Happy Monday! I hope your entry into the holiday season has been a smooth one. We celebrated Thanksgiving in Vancouver, WA with our son and daughter-in-law, a first for us and the reason my window wasn’t open last week. After a busy few months, the trip was a welcome, relaxing beginning to the holidays–football and food in about equal measure, lots of dog love from their Dachshund/Rottweiler mix, Rayna, quiet time to write, and First Sunday of Advent celebrated in the Proto-Cathedral of St. James.
We usually attend a different church when we visit out there, but 2025 is a Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church and the theme is Pilgrims of Hope. Certain churches across the world are designated Jubilee Churches and St. James is one. For those who sit at my window, you know St. James the actual saint holds a special place because he is the patron of pilgrimages and it’s in his footsteps we walked the Camino de Santiago last year. It seemed fitting for all sorts of reasons to attend mass with him this time. He continues to show up unexpectedly.
This is Mt. Hood, which also continues to show up unexpectedly when we’re in Vancouver. From various points around the city, you can see Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, or Mt. Adams. Mt. Hood is stunning with its cone shaped top, compared to St. Helens’ flat crest, and is the one most visible because it’s closest. We joke that she moves because we’ll be driving around and not see her, then all of a sudden, she peeks–or peaks–out from behind a row of condos or looms large in the distance in front of us on the road. This photo was taken on a hike along a river where we didn’t see her for most of the 5.5 miles, but just at the right moment, she filled the vista in front of us in all her beauty. And then she was gone again.
Obviously, she’s not moving, we are.
I thought about that as I settled into my Advent meditations this week. One of the tasks I took care of before we left, was to set up my Advent wreath so it’d be ready when we returned. The theme for the first week is always Hope. That in the darkness we light one candle and that’s enough to remind us how one little light can be enough for the presence of hope. That one person can be a light in the darkness. One of my favorite poets, Wendell Berry, once remarked to Anne Lamott (another favorite writer), about the deepening darkness of winter, “It gets darker and darker and then Jesus comes.”
All the meditation readings this past week focused on stillness, finding even a few minutes from all the decorating, purchasing, baking, … to simply be still so we can hear the voice of God, to allow the voice of hope. The task can feel like moving a mountain. But like Mt. Hood, God is always present. If we don’t sense the Presence, it’s because we’ve moved.
I’m taking that lesson to heart more deeply this Advent. I’m saying no to a few things. At the moment it’s midnight and I’m sitting in the stillness in front of our lovely Christmas tree that still isn’t decorated. Not even a single strand of lights. It’s been up since Thursday. That’s unlike me, but I’m not stressed about it. Later today it will get some attention. It will be done before the family gathering on the 20th and I’ll enjoy it until it’s time to undress her sometime in January or maybe even February.
In one of the meditations, Advent is described as standing on tiptoe peeking over the edge into the vastness of what is to come. Can’t you feel that anticipation and childlike joy? Being in the darkness of winter and stillness doesn’t mean a lack of joy.
I felt some of that childlike joy Saturday evening during our local Christmas parade. I’ll never outgrow a Christmas parade–or any kind of parade for that matter. I thought of my friend, Debbie, as a gathering of Harleys rode by, all decorated with lights. I wondered if her YOLO ever had the pleasure of being all decked out for Christmas. Even the sousaphones, trumpets, and drums in the high school band were outlined in lights.
This Saturday will be the annual Greenway Lighting with the Grands–more lights! More joy.
Yesterday was the 2nd Sunday of Advent and the theme for this week is always Peace. Last Friday Hubby and I attended the monthly non-denominational, all faith Prayer for Peace gathering. There are always moments of stillness. There are always candles lighting the darkness. There are always prayers and readings from different traditions. There is always the gift of hope for peace.
I hope you have a wonderful week. It’s really cold and rainy here in the Carolinas. I’m not complaining; it feels more like the Christmas seasons I’m used to. Here are pictures of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood side by side. See you next Monday!
A Writer's Window 