St Lucy (Lucia) martyred, probably under the Emperor Diocletian, in Sicily in 304 and the 61st anniversary to the priesthood of Rempfer (Jack) Whitehouse

Psalm 31:24

Be
strong 

and let 
your 
heart 
take 
courage, 
all you 
who wait 
for the Lord.

Jack served in the Army as an interpreter in Germany during WWI. He was seriously wounded. After a long recovery (he spent a year in the hospital) he gave as much time to promoting peace as he had to waging war. Only afterward did he continue on to seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood 61 years ago today. Along the way he met and married his wife Francis and they had a fruitful marriage, life and career.  After his retirement (the first of many - the last was only 3 years ago when he stepped down from serving at St Luke's, the Sudanese congregation.) they moved to San Diego. His wife Francis died in 1995.  Soon afterward (the sign of a happy marriage!) he married again and Mary became Mary McCormick Whitehouse. Unnumbered people have been blessed by his intellect, his wit, his steely resolve and the depth of his personal spiritual life. The Episcopal Church has been richly blessed by your life and ministry, Fr Jack:: The Lord is indeed glorious in his saints: Come, let us adore Him.  

With John on Patmos on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

                                                                                     Psalm 37:3

   Put your 
   trust 
   in the 
   Lord 
   & do 
   good; 
   dwell 
   in the 
   land  &
   feed on 
   its riches. 

My friends Don and Barbara have just gotten back from a  cruise which included going ashore on the Isle of Patmos where John was imprisoned. I twas here that he  wrote the Book of Revelation which has proven to be a blessing and a puzzle and something of a curse for the Church , to my mind. We read it in Advent and I have always loved the passage where he says to one of the seven Church's: this I have against you- you’re doing all the right things but you have abandoned the love you first had. Tantamount to God coming to look for us in the cool of the evening only to find us hiding among the trees...  The psalter being the hymnbook of the Jews,  I can imagine John sitting alone and in exile,  reading these same words and taking comfort from them. They bought this icon of John the Divine for me on Patmos and gave it to me last night so this morning, John is my companion as I again set out on my journey to who knows where, but surely to God. 

In the Lutheran calendar today we remember Lars Olsen Skrefsrud (1820-1910) Missionary to India

                                                              Matthew 23:12

All 
who 

exalt them-selves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted. 

Lars Skrefsrud was born in Noway where he seemed to be following in his father’s alcoholic footsteps. He got into  trouble with the law - he and his com-panions robbed a bank! - they got away but he spent 4 years in prison. Having hit bottom, he pulled his life together and headed to India as a missionary. WIth his wife, he spent the rest of his life working and preaching among the Santals, an oppressed tribe in northern India who had never seen a Christian 

                                             missionary.  

The New Lutheran Book... suggests prayers:

For those in prison and for those who minister to them. 

For alcoholics, 

For those who are near despair. 

For missionaries to remote places.

 For the Santal Church. 

                                        “Merciful God, you look with compassion on all who by their addictions are in bondage, and you call them to recovery and purpose....Strengthen us by (Lars') example to work for the salvation of all whom the world or the church overlooks or ignores, that your Name may be glorified throughput the earth.... 

Tuesday moving toward evening

                                 Psalm 36:9 

With 
you 
is the 
well of life 

and in
your 
light 
we see 
light. 

Tomas Merton: monk, seeker, writerr (January 31,1915 - December 10, 1968) And Human Rights Day.

                                                        Matthew 22:35-37

a lawyer 

asked Jesus  

a question

to test him,  

“Teacher, what 

commandment

 is the greatest?” 

              He said ... “You shall love...” 

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. … Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never   never leave me to face my perils alone."                                  
Thomas Merton from Thoughts in Solitude 

Chilly Monday morning

                                        Advent Antiphon on Ecc, Deus (Canticle 9)

I will 

look 

to the 

Lord, 

I will 

wait for the God of my salvation. 

The Second Sunday of Advent

                         Luke 21:19

             
       
    By 
    your 
    endur-
    ance 
    you
    will  save your souls.