Friday Freestyle - 004
Angelic voices, theologically galvanizing poetry, and "a truck load of snakes for them horror movie folk!"
Christmas Sale! From now through Christmas Eve, get 12 months of paid access for 50% off the normal price–only $20 for one year. Click Here check out the sale. (If you’d like to learn more about what you’ll get for your paid subscription, visit the About Page.)
Seasons greetings, friends! Advent is drawing to a close, and Christmastide is upon us. This last week has been full of music at the Rogers Neighborhood. My wife,
, who teaches elementary school music, conducted her marvelous children's choir for their annual Christmas concert earlier this week. If you enjoy beautiful music, you can listen to them sing by watching this YouTube video.So much has been said over the years about the Christmas Child, about the Holy Parents, about that “Silent Night” that was far from silent. Nothing I might say could ever make the upcoming day more meaningful. But it is not Christmas yet. We still remain in the season of Advent, the season of waiting and watching and wishing and hoping and expecting. Hold onto your expectation for a few more days! He is coming!
Recommended reading…
The superb poetry of
on her Substack, Poet Jesus, “a collection of poems written in the voice of Jesus.” During the past week or so, I have enjoyed reading her series of poems written from the perspective of Jesus, while he was still in Mother Mary’s womb. All the feels!
The newest edition of SIGNS + SEASONS, which focuses on Advent and the theme of expectancy. S+S is a “Liturigical Living Guild” magazine made up of articles and other tidbits published on Substack and elsewhere on the web. Editors
, , and do a wonderful job of curating the content, and it is worth taking the time to look through this issue. (Also, one of my essays was included in this issue–an added bonus!)
In this essay,
paints prophecy using the palette of mystery instead of certainty, which is quite refreshing. I often find that people are easily bored by the prophetic because most "prophets" do very little other than to tell people how to think, how to act, and where to send their money, instead of calling them to the heart of God like we find in the biblical examples. An excellent read.
All of us parents have been there–the conversations before the first baby comes about whether or not Santa will be presented as “real,” and the inevitable, awkward conversations that follow years later as the believers get separated from the skeptics.
shares her thought-provoking take on this dilemma.
You may have missed…
Wishing and Waiting
I grew up in the analog world. Bike riding, BB guns, and Saturday morning cartoons were my life. Sitting around for hours was relegated to school and rainy days. There was no such thing as “unwinding” or “chilling out.” When we had free time, we ran away from our houses, found other human beings, and invented things to do.
I’m reading, watching, listening to…
Waiting on the Word: A Poem a Day for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany - Right now, I’m in the middle of his series of sonnets on the “O Antiphons.” This has been a beautiful experience so far, and I think it's one that I'm bound to repeat each year from here on out.
The Great British Baking Show holiday specials on Netflix. In distance from previous seasons, come back to compete in a single episode for a beautiful holiday themed cake plate, and the honor of being crowned the king or queen of the tent!
Ernest Saves Christmas - This is one of our favorite holiday comedy movies, one of those that gets better because you know exactly what the next line in the movie is! I have so many memories of laughing with friends and family while watching this until I could barely breathe.
I’ll be back here in time for the Feast of the Epiphany! I pray your upcoming Christmas season would be full of joy, peace, and gratitude for the wonderful gift of eternal life brought into this world two millennia ago. I also pray that you will take these next couple of weeks to have restful and meaningful time with your family, friends, and those in deep need of the love of Christ as expressed through you.
The Lord be with you!
Jason!! Your art is incredible!! I had no idea you painted - my goodness, this Visitation painting!!