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At Peace Church in Pasadena’s 4:00pm Children’s service, all the kids were in the front dressed in an array of costumes listening to Pastor Steve Kelly’s message.
“What do you think Mary said to Joseph when they got to Bethlehem?” he asked.
A little shepherd boy (about 9-10) raised his hand and said “My water broke?” ending the message in a roar of laughter.
Crime still dogs New Orleans
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-12-29/new-orleans-murder-rate-violence/52275788/1
I am reading Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol,” about the restoration of pre-Cromwell Christmas in Victorian England, and of course about generosity and giving to the poor. I think I’m going to read this every Christmas. It’s so soulful and incredibly well-written.
It strikes me that Dickens, an Anglican, dabbled in Unitarianism, because of their concern for the poor, and their commitment to the abolition of slavery.
His writing is brilliant. This sentence amused me so much I reread it several times:
“The curtains of his bed were drawn aside, I tell you, by a hand. Not the curtains at his feet, nor the curtains at his back, but those to which is face was addressed. The curtains of his bed were drawn aside; and Scrooge, starting up into a half recumbent attitude, found himself face-to-face with the unearthly visitor who drew them: as close to it now as I am to you, and I am standing in the spirit at your elbow.”
150 years later Dickens invokes his own presence in my own living room in Texas as I read his book on my couch in front of the tree, with the dog curled up beside me. Such a writer.
I was also amused at his low opinion of American securities, understandable in 1843:
“This was a great relief, because ‘three days after sight of this first of exchange pay to Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge or his order,’ and so forth, would have become a mere United States’ security if they were no dates to come by.”
Dickens’ father was sent to debt prison when Dickens was 12. Dickens was forced to work in a factory as a child. This tragedy and his exposure to poverty, child labor and the poor working conditions of 19th century England shaped his perspective.
It also hit me, the Ignatian exercises that have you reflect on your life mirror this story. Considering in a deep manner his past, his present and his future, the main character is led to make different life choices.
A friend just shared with me, a two-part video series on Martin Luther is being broadcast at 9:00-10:00 p.m. on January 2 and January 9. I see it’s scheduled on our local PBS station.
Part 1 (Driven to Defiance) is being broadcast on January 2. Part 2 (The Reluctant Revolutionary) on January 9. This appears to be an independently produced film that PBS is showing as a part of their Empire Series: People who changed the world.
I haven’t seen it yet and so have no opinion or endorsement. More info here: www.pbs.org/empires/martinluther/
Look closely at this Nativity Scene, at the base of the Christmas tree in the nave of Iglesia Luterana Principe de Paz Houston. Next to the cow, clearly some child felt the scene needed a parasaurolophus among the friendly beasts.
Houston-area folks, this is a really cool event:
Zion Lutheran Church in Houston hosts an annual Children’s Hymn Festival. This year it January 29 at 4:00 p.m. John Ferguson from St. Olaf college will lead the festival from the organ. Cynthia Nott from the Greater Dallas Children’s Choir and Anna Teagarden from St. Paul’s United Methodist, Houston, will direct the children’s choirs.
If you have kids, this is an awesome time. Zion is located in the Houston Heights at 3606 Beauchamp. John Ferguson on the organ, with the kids will rock your world. See you there.
