The Prefeast of Theophany.

Liturgically, today is structured a lot like the Eve of the Nativity as we both begin and end the 12 days of Christmas with this Liturgical Structure. Tonight will be Old Testament Readings, and tomorrow, of my favorite days of the year, when we do the Outdoor Blessing of the Waters.

This morning’s reading was about St. John the Forerunner (the Baptist):

1In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 3This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
"A voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.' "[a]
4John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11"I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Matthew 3: 1-11)

I’ve been thinking about St. John’s voice crying in the wilderness these past couple of days. Last night was my monthly Book Club group – the book we discussed was The Book Thief - while the discussion was fantastic and amazing, at one point it veered to an all too common topic, “why I am not the religion __________ that I was raised in.” Valid reasons are mentioned in these discussions – hypocrisy, abuse, fear, etc.

However, it is a topic that makes me very sad*, but what do I do? I sat there and nodded, not contributing anything. I let that interior voice of fear about being disliked or disagreed with override being the voice crying in the wilderness for my faith and for God.

May I remember St. John the Baptist tomorrow at Liturgy and throughout my life. May I learn to raise my trembling voice in the wilderness, and to heed the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount:

10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12 )

A blessed Feast to you tomorrow! Christ is Baptized!

* I want to direct you to Deb’s fantastic book review which also touches on these issues, more eloquently than I do.

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Christ is Born! Happy New Year! I’m so sorry I’ve been quiet, and thank you to everyone who stopped by and commented and checked in with me. I’m fine, just blog quiet. I definitely need to get back into a regular posting groove, I am not ready to let the blog go fallow.

I’ll begin with a Daybook to get the juices flowing and to catch up

A Woman’s Daybook for January 3, 2010

Outside my window...while not particularly cold, it is grey and dreary. This morning we had fog, a good friend who rode with me to church said, “you appeared out of the mist today”
I am thinking...about the connection between the Nativity and Theophany
I am thankful for...good friends, love, warmth, friendship, and my wonderful husband who attached a keyboard tray to my desk. To thank him, I accidently closed his Facebook poker game, sorry hon.
From the learning rooms...The Xman goes back to school tomorrow – I think he’s enjoyed this time off.
From the kitchen...I need to clean house, since Book Club is here tomorrow. I also am getting ready to start Tigress’ monthly canning challenges – I’m putting Mrs. Mousethief on notice that I’ll need her help eating the marmalade I’m planning on making – does anyone have a good recipe?
I am wearing...a pair of yoga pants and a long sleeved t-shirt. To church, I wore a red cashmere sweater and my favorite black skirt with white scroll work (from Coldwater Creek, of course)
I am creating...I just cleaned off my desk, whew! And I’m excited about having room on my desk to work on my projects. I have a whole pile of layouts that I need to finish up.
I am going...to our Parish’s Chapel in the foothills for Theophany on Wednesday, with my fabulous Goddaughter and a dear friend
I am reading...I’m re-reading The Book Thief for tomorrow’s Book Club.
I am hoping...to get the kitchen cleaned soon.
I am hearing...The Seattle – Tennessee game on TV
Around the house...I’m working on cleaning and organizing – I tackled my scrapbooking stuff last week, my desk yesterday, and in the next couple of days need to clean off the top of the bookshelf that hasn’t been cleaned since we moved in here.
One of my favorite things...Almond Roca, especially Candy Cane Roca (wait, there’s Macadamia Nut Roca? How did I not know that?)
A few plans for the rest of the week…Theophany on Wednesday, back to work tomorrow
Here is picture for thought I am sharing...Christmas morning, the scarf is from my lovely Goddaughter