St Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304 I associate St Lucy or Lucia (the name itself means light) with Sweden but she was actually martyred in Syracuse in Sicily. Before 1528, when Pope Gregory VIII reformed the calendar, (The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used civil calendar in the world) Dec 13 was the shortest day of the year and, with her feast, the light began slowly to grow as the days lengthened.

                                             Isaiah 9:5  

all the boots of the tram-pling warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned 

as fuel for the fire. 

Illumine us, 

with your

 daughter 

Lucy, with 

the light 

of Christ 

- Collect   

                                                              ***

That’s my word for today: the Word of the Lord.  The rest is  just my musings which I share if you want to read them. After writing this, I did the blog post…. 

          God Rocks! Sometimes things just come crashing together and it’s amazing.  I went in to read Morning Prayer after learning about St Lucy and was confronted by/with Psalm 45 which just puts me on my  ear….  it’s so full of power and domination -  just what the Chosen People (and the disciples, and are we any different?) were looking for in a Messiah - an earthly king to kick butt. (And they got squalling baby born in a stable and a Peacenik riding into town on a donkey rather than a war horse.) I was tempted to not read it at all but I was glad I did… I was especially struck this morning  by “the rich among the people seek your favor” in case we are  temped to think that sucking up to power (more politely put, currying favor) is anything new… 

          And then I read Isaiah 9:1-7…Ah, falling into comfort “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” and I thought COOL… but no, and that was not it. I read on and was stopped by my verse…. But “Really?” I thought, turning up my nose at the stench. Maybe I’m hearing wrong and I read on …  But God whispered,(how can a whisper be so loud?!)  “Go back, go back. Fuel for the fire…it’s all fuel for the fire…”  And the very next line is  “For a child has been born to us, a son given to us”… and goes on into that lovely oration that sings in our soul… Wonderful Counselor, Almighty Father, the Prince of Peace.” We so easily get ahead of ourselves and skip the stench of burning but it’s all fuel for that glorious fire.