This is a pic from Saturday’s Noel Freidline Christmas concert at the Lancaster Cultural Arts Center. (photo credit Lancaster Cultural Arts Center) This was the sold-out afternoon performance; the evening performance was sold out too. Noel is a jazz pianist, composer, teacher and all-around fantastic performer. He and equally talented singer, Marie Howell, are regulars at the Lancaster Cultural Arts Center and Hubby and I see them whenever we can, but Christmas is special.

One of Marie’s signature songs during this season is Mark Lowery’s popular, Mary, Did You Know? The acoustics in the Cultural Arts Center are astounding so when Marie sings, the notes resonate and reverb and fill the space. Her emotion during this song is gut wrenching–in a good way–in that she takes on the persona of someone who knows the importance and depth of the questions in Lowery’s lyrics, and really wants an answer! Marie doesn’t simply sing the words. Like someone who’s witnessed or heard an unbelievable story and goes back to one of the participants, Marie’s truly asking Mary, did you know? By the end of the song she was crying, I saw women–and men–wiping their eyes, (I was too), there was a standing ovation, and this collective deep exhaling breath as we all sat back down.

I think of that song today as my Catholic faith celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, this year we’re celebrating on the day after the Second Sunday of Advent. (The actual feast day is the 8^th but since that was on a Sunday, we’re celebrating it today.) One of the misconceptions, (no pun intended), about this feast is that it celebrates Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus, after all we’re about to commemorate his birth so it makes sense. But the feast is actually celebrating Mary’s conception. Her mother’s name is traditionally recognized as St. Anne, so it’s her pregnancy we’re thinking of today. And so, I wonder, did St. Anne know her child would bear the Messiah?

When Mary was a child, did St. Anne notice glimmers of grace that stopped her and made her question why her God had blessed Mary so? Did St. Anne see moments of unusual physical strength in her daughter and question why–never suspecting that one day Mary would give birth not with midwives in a red tent but in a foreign land surrounded by animals and visited by shepherds, angels and magi. Did she sense a depth of fortitude in Mary that was uncommon in children her age–unaware Mary was being prepared to witness the passion and crucifixion of her own son. When Mary came to her after Angel Gabriel’s visit, did all the things she’d witnessed finally make sense? Were the ponderings in her heart finally stilled?

As a parent there have been–and continues to be–moments when my own heart ponders over my children. As a human there have been and continues to be moments when my heart questions things of the world. I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one who has these ‘troublings’. But this week’s Advent theme reminds me of the fable about the bird that calmly shelters while a storm rages around it. In the fable the king sees the bird as the definition of peace. It’s inner peace despite.

This photo is part of the Dale Chihuly exhibit at Biltmore. With the colors and ‘movement’, it reminded me of two lit candles for this week.  In this second week of Advent, the theme is peace. I have no idea who decided which themes fell on which weeks, but I like that peace is the second one.

Maybe like me, by this time in your journey toward Christmas things have gotten really busy and just a little crazy. I’ve done some shopping, attended the city tree lighting and watched the parade, there was the concert and the trip to Biltmore … They’re all wonderful, joyous activities and events with people I love, and I’m working on some wonderful creative projects that I want to finish. Maybe not a storm raging, but definitely a swirling beginning with the morning calendar check to make sure we’re going where and doing what we’re scheduled to. If I’m not attentive, the inner peace can get neglected.

Last night I caught the first minutes of a Hallmark movie about crossing off everything on a list to make for the perfect Christmas. I don’t aspire to Hallmark Christmas perfection. I’ve been known to go into full decorating mode after guests have gone to bed. It’s fun watching their expressions the next morning when they see how the house transformed from nondescript comfort to winter wonderland overnight. The annual gingerbread house decorating with the Grands sometimes includes houses that need structural support and rehabbing, not just decorating. I do have an idea–okay a list–of what I’d like to do ensuring our Christmas is ‘perfect’, yet sometimes items are crossed off not because I finished them, but because I know I won’t. There’s peace in that letting go.

Today the tree is still not decorated, stockings not hung, boxes of décor are out of the closet but not unpacked, and there’s a deadline looming. Not Christmas. I’ve been selected for the jury duty pool the week before … when family arrives from Ohio to celebrate the holiday. (I’m laughing about the ‘life happens’ effect as I write this.)

All the more reason I nurture that inner peace. I steal and protect moments in the evening when the television is off and soothing instrumental carols (instead of John Denver and the Muppets) are on–or not. Instead of floor lamps, the icicle lights and tree lights are on. If Advent meditations aren’t done in the morning by wreath and candlelight, they’re done by these other lights. Either way, I sometimes ponder if those questions to Mary aren’t also for us. In this season of activity, and sometimes frayed nerves, the Christ is already incarnate among us. Do we know?

I’m off to decorate the tree and hang stockings! I’ll be back with an open window on Monday. Wishing everyone a week of peace and wonder.