* Week's almost over, and my meetings for this month are done, thank goodness (last night was Board Meeting. Still no definite talk of shutting down, though it's acknowledged that filling the pulpit right now is hard - there's a shortage of pastors and we can't afford a full time one; we've been filling in with retired folks and seminary students).
I volunteered to do the third Sunday of Advent (right after finals) if they can't get someone. Then I checked and it's Gaudete Sunday, or the week of Joy.
Never let it be said God lacks a sense of humor; how many times have I said recently I struggled to find joy. But if I have to do the thing, I will do the thing. I will find a way.
* I just need a little time off. This is the hard time of the semester for everyone; it gets a little harder to extend grace when a student needs an extension or keeps e-mailing me with anxious questions. Oh, I do the thing, and I am polite, but I can tell I feel worn.
Also this is the point where I desperately wish I had someone to take care of me a little bit - someone to do the laundry for me some week when I'm tired, or cook for me, or even just give me some words of encouragement, but I don't often get any of that. And so I keep soldiering on and trying to find ways to simulate the feel of someone caring for me. (I probably get restaurant meals more than I ideally should, for example).
* I do have to write an exam for next week tomorrow but if I can get that done, I can take Saturday off. And there's no "festival" that I can see planned for Denison (=so it won't be crowded and I won't have a struggle finding close places to park) and so I might try a little final Christmas shopping, but if that doesn't work, I have things in mind I can mail order.
No, I don't know what I might want, I will have to figure something out to tell my mom. Difficulty level: she doesn't use the internet so anything mail ordered (which is more ideal given that she's older and doesn't like driving anywhere unfamiliar any more) has to come from a paper catalog. (I have a few saved up, even an KnitPicks one, in case. Though I'm not sure KnitPicks even takes orders over the phone any more).
No, I don't just want money to buy "what I want," that's not fun. I'd rather get just a couple small things like a box of nice tea from the store or some gadget from the Ace hardware instead.
* Christmas, at least the materialistic part of it, is a lot less fun when you're an adult. I wish I could still get excited about receiving gifts but I really can't - but I also can't quite bring myself to just say "no gifts at all"
*I did pull out some of the Christmas music and decided it wasn't too early to start running through some of the pieces. I guess I am improving a little bit, it seems the couple I tried are easier than they were last year.
1 comment:
If it helps you think about it, here's the prayer that was used at the beginning of the service for the Sunday, which gave the day its name (Gaudete == Rejoice):
Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say, rejoice. Let your modesty be known to all men: for the Lord is nigh.
Be nothing solicitous: but in everything by prayer let your petitions be made known to God. (Ps. 84: 2) Lord, Thou hast blessed Thy land: Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
...It may also help to think about it as the joy of the coming feast: Advent was traditionally a fasting season and by this time you'd be sorta seeing the joyful season wherein "Jesus Christ, eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, desiring to consecrate the world by his most loving presence, ... was born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem of Judah, and was made man"...
I'm pretty sure you're a solid homilist who doesn't need my help, but if you weren't sure where to start, maybe some of that is useful ( :
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