Preparation…

The Behold! theme word for this week is Preparation (in the book Behold! by Pamela C. Hawkins.) Pamela relates a story about her aunt’s gardening practices – hard-working part of the year and then waiting for the preparation that our earth needs during fallow times.

She also references a beautiful song: Hail to the Lord’s Appointed. The words are HERE and you can hear the St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal congregation sing it HERE. The third verse of that hymn is:

He shall come down like showers
upon the fruitful earth;
love, joy, and hope, like flowers,
spring in his path to birth.
Before him on the mountains,
shall peace, the herald, go,
and righteousness, in fountains,
from hill to valley flow.

May our preparations this week and throughout the season be a combination of hard work and expectancy in all that happens even without us!

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!


Lectionary Texts for this Sunday, December 10, 2017:


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Slow down…

Does the Christmas season sometimes feel like you’re on a runaway train? The parties, the purchases, the entanglements of our material world can sometimes be overwhelming. Paraphrasing one favorite pastor: when I’m busiest is when I know I most need to slow down and be with God.

Today’s d365.org devotional includes this

“Today we remember that Advent is a season of waiting, and Isaiah is inviting us to wait for God. We wait for God when things are going smoothly and we wait when things are falling apart.” ~ Erendira Jimenez

Waiting isn’t easy but slowing down frequently helps. And typing that line, I can’t help but smile and think of religious scholar, Jim Ignetowski from the TV show Taxi (okay, maybe he was NOT a religious scholar!) Here’s a humorous snippet from an episode that deals with slowing down…

ACTION: Take a little time on this day to slow down and spend time waiting with God whether through music, prayer, study or whatever allows you to take some deep breaths and enjoy this wonderful season upcoming.

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit!


Lectionary Texts for this Sunday, December 3, 2017:


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