Advent – Putting on the armor of light

With the arrival of December 1^st, we are now into the first week of Advent.  It is a time of busy-ness all around us.  Families gathering, shopping to do, decorating, an increase in social obligations, work parties, community parties, school parties – is this true for you as well?  It is also a time of increasing darkness as we move toward the shortest days of the year just before Christmas breaks in with all of its light and life. 

With all this busy-ness, and all of this activity, we may feel bombarded with “to do” lists, and also with the sense that there is a disconnect between the spirituality of Advent and the reality of the “holiday season.”

A helpful balm in the midst of this busy time is our Collect for the first Sunday of Advent.  Some of you might have missed hearing the Collect if you were away for the Sunday just after Thanksgiving, but it is perhaps my favorite Collect of the entire church year:

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

We pray that in this time of Advent that we would “cast away the works of darkness,” that, even in this busy time, with all the temptations to be “of the world,” we know that God is giving us grace.  In this time, we know that God is empowering us to find time to reflect, to ponder as Mary did, to seek to go deep, and also to remember God in the midst of the blitz of the holiday shopping season.

We pray that we would put on “the armor of light,” which is a fascinating image, one in which we use our own deep hope and joy to create a physical protection around ourselves.  However, this protection is not merely defensive, rather, like light itself, it fills the world with the light of Christ.  If you have read Harry Potter, this is something like (in my thinking) the notion of a patronus, which is a figure of light and life which emerges from our own positive thoughts of joy and hope.  This patronus or armor of light casts away the works of darkness, and all the things of this world which can steal away our hope and joy and love.

And so, I pray that even in the midst of the increasing darkness of these days, we all might find new ways to “put on an armor of light,” or (if you like) to push out our own patronuses into the world, projecting light, and hope and joy and peace and love into a world that is in such desperate need of them.  As we walk the ways of Advent, we prepare for the coming of the one true light, and we do not walk alone, for our armor is not merely protection for us, but is projected outward, and together we will fill even the darkest places with the light that God has provided.

Peter+

Seek with all your heart ~ a lesson from Harry Potter

"As movie theatres reel the final film, and as we reflect on the years we shared with members of Dumbledore’s Army, perhaps this is the takeaway: Seek. Seek with all your heart and all your soul and with your closest friends by your side. If you do, you may find yourself on an unpredictable path to places you never knew existed."


From Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio in CNN's religion blog

the MadPriest on Yalewarts

The MadPriest is at it again, and has me laughing so hard at his recent postings that I can hardly breathe....so, here is just one of his many many wise, funny and downright MAD postings (and it seems as though most of it is actually from CNN!)

From CNN:

J.K. Rowling has retired Harry Potter, but the fictional boy wizard lives in on college classes across the country where the children's books are embraced as literary and academic texts. Her books are often analyzed in the context of other relevant texts. Drawing on their expertise in theology, children's literature, globalization studies and even the history of witchcraft, professors have been able to use Harry Potter to attract crowds of students eager to take on a disciplined study of the books.

Danielle Tumminio, a Yale Divinity School (photo - left) graduate student and the instructor for Yale's Harry Potter course "Christian Theology and Harry Potter," said her academic background in literature and theology, combined with her personal interest in the books, inspired her to design the course. The course uses all seven Potter books and the students examine Christian themes such as sin, evil and resurrection.

Although Yale's course is its first Harry Potter-themed offering, other universities, including Georgetown University, Liberty University, Pepperdine University, Stanford University, Lawrence University, Swarthmore and Kansas State University, also have integrated the series into their curricula.

Cat Terrell, a student in Tumminio's course at Yale, said regardless of whether the books are worthy as literary texts, they have helped enhance her understanding of other academic disciplines, including theology.

"If somebody says this isn't worth a Yale class, I would say if we were just reading the Harry Potter books for their literary merit ... I would probably agree with them. [But] the lens of the Harry Potter books actually makes theology ... easier to understand," she said. "It's amazing how many connections you can draw between the theology that we're reading outside of class and the Harry Potter that we've known for 10 years."

In later modules the students will learn how to do joined up writing and tie their own shoe laces.

I am Dumbledore, who are you?

.

I actually wanted to be Fred or George Weasley, or Hagrid, but Dumbledore rocks the house, so I am honored at the claim that I might "be" him...(and also think it's quite a reach)...so, what about you, "who are you?"

...(shoutuot goes to the "No Claim to Sainthood" blog, read it HERE!)


The other thing that is cool, is that Dumbledore looks strikingly like two of my other heroes:



Gandalf the Grey and Rowan Williams








You scored as Albus Dumbledore, Strong and powerful you
admirably defend your world and your charges against those
who would seek to harm them. However sometimes you can
fail to do what you must because you care too much to cause
suffering.

Albus Dumbledore 85% Harry Potter 75% Hermione Granger 65% Ron Weasley 65% Sirius Black 60% Remus Lupin 55% Ginny Weasley 40% Draco Malfoy 40% Severus Snape 35% Lord Voldemort 25% Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...? created with QuizFarm.com

I've been "away" for a bit...visiting my folks in Vermont, along with my two sons...we had a great time, visited many friends and just enjoyed the wonder that is God's creation up there in the "Land of Milk and Honey" (they really call it that!!!), or also called the Green Mountain State. I will post more, soon, and many thoughts came to me as I spent time out in nature, biking in my hometown, and also eating the best donuts in the whole world! I miss the sugar and fat already!!!

Also, I broke down and bought the new Harry Potter book, in the morning of the Saturday that it was released, supporting the local book shop, The Vermont Book Shop ...I finished it today. I will not say more than it was good. I would hate to give anything away, but it was good.