Grace Notes in the Desert

"Mary gave birth to her firstborn son...and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn." -Luke 2:7   We sometimes forget, looking at our porcelain or hand carved Nativity sets, just how brutally hard the circumstances were of Christ's birth; and how difficult for a young woman, pregnant, and unwelcome anywhere .   Most of us have never experienced the brutal hardship of the destitute, the refugee, or the really poor.  But Jesus did, and so did his mother and his foster father, Joseph.  Ever wondered why the 'greatest story ever told' begins like this : with a pregnant girl, a foster father, and no welcome anywhere?   Christ's beginnings in this world were full of hardship--from his inauspicious birth in a cave to his death, like a criminal, on a cross.  So, too, are the lives of many around the world, and, increasingly, in our own nation. Who will help the 30 million people at risk of losing their homes because of COVID19?  Who...

Jesus said: "And greater things than these you, too, will do. "                                                                                                --John 14:12 So, by my estimation, we're a little over half-way through this journey in a time of pandemic. Wouldn't it be interesting to share what each of us has learned? Hard wrought lessons of what's needed in an emergency; poignant lessons on the brevity of life; revealing lessons on the fragile nature of our world and our need for connectivity and one another.   What have you learned i...

"All of our problems stem from our inability to sit quietly in a room all alone."                                                                                                                                  -Blaise Pascal Today is, officially, the first day of Spring. Where I live it is also, officially, the first day of restaurant, gym and mall closures due to a virus that has made the whole world pause, and do what Christians often do in the Sea...

" Reign of Christ " or " Christ the King " Sunday, Nov. 24, 2019, begins the Season of Holy Time in the Church Year.  It's a time when, if the world doesn't take pause, we, who follow Christ (and are not afraid to say His name) do... or, at least, can --if we want to pause in an increasingly secular and superficial world. Where is the place you stop to think about what matters most?  For that matter, where is the place you feel free and welcome...to cry?  Advent, in the Church, is that kind of place and that kind of time: and, maybe, that's what makes it Holy (as opposed to Ordinary) because, in Advent, we're invited to slow down (how counter-cultural);  look up (stars not only sing, they make 'silent' announcements, to the wise who notice them); remember (who it is that created stars); and praise (the One who comes in the most unlikely of places--a virgin's womb;  a Bethlehem cave). I don't know about you, but I need a time and ...