Wishful Thinking on Christmas Peace Past

So, here’s the deal, it’s all a pretty fantasy. Annandagjul sales (2nd day Christmas!) another big sales day. It’s good to have Swedish Sisters who keep track of you to keep you on the straight and narrow.

But I am going to sit in my chair and pretend. (Making it so, thanks Jean Luc!) Nothing but visiting, walking and because I’m Ann, swimming. I love me some fantasy, so I’ll keep spinning the stories… In a land far away… there is comfort and joy, comfort and joy… oh, well, but at least the pastry shops are probably open over there! And at my house, there’s strata waiting to be warmed and salad to be consumed. Brunch. Yes.

Why not make your Christmas Peace last… The Priestess gives you full permission to laze about today. Need a note from your Priestess? Lemme know.

We had a dusting of snow, and I’ve got a dusting of laziness… ahhhhhhh. Enjoy your day. I’m going to enjoy mine. Peace, out!

Wonder at Advent Peace

This is a night of wonder: Whether you’re awaiting the birth of a babe or the flight of reindeer or a moment of quiet, let heaven and nature sing…

I’m in a tough place right now… missing my sister, too many deaths around me, people living in impossible situations, it’s a bit overwhelming. And yet Christmas comes. For me, there’s the sweet familiarity of carols and ancient stories that remind us of great possibilities… and things that happen that we can’t even begin to understand…

don’t wonder at babes in stables, talking animals, angels in the heavens, reindeer in starry skies, fat guys in skinny chimneys, and presents under the tree? you’re missing a lot. how about the sweetness of friends and their generosity? all pretty wonderful. and a day of peace… can you let it be that and can you let it be wonderful?

Have I said in this blog that a bishop at a recent ordination meant to say we need to become apostles of the truth… and he said impossibles of the truth and I thought: brilliant!!!! Let’s be Impossibles of the Truth. and here’s the Truth: Peace is Possible… there is much to wonder at in that!

the awe is palpable on this night of Love… Happy Everything!

Expect Advent Peace

What if we just did that? What if we just expected it to be Peaceful and then acted as if it had happened? How would the world change?

This isn’t like wishing for a pony for Christmas, this is expecting that you will care for all ponies because ponies are needful.

This is an expectation of yourself that you will be Peace. In Advent, in the sacred season of coming into being… This is an unwillingness to expect any less, not only of yourself but of others and then loving yourself and your neighbors when we fail and encouraging us all to try again.

Expect Peace. The world needs you to ask the very best from it, to not settle from less. Part of expectation is going back again and again and again, and asking for more. Advent: Hope. Love. Joy. Peace. The hard work of Advent is expecting all of that. C’mon, I have great expectations of us.

Joining Advent & Sabbath Peace

At last, the fourth and final Advent candle: Peace. Do we understand that we are responsible for Peace, responsible for being Peacemakers? Not just smoothing things over, although calming rough waters is important; but acknowledging our similarities and celebrating our differences. The prayer might read like this: “May I be a person who encourages that which is right and just. Let me stand fast for my beliefs and cherish the work of Peace. Blessed Be.”

To that we add (join? connect?) the Peace of the Sabbath. A very weird warm humid Sabbath here in Central PA. Today it’s 59 headed into the 60s, by tuesday night it will plummet into the teens. And the stinkbugs are out. blech. I know, as Bill Staines says “all God’s creatures gotta place in the choir.” Obviously fragrance is part of that choral arrangement. And I’m not properly appreciative. But if the verb is join, they’ve just joined the heavenly chorus. (can you hear it?)

But the harp is sounding. We are to join the chorus for Peace. We are to be the chorus for Peace. (wow, weird dream flashback, I was joining the men’s chorus in my dream — given my cold this morning, not inappropriate, i’ll cover the bass as long as it’s only one squeaky note. But the men’s chorus just practiced on a better day!)

Ok, back to Peace. That’s what it’s all about, wherever we go, whatever we’re up to, we just get back to Peace. Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la.

Silent Joy in Advent Peace

Wordless Wonder can override the noisiest chaos. Oh, you have to be open to it, no doubt about that. And usually you have to stop and make a little bubble around yourself for wonder to grow.

I believe one of the most needed pieces of the Christmas story — and the whole world regardless of tradition can learn from this — is that the world can stop and wonder at Mystery. And that we do well to do that.

Silencing the criticism and the indifference and the, let’s be clear, bullshit, makes a place for wonder.

Wonder’s an important building block for growth and for Peace. So, shhhhhhhhh. see what you might be missing. Go look and see what’s hiding in the Peace and Quiet in this season of the Sacred Dark. This may be the work you’re born for!

Harmonize in Joy for Advent Peace

I find singing harmony far more fun than singing alone. When everyone has to listen to each other whether or not you’re singing lead, it’s so fun. And when you’re singing lead, in some ways your choices are narrowed. You sing the tune. You hold the center. It’s not about being Ms. Bigshot, it’s about holding the clarity while other people weave around you. Because if you start wandering off, your harmonizers have nothing to hold on to and you make them look bad.

If you’re a strong center, then everyone else gets to lay back and take risks. And if a risk goes awry, oh, well, the center held, try again. Ready to take the risks for a while. Find someone else strong enough to hold the center. Ah-mazing! And then everyone needs to adjust as a new singer starts. Where is the center of their notes?

Oh, it’s a good metaphor for this Peace-making thing. First you find the tune, then you find the grace notes that embellish it, all the while listening to the other singers so that your grace glides lightly over their grace. Peace! Harmony! and Understanding! Yahoo. That’s what you want in this season of Holidays! Making Magic. Making Memories. Doing the hard work and having a fine time as you do it. Joy! Joy! Joy! Deep in my heart.

Calm & Joy for Advent Peace

Funny, Calm and Joy seem rather at opposite ends of the spectrum, although who’s to say that Joy can’t show up in a lot of ways? But I’m wondering if we don’t need to calm ourselves so that we can see the joy.

It’s so easy to get agitated about the yucky stuff. And then we start to spin. And spin. And pretty soon, it’s difficult to see the path out because what we see is the spin. One big exhale and an inhale later, the spin can stop and we can begin to see the the steps.

Calm owes a lot to good breathing. You deal with what’s in front of you. But when things are grand, then it’s fun and even good to jump for joy. As kids we know the joy and jumping connection. As adults, we’re really rather more attached to jumping up and down in horror or rage. Those are situations that require a calm heart and a reasoning brain. The Jumping is just a distraction, a way to let the rage and the horror win.

Now Joy is an entirely different kettle of fish. Joy bubbles out of us or radiates depending on how open we’re willing to be and it infects others if we let it out. Again, would you rather people caught the Joy or the rage and horror?

So calm yourself deal with what’s going on, and open to the Joy of simply being alive and sharing this Life. Wow! You’re here! Celebrate! Dance! Peace!

Connect to the Joy of Advent Peace

EEK… almost forgot to connect about connecting. Happy Holidays! I’m running around like a fool… I had food and money cards from church to get to our local food bank. Do you think my family is expecting gifts? hmmm. I admit it, I’m a failure as a gift giving Grannianni… I find other ways to connect! I need to find more and better…

The holidays, which ever one(s) it is you’re celebrating, are a great opportunity to connect. You know me, I’m a big proponent for celebrating lots of holidays. (There’s no place like your home for my holidays. It’s my new favorite song!) But remember you don’t need to connect with people who don’t make you happy. Lonely is far better than actively unhappy at Christmas. Lonely can be experienced (connected with) and then connections can help smooth a path and perhaps change your holiday experience.

And if you’re alone? Perhaps you need to take this time to connect with yourself. Make your space wonderful. Feed yourself healthy foods. Plan what you want to do next. Take steps toward the best you!

Connecting. It matters and it helps. Peace is all about connecting the dots and connecting the hearts.

Revel. Joy. Advent. Peace.

I’ve always loved seeing, reading about, imagining what were known as Christmas revels. Wild dancing, feasting, drinking, firelight, yule logs and drafty manors. The rhythmic thump of feet hitting the floor in intricate country and court dances.

Those people worrying today about putting the Christ back in Christmas as in the olden days maybe should understand much of Christian revelry is ancient and interfaith (if by interfaith, we understand that every tradition that touched it put its stamp on it.).

I’m a Unitarian Universalist, so plurality delights rather than threatens me. The more the merrier. What do you know from your searching? And believe me I get it. I am grateful for the understanding and the wonder that the birth of a small babe brings. Whether or not you believe more about that babe, it’s astonishing that the birth calls the world to a halt.

But in the cold and the dark, people gather and people dance. In the face of a dying year, people revel in the life that flows through them. Dancing in the face of death. Demanding the stories that remind us that life continues beyond us. And yes, celebrating babies. (and, perhaps, making them? Baby it IS cold out there!)

So, revel. Enjoy. Revel in the possibilities. Revel in the Peace. Revel perhaps for Peace. Remember all the wonderful things that make life worth living. And then live!

Elate, Joy, Advent, Sabbath, Peace

Well that’s a mouthful! But a fun one!

The third candle is Joy. Part of life’s journey is enjoyment. Are you quick to smile at a baby or laugh at a joke? It’s amazing how much better a day is when we make the effort to be joyful. People respond to joy. Life is short, let us live into it.

May I take joy in the dailiness of life, revel in its opportunities and in the people I encounter. May I be filled with wonder and amazement at life’s beauty and bounty. Blessed be.

And the today’s verb is to elate. To be elated. To allow the Joy of this Holiday season to move you to gratitude, certainly, but also to full on appreciation of, elation in the moment.

Here the white stuff makes me incredibly happy! Last night I got to go out and walk in Winter Wonderland. It was gorgeous. This morning I’m far more elated now that the snow is off the car and I believe it will pull out of the parking spot! But really, enjoy it! It’s the Sabbath so you might give yourself the chance to lean into the feelings of happiness. Thank Mother Nature for the snow and the beauty. And then allow yourself to feel it! Elation! ahhhhhhhhhhh!

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