Well, ever since boldly declaring that I was going to write about how we ponder the lessons of Christmas during Ordinary Time, I've had a conversation that goes something like this running around in my head:
"The lessons of Christmas, yes. The lessons of Christmas. Huh. I'm sure there must be some."
"You have to write about them!"
"Yes. Yes, and knowing what they were would help a lot with that."
"C'mon! It's Christmas! You've celebrated it since you were born!"
"Yep."
"Nngh!"
The truth is that what stood out most about Christmas for me this year was the little physical things, and not the great spiritual truths. It was doing something every day for Advent with my daughter that was new and different. So there was lots of playing with Nativity sets, lots of "yes, that's Mary, she's Jesus' mommy" and not a lot of contemplation of Mary being Jesus' mother, that is, of God being born as a human, that is, of the Incarnation.
But Mary thought about it. She pondered it. She treasured it in her heart. And she's the one who had to feed and diaper the Incarnation every few hours! (to borrow Meredith Gould's wonderful phrasing)
How tired she must have been. Because her mothering was real mothering (as Jesus was true man), even though it was mothering the Lord Almighty (as Jesus was true God). Here's a collect from the BCP on the subject:
O God, who didst wonderfully create, and yet more wonderfully restore, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share in the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, thy Son Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
So, Lord, may what you truly assumed be truly healed: our humanity. Even my own. Even in the little things, the physical things, that I do with my kids. May I really learn what I teach my children about you. May I understand "Jesus loves me, this I know" with all of my heart and mind and soul and strength. May I ponder your Incarnation, may I treasure the truth of it in my heart. To your glory. Amen.
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
WFMW: nursing poncho
Somehow, on Sundays, naptime always falls right in the middle of our church service. For me, this meant I either needed to find a way to modestly nurse my babies, or I needed to leave the service.
Well, I didn't like the idea of leaving, but with my firstborn I never was able cover up well with a blanket; it kept sliding off!
But, during a thrift store trip just before my son was born, I found a wonderful thing. It was a poncho, the kind made for teeny-boppers, the kind I'd never really consider wearing as part of any outfit, but the kind that was, though aimed for the 13-15 year old set, perfect for nursing a baby under!
The cool thing about this poncho was that, despite its loud pink and white pattern, it was thin enough that air could pass through it well (no smothering the baby you're trying to feed), but closely-woven enough for modesty (no flashing the folks in the next pew), and, best of all, since it was a poncho, it couldn't slip off.
I've nursed Gamgee under this sucessfully during many a mass, and I think what I like best about it is how well suited it is for nursing when it was never, ever intended to be used that way. Finding a new use for a silly fashion item? Works for me!
(And finding it for next to nothing in a thrift store? Even better! If you want one, you probably won't have any trouble locating one secondhand, it's the sort of thing that's always falling out of style and being tossed.)
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
For more cool tips, visit Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by Shannon of Rocks in My Dryer.
Well, I didn't like the idea of leaving, but with my firstborn I never was able cover up well with a blanket; it kept sliding off!
But, during a thrift store trip just before my son was born, I found a wonderful thing. It was a poncho, the kind made for teeny-boppers, the kind I'd never really consider wearing as part of any outfit, but the kind that was, though aimed for the 13-15 year old set, perfect for nursing a baby under!
The cool thing about this poncho was that, despite its loud pink and white pattern, it was thin enough that air could pass through it well (no smothering the baby you're trying to feed), but closely-woven enough for modesty (no flashing the folks in the next pew), and, best of all, since it was a poncho, it couldn't slip off.
I've nursed Gamgee under this sucessfully during many a mass, and I think what I like best about it is how well suited it is for nursing when it was never, ever intended to be used that way. Finding a new use for a silly fashion item? Works for me!
(And finding it for next to nothing in a thrift store? Even better! If you want one, you probably won't have any trouble locating one secondhand, it's the sort of thing that's always falling out of style and being tossed.)
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
For more cool tips, visit Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by Shannon of Rocks in My Dryer.
on the practical and the spiritual
I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying writing this blog. (Here, watch me try: "Lots! I'm enjoying it lots!" See, wasn't that eloquent?)
But I've run into a slight snag: this blog is about homemaking and the church year, and while I'm under the impression that most of my posts should be about both topics, sometimes I want to write a post just about the church year, or one just about homemaking.
For the past few weeks, it's seemed to me that this might be breaking the rules, but I think I've decided (fiat me!) that it's not. 'Cause it's my blog.
Oh, okay, I guess I actually have a little more reason than that. The truth is that it's all about Jesus. If you're a Christian, everything you do is to be done to the glory of God. So, hopefully, when I write a post that's just about the practicalities of homemaking, you'll understand that I write it on the assumption that the recipe I'm cooking, or the cleaning technique I'm using, or the garden I'm planting is being cooked, used or planted to the glory of God. All things done excellently, for God's glory.
A much greater man, J.S. Bach, used to inscribe an acronym for "To the Glory of God Alone" on all of his written music. The notes, of course, being notes and not words, wouldn't spell out the gospel (though I know I have some musician friends who would argue differently!). But he wanted it understood that everything he did was with a mind of pleasing Christ. Writing down notes was practical, doing it for God's glory was spiritual, but it was all one thing.
So, while I intend this blog to look at the relationship between the liturgical church year and the job of homemaking, sometimes I'll just be talking about one or the other. Even though not all the individual posts will tie the two together, hopefully the blog as a whole will.
Okay, thanks for letting me muse on that subject. Back to more normal pontificating shortly! :D
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
But I've run into a slight snag: this blog is about homemaking and the church year, and while I'm under the impression that most of my posts should be about both topics, sometimes I want to write a post just about the church year, or one just about homemaking.
For the past few weeks, it's seemed to me that this might be breaking the rules, but I think I've decided (fiat me!) that it's not. 'Cause it's my blog.
Oh, okay, I guess I actually have a little more reason than that. The truth is that it's all about Jesus. If you're a Christian, everything you do is to be done to the glory of God. So, hopefully, when I write a post that's just about the practicalities of homemaking, you'll understand that I write it on the assumption that the recipe I'm cooking, or the cleaning technique I'm using, or the garden I'm planting is being cooked, used or planted to the glory of God. All things done excellently, for God's glory.
A much greater man, J.S. Bach, used to inscribe an acronym for "To the Glory of God Alone" on all of his written music. The notes, of course, being notes and not words, wouldn't spell out the gospel (though I know I have some musician friends who would argue differently!). But he wanted it understood that everything he did was with a mind of pleasing Christ. Writing down notes was practical, doing it for God's glory was spiritual, but it was all one thing.
So, while I intend this blog to look at the relationship between the liturgical church year and the job of homemaking, sometimes I'll just be talking about one or the other. Even though not all the individual posts will tie the two together, hopefully the blog as a whole will.
Okay, thanks for letting me muse on that subject. Back to more normal pontificating shortly! :D
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
Monday, January 29, 2007
on saints' days
I just thought I'd add a note to the last post.
As a person who was raised as a (mostly) non-denominational Christian, and is now in a liturgical Protestant tradition, the idea of observing saints' days is still somewhat new to me. But what helps me understand this tradition is remembering St. Paul's injunction to "imitate me, as I imitate Christ." In the recognized saints, the church is saying, "Look at these people because they did a good job imitating Christ."
The thing is, it's sometimes hard to answer the question "what would Jesus do?" for the simple reason that you don't happen to be a first-century Jewish male in your thirties, letting alone the fact that you aren't the Messiah! When we look at the saints, we are looking at a wide variety of people who have imitated Christ: priests, missionaries, businessmen, children, fathers, mothers, monks, nuns, even kings and queens! Some of them may be in circumstances a little bit more like your own, but if most of them aren't, having all of these extra examples gives you a better idea of what following and imitating Christ looks like.
Now, you still imitate Christ primarily; the saints can't replace him in any way, shape, or form. But they're like older brothers and sisters who've been living with your parents' rules longer than you have, and can show you the ropes. You can look at them, and be encouraged, because they have proven that it's possible to follow Christ in every era, in every country, in every situation, no matter your age, race or gender.
At least, that's what I get out of observing saints' days. :D
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
As a person who was raised as a (mostly) non-denominational Christian, and is now in a liturgical Protestant tradition, the idea of observing saints' days is still somewhat new to me. But what helps me understand this tradition is remembering St. Paul's injunction to "imitate me, as I imitate Christ." In the recognized saints, the church is saying, "Look at these people because they did a good job imitating Christ."
The thing is, it's sometimes hard to answer the question "what would Jesus do?" for the simple reason that you don't happen to be a first-century Jewish male in your thirties, letting alone the fact that you aren't the Messiah! When we look at the saints, we are looking at a wide variety of people who have imitated Christ: priests, missionaries, businessmen, children, fathers, mothers, monks, nuns, even kings and queens! Some of them may be in circumstances a little bit more like your own, but if most of them aren't, having all of these extra examples gives you a better idea of what following and imitating Christ looks like.
Now, you still imitate Christ primarily; the saints can't replace him in any way, shape, or form. But they're like older brothers and sisters who've been living with your parents' rules longer than you have, and can show you the ropes. You can look at them, and be encouraged, because they have proven that it's possible to follow Christ in every era, in every country, in every situation, no matter your age, race or gender.
At least, that's what I get out of observing saints' days. :D
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
January's Heavy Hitters
Okay, so I goofed over the weekend, and forgot to post anything on Saturday's and Sunday's saints. And boy-howdy, they're not ones that should be easy to forget! Nope, this last weekend, if you were paying more attention than I was, you should have been celebrating the saint days of John Chrysostom and Thomas Aquinas.
Chrysostom's most famous sermon is his Easter sermon, but I always think first of this prayer attributed to him in the BCP, at the end of Morning Prayer:
A Prayer of St. Chrysostom
Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one
accord to make our common supplication unto thee; and
hast promised through thy well-beloved Son that when two
or three are gathered together in his Name thou wilt be in the
midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions
of thy servants as may be best for us; granting us in this
world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life
everlasting. Amen.
You can see from these two pieces alone how he got the nickname of "Golden Mouth". When it comes to the subject of homemaking, I think of St. Chrysostom as a reminder to let our words be encouraging to one another, and, also, as beautiful as our skill allows us.
To be honest, when I think of Aquinas, the first thing I think of one of my college professors, who spent an entire summer reading the Summa Theologica. Apparently, if you stack all the volumes of the Summa vertically, unless you're in the NBA, you'll be looking at a stack of books that's taller than you are.
But when I think of St. Thomas' great work, I can't help but swoon at his academic dedication to the glory and wonder of God (even if I don't agree that Aristotle's categories can be applied to theology the way he thinks they can!). The amazing thing about St. Thomas is that he was a brilliant man who dedicated all of his brilliance to understanding God. He gives me encouragement as I face my own task, homemaking, with an academically-inclined mind. My reaction to learning that I was a mother was to read everything I could get my hands on about pregnancy. Pretty soon, I was reading everything I could get my hands on about babies and housekeeping also. And then, eventually, everything I could read that might shed some light on how to be a Christian woman, a Christian wife, a Christian homemaker.
St. Thomas' field was the queen of sciences, theology. Mine's a smaller field, but I'm still encouraged by his example to try to do it with not just all my heart, but all my mind, and to the glory of God.
May you be encouraged too!
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
p.s. The reason I got so confused over the weekend was due to mixing up the Roman Catholic calendar, and the Anglican one. I finally discovered the saints' days observed by my church at the beginning of the BCP (of course, everything's in the BCP, I should have known!), and my goodness, we don't observe nearly as many as the Catholics!
I hope this blog will be a help to any Catholic or Orthodox readers, but I think I'm going to mostly refer to my own church's calendar, just to avoid (my own) confusion. However, if any Catholic or Orthodox readers want to offer a guest post about some of your own traditions, let me know!
Chrysostom's most famous sermon is his Easter sermon, but I always think first of this prayer attributed to him in the BCP, at the end of Morning Prayer:
A Prayer of St. Chrysostom
Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one
accord to make our common supplication unto thee; and
hast promised through thy well-beloved Son that when two
or three are gathered together in his Name thou wilt be in the
midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions
of thy servants as may be best for us; granting us in this
world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life
everlasting. Amen.
You can see from these two pieces alone how he got the nickname of "Golden Mouth". When it comes to the subject of homemaking, I think of St. Chrysostom as a reminder to let our words be encouraging to one another, and, also, as beautiful as our skill allows us.
To be honest, when I think of Aquinas, the first thing I think of one of my college professors, who spent an entire summer reading the Summa Theologica. Apparently, if you stack all the volumes of the Summa vertically, unless you're in the NBA, you'll be looking at a stack of books that's taller than you are.
But when I think of St. Thomas' great work, I can't help but swoon at his academic dedication to the glory and wonder of God (even if I don't agree that Aristotle's categories can be applied to theology the way he thinks they can!). The amazing thing about St. Thomas is that he was a brilliant man who dedicated all of his brilliance to understanding God. He gives me encouragement as I face my own task, homemaking, with an academically-inclined mind. My reaction to learning that I was a mother was to read everything I could get my hands on about pregnancy. Pretty soon, I was reading everything I could get my hands on about babies and housekeeping also. And then, eventually, everything I could read that might shed some light on how to be a Christian woman, a Christian wife, a Christian homemaker.
St. Thomas' field was the queen of sciences, theology. Mine's a smaller field, but I'm still encouraged by his example to try to do it with not just all my heart, but all my mind, and to the glory of God.
May you be encouraged too!
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
p.s. The reason I got so confused over the weekend was due to mixing up the Roman Catholic calendar, and the Anglican one. I finally discovered the saints' days observed by my church at the beginning of the BCP (of course, everything's in the BCP, I should have known!), and my goodness, we don't observe nearly as many as the Catholics!
I hope this blog will be a help to any Catholic or Orthodox readers, but I think I'm going to mostly refer to my own church's calendar, just to avoid (my own) confusion. However, if any Catholic or Orthodox readers want to offer a guest post about some of your own traditions, let me know!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
sunshine
I like looking at people - especially people I love - in the sunshine. Indoors, everyone looks like a washed-out brunette. Outdoors, black hair glints in the sunlight, blonde hair shines with glory, and even the actual brunettes look radiant. Eyes that all looked mud-colored turn out to be bright blue, or sherry-brown, or green and gold like a creekbed in the mountains. Sunlight brings out beauty.
Today, at the end of mass, we sang "Amazing Grace". I think "Amazing Grace" was the first hymn I learned all the verses to when I was a child (prompting the development of a lifelong love of learning all the verses).
And my favorite was the last verse, that talked about heaven. It gave me shivers:
When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun.
Today I sang that along with the rest of the congregation, as I stood in the back, rocking my son. We'd all just come back from taking communion together, and all of the sudden I felt like I was seeing everyone, my parish family, in the sunlight. The light of eternity. I looked at them all, even the ones I don't know that well, or don't like that much, and was overwhelmed with joy, because we were all singing about the day when we'd be doing this - this praise, this communion, this worship - all together, endlessly, in the glory of the presence of God. And everyone all of the sudden looked brighter, looked loveable.
It was like seeing them in the sunlight.
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
Today, at the end of mass, we sang "Amazing Grace". I think "Amazing Grace" was the first hymn I learned all the verses to when I was a child (prompting the development of a lifelong love of learning all the verses).
And my favorite was the last verse, that talked about heaven. It gave me shivers:
When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun.
Today I sang that along with the rest of the congregation, as I stood in the back, rocking my son. We'd all just come back from taking communion together, and all of the sudden I felt like I was seeing everyone, my parish family, in the sunlight. The light of eternity. I looked at them all, even the ones I don't know that well, or don't like that much, and was overwhelmed with joy, because we were all singing about the day when we'd be doing this - this praise, this communion, this worship - all together, endlessly, in the glory of the presence of God. And everyone all of the sudden looked brighter, looked loveable.
It was like seeing them in the sunlight.
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
Saturday, January 27, 2007
For Saturdays
In the Book of Common Prayer, we find this collect for Saturdays in the Morning Prayer, Rite I:
A Collect for Saturdays
Almighty God, who after the creation of the world didst rest
from all thy works and sanctify a day of rest for all thy
creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties,
may be duly prepared for the service of thy sanctuary, and
that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the
eternal rest promised to thy people in heaven; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Isn't that cool? Everything has a reason. There's even a reason for rest.
This also gives a possible justification for two-day weekends. You're supposed to use Saturday to rest well, so that you are rejuvenated Sunday morning, and have the ENERGY needed to whole-heartedly worship God, with all the rest of the assembled faithful, at the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of thy Son our Lord.
And, having said that, I'm going to go rest, myself.
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
A Collect for Saturdays
Almighty God, who after the creation of the world didst rest
from all thy works and sanctify a day of rest for all thy
creatures: Grant that we, putting away all earthly anxieties,
may be duly prepared for the service of thy sanctuary, and
that our rest here upon earth may be a preparation for the
eternal rest promised to thy people in heaven; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen.
Isn't that cool? Everything has a reason. There's even a reason for rest.
This also gives a possible justification for two-day weekends. You're supposed to use Saturday to rest well, so that you are rejuvenated Sunday morning, and have the ENERGY needed to whole-heartedly worship God, with all the rest of the assembled faithful, at the weekly remembrance of the glorious resurrection of thy Son our Lord.
And, having said that, I'm going to go rest, myself.
peace of Christ to you,
Jessica
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