Since living in Seattle for 35 years, thoughts of the Advent Season bring memories of cold, dark, rainy and cloudy days.  It just doesn’t feel like Advent if it’s not raining and cold.  So, with bright sunshine and cool temperatures in this part of the country, we made an Advent pilgrimage to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The National Shrine is an extraordinary edifice which houses numerous small altars depicting religious art from all the cultures that make up our country.  If you ever come to DC it is a “must see.”  Our pilgrimage took several hours and left us consumed with emotion.

This is where a picture speaks a thousand words:

Beauty is grace!

Prepare this Advent season to embrace the beauty in your life.

One of the advantages of this “retreat” in DC is that I have more time to explore and experiment with recipes and foods in the kitchen.  Last winter I discovered America’s Test Kitchen on PBS and have become a devotee.  They have challenged me to take more risks and try different things I would ordinarily never consider.

Enter the nuts.  In trying to find sweet treats to send to our kids for Christmas, I saw a show about candied nuts.  I was intrigued and quickly decided to add candied nuts to the box of treats familiar to their childhood.  Needless to say, the nuts were a huge hit.

So, I’ve decided to add them again this year – only varying the kinds of nuts I use.  They are simple to make, fun, and the results are amazing.  They can be used to sprinkle over salads, add to granola, use as topping for ice cream or muffins, or to simply enjoy by themselves as a wonderful snack.

How to make them, you ask?

In a heavy pan put 1 and 1/2 cups of water and add 1 cup of sugar; 1/2 cup of brown sugar; 1 tablespoon of cinnamon; 1 teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder; and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg.  Heat the sugar mixture until it boils and then add 3 cups of the nut of your choice.  (I have used almonds, walnuts and pecans – all with wonderful results!)  Turn down the heat a bit and continue cooking the mixture as it boils while stirring continuously to avoid burning.   After about 15 to 20 minutes the mixture will boil down and adhere to the nuts.  Continue stirring until the mixture becomes dry – completely dry – and the nuts are thoroughly coated.  Pour the coated nuts out onto a wax paper lined baking sheet.  Break up any clumps with the back of a spoon and allow them to cool.  Enjoy!

This Advent preparation has left a cinnamony aroma in the apartment and reminds me of the grace that comes when I work in my kitchen to make gifts for others.

What does grace smell like for you?

Several months ago we watched a movie entitled Of Gods and Men.  I was reminded of it again yesterday as I read an article about it.  While not seeming like it, there is a scene that can provide a beautiful Advent reflection.  The story is true and it tells about a group of monks living in Algeria during the wars and terrorist activities there in the 1990’s.

Toward the end of the beautiful tale of their life and work in the monastery, the monks have to come to terms with what is happening around them.  While discussing and debating if they will stay amid the war and terror or leave, the monastery’s leader asks his monks to think of their continued presence in the monastery as the continual work of Incarnation.

The monks elect to stay and as they go about their prayer and work their leader tells them:

. . . each of us discovered that to which Jesus beckons us.   It is to be born.  Our identities go from one birth to another.  And from birth to birth, we’ll each end up bringing the world the child of God that we are.  The Incarnation, for us, is to allow the reality of Jesus to embody itself in our humanity.

The work of bringing Christ to birth through our lives could not be more beautifully spoken.  It is the continual work of allowing the reality of Jesus to embody itself in our humanity.  And, that’s what a well-spent Advent helps us to do.  It helps us become more aware of who we are as children of God and how we must allow Christ to enter into our reality, here and now, and allow Jesus to take up residence in our humanity – every moment of every day.

It is a daunting exercise.  It is the continual work of Advent.  It is grace.

Reading some notes my husband brought home from a leadership conference, I was reminded all over again, about the importance of conversation.

We tend to think conversation is trivial, and that real work is doing something productive.  What we fail to remember is that the work of conversation can be productive and can possibly achieve results far beyond our expectations.

The words of Margaret Wheatley inspired me again.  We would do well to reflect on her simple suggestions.

“I believe we can change the world if we start listening to one another again.  Simple, honest, human conversation.  Not mediation, negotiation, problem-solving, debate, or public meetings.  Simple, truthful conversation where we each have a chance to speak, we each feel heard, and we each listen well.  What would it feel like to be listening to each other again about what disturbs and troubles us?  About what gives us energy and hope?  About our yearnings, our fears, our prayers, our children? . . . Human conversation is the most ancient and easiest way to cultivate conditions for change – personal change, community, and organizational change, planetary change.  If we can sit together and talk about what’s important to us, we begin to come alive.” 

Perhaps we should put our minds to trying this.

It’s a great Advent exercise.

Share your heart and listen well as others share theirs in simple, honest conversation.

And, who knows what grace the future may hold for us.

Today is the feast of St. Nicholas.  It is a feast day that I have loved since I was a child.

When I was five years old my family moved to Germany and that’s where I was introduced to St. Nicholas on this date.  German children honor the spirit of the Bishop Nicholas because he favored children and championed their cause in a world that largely thought them insignificant.  Bishop Nicholas, so the story goes, would bring food and little gifts to poor children to help them survive the cold winters.  He would ride by on his horse in the dark of evening and throw gifts through open windows, or leave them on the doorsteps of homes where children were cold and hungry.

To this day, St. Nicholas is honored as the patron saint of children, and children in many lands throughout the globe put their shoes out on their doorsteps in hopes St. Nicholas will ride by on his horse and leave them something.

It is a tradition that we carried on with our own children, and so this day has many special memories.  When the children were young, I used to occupy them with washing the dinner dishes, or baking cookies after homework, while my husband would quietly sneak out the back door with a small bag of goodies for each child and go around the house to deposit them in their waiting shoes on the front porch.  Then he would rap on the door with a long stick and run back around to be in the house when the children realized someone had knocked.

Is it any wonder that Santa Claus comes from the memory of this great man who had such compassion and such love for children?

We would do well to remember where the tradition of gift-giving originated.  Who is hurting and hungry in our family, our neighborhood, our city, and our world today?  Who needs our attention and the gifts of our generosity, our time, our love?

In the spirit of St. Nicholas, let us do what we can this Advent.  Such grace of generosity has been with us through many centuries and will continue still if we open our hearts to extend our generosity as well.

There are some things for which there are no words . . . like a beautiful Advent evening.  Filled with memories.  Filled with promises.  Filled with hopes and dreams for the future.

“Turning to his disciples in private Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.  For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.'”     (Lk 10:22-24)We sat last evening on the Tidal Basin and ate a picnic dinner in the uncharacteristically summer-like weather in December in DC.  We marveled at the colors of Advent in the sky and reflected in the water.  We pondered this Advent in our lives and took in the immense beauty of what we were seeing as the sun set slowly in the winter sky.

What do you see?  What do you hear?

Here we are again in the Season of Advent.  It is a most beautiful time of year for preparing and waiting.  Preparing and waiting.  Waiting and preparing.  That is the nature of Advent.

The waiting can be a difficult exercise if we are not clear about what we are waiting for – what we are preparing for.

While all around us there is frenzy and rush in preparations for Christmas, we are asked to take the quiet time to wait and prepare.  And sometimes that can be a very difficult thing to do.

This season begs us to ask ourselves:  What are we preparing for this Advent?

It bears some time in reflection.

This morning I went out for my walk with my Netflix movie in my hand to deposit in the mailbox along the way.  At the same moment a neighbor was coming out of the next unit, one door down.  And, in a very unusual and rare occurrence for Washington DC – she spoke to me!

Yes, she said “hello” and then went on to ask what movie I had watched.  I almost didn’t know what to do!  She must not have realized that she was living in DC and that NO ONE talks to people on the street here.  Or, she didn’t get the memo that this was my year-long silent retreat and I couldn’t respond . . . or, she may have just moved in and did not yet know the local social etiquette.

We carried on a lovely little conversation until she turned to go a different direction.  And, I couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Cultural differences are real.  All you have to do is visit a different locale to experience the truth of that.  But, recognizing and appreciating the differences that we encounter is a grace.  Everyone doesn’t have to be just like us for us to appreciate them.  And, yet, when we can share something with a stranger – even for only a moment – it can be cause for celebration.

The challenge is to be able to accept, appreciate, and celebrate the cultural differences that are not so familiar to us.  Perhaps we need to open ourselves to the grace.

Recently I ran across this song on YouTube.  It haunts me and I have been listening to it several times a day – just to remind myself; just to pray; just to be in awe.

The song is by Peter Mayer and is called Holy Now.  Take a moment to listen and watch .

Beautiful words.  Beautiful music.  Perhaps there is no better way to express such grace.  Let’s not forget to take the time to open our eyes – every moment – and see the Grace of Holiness all around us.

There are more than enough times in life when doors are closed to us that it can sometimes be a surprise when a door is open.  What do we do when we encounter an open door?  The most natural response in the world is to walk right past it.  We can justify it all with words like “I don’t belong here; no one invited me in; I can’t go where I don’t know what’s on the other side;” and how many other admonitions that prevent us from taking the adventure through the open door.

Each new day is an open door.  And each day we make the choice all over again to live life to the fullest or to hold back and be safe, comfortable, and familiar.  And only we can make that choice.  No one else can make it for us.  The open door awaits us.

I noticed yesterday that even at the end of November roses are budding and, as is their destiny, opening to beauty, fragrance and full flower.

Are we choosing to remain buds forever, or are we willing to open up to our full potential by walking through the open doors into our future?

Grace will meet us if we take the step.