On this Eleventh Day of Christmas, we pass along to you (with permission) this friendly note from Amy Grigg about attending Christmas worship at St. Paul's:
Good morning, Rev. Adams-Riley,
Christmas was made richer for my daughters and me by attending the Christmas day service at St. Paul's. Later in the afternoon I paged through the New York Times and saw the following editorial with recipes for the Christmas tree. Perhaps you saw it, but if not, I've attached the link below.
In today's Word (and second word) from Grace Street, Wallace+ writes about the Lord of Misrule, "appointed to preside over festivities marking the end of Christmastide" for centuries.
"On Twelfth Night, the world is turned upside down, the rules are suspended. In Shakespeare, a woman dresses as a man, and a servant acts as nobleman. In many cathedrals, a boy chorister is appointed bishop for a time, taking the bishop's seat as presider, wearing his miter and carrying his crosier.
Eventually the Church decided that the festivities had gotten out of hand and thus the custom was abolished. And yet perhaps we, the Church, were onto something way back then. After all, the one we call the King of Kings was born in a stable, in a little town, on the edge of the Roman Empire, with an audience of animals, shepherds, and foreigners.
"What are the rules that he, the original Lord of Misrule, might suspend in our lives? What are the things in my life and in yours that he would turn upside down?"
Indeed, suspending the rules a bit early, today Wallace+ wrote about Twelfth Night on the Fifth Night!
The great wings were spread Showing glory on the fields, and fire. The whole air, singing, bore him up, and higher, Unswerving, unreluctant. Soon he shone A gold speck in the gold skies; then was gone.
A few things in the current headlines that I am especially grateful for:
Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell. Wow! A major step forward in the name of justice. Comparable to the integration of the Armed Forces in 1948.
That the tensions on the Korean peninsula have, at least for now, relaxed. We pray for peace on earth.
That Pope Benedict is speaking more pointedly and, I would say, courageously, about the crisis in the Roman Catholic Church around the sexual abuse of minors. That he would ask the question of how it was that this was allowed to happen is very promising. Let us pray for him, for the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, and, of course, for those who have suffered abuse. Let us pray for healing, and for a new day.
As we say often, but not often enough: Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Nelson and I attended a special preview of the Nutcracker on Friday, attended by busloads of children from all around Richmond. During the course of the performance, I discreetly snapped a few pics with my iPhone, which has no flash. The result was fascinating, as you can see.
Light will do things that we never could have predicted, never could have imagined. It's no wonder that light is the most essential, the most universal of all metaphors, religious or otherwise: light in the midst of darkness; light as surprise; light as mystery; light as life!
Thanks be to God.
Click on 'read more' to see the additional photos!
And, of course, this Christmas, tonight, and tomorrow, new memories are being made; a Carol sung, pure and exquisite; an old friend; warm, endearing words exchanged; a first Christmas for a new grandbaby; a candle lit, a face aglow, eyes agleam.
More than fifty times, in his published writings, Barth refers to the Grunewald image; and, indeed, usually, it is precisely in reference to John, and John’s relation to the figure of Christ; as he points.
Barth (and Grunewald before him) understood John’s sole purpose to be to serve as a pointer to Christ, a reference to Christ, a witness to Christ.
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On this Eleventh Day of Christmas, we pass along to you (with permission) this friendly note from Amy Grigg about attending Christmas worship at St. Paul's:
In today's 
