women usa connect

There is something crazy wonderful to me about spending time in a church during "off hours" ... during hours of the day in which one is not typically in church. Yesterday, St. Bartholomew's had a day-long prayer vigil for the unborn, lasting from the end of the 10:10 am Holy Communion until the 6 pm Evensong/Benediction service. Parishioners had signed up for half-hour time slots to come and light candles and pray for the protection of the unborn (something that I feel is particularly needed given the pro-abortion views of our President Elect, for whom we also prayed, of course). My wife and I had signed up for an early time slot, after which we went over to watch movies with Mrs. G (the Rector's wife and Youth leader) and the youth of our parish: Miracle on 34th Street and The Keys of the Kingdom . Then back to St. Bart's with the whole Youth Group in tow. The evening services were wonderful. I think it is the first time I'd been to Benediction at St. ...

We made a family decision not to send out our usual home-made Christmas card this year. Umm ... because I didn't come up with a poem for it. Instead, we made this nifty video, showing Anglican family life, circa 2008. Hope you enjoy it ... Merry Christmas to all !!!

Often, my life seems meaningless. Here is one explanation, which occurred to me after finishing a session with my current oil painting. I make my paintings by peering very closely at the details of a reference photograph and then trying to get the paint on the canvas to resemble what I see (or, think I see; I've been known to get it wrong) in the photograph. I spend a lot of time looking at the canvas very close up, like this: I push the paint around until it looks about right, but I never think about the pattern it is making - I am too close up to see that. Instead, I have a slavish sort of devotion (or "duty") to the Reference Photo (an analog of Holy Scripture). And I have to admit that, pushing the paint round ... does get old. Why does that old Reference Photo have to be so bloody complex?! It is tedious sometimes, and still I see no pattern or meaning, only abstract shapes and colors. Finally , when it is time to go to bed, I step away from my easel and take a...

This song precisely captures my mood this week. Not the best week of my life. winter is blue living is gone some are just sleeping in spring they'll go on our love is dead nothing but crying love will not find even one more new morning why must i stay here rain comes i'm sitting here watching love moving away into yesterday winter is blue everything's leaving fires are now burning and life has no reason i am alone waiting for nothing if my heart freezes i won't feel the breaking why must i stay here rain comes i'm sitting here watching love moving away into yesterday (© vashti bunyan 1966)

If you only read one Anglican blog post during Advent I suggest this one , in which the Anglican Curmudgeon gives us a nice reminder of the timelessness of J. Gresham Machen's classic book, Christianity and Liberalism .