleasing....right down to the icing-made mushrooms the dessert is a work of art.   

Z = ZOOM

These holiday seasons have been rough for many.  We are not able to wander aimlessly in a book store or a toy store looking for some great gifts, we don't have the holiday parties and we are not with our families in all those old familiar ways that we'll never again take for granted. Yet, the wonders of technology through ZOOM have made it possible to meet and see each other, do studies and even game nights.  To ponder that this is possible and we've managed to grow somewhat at ease with it is amazing.  

We will journey through this and we will again be together in all those familiar ways...it can't come soon enough.....

ADVENT ALPHABET....WINDING DOWN.....

 S =    STOCKINGS

I've noticed that a lot of the Advent and Christmas season involves feet and items associated with feet.  On St. Nicholas Day (December 6) many countries celebrate by having children leave out their empty shoes to be filled with candy and goods from St. Nick. NOTE TO CHILDREN be sure to wear the biggest pair of shoes you own on December 6 ---- I'm talking snow boots or hiking boots...the bigger and heavier the better...you never know when someone may choose to recognize this event. 

Here in the US we hang stockings by the fire with care.  The stockings have one's name on it or there may be a different theme for each family member such as Pirates, Flowers, Camouflage, hunting rifles, cookies, checkered pattern....you get the idea.....  

The rules in my family was we were allowed to "open" our stockings on Christmas morning, first thing, before any adult's morning cup of coffee or the family sitting down to breakfast breads or sticky buns. 

As were most things that special day, the stocking haul was stuffed full of delights and always included a large, ripe orange stuffed into the toe of the stocking to give it shape and  at least the hope of some health benefits.

T =  TIME

The song refrains "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and I would agree that sentiment, for the most part, is accurate. We know this to be so that when you are a kid the day can't come soon enough. No matter how many miniature chocolates are placed behind the little windows on the Advent Calendar or the plethora of places one can hide that elusive "Elf on the Shelf" time just crawls in lead up to the big day. When you're older the time blazes by and stress ensues as the list of what still needs bought, baked or blessed grows. 

The day itself concludes and there is always the sense of....now what? Perhaps this year with isolation celebrations we may be in the mindset of "just get through it," yet, resist that understandable viewpoint and take the time to be and to notice and to reflect on Christmases past and, yes, on everything familiar that is missing this year and more so how to make the most of the moment.  Who knows there may be some new traditions that are begun.

U =    UNIVERSAL

When I lived and worked in Washington, DC, my hair stylist was a Moroccan gentleman. (How chic does that sentence sound??!!??) A few days before Thanksgiving I want for a haircut and was making chit-chat and I asked, "So, what do you usually do to celebrate Thanksgiving? What are some of the customs from your culture?"  He paused, looked, put down his scissors and said, "I'm Moroccan, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving. That's a total American thing." 

OK, so I was a total...ummm, how to put this.....a total....I was....a moron. Not only did he give me a great haircut, he also handled my idiocy with grace. 

Christmas is a universal holiday celebrated around the globe. It's why one can shop Heifer International https://www.heifer.org and buy a Tibetan family a water buffalo or a family in Bangladesh a hive of bees. 

V = VISIT

This year visiting will happen virtually, in happy, waving drive-bys or on porches outside. Such are the times in which we journey.  

When I was a kid visiting relatives and friends and them visiting us was a ritual with an established routine. Like a Game Show Girl, one showed the gifts one received; conversation was continuous, the requisite cookie tray was presented, a pot of coffee was put on and the evening was quite enjoyable. 

In keeping with the spirit of the season, visits to the homebound were nearly mandatory as was the accompanying poinsettia. 

One of the fondest holiday visit memories I have was while pastor of a congregation in Erie, a member suggested and we agreed to participate in the "ANGEL TREE" program which provides gifts for kids who have a parent (s) who are incarcerated.  We were provided with names and requests and put on our Best Elf Selves!   

One request was from a seven-year old boy who wanted a bike. A parishioner worked at the local K-MART and managed to get the manager to donate a new bike and a helmet.  Showing up at that kid's house and presenting the new bike and helmet was a rush!  Mom cried. Seven year old boy in his Scooby-Doo printed pj's  raced onto the porch, jumped on the bike and took off down the city street.  This was Erie in late December...it was snowy and cold.  Mom grabbed the helmet and ran down the street after her son.  Like a runner in a relay, she managed to catch up to him as he kept pedaling and to place the helmet on his head.  She stood there smiling and watched her son ride his new bike up and down the street.  Gift received by all present. 

ADVENT MESSAGE 3

LUKE 1. 26-56

 MARY

              "The Annunciation" by Henry Ossawa Tanner

As a United Methodist, Mary was never very prominent on my protestant radar, she always seemed to my immature in faith self to be much more a Catholic focal point. 

Yet, one grows in the faith and matures in thought and reflection and I began to reflect more on Mary.  I put away my "childish" notions of Mary being meek and mild, eternally virginal (therefore wed to the most patient man on the planet) and ideal ---- perhaps these perspectives explain why it was always the "perceived ideal beauty" of the blond hair and blue-eyed girl who always was selected to portray Mary in the annual Christmas pageant. 

Mary plays her most center-stage role during the Advent season. Without her, there is no Christmas drama. She teaches us all how to be what German mystic, Meister Eckhart, called us to as bearers of Christ for a waiting world.

Any discussion of Mary begins with the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and set's up, announces the plan.  The painting at the top of this post can be viewed in clearer, fuller details by going to: https://artondemand.philamuseum.org/detail/461460/tanner-the-annunciation-1898

When you zoom in on the painting look at Mary's face and her posture. To me she is conversing with Gabriel and also according to scripture she dialogues with the angel, asks questions, seeks answers.  Hers is not an immediate, submissive "yes." 

This painting was central to an pre-Advent retreat in which I participated.  As we discussed our reactions to the painting, one participant said, "To me, Mary has pondered what the angel has said, deliberated and finally her face to me says, 'Ahhhh screw it, let's do this.'"  

I resonated with that viewpoint.  I prefer the Mary featured in the poem by Denise Levertov also called "Annunciation" where the poet pens these words regarding Mary:

This was the moment no one speaks of,

when she could still refuse.

A breath unbreathed,

                                Spirit,

                                          suspended,

                                                            waiting.

She did not cry, ‘I cannot. I am not worthy,’

Nor, ‘I have not the strength.’

She did not submit with gritted teeth,

                                                       raging, coerced.

Bravest of all humans,

                                  consent illumined her.

Mary had a choice.  She could have said no. 

And if she had, then what?  

Spoiler alert --- we know the story, she considers and she agrees. 

The story moves forward in Luke's gospel and continues what's been prominent in the opening chapters of the book as a kind of  broadway musical format --- seemingly everyone sings.  Mary's number is The Magnificat.  This hymn is a remix from Hannah in the Old Testament and there is no way around it the song is a revolutionary tune sung by a rebel and meant to stir and upend the way of things in such a way the impoverished become rich, the empty become full and the overlooked become seen and heard.  

Personally, this is a song I can dance to, preach to, seek through the grace of God to make real.

When I reflect on Mary the adjectives I use to describe her are curious, independent, courageous, questioning, faithful, believed in angels and was open to speak and listen to them, a strong woman.

Do these adjectives apply to us, todays bearers of the Christ?

As Mary had a choice, so do we.  The Christmas season is familiar with its fluffy sheep and scraggly shepherds, its cooing doves and lowing cattle.  The story of a young couple finding shelter in a manger where a baby is born we know and it is comforting.  

I believe the story as it comforts also is meant to call us and challenge us to make the song of Mary evidenced in our communities.  Hers is a song of justice. Do we hear it? Do we listen? Do we live it?  

The entire Christmas story starts with a dialogue between an angel and a young woman in whom God has found favor.  Then as now God delights in each of us, that does not change. 

Have the angels stopped being sent?

Have the angels become silent?

The angels are among us often in guises we don't easily recognize.  

That nudge, that refrain, that note you just can't stop singing.....pay attention and choose wisely.