A Single Layer

Looking for good new year's resolutions? In high school, I had these taped to my closet doors. Some kind of inspiration?

Today, Emily and I drove to Concord. (well, she drove. i sat in the back...) We were depositing our grandfather here, and have now somehow misplaced him. He's around about in his home... and we are wondering where. Dinner later, sleep and back again tomorrow. Tired, back sore, ready for Christmas vacation again.

So Christmas comes and Christmas goes, and the world the holy child is born to rests, as ever, full of dark so deep that all the Norman bishops in the land with all their candles aren't enough to drive it back an inch. - from Frederick Buechner's Godric

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 'Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.' The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: 'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of ma

thank you

Come, if you will, on a Friday night, whether or not I am paying attention. Break me from my reverie, rend earth from sea and sea from salt. Separate the self and shame showing them two not one, then name me - the better half - after yourself, the Son. Come, if you will, in any form. Preferably not that of a woman, lest in my pride I pretend to understand you. Lion or lamb you have been. And as man I have loved you both less and more than I ought - for love is not an easy word. Child and criminal the same, your Spirit a dove and a flame, water and light and the breath of life, barefoot, berobed, bejeweled, begot. Come if you will, appear as you ought - only stop me in my tracks. Still the cycle. Break the back of the beast. Release the wolf from my mind. Temper the time. And whether or not it kill me, show me your face - swallow me like a seed into your breast or your belly. Bury and carry me, embryonic, with or without rebirth - only Come.

you gave your body to the lonely

An Advent Monologue by Walter Wangerin Jr. (I think I posted a segment of this a year or so ago. Here's the whole. If Rev. Wangerin take issue with this posting, I will gladly recall it. If you would like the book it comes from, go here .) I love a child. But she is afraid of me. I want to help this child, so terribly in need of help. For she is hungry; her cheeks are sunken to the bone; but she knows little of food, less of nutrition. I know both these things. She is cold, and she is dirty; she lives at the end of a tattered hallway, three flights up in a tenement whose landlord long forgot the human bodies huddled in that place. But I know how to build a fire; and I know how to wash a face. She is retarded, if the truth be told, thick in her tongue, slow in her mind, yet aware of her infirmity and embarrassed by it. But here am I, well-traveled throughout the universe, and wise, and willing to share my wisdom. She is lonely all the day long. She sits in a chair with her bac

in case you missed your liturgy

let us revisit my favorite christmas song , shall we? this time, i actually own the album(s).

F. B. Meyer, from The Way Into the Holiest 'He shakes all things, that the material, the sensuous, and the temporal may pass away; leaving the essential and eternal to stand out in more than former beauty. But not a grain of pure metal shall be lost in the fires; not a fragment of heaven's masonry shall crumble beneath the shock...'

I rode the devil's back - or perhaps he rode on mine. The trees were hung with arms around While I held on with vines. The leaves they fell in fingers, The grass grew up like teeth, The shiver from my horror didn't stop the imp beneath. And as we ran I felt his hand Dig furrows in my motley skin - Fishing for worms between the bones, Fondling my organs till they were all exposed And sprouting - toadstools, lichen and moss Making much of my body a great, twisted fungus. 'The horror!' I cried, but it came like a croak - Something was crawling up from my throat! A black millipede with uncountable feet - My eyes rolled like rocks - I choked, hacked, Spewed, sneezed, puked it out. Please , I whispered, wake me up from this dream. I will learn how to live. I will do anything. The devil turned to smile - he was wearing my lips - He leaned to my face for a kiss, a caress. Do you bargain with me ? he seethed in my ear. My market's of souls. I barter with shame and fear. Do y

in case you're still wondering what to get someone for Christmas, here's a catalog of gifts guaranteed to be worth your while.

my interest in Salvador Dali decreases in leaps and bounds as the years go on. there's only so much crazy i'll allow from an artist before it's just self-indulgence. but i cannot help still loving this painting. perhaps it displays itself like leonard cohen's praise: 'there's a blaze of light in every word / it doesn't matter which you heard / the holy or the broken halleljia.' so be it. here y'are:

'How Sweet the Name' - John Newton i include this in my random advent postings, because the last stanza has been playing in my head for several days now. looking forward to the day when my own weak efforts will be blazoned by the sight of him, my unfaithfulness and inconsistency burnt to bits and only this remaining - the unsurpassable greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Saviour. how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear! it soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, and drives away his fear. it makes the wounded spirit whole and calms the troubled breast; 'tis manna to the hungry soul, and to the weary, rest. dear name, the Rock on which i build, my shield and hiding place; my never failing treasure, filled with boundless stores of grace! Jesus, my Shepherd, Savior, Friend, my Prophet, Priest and King, my Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise i bring. weak is the effort of my heart, and cold my warmest thought. but when i see you as you are, i