December 04, 06 by ed
I’ve always preferred headers on web sites that are fairly straight-forward. I’m not the creative type who can whip abstractions up out of the blue.
Nevertheless, I spent a little time today tweaking a picture I took in 2005 of some leaves in a stream at the base of Mt. Greylock in MA. The fall leaves were a beautiful array of colors and I was lucky enough to capture the sun at just the right angle. You can view the full picture here.
The final result is a bit creepy and odd, but it’s a change of pace for me. I’m curious to know your reaction as you look at it. Does it work? Is it sensory overload? Should I go back to trees, leaves, and scenery pictures?
December 03, 06 by ed
I heard a feature on NPR this morning by freelance writer Maggie Mason about shopping online this Christmas. Her shopping web site seems like a really neat resource to use when trying to find neat gift ideas. She also shared some ideas on NPR about playing itself in the online market.
The advice from most experts about shopping online is to stick with the big, well-known online companies. That’s right, drop the little guys because you just don’t know when you’re being hit with a scam.
Maggie also wrote a fabulously title book: No One Cares What You Had For Lunch: 100 Ideas For Your Blog. While the cheaper way to figure out how to blog and what to blog on is to simply read lots and lots of good blogs, Maggie provides a fun little reference tool for those who want something that’s a bit more specific and instructional.
It’s the kind of book that is almost worth buying based on the indisputable truth of the title alone.
December 03, 06 by ed
We lit the first candle on our Advent wreath today. The first day of Advent traditionally is a day of repentance.
Julie and I took some time to confess a few things to each other and then chugged eggnog with chocolate-chocolate chip cookies. Not a bad way to spend the first day of Advent.
Of course part of my Advent this year includes some meditations on the Exile of Israel. The Israelites were exiled in part by the Assyrians around 720 BCE and then completely by the Babylonians around 586 BCE.
Though some Israelites returned to the land about 70 years after this devastating event, the Jewish nation has never truly recovered and remains scattered throughout the world. In a time when the power of deities were closely tied to a territory, the presence of God with his people wherever they are is an important lesson found in Daniel.
The book of Daniel sets out to explain how the Israelites should live in exile and even under foreign rule in their own land. Daniel tells us about God’s care for his people in the present and the hope of his coming justice in the future.
In case you missed my little introduction last week, I have chosen the theme of exile for Advent because that is the essential state of the church. We are a people in a foreign land who live in the here and now of God’s intervention, but also await his coming reign that will bring true peace and justice.
Jesus set into the motion the coming of God’s rule on earth through his incarnation. Christmas is about a beginning of the end. The deliverance the Daniel and his people longed for came with Jesus Christ. And so, while we wait for the coming day of our Lord, we turn to an old story about waiting for deliverance in a foreign land.
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December 01, 06 by ed
I can’t explain my love for Advent and the Advent wreath. It’s an incredible time of anticipation and the slow-burning candles of the Advent wreath are the silent messengers commanding that I wait and savor the moment.
The candles say to me, “Enjoy this week. This week is an event in and of itself with meaning and significance. Don’t become so caught up in Christmas that you miss out on the GIFT of anticipating it and preparing for it.”
After leaving the Catholic church for the Baptist gang, I began to really miss the Advent wreath. It just wasn’t as prominent and meaningful as in the old Catholic days. Naturally when we began meeting in our home and basically found ourselves having to redefine church, the Advent wreath was sorely missed.
Two years ago I took action. I bought a cheap wreath and some even cheaper candles and carefully balanced the candles on the wreath to make a lame, super-duper lame that is, Advent wreath. It wasn’t much to look at, but it felt better than nothing.
This year we have a nice little home to decorate and have to buy a small tree that will sit on a strand in order to keep it away from the claws, paws, and jaws of our rabbits. This means that we need to beef up the other decorations. In particular, I’m talking about the Advent Wreath.
It was hard enough to find an Advent Wreath in the Philly metro area. How much more so in hippy/crunchy, Eastern-mystic, post-Christian, don’t-have-many-shopping-options Vermont. Finding an Advent wreath in Vermont seemed as likely as finding an optimistic Philadelphia sports fan.
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December 01, 06 by ed
The New York Times reports on the astronomically high rate of rape and sexual abuse in Africa, as well as many other African countries.
In light of World Aids Day, this story seems very relevant and important. If men have been granted sexual carte blanche, then there’s little in the way of stopping the spread of HIV and AIDS.
Let’s commit to prayer for these injustices and take action when able.
