First Tuesday of Advent
Every year about this time I go shopping for a live Christmas tree but I don’t actually buy one. I don’t need one because LeAnn and I have one of those sturdy, dependable artificial trees that you buy once a decade. Still, every year I take Wilshire pal George Gagliardi to get his tree and that puts me in close personal contact with real live Christmas trees.
Continue reading “Oh Tannenbaum”First Monday of Advent
Originally posted Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Here we are once again in the rush of the holidays. Thanksgiving was Thursday, and Advent began Sunday. In between was the retail madness of Black Friday, and then there was Saturday.
I googled this particular Saturday and from what I can tell it hasn’t been branded yet. Liturgically, it is the last day of Ordinary Time – the period stretching from Pentecost to Advent – but there are no special observances that go with it. For many people it continued the Thanksgiving celebration, and for others it was just Day 2 of Black Friday with more shopping and the related traffic and hassles. You likely saw some people out in the yard or on the roof hanging lights and putting out decorations.
Continue reading “Bridging the Seasons”First Sunday of Advent
From Wilshire Advent Devotions 2015
Hope is a precarious proposition. The moment we place our hope in something or someone, we set ourselves up for disappointment. That is partly because of our mistaken understanding of the word. We throw “hope” around like a blessing or a prayer – “Hope it goes well” or “Hope you have a great time” or “Hope you find what you’re looking for” – but the word is really about “maybe” and “possibly” and “there’s a chance” if everything goes right.
Continue reading “Hope”