25 DEC 2010: Snow covered barn on Christmas Day. True confession, I took this photo at noon, standing barefoot in the snow.
For Christmas Day
by Charles Wesley
Hark, how all the welkin rings,
“Glory to the King of kings;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconcil’d!”
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
Universal nature say,
“Christ the Lord is born to-day!”
Christ, by highest Heaven ador’d,
Christ, the everlasting Lord:
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb!
Veil’d in flesh, the Godhead see,
Hail th’ incarnate Deity!
Pleas’d as man with men to appear,
Jesus, our Immanuel here!
Hail, the heavenly Prince of Peace,
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth;
Born to give them second birth.
Come, desire of nations, come,
Fix in us thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conquering seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display thy saving power,
Ruin’d nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to thine.
Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp thy image in its place.
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.
Let us thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the life, the inner man:
O, to all thyself impart,
Form’d in each believing heart.
(via Poetry Foundation)
25 DEC 2010: A snowy Carolina Christmas Day. There’s about 5 inches at 2 p.m.
25 DEC 2010: It started snowing around 8 a.m. and by noon there is three inches. #avlxmas #avlnews #avlsnomg
FROHE WEIHNACHTEN EUCH ALLEN!
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU!
(via germanheit)
The God We Hardly Knew
by Óscar Romero
No one can celebrate
a genuine Christmas
without being truly poor.
The self-sufficient, the proud,
those who, because they have
everything, look down on others,
those who have no need
even of God- for them there
will be no Christmas.
Only the poor, the hungry,
those who need someone
to come on their behalf,
will have that someone.
That someone is God.
Emmanuel. God-with-us.
Without poverty of spirit
there can be no abundance of God.
Mosaic of the Nativity (Serbia, Winter 1993)
by Jane Kenyon
On the domed ceiling God
is thinking:
I made them my joy,
and everything else I created
I made to bless them.
But see what they do!
I know their hearts
and arguments:
“We’re descended from
Cain. Evil is nothing new,
so what does it matter now
if we shell the infirmary,
and the well where the fearful
and rash alike must
come for water?”
God thinks Mary into being.
Suspended at the apogee
of the golden dome,
she curls in a brown pod,
and inside her the mind
of Christ, cloaked in blood,
lodges and begins to grow.
The Winter Is Cold, Is Cold
by Madeleine L’Engle
The winter is cold, is cold.
All’s spent in keeping warm.
Has joy been frozen, too?
I blow upon my hands
Stiff from the biting wind.
My heart beats slow, beats slow.
What has become of joy?
If joy’s gone from my heart
Then it is closed to You
Who made it, gave it life.
If I protect myself
I’m hiding, Lord, from you.
How we defend ourselves
In ancient suits of mail!
Protected from the sword,
Shrinking from the wound,
We look for happiness,
Small, safety-seeking, dulled,
Selfish, exclusive, in-turned.
Elusive, evasive, peace comes
Only when it’s not sought.
Help me forget the cold
That grips the grasping world.
Let me stretch out my hands
To purifying fire,
Clutching fingers uncurled.
Look! Here is the melting joy.
My heart beats once again.
amyvernon: Phases of the eclipse over Ciudad de México. via itsfullofstars: Source: EFE.
Into The Darkest Hour
by Madeleine L’Engle
It was a time like this,
War & tumult of war,
a horror in the air.
Hungry yawned the abyss-
and yet there came the star
and the child most wonderfully there.
It was time like this
of fear & lust for power,
license & greed and blight-
and yet the Prince of bliss
came into the darkest hour
in quiet & silent light.
And in a time like this
how celebrate his birth
when all things fall apart?
Ah! Wonderful it is
with no room on the earth
the stable is our heart.
Advent
by Donald Hall
When I see the cradle rocking
What is it that I see?
I see a rood on the hilltop
Of Calvary.
When I hear the cattle lowing
What is it that they say?
They say that shadows feasted
At Tenebrae.
When I know that the grave is empty,
Absence eviscerates me,
And I dwell in a cavernous, constant
Horror vacui.
(via Poetry Foundation)
npr: After The Crisis, An Economist Reconsiders Cappuccino Oh, Planet Money, you had me at “cappuccino.” –wrightbryan3
myscenicworld: Norwegian sunset…
photo45680: blizzard by john drake
it’s okay. he is a friendly snowman. #avlwx #avlsnomg
there is a runaway snowman in the neighborhood. we found his tracks. #avlwx #avlsnomg
Man is a frivolous, a specious creature, and like a Chess player, cares more for the process of attaining his goal than the goal itself.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (via enpasant)
#avl #avlwx #avlsnomg 12 DEC 2010
fluffynotes: Click here for larger version.
You might be from Wisconsin if
…your name is Frank [1] and people are trying to kill you and a film critic calls you ‘Mr. Calm.’ [2]
This morning I read a review of ‘The Tourist.’ [3] It’s funny. To me, anyway. The reviewer writes, Depp ‘completely botches the movie, making Frank Mr. Calm when he should be freaking out about all the people trying to kill him.’ [4] A few things come to mind:
- Frank is a character from Wisconsin. [5] And he’s in Venice. [6] Of course he’s calm. He’s thawing out. In Venice.
- Frank’s character is a math teacher. [7] (Yay for math teachers.) Imagine Dr. Charles Edward Eppes [8] from Wisconsin (rather than California) thawing out in Venice and calculating the trajectory of bad-guy bullets [9] with the uncertainty of being hit by bad-guy bullets. [10]
- People from Wisconsin, especially math teachers, don’t freak out. Unless it’s regarding an upsetting Packer game where the Bears mop up Lambeau Field with the green and gold. [11]
- Finally, all us Wisconsin guys look like Johnny Depp. [12] Right ladies? All guys look just like Johnny Depp, when we’re in Venice. I think it has something to do with the Italian climate. (When we’re in Wisconsin, we sort of look like Chris Farley. [13])
Ok, so ‘The Tourist’ isn’t really a film about Wisconsin. Maybe if it was more about Wisconsin it would get better reviews from film critics.
[1] Johnny Depp plays the character Frank a math teacher from Wisconsin in the film ‘The Tourist.’ [2] Reading a movie review on a Friday morning after eating organic ‘frosted toaster pastries’ is as banal as the movie review. [3] Nevertheless, the reviewer brings up a good question. I’m still searching for the question. [4] Even though the reviewer writes for a Chicago outlet, it doesn’t mean he understands male Wisconsin math teachers. [5] Current temperature in my adopted hometown, is a balmy 19°F. [6] Current temperature in Venice, Italy, frigid 43°F. [7] I suppose you could always work in the patent office. [8] Dr. Eppes, author of ‘Friendship, As Easy as Pi.’ [9] Numb3rs, Episode 109: Trajectory or Episode 612: Arm and arms. [10] Numb3rs, Episode 102: Uncertainty Principle. [11] Yeah, I know that was awhile ago, but Green Bay fans still freak out when the Bears beat the Packers at Lambeau Field. I mean, it’s LAMBEAU FIELD. Full disclosure: I’ve never actually been to Lambeau Field. I drove by it once or twice, but you can’t really see it from the highway. And yes, it is possible to live in Wisconsin and never visit the sacred ground of Lambeau Field. [12] ‘There is a little Bugs Bunny in all of us.’ [13] ‘In Madison, it’s a neighborhood story.’
Coffeehouse Junkie 