Reflection on the Magnificat

This past Sunday I preached on Mary's Magnificat.  This is a small excerpt of what I said...(I hope it makes sense out of context)...

Mary doesn’t know how things will turn out when she sings her song.  She doesn’t know if changes will come immediately or if they will take time.  And yet she still sings.

In so many ways, the hope that Mary proclaims, even though she proclaims that it has already happened, will not be fully realized in her life.  She will watch as the people in power execute her son.  She will continue to see her people suffer.  She will continue to long for the day when these words of her song will be finally, fully realized. 

And so do we.  

Whether we move towards Christmas with hearts that are full of excitement and joy or whether we move towards Christmas with hearts that are empty and grieving, we do so as people who live in two realities. 

We live in the reality, on the one hand, of recognizing the pain around us—of knowing that things are not as they should be.  Perhaps we live in this reality more so today than we did on Thursday.  Most of us watched in horror on Friday as the events in Connecticut unfolded on the news.  How do we move towards Christmas in a world where 26 people, most of them young children, have just been killed?  How do we move towards celebration knowing that for those families, for that community, Christmas will always be marked with pain from now on?

Today in our house, we are supposed to light the Advent candle of Joy.  We could choose to skip it altogether, knowing that the pain being experienced today in Connecticut is so deep that to talk of joy seems ridiculous.  But we will choose to light it, next to the candles of hope and peace, because in this moment, we need to be reminded of joy—joy that is deeper and more profound because we know what it is to lament.  If ever we needed a light to shine in darkness, it is now.

We live in the reality that people suffer, that things aren’t fair, that oppression is still very real, that loneliness and loss threaten to overcome us.

But we also live in the reality that Mary proclaimed.  That the conception of Jesus changes everything, even if we can’t see it or understand it right now.  That God’s mercy extends far and wide, that he has done and will do great things for us, that he has filled and will fill the hungry with good things.  We live in the reality that God’s kingdom is already here.  That God has already defeated the powers that are contrary to his purposes.  And maybe this sounds trite, and maybe it leaves a whole lot of questions, but clinging to the good news that Mary proclaimed, clinging to the hope that Jesus’ conception and birth changed everything, is the only way I know to keep singing when the world doesn’t make sense.

Sisters and Snow

I've discovered that one of the hardest pictures to get at this phase of life is one with both girls, together, looking at the camera AND smiling...here was a recent attempt...

Neither Looking:

Brynna Looking:

Both Looking, But Not Smiling:

So, I opted to take a few of just Brynna...

And here are a few from a recent walk...

 Brynna got to be snuggled under blankets in the stroller, and slept most of the time...

Laurel discovered icicles...

And she stopped to make a spontaneous snow angel...

Of Late

In December, we celebrated two birthdays in our house.  For Jon's, I made Snickers Cupcakes.  They were pretty much the most amazing cupcakes I've ever made.  Everything was made from scratch (well, that is, except for the Snickers bars), and I added a pinch of coarse salt on top for that salty sweet combo.  Yep.  They were awesome.

We also celebrated Christmas.  Here are a few little shots from Christmas Eve.

 The girls got to open one present...

which was matching owl pajamas! (Kappas in the making?)

And now that we're home, we're plugging away at some projects around the house.  I have submitted one grant and am working on another one (which is taking FOREVER).  And Jon has finally finished a project he started in August:

Isn't it great?  The picture doesn't show it well, but the color is cranberry.  Now we can finally unpack the dishes we inherited that have been sitting in boxes since my parents delivered them in May.  We have also finished tiling the backsplash in the kitchen...now we just need to grout it, and I think our kitchen will finally be done!  With those things out of the way, we are dreaming of other projects...like building a dining room table, shelving units in the basement for storage, dry walling a room in the basement...things like that.  And I'm thinking of goals and projects for 2012: putting together a reading list, making a cleaning schedule, and trying to decide if I should train for a triathlon.  

Advent: Days 10-11

Day 10: Go on a sleigh ride.
This is another reason why I love our neighborhood.  At Christmas time they have a community Christmas party/potluck, complete with sleigh rides through the neighborhood.  We weren't organized enough (extraverted enough?) to go to the potluck, so we just went on the sleigh ride.  Laurel thought it was pretty much amazing.  My personal goal for next year is to know enough of our neighbors that we will feel comfortable going to the potluck portion (I know, I know, that's how we meet our neighbors by going to these things).  I also think that the sleigh ride will become one of our Christmas traditions as long as we live in this neighborhood.

Day 11: Bake cookies with mom.
I got most of the cookie dough ready while Laurel was napping.  She was pretty excited to put on her apron and help.  As per my usual m.o. we were crunched for time, so we had to end our project before I could make icing and let her decorate them.  Maybe that will happen this afternoon.  Maybe.  Maybe not. I was hoping for some really amazing cookies in my life this year...so far I think they're only so/so.  And I now have lots of only so/so dough left in my fridge.

Advent: Days 3-9

Our Advent adventures have continued.  Here's a quick recap:

Day 3: Put up the tree and put the lights on.
Day 4: Decorate the tree.

Day 5: Make a Christmas card for Grammie.

Day 6: St. Nicholas Day!  Open stockings!

Day 7: Open and read a new Christmas book.  (We opened "A Star for Christmas")

Day 8: Make a paper snowflake.  (note for future years: practice first...it's been a while).

Day 9: Mail Christmas cards.  (Laurel and I walked to the post office, and she got to put all of the cards through the mail slot, which she thought was pretty great.)

Day Two: Make Cards for the Cousins

My sister-in-law started a tradition where the cousins all make Christmas cards for each other.

Making Christmas cards with a two year old is a fun (interesting?) adventure.  She definitely had fun using the glue and the stamps.  When we asked Laurel what message she wanted us to write to her cousins, she spouted off random phrases.  I would share them here, but I don't want to ruin it for the recipients of the cards.  I hope that, even though we live miles away from the Boston cousins, our kids will grow up knowing their cousins and having lots of fun when they are together.

Advent Calendar: Day One

Yesterday we did the first activity on our Advent Calendar: Set up the Nativity Scene.

Our Nativity Scene was a wedding gift from our friends, the Claders.  It was made in Mexico (a place where I went a few times with the Claders, and also where Jon and I spent our honeymoon), and depicts the characters in the Nativity Story from that perspective.  The shepherds carry sheep as well as chickens. Everyone's clothes are brightly colored.  And there is no white baby Jesus.  I love it--I think it brings a tiny bit of the world into our living room.

Last night we brought up from the basement the shoebox that it lives in 11 months out of the year.  Jon sat at the table with the box, and handed a figure, wrapped in newspaper, to Laurel.  She then ran to me, in the living room, to unwrap it and help it find its home on our bookshelf.  Back and forth she ran, excited to see what was hidden in each new little bundle of newspaper.  As we put them out, we started to name them: This is Mary, she is Jesus' mom.  This is a shepherd, he takes care of sheep (and chickens).

I was surprised how much Laurel liked this activity.  It was a good reminder that simple things, small things, can become significant things when done with intentionality and in relationship.