Journal

Category: Liturgical Seasons

Happy Birthday, Church!

“Just as the resurrection of Jesus opened up the unexpected world of God’s new creation, so the Spirit comes to us from that new world, the world waiting to be born, the world in which, according to the old prophets, peace and justice will flourish, and the wolf...

Lent Resources 2017

Liturgical seasons can act as guideposts through the year and Lent is a particularly special one.  It’s easy to get caught up in the “sackcloth and ashes” part of Lent, with all the self-denial and focus on our own sin.  This is important to...

What leads you to wonder?

My first invitation to wonder about Jesus’ coming came when I was a boy, stealing away to my childhood living room and sitting alone among all the bright trimmings of the season. Without really knowing it was happening, the mystery of the season seeped into my soul....

What are we waiting for?

“What are you waiting for?” It’s a question that we might be asked by a stranger as we hold up a grocery story line or to a friend who we want to encourage to step out in faith. It’s normally a question that implies choosing to wait as the lesser choice. Advent, on...

Advent in a Divided Season

By: Todd Deatherage As 2016 moves to its end, many wish it had all been just an unpleasant dream. Our experiences this year, as in most, teach us that things are not right in the world, not as they should be. An ugly American election season has exposed deep fault...

Sheer Joy!

Last time I offered some Transcendence.  This time I want to offer Sheer Joy!  These few things fill my heart with laughter or happiness or wonder or all of them at the same time.  Enjoy them! The first is probably my favorite minute and twenty-two seconds on Youtube....

The Gift of Contemplation

On my journey with Christ I have considered myself many things:  a redeemed, rescued, forgiven, beloved child of God; Jesus’s friend; Jesus’s co-laborer in the world; God’s handiwork created in His image.  But rarely have I identified with being a “contemplative,” one...

Waiting for Jesus – First week of Advent

Every year as Advent begins our family takes out its Christmas library – the loosely curated stash of books acquired over many years conveying the Christmas story and spirit in poetry, images, songs, and stories from across centuries and around the world.  At the...

A Song of Spring

The coming of spring inspires line after line of verse, note after note of melody, and with very good reason. This year, winter seems reluctant to release its icy grip on the Washington Area and the Shenandoah Valley (which the Montgomery County Police have coped with...

The Road to Emmaus

We had such a great time celebrating with our friends at Christ Church Vienna on April 3.  You can listen to the sermon here, or you can download it from CCV’s website here. Some of our favorite soundbytes: “Disillusionment can be a great gift”...

Easter Monday Devotion

EASTER MONDAY, 2016 by John S. Gardner The first Lent and first Easter since my parents’ deaths has been a time for reflection, a time of necessary busyness, welcome return to work, and sometimes enforced rest (“I am become like one who has no strength,” Ps. 88:4), a...

Palm Sunday Poem

We’re borrowing from G.K. Chesterton and posting a poem told from the perspective of the animal on which Jesus entered Jerusalem.  Welcome to Holy Week everyone! The Donkey BY G. K. CHESTERTON When fishes flew and forests walked    And figs grew upon thorn, Some...

A Prayer to Open Lent

This is one of my all-time favorite poems and prayers, from a man well-acquainted with God, and with sin.  Regarding sin, who cannot agree with his refrain, “I have more”. Yet it ends in hope and freedom from fear, which is precisely the destination of journey of Lent...

Blizzard Preparations and a Celtic Lent

With the storm coming, it’s natural to think about seasonal preparation.  The news is crowded with images of hardware stores sold out of shovels and salt, and empty grocery store shelves where milk and bread used to be. No one wants to be caught in a storm unprepared....