Lisa Colón DeLay | Spiritual Formation and the Way of the Desert Elders
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Released on the Spark My Muse podcast
Welcome to weird Santa week.
Each day, I’ll give you a picture for your amusement.
Do you know any kids who get freaked out by the fat and jolly stranger in the fake beard?
Do you have a weird Santa picture? Add a link to share it with us.
First Entry:
I’m not sure who looks more upset, the kid or the Santa. (If you think of a good caption, leave one here.)
Caption: “I feel something wet on my leg.”
(from the online Book of Common Prayer)
Third Sunday of Advent
Stir up thy power, O Lord, and with great might come
among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins,
let thy bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver
us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and
the Holy Ghost, be honor and glory, world without end.
Amen.
160 Collect: Traditional
O God, who hast caused this holy night to shine with the
illumination of the true Light: Grant us, we beseech thee,
that as we have known the mystery of that Light upon earth,
so may we also perfectly enjoy him in heaven; where with
thee and the Holy Spirit he liveth and reigneth, one God, in
glory everlasting. Amen.
Do you have any reflections for this Sunday?
I do like the Christmas season songs.
Yet, on closer inspection, I’ve noticed that some winter favorites are a bit…how should I say it…disconcerting…
(click the song title to read the words)
Here’s a list of 5:
1. Baby It’s Cold Outside is not even a Roofie away from an ensuing crime scene.
2. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer tells a tale of a heard of reindeer bullies, who come to conditionally love a special needs reindeer, but only after he proves useful to them.
3. Santa looks either like intrusive government, or an ungracious deity in an upcoming advent in Santa Clause is Coming to Town.
4. What do sleepy newborn babies enjoy more than anything? Drum solos!
The song Little Drummer Boy couldn’t have been written by a mother, or caretaker of infants. This racket is a song racket.
5. The seemingly sweet I’ll be Home for Christmas song ends sadly enough to be used effectively for a Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) commercial. [Consult your doctor if you have increased thoughts of suicide.]
What are a few of your favorite Christmas time songs and why?
I enjoy Silent Night, a lot for its spiritual poignancy. But, even if there was a mood of inner peace, I doubt it was that quiet in crowded Bethlehem, or in a stable of animals and an infant.
Are there any songs, you’d like to never endure again?
Or maybe you can make one up!
“Do you hear smell what I hear smell?”
Wacky Wednesday is the alternative to Jon Acuff’s Serious Wednesday. It’s meant to be the opposite of Jon’s SCL posts, because some of us need that humor boost, midweek.
I don’t know the story here. There is a distinct possibility that this man, in a deparate attempt to get his monring brew, threw on his sister’s clothes and made a mad dash to Starbucks. Maybe the long line did him in. I don’t see anybody helping him, but I think he needs a caffeine IV drip. Stat!
What’s your take? What happened just before this photo was taken?
Give us a good caption for this scene.
HAVE A GREAT WEDNESDAY.
Need one more humor boost? Warning for parents. This one is PG 13, but imagine getting your teen this for Christmas, and forcing them to wear it to school? (What were they thinking?) ahhhhh!
X-<
Quaker Oatmeal has a new tag. I have to say, I love it. It just excites me. It probably won’t prompt me buy their oatmeal… I’d eighty-six porridge for eggs or coffee cake any day.
Nevertheless, I felt a sense of well-being just watching the Quaker Oats commercial. A rugged construction man, sits back, high upon a skyscraper girder. From a thermos, he peacefully enjoys his heavily textured cooked oats . The voiceover asks, Does your breakfast make you amazing? (The build up to that was the scripted: “Rome wasn’t built in a day; and it wasn’t built on a coffee and a danish.”) Well, I think Rome was built on mead, or sambuca, but whatever.
In keeping with pop Evangelicalism, I’ll do the obvious. I’ll do the proverbial. I’ll take this inspiring tag line, and do a Christian parallel. (Isn’t it some sort of moral duty to take catch phrases, or witty wording, pilfer it, and spiritualised the thing ad nuaseam, in the name of edification, of course? I think the Biblical backing for this comes from II Leviticus 2:1, “Thou shalt copy they neighbors clever word-smithage. I am the LORD.”
Is it an epidemic religious and cultural kleptomania? Um. Yep.
And, right now, me fingerz feelz sticky, too.
So, here we go: “Does your God make you Amazing?”
Of course, this is a wildly self-centered question. I don’t even want Christians to “go there.” This is a preemptive, cut-Christian copy cats off at the pass, post. It’s meant to subvert a horrible Christian propensity, or worse, an ill-advised “evangelizing tactic”
I’m making an executive decision. I’m going to hijack the hijacking of, at least, this tagline.
Are you surprised?
BOOM. Amazing!
A basic truth: We like to be inspired to be amazing. Oh. Yes. We. Do.
We either think we’re pretty amazing already, or wish we were.
So, what about that?
AND–What breakfast, or attribute of God (or both) propels you towards “AMAZING”?
