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Reflections

Category: Advent Christmas Epiphany

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Advent Evening of Prayer

If you are in the Seattle area I invite you to join me for an Advent Evening of Prayer on the theme of the Annunciation.  I will be co-leading with my marvelous partner Betsey Beckman. Through storytelling, meditation, and reflection, take some time to enter into the gifts of this holy season. Thursday, December 11th from 7-9 p.m. at St. Joseph Parish Center, 732 18th Ave E, Seattle (sponsored by the Ignatian Spirituality Center, no pre-registration required, free will offering) OR Friday, December 12th from 7:30-9:00 p.m. at St. Cecelia Parish on Bainbridge Island (sponsored by St Cecelia Parish, no

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Awakening (3)

door of being, dawn and wake me, allow me to see the face of this day, allow me to see the face of this night, all communicates, all is transformed, arch of blood, bridge of the pulse, take me to the other side of this night, where I am you, we are us, the kingdom where pronouns are intertwined, door of being: open your being and wake, learn to be …. -Octavio Paz

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Awakening (2)

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want. Don’t go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the doorsill Where the two worlds touch. The door is round and open. Don’t go back to sleep. -Rumi

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Awakening (1)

Beyond living and dreaming there is something more important: waking up. -Antonio Machado And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake. -Mark 13:37 The last few weeks I have been struggling with some medication I am taking. It has done a wonderful job keeping my migraines at bay but insomnia has been its worst side effect.  While it is a gift to not have the migraines regularly I have been sleep-deprived for far too many days to make it worth it.  So as I began to prepare for the Advent season and reflect on the readings I had

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opportunity to hear Kathleen Norris

If you are around today at 5:00 p.m. PST/8:00 p.m. EST and wished you could have heard Kathleen Norris’ great talk about Advent at the Seattle Art Museum a couple of weeks ago, you can catch her being interviewed online.  You can listen either over the phone or via the web, the information is here. **ADDED NOTE ** You can click the link above to download the mp3 file and listen at your leisure (the sound doesn’t come on until just past the one minute mark, so be patient) :-)

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The Feast of Birth

The Earth will be going on a long time Before it finally freezes; Men will be on it; they will take names, Give their deeds reasons. We will be here only As chemical constituents- A small franchise indeed. Right now we have lives, Corpuscles, Ambitions, Caresses, Like everybody had once- Here at the year’s end, at the feast Of birth, let us bring to each other The gifts brought once west through deserts- The precious metal of our mingled hair, The frankincense of enraptured arms and legs, The myrrh of desperate, invincible kisses- Let us celebrate the daily Recurrent nativity

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Sacred Stories Across Generations

“a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” -Isaiah 11:1 (from the second Sunday of Advent) Yesterday I gathered together all of the images I had found of my aunt and uncle (my mother’s siblings) as children and worked on creating something for each of them as a gift this Christmas.  I am not very close to my uncle so I am not sure how this will be received, but I felt the need and desire to create it.  This journey of reaching back across time and telling these stories through image

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