So many are leaving for holiday travels today.  I hear roller suitcases on the sidewalk below my window and know that folks are heading out to the airport after work today.  It is a wonderful time of year to be together and, in most cases these days, being together means travel of some kind or another.  So, travel safely and remember to pack patience and joy so that we don’t get annoyed by the normal disturbances of modern travel – to say nothing of the weather!

One of our sons will be joining us here in DC for the holidays and we are excited for his arrival.  Because we will be spending time together, celebrating, and visiting local sights, I will not be blogging for the upcoming week.

Come back again next year and let’s continue the conversation!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!  May the blessings of our God, who has come to live among us, bring you grace and peace during this season and always.

Last evening I set out for my walk late in the day so I could capture some of the National Mall in evening light.  It was unseasonably warm and I enjoyed the slower, winter pace in and among the monuments.  As I walked, I marveled at the beauty even in the winter landscape.

There was quite a contrast of emotions for me as I walked past the White House and saw all the holiday decorations – then looked across the street to see all the flags at the Washington Monument at half staff in honor of the victims of the Newtown shootings.  I said a prayer for them and wondered to myself if there would ever be an end to such senseless killing.  And, I said a prayer of hope.  We can always hope.

As I prayed last evening, I wondered what hope looks like.  Not being a morning person, just by accident, (or maybe in answer to prayers) I caught some of the extraordinary sunrise this morning.  I had to grab my camera and snap the picture right through my window just as a reminder that hope is eternal and the sun does rise each day signaling a new beginning.  And I thought to myself, this is what hope looks like.  This is the grace of hope painted across the morning sky.

What a difference in emotions from last evening to this morning.  There is grace in Advent – and there is hope for our world.

We often think of our prayer as being quiet time and a time set apart to be with God.  And, that’s not a bad understanding of prayer.

But prayer can also be so much more.  Advent is an exercise in teaching us how to wait, to long, to prepare and to enrich our prayer – our time with God – and our time in this world, in this place.

Dorothy Day, who is now being considered for sainthood, thought that prayer was so much more than words.  She believed that we also have to live our prayer and act on it.  She thought that the actions of our lives and the work that we do can be our prayer.  According to her, our prayer can be a witness to our life, to the work we do, the things we love and care for.

The way Dorothy prayed allowed her to see Christ in the many disturbing disguises he wears in this world.  Because of her prayer, Dorothy could see Christ, and could reach out and serve him in the hungry and needy people standing right in front of her.

Has our waiting and preparing during this Advent advanced our understanding of prayer?  Has it allowed us the grace to pray through the work that we do and to see Christ and serve him with the very actions of our lives?

This is the preparing work of Advent.  And, there are still six days left.

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?