A Christmas Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Christmas is a bizarre holiday - a sentimental overlay of sugary Victoriana glued onto a foundation of darker, more honest pagan traditions.  My culture's expectations are at war with the yearnings of my heart.  It's a difficult time of year.

And yet there's something incredibly beautiful about the image of two poor, first-time parents sheltering in a stable with a little baby, presiding over visiting shepherds, kings and an army of exuberant angels.  It's wonderful that the Christmas manger contains dried grass and gold, the humblest stuff of earth and the highest gifts of heaven.

Christmas is the ultimate fairy tale, in which our heart's deepest wishes come true: a poor girl becomes the queen of heaven, a poor man's honest son becomes the Prince of Peace, a kingdom is delivered from evil tyrants, and wickedness is driven away as goodness triumphs and justice is restored.  In the darkest nights of winters, Your hope shines in us.

Thank You, Jesus, for coming to us in our darkness, in our poverty, and in our ignorance. 

Thank You for bringing light, and being light; for being willing to dwell among us and for being "God with us," wherever and whoever we are.

Amen!

Mayan Calendar Musings - Apocalypse Now?

Do you think the world will end on December 21, 2012?  

 

If so, you're not alone.  According to WDAZ, "Recent polls show nearly ten percent of the population believe the world is ending this month" (http://www.wdaz.com/event/article/id/15850/group/homepage/).

Here's some reassurance for those who are worried about what might happen on Dec. 21st.

The scientists at NASA remind us that the end of a calendar isn't the end of the world.  Our Gregorian calendar ends each year on Dec. 31, and nothing happens (except, of course, for the personal cataclysms experienced by drunk drivers and their victims out on New Year's Eve). Per NASA:

Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar  (NASA, "Beyond 2012: Why the World Won't End").  

Nor, apparently, is a wayward planet about to bring the world to an end:

Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye  (NASA, "Beyond 2012: Why the World Won't End").

What Am I Doing to Prepare for Dec. 21st?

 

If the end is truly near, I'm with my favorite recording artist, Bruce Cockburn, on my preparations for the apocalypse:

If this were the last night of the world
What would I do?
What would I do that was different
Unless it was champagne with you?

See the video:  "Last Night of the World" - Bruce Cockburn live
Lyrics and interview - "Last Night of the World" from the Bruce Cockburn Project

Why am I not worried?  Because, as Phil Keaggy reminded us way back in 1976, God is absolutely still, always and forever in control:

For the end from the beginning,
Open to His wisdom lies ("Disappointment").

See the video:  "Diappointment" - Phil Keaggy

---

 

Video:  10-year-old Lisa Diaz sings "All is Well."

12/12/12 4179 Toutakis Comet flyby

In honor of the Comet 4179 Toutatis which passed within 4.3 million miles of Earth today

News story:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/asteroid-flyby-tonight-toutatis_n_2278457.html

"Comet" by Pierce Pettis

      from http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/lyricsdetail.php?lyrics_id=50866
      playable sample: http://www.amazon.com/Comet/dp/B0012N6A08/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1355323992&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=pierce+pettis+comet

A comet streaked across the sky while I was sleeping,
Broke into a million pieces in the night,
Missed us by so little; passed us by so close,
It was right there, and we didn’t even know.

Doesn’t God look out for children and for fools who can blindly stumble right into the truth?
‘Til all the pieces fit into a grand design,
A brilliant accident we had it coming all this time.

Oh, seek and you shall find it – that is what they say,
Just give it time and don’t get lost along the way,
Well, I’ve been a long time waiting out here beneath the sky,
As if love could find me like that comet in the night.

Does a heart falling in the forest make a sound other than the pounding axe that brings it down?
Or is it up to me to tell the forest from the trees?
And does it matter if there’s no one else around?

Seek and you shall find it – that is what they say,
Just give it time and don’t get in your own way,
Well, I’ve been a long time waiting out here beneath the sky,
As if love could find me like that comet in the night.

I gaze up at the stars and wonder,
I could see the lights are on,
Is anybody home?

Seek and you shall find it – that is what they say,
Just give it time; don’t get lost along the way,
Yeah, I’ve been a long time waiting out here beneath the sky,
As if love could find me like that comet in the night,
Oh, as if love could find me like that comet in the night,
Yeah, as if love could find me like that comet in the night.

A comet streaked across the sky while I was sleeping.

Winter Haiku by Tina Quinn Durham

Winter Haiku

Cloudless dark, black air
ice-picks down my lungs, pricks sky
and opens up stars

Spirit chases wind
into charred maze, dead trees
fingering the moon

One planet walks south
over broken pines. What path
can blind rocks follow?

8 December 2012
©2012 Tina Quinn Durham