Comfort and Joy

 

God rest ye, merry Gentlemen,

Let nothing you dismay,

For Jesus Christ our Saviour

Was born upon this Day.

To save poor souls from Satan's power,

Which long time had gone astray.

Which brings tidings of comfort and joy.

(1760)

Our world needs comfort. Our world needs joy.

How do we feel comfort in the midst of a pandemic that keeps dragging on? These are the darkest days of the year. These are the days when families and friends usually gather and many cannot. These are days we wear masks to protect others from a virus and keep our distance, forsaking hugs and shaking hands. Comfort can come through the gentle reminders that we are connected to others still. Through note cards or messages, gifts, deep conversations, sharing something silly or telling a story. We can counter the lack of comfort the world gives with the comfort that comes through other avenues.

How do we experience joy amidst all of this we are going through? You've had a tough year. I know you have. We all have in varying ways. Joy is looking at the beauty and goodness of your life amidst darkness. I love how Christina Rossetti says in her poem "Christmas Eve" - Christmas hath a darkness brighter than the blazing noon. Like a direct contrast to the darkness, we can all welcome the light of joy, through the many gifts we have in our families, friends, jobs, homes, food, comforts of good books, candles, blankets, and music. We can know that God is with us no matter what situation we are going through, and give thanks in all circumstances. For every situation can be an opportunity for us to learn more deeply of God's goodness and our ability to rest in joy, because His love is always surrounding us.

Merry Christmas and may your hearts be filled with comfort and joy.

Christmas Stories

 

Do you read any Christmas stories? 

I don't know if you have felt stressed and overwhelmed this year, but I sense that you have because I have and everyone I talk to has as well. I think this year I have needed extra cheer, so I have turned to some charming Christmas stories that remind me of that wonderful feeling of giving and loving amidst wintry journeys, struggles, darkness, and family's squabbles. My favourite has been A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - that classic story with heart and soul. That story came out when the world needed some cheer in Dickens's day. Sometimes I think Christmassy short stories are the best antidote to the bustle and stress of these days that have an additional hindrance of a virus that keeps sticking around.

This collection of Christmas stories by Anthony Trollope (1815 - 1882) is pure fun. It has the charm of the 19th century English humour.  I am not super familiar with Trollope yet, but he was an enormously successful writing in his lifetime, and wrote a lot of books. These stories are a good mix of British life and fun tales of Christmas mishaps wrapped in the Englishness I find so fun. 

The first story and title of the book is about a husband and wife staying in a hotel in France on their way back to England on Christmas Eve, set to depart from the hotel to catch the train at 5:45 AM to get to Thompson Hall in time for the Christmas events. The husband does not want to go, and he feigns illness to try to persuade his wife they need to stay, but she really wants to go back to her family home and all the crazy comforts and chaos that Christmas is. To try to satisfy her husband's request for a jar of mustard, she goes off on a humorous journey in the middle of the night through the hotel on a mission that goes a bit astray. Well, the mishap that occurs follows her on her journey all the way back to England. 

So what are you reading to bring some cheer at the end of this 2020 year?

Trees and Stars

 

Trees and Stars

Cold branches stand silent
as the night falls in
thin, planet and star-filled air.
Jagged welcomes come through trees' solemnity -
Wisdom hidden in the rough bark,
always lifting twigs and limbs in wonder.
Seasons change and they fall into slumber,
not idle, but making a study of life,
being present in the world, through daily strife.
To grow in God is to encounter the cold and dark
of star studded nights, lonely and stark.
Yet, this view misses your own illuminated light
others see by, and give thanks
for such a sight.

Night Sky

Look up at night. Do you ever notice the stars and planets? If you have not looked up recently, now is a perfect time to catch a spectacular event - the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, which can be seen very easily just after sunset for about 1-2 hours before the planets set. The actual meeting of the planets is December 21, but many days before and after is a visual feast of cosmic wonder. It has been for weeks already. 

The largest planets on our solar system, the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn have not come together like this in our sky view since 1623. So, this is a 400 year wait for this beautiful and mysterious sight in the sky. 

This special event is coming to be called the Christmas Star. There is a wondering if this occurrence is what happened at the time of Christ's birth. The bright star at the incarnation, creating the guide for the Magi to come visit Bethlehem. What if it was the conjunction of the planets and not a star at all? That question invokes wonder and delight in my imagination. Could it be that we shall witness in the sky what announced Christ's birth more than 2,000 years ago in 7 BC, which was also a year of a great conjunction? Even if it is not, it still creates awe in me. The next viewable event won't happen for another 60 years, so this may be your only chance to see the friendly meeting of Jupiter and Saturn in the sky. Don't worry, they are still millions of miles distant from each other, so they are keeping their social distance.

This is the view from my front door a few nights ago (terrible quality I know) - Saturn is smaller on the left, Jupiter is larger on the right. Pull out your telescope or binoculars for an amazing view.

Look up in wonder each night!

Thoughts Provoked

 

Somehow amidst the crazy days that these weeks have contained, I have been reading a lot. I think it is my way of recharging after very busy days, and over the weekends. Reading and escaping into another story is fun, imaginative, and creates thought-provoking insights that stay with me for weeks after I finish. 

The Idiot
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
First Published 1869

For the month of November I joined a re-along hosted by an Instagram friend, @amerestory, her blog is HERE, whose favourite author is Dostoyevsky and she has many insights to share on his writing. She digs into the themes he presents in social situations of the Russian high society, and it was really enjoyable to follow along with her. I had not read this book before, so it was completely new to me, and I enjoyed it but it is also the kind of book that needs some discussion as many of the characters open up a deeper study of humanity.

The book follows a young man, Prince Myshkin, who returns (after recovering from illness in Switzerland) to St. Petersburg and comes to find out the realities of the social and family scenes of Russia. He has a naïve soul, innocent and honest. He is mocked for his childlikeness, yet he is turned to by the various characters because he is open and thoughtful. He gets things wrong, but is meant to be an image of a "wholly virtuous man". Through the course of his arrival into Russian, he becomes entangled with two different women, and the interactions that take place amongst the families and gatherings is full of drama with pieces of deeper meanings. With each conversation the reader gets to see some aspect of the many characters unfold and then begin to see the truth coming out about them.

The Hopkins Manuscript
R.C. Sherriff
First Published 1939

This is a science fiction novel published during WWII, with warnings to future generations. While the science of it is not a warning, the undertones of all the human decisions are, and it's interesting to me how much of the early science fiction novels aimed toward warning the future (ie. us) of possible effects of humanity's choices. 

The premise of the story is that the moon somehow loses its orbit and begins to fall toward earth, eventually falling into the Atlantic Ocean, causing devastating effects upon England, the perspective from where the story takes place, and the decisions made after the event that change the course of the entire earthly history. 'The Hopkins Manuscript' becomes a historical artifact of the past, and is written by Edgar Hopkins, who wrote all his experience through the tragic event and afterwards. He hid his manuscript in a thermos in a fireplace, which was found hundreds of years later in the ruins of London, which is one of the only written pieces of history left behind. Even if you do not like science fiction, this was a good, engrossing read, that was fascinating study of human choice after disaster.

Advent Season

 

God of the watching one,
give us Your benediction.

God of the waiting ones,
give us Your good word for our souls.

We all have a sense of longing and knowing that we have to harness patience for certain things. We do not generally like being patient, especially in this modern day of being able to receive satisfaction almost immediately. In ages past, the things we receive quickly now might have taken days/weeks. Letters and correspondence, for example. Today we can send instant texts and emails. Just twenty years ago a letter would take several days to get to a recipient and there were no cell phones. There are good aspects of being able to communicate quicker, but in an interesting way it could also mean something is lost in depth and detail that used to be shared in letters.

Something I have been pondering lately is how as we ache for something that seems just out of grasp, it is God we ache for, even if we do not see it. Always - in everything. While we search for that which will make us happy in this world, the deepest desires can only be satisfied in God, which is where our desires are meant to be derived. We are fools to seek anything outside of God will fulfill us, and as the author of Ecclesiastes reminds us it is like chasing the wind. You will never catch it.

I am thankful for this season traditionally spent waiting and seeing the light amidst darkness. It reminds me that we are not able to see the future - we do not know what is coming next. If we think imaginatively as if we were living B.C. in this advent season, we could ponder what it might have been like before the incarnation and get a sense of the sort of darkness the world was enshrouded in. We are people who have come after the Light has been in this world in person. We have the advantage of knowing that part of the story, and we sit in the dark for the next part of the story, always with the Light to guide us.  God does not leave us alone in that journey. He gives us a great Light of the world.