ghosts
It is strange, fresh EVOO may have a peppery taste, and this does, adds it to the coffee. Reminds me that the Chief Commissaryman used to add a pinch of black pepper to the coffee urn as it was perking and brewing.
Established in 1948 combining several specialties of cook and baker, the rating Commissaryman was changed to Mess Management Specialist in 1974, and then to Culinary Specialist in 2004. I'll venture to stir the pot by speculating: was that all about getting "man" out of the title, and was it a form of Woke at work, and did I read that Pete Hegseth is waffling on his position against gays in the military and women in combat assignments?
Having a finger-size sliver of raspberry Kringle with my hot & black. I'd love strawberry instead of raspberry, but O&H doesn't offer strawberry, it must have proved unreliable at some Time in their history of making the best Kringles, eh? The other Kringle company does offer strawberry, so I tried them, twice in fact, and the filling was good but their crust was consistently gummy. Kringle crust is Greek-style thin pastry, and it's supposed to be light and flaky: O&H gets it right, perfect in fact.
Below, the lectionary propers for the upcoming Sunday, Advent 4, Year C. "Mary Sunday" when the gospel tells us a story about the BVM. This Time (you won't see it, but it's there all the same), Mary goes to call on her cousin Elizabeth. Two pregnant women and in Elizabeth's womb the future John the Baptist leaps in obeisance to his younger cousin Jesus the Messiah, and Elizabeth confirms that subordination.
Then Mary sings her song, The Magnificat. Some things are obligatory to the gospel stories about Jesus as greater than the prophets, raising dead children to life, and here, the surprised barren or virgin mother singing a song of praise to the Lord, Hannah about Samuel, and in Elizabeth's case, her husband Zechariah sings the song. After the Lord does something astonishing and saving - - even back to the Song of Moses and Miriam. And the Song of Simeon in the Temple after he sees Jesus. In the Bible there are obligatory features, and a Song is one such.
Did Mary really sing the song? That's not the point, is it?! These are unsere Heilsgeschichte, our holy stories, our tribal myths, telling, singing, hearing them is part of our Christianity. Do you have to believe they literally happened in human history? At your baptism, all these stories become part of who and what you are. Like the Christmas tree standing in front of me as I think and type this morning. "Seek The Truth, Come Whence It May, Cost What It Will" does not mean that you can't love the stories and sing the songs.
What do I hold close about Christmas? Many, many, many things over my years of life. One is Christmas 1948, the first Time I was deemed old enough to go to Christmas Eve "Midnight Mass" with my father. Mama had me go lie down and take a nap, it was in the downstairs back bedroom. At the right Time, she woke me with a mug of hot chocolate, to get ready, and my father and I went out into the chilly, damp night. It was magical, a magic night. I was thirteen. Told here before, after the service we got into our new green 1948 Dodge sedan, as my father backed the car out in that parking lot that used to be right behind the church, where Byrne Hall now is. He rolled down the window and said, "Merry Christmas, John," to John Pennell. A new teenager, I was finding out about life.
Another. Christmas 1966, living in Virginia, we had that summer returned from three years in Japan. After telling Malinda and Jody their bedtime story, including raising their excitement about Santa Claus, I went outside their bedroom window and shook a little string of bells. Malinda was eight, Joe was six. Malinda is 66, Joe is 64. Life moves on, doesn't it.
Columbus, Ohio, Christmas morning 1973, she was almost two years old, Tass climbing into the little doll crib that Santa had brought her and shrieking, "Mom!! Look at her!!" I can still see it and hear her. She's 52 now.
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The Christmas morning, the three of us were quite young, it must have been 1941 or 1942, maybe I was six or seven, not eight because Christmas 1943 our father must have been away in the service that WW2 year. Could have been Christmas 1944 when I was nine, I guess, because I held onto my faith in Santa Claus as long as possible. We three came into the living room and the Christmas tree, and there on the fireplace mantle was Santa's red cap, red velvet and complete with white trim about it, and the little white ball on the peak of it. It was Santa's cap alright. Seems to me our father's pistol was lying there beside it, but surely not, surely that's my bad memory? Our father said, "I almost got him. I almost got him this Time, but he got away and up the chimney." I remember being appalled, HORRIFIED, hurting that Santa was offended in our house. It wasn't a happy Christmas memory to put into a child's head.
Christmas 1962. We were living in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I was an MBA student at the University. For Christmas, Linda's parents gave us, and Linda's cousin Joe Farley pulled strings and arranged it, to drive down to Cincinnati, get on the train, and have a bedroom on the train coming home for Christmas. The train ended in Pensacola, where my parents picked us up, we went to visit my Gentry grandparents, then home to Panama City. My parents surprised me with the wonder that they had bought The Old Place and that, after some 38 years, it was back in the family.
So - - some of my ghosts of Christmases past!!
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Becoming inevitable: trip to the dermatologist and come away with two more chunks of my face cut out for biopsy, one near my right eye, one halfway between mouth and ear over my right jawbone. Whatever, eh? All the same,
RSF&PTL
T89&c
Fourth Sunday of Advent |
Year C |
The Collect
Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Old Testament
Micah 5:2-5a
You, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.
Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
to the people of Israel.
And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth;
and he shall be the one of peace.
The Response
Canticle 15 Page 91, BCP
The Song of Mary Magnificat
Luke 1:46-55
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; *
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him *
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm, *
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, *
and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, *
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel, *
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
The promise he made to our fathers, *
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
The Response
Psalm 80:1-7
Qui regis Israel
1 Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; *
shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.
2 In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, *
stir up your strength and come to help us.
3 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
4 O Lord God of hosts, *
how long will you be angered
despite the prayers of your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; *
you have given them bowls of tears to drink.
6 You have made us the derision of our neighbors, *
and our enemies laugh us to scorn.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts; *
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
The New Testament
Hebrews 10:5-10
When Christ came into the world, he said,
"Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body you have prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, 'See, God, I have come to do your will, O God'
(in the scroll of the book it is written of me)."
When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), then he added, "See, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And it is by God's will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
The Gospel
Luke 1:39-45(46-55)
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."
[And Mary said,
"My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever."]
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