Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Passion

How little of permanent happiness could belong to a couple who were only brought together because their passions were stronger than their virtue.
Jane Austen

Sunday, December 11, 2011

God, Present in the "Everyday"

This is a devotional for yesterday from Creative Communication for the Parish.

  Readings: Sirach (Ecclesiasticus, apocrypha) 48:1-4, 9-11
                  Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
                  Matthew 17:9-13

  "Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him..." Matt. 17:12
  Elijah appears again today, a measure of importance during Advent. he is a figure associated with the end-time, when God's reign was to be fulfilled. Sirach states that Elijah will "put and end to wrath before the day of the Lord," a reference to the "birth pangs of the messiah." John the Baptist cried out: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" (Matt. 3:2)
  Despite this clear pronouncement, the people did not heed John's words. They regarded him as a holy ascetic, but not as the herald of the reign of God. Why not? even though they eagerly awaited God's reign, they were anticipating conquest and political independence rather than repentance and transformation. Since they did not take to heart John's announcement of God's reign, it is not surprising that they did not accept its arrival in Jesus himself.
  We, too, find it difficult to recognize and accept the reign of God. We, too, hope for victory and a spectacular display. All of the oohs and ahhs at the Christmas crib often miss the fact that the all-powerful God comes to us in unassuming and vulnerable ways.
  Tender God, open my mind and heart so that I can welcome you into my life this Advent and all the Advents to come. Amen.

Just thought it was a good devotional. Enjoy.

In Christ,

Em xoxoxo

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Heroes

Our culture has filled our heads but emptied our hearts, stuffed our wallets but starved our wonder. It has fed our thirst for facts but not for meaning or mystery. It produces “nice” people, not heroes. Peter Kreeft

December

Oh, there's so much going on this month!!! Here's a list of days that we think about (at least in my family):

December 6-St. Nicholas's Day
December 7-Pearl Harbor Day
December 13- St. Lucy's Day
December 25-Christmas (duh!!!)
December 26-St. Stephen's Day

I'll tell you a little bit about each day. I was just thinking about them and what a great post this would make!!!

  St. Nicholas's Day

  St. Nicholas was a 4th-century Greek bishop, in what is modern-day Turkey. He was also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, becoming the model for our Santa Claus (really??!!). He is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, thieves, children, and students in a bunch of different countries.
  He was born in Asia Minor to loaded Christian parents. They both died in an epidemic when he was young, and then he lived with his uncle (also named Nicholas) and was trained to be a reader and later became a priest.
   In his most famous story (and I'm taking this from wikipedia, so if you don't agree, it's what I found), a poor man had three daughters but couldn't afford a dowry for them. This meant that they would have to stay unmarried, and most likely, for lack of a better field of employment, become prostitutes. Yeah, I'm glad I was born in 1996 instead of 296. Anyway, he heard about the situation, and either being to modest to help the guy in public, or not wanting to embarrass him by offering the guy charity, Good St. Nick went to his house at night and threw three purses of  gold coins (one for each daughter) into the window. Another version has him throwing the purses in on three different nights (on the eve of when the daughter would be of marriageable age). Apparently, in the latter version, the father gets suspicious the last time and waits for St. Nick. Apparently, St. Nick found out and dropped the purse down the chimney instead, where the daughter had hung her stockings to dry, perhaps how we got hanging our stockings up on the mantel of the fireplace.

  Pearl Harbor Day

  December 7, 1941--A day that will live forever in infamy. The action that really set the course of world history. The United States of America finally joined the war, after, like, two or three years. This is what happened:
  The air portion of the attack began at 7:48 Hawaiian Time. A total of 353 Japanese airplanes in two waves reached Oahu. Planes were destroyed, battleships and  carriers were sunk, airfields were strafed, and a total of 2,459 civilians and servicemen were killed and 1,282 civilians and servicemen were wounded. It was a vicious and unprecedented attack on innocent people.
  That maybe sounds a little harsh. At the time everyone agreed. And I know there's a huge controversy over Hiroshima and the A-bomb. And I don't mean to be judgemental. Not at all. I don't blame the Japanese people for that anymore than they should blame me and everyone else for dropping the bomb. It's not their fault. And I can't really say that I blame the kamikazes or the battleships, because they thought what they were doing was right. What I'm trying to focus on is the people who died in that attack and the rest of the almost five years after that in the biggest war the world has ever seen. They deserve to be remembered. Because they died for us.
  In a way, the attack on Pearl Harbor is like the attack on the world trade center. Innocent people were attacked just doing what they do. It's tragic. The spirit that brought the American people together after that kept them going throughout the remainder of the war. I heard a politician say that the 9/11 attacks brought us closer together as a country than anything else in our history, which I can find no evidence of. Anyway, just remember those people who were stuck in the Arizona with no way to get out, dying a slow, agonizing death from starvation, or drowning, or what ever it was they died of. And those people who died in their planes trying to defend the navy of their country. Or the people who didn't even get their chance to get their planes off the ground.

  St. Lucy's Day

  St. Lucy is my church's saint. Yup. She's really cool, too. Saint Lucy (or Lucia) was a young Christian martyr. She is the patron saint of the blind, because her name is translated to mean "light". She was a Christian during the Diocletian Persecution. Her father died when she was young. Her mother had her betrothed to a pagan. She encouraged her mother to spend her dowry as alms for the poor, so she could pledge her virginity to God. When her betrothed heard about this, he was angry and told the governor that Lucy was a Christian, and the governor ordered her to burn a sacrifice to the Roman emperor.
When she refused she was sentenced to be a prostitute. When the guards came to take her, she was stiff and heavy as a mountain, and could not be moved until she was hooked to a team of oxen. She was stabbed in the neck with a dagger, but still prophesied against her persecutor. Her eyes were plucked out. Her persecutors then tried to kill her in various ways, none of which worked until they drove a spike through her skull.
  According to legend, she brought food to persecuted Christians who were hiding in caves, wearing a hat with candles on it so she could see and carry food in both hands. In some Scandinavian countries, tradition is that on St. Lucy's day the youngest girl in the house dresses up as St. Lucy and brings food to the other family members.

  You all know about Christmas so I don't have to go into that unless I have a request to do so.

  St. Stephen's Day

  St. Stephen is the Protomartyr, (usually the first Christian martyr of a country, or, in this case, the first Christian martyr) of the Christian church. He was a Deacon. His name means "crown". He is the patron saint of casket makers, deacons, altar servers, headaches, horses, masons, and Serbia. He was tried by the Sanhedrin for blasphemy against Moses and God, and was stoned to death by an infuriated mob who was encouraged by Saul of Tarsus.

Okay, so that's it. Hope you guys have a good Advent and Christmas. Oh, I just thought of this, too. The themes for the four weeks or Advent are: Week 1, Death, Week 2, Judgement, Week 3, Heaven, Week 4 Hell. Just so you know, 'cause I always forget.

In Christ,

Em xoxoxo
   




    

Monday, December 5, 2011

Awe


Awe, that rush of quiet passion, that sudden gasp in the presence of great beauty or immensity or unfathomability is another necessary ingredient for the full appreciation of life. Cousin to gratitude, fear, and ecstasy, it overwhelms and enriches us beyond our usual boundaries.
Check this website out and enter if you can. Have a great day!

In Christ,

Emily xoxoxo

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Catching Up

   Things have actually slowed down here, but only by a tiny bit. I strained something in my shoulder really bad so I couldn't work for a couple of weeks (I go back Tuesday). I've been cleaning up (nothing too strenuous) and it looks like I've done nothing, but, I suppose that's why we have to keep cleaning things. the other day my sister said, "I write all my numbers backwards except 1's and 8's." That cracked me up. I thought about laughing the other day. It really makes you feel better. Especially all-out holding-your-sides laughing. That makes you feel tons better.
   I'd like to ask you to pray for my friend Anady. She needs lots of sincere prayers.
   I'm kind of rambling and not making much sense, and I apologize. Just wanted to catch you up. Hope you have a great night! And I'll do my best to put and Advent post or two on in the next month.

   In Christ,

   Em xoxoxo

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Strength

Because He lives, I can face yesterday.
Jared C. Wilson



Saturday, November 19, 2011

Success

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

Winston Churchill

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Welcome!

Hey! Glad you're here. Take a look around and tell me what you like and don't like (For example, colors, font, heck, even an idea for an article if you want). Be polite. No haters, please. Then, when you're done, tell your friends about this!
If you want to talk to me without the whole world knowing, contact me. You can find my email at the "About Me" page. If it's something really, really heavy, remember, I'm 15. My dad's a priest, so I may talk to him about it, 'k?
Hope to hear from you.
If you want to get involved (i.e., writing posts, etc.), again, contact me.
Can't wait to hear from you!

In Christ,

Em xoxoxo

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Encouragement

So, I know, it has again been forever since I posted. And a lot of stuff has happened since then.
    Back in late August our Normande cow gave birth to a stillborn calf (it was dead) and since then her health has been steadily declining. Her feet were giving her trouble and she wouldn't eat. That's really bad. She couldn't get up by herself. Very sad to see. And on Thursday my dad and I left early to go to a meeting for church in Massachusetts (more on it later) and left the rest of the family home, leaving my brother to get her up. So, like two hours into the trip my mom calls and is almost in tears. They couldn't get her up. You're all going to gasp in horror at this, but after an hour or so and three more phone calls, my dad told my mom to call the dog-food-meat-people (they come and get down and fresh dead cows...really sad) and have them come and get our cow. So they came and put her down and picked her up (literally, with the backhoe. She weighed like 2000 pounds. No joke.) And y'all are gonna think I'm some kind of insane freak, but I cried. Bawled my eyes out. Like I'd lost a grandparent or something. Crazy, right? I never thought I'd say that I cried over a cow. But, yeah, I'm crying right now, too, 'cause I haven't really had the amount of time to deal with it since then. Just having to face that fact that I wasn't ever going to see her again really hurt. And still does. But it's life, and she's a cow. I'll have to learn to deal with that kind of stuff.
    So about the meeting thing for church. Continuing Anglicanism in the US has never really been a united organization. This meeting was just this thing to get people together from the different jurisdictions of continuing Anglicans to meet and get to know each other and develop relationships. You know, like, getting together at Gramma's house for Sunday dinner? Except this is the first time in 35 years. But everyone there was supernice and I had a lot of fun. I'm probably the only person my age who would say that. Because there was only, like, two other people there under the age of thirty. And I can say with complete certainty that I was the only person there with a one on the front of my age (for the whole meeting. There were other people my age at the banquet, but I was the only on there for the whole two-day meeting). But you know, what? It's cool. Because I get along with older people well. It comes from being a firstborn. But in a way, too, it's not cool, either. Because the fact that there is almost no youth in any of the jurisdictions is a serious problem that needs to be dealt with. I'm going to tell you something. It originally wasn't my idea to say anything about that. It was my dad's. But he has this great way of planting the seeds of ideas he has in me, and maybe watering them a little, and a lot of the time they actually turn out okay. So it became my thing. I was going to stand up and say something about it. And I did. There was a Q&A session where I asked what are we going to do to bring youth in. And guess what I got for standing up and saying something? I got appointed to the youth committee for, like, all four or five jurisdictions. Ian Dunn also got appointed to the committee, too, because he stood up and said something about it, too, and he's also actually within maybe a decade of my age. Maybe a little more. But anyway, Mary Grundorf, (hope I spelled that right!) a bishop's wife, suggested that maybe having youth from each of the jurisdictions on the committee would be a good idea, and it is a fabulous one. So currently, I am one of two members of a committee that is going to, supposedly, put together a youth conference for next year.
    But I'm really excited. I really am. This could be (and will be, I just may have to pester people a bit) a really good thing. If we could get youth talking (and I have every intention of getting that to happen) we could get bible studies going, and we could do skype and all sorts of great christian stuff. I have selfish motives for doing this, too, for those of you who think I'm a saint (Bishop Marsh!!!): I really need the benefit of other people my age who want a relationship with the God the same way I do, and I'm not getting that. Sure, I have christian friends, but I don't have any Anglican friends who live close by. There aren't any other kids who go to my church. And even though I like my Baptist friends, it's not the same. So I'm going to do everything in my power to get that for myself and my brothers and sister.
    I was really encouraged by the whole thing. That's something I needed really badly, encouragement from other christian people. And they are all good, God-fearing people. Especially the clergy. You can see, and feel, and know that God is in them when you are standing there talking to them, or sitting there listening to them give an address, or even just in the way they move. I know that sounds weird, like sexual or something. But that's not what I mean at all. I mean they drip God. They do. In everything they do, you see God. So with that I leave you, because I have other emails to write...on this very subject!
Hopefully I will post again soon.

In Christ,

Em xoxoxo

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Fear