dual personalities

Advent Four. In the gospel lesson Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel, who says, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” Mary, not surprisingly, is perplexed by this and “pondered what kind of greeting this might be.” Our assisting priest, who gave the sermon, informed us that the word “ponder” is only used twice in the gospels, both times referring to Mary. He advised us to do more of our own pondering, but not to worry when the Big Questions remain unanswered. He reminded us that we don’t have to wait for complete understanding to act in faith. I get that.

I will miss our assisting priest–who is technically retired–as he heads off to Florida for several months. His sermons actually make sense. C’est la vie.

Since daughter #2 came home on Friday, I have been busier than probably in the entire prior four weeks (combined).

Best friends since Vacation Bible School

No kidding. Well, I expect to be busy when we have a full house at this time of year. And that’s okay.

I will do my best to fit in some ponder-time during the twelve days of Christmas,  but I ain’t makin’ any promises, y’hear? There will be plenty of time in January for pondering.

By the way, I just finished a ponder-worthy book: Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel.

A.S. Byatt described it as “a terrible and swirling horror comedy about a very fat medium on the perimeter of the M25, haunted by mean and nasty spirits veering between damnation and the trivial.” Mantel really is a genius and this book is pretty disturbing. She reminds me of Shirley Jackson–brilliant and slightly cracked and a great, great writer. I highly recommend it.

* Hymn 63