Steeple Bells

Can you see the twinkle lights twisted
around the upper & lower porch railings?

I was planning all along to photograph the railing lights
-- which have been up since Christmas --
and then the Easter snowfall was an added bonus!

A Surprising Easter Evening Snowfall!
(Photos added April 1st ~
Nature's idea of an April Fools prank?)

"Shall we be a people who live in the darkness of denial and / or impotent rage? Or are we willing to step out and take the risk of believing, however humbly and lowly, in Christmas [and Easter] and that the little twinkling lights we see everywhere represent a great light?"

The Rev. Nancy C. Tiederman,
friend, teacher, priest & spiritual advisor
A couple of years ago, I was regretting the misplacement of some long forgotten Easter poems (something about a steeple against an April sky "and I grew small again"; and another one about hearing church bells and the voice of God). Would I ever remember where I had filed them?

Amazingly yes! All three losses were restored to me, along with a bit of hope.

"When I heard
the church bells ring
I thought I heard
the voice of God."

Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)
French-German Theologian & Renaissance Man
quotation found in
Quiet Thoughts: Reflections on the Meaning of Life
by Weaver & Whitley

"He was a rationalist,
but he had to confess that
he liked the ringing of
church bells."

Anton Chekhov (1860 – 1904)
Russian playwright and short-story writer
quotation found in
Women, Heroes, and a Frog
by Nina Leen (1909 - 1995)

St. John's Church ~ Lafayette Square ~ Washington DC
Photo from my visit ~ October 2017

No Greater Heights

Eagerly,
I scanned the canvasses
of ancient masters -- drew forth
each hidden secret of their craft,
each principle of line, and form, and hue.

And I grew wise in Art.

Fervently,
I studied works
of great composers -- delved deep in melody
and mood, probed structure and technique.

And I grew wise in Music.

Avidly,
I thumbed through yellowed
manuscripts -- through ragged volumes, thick
with dust, and plied my mind with formulas
and rules.

And I grew wise in Science.

Philosophers and men of wit, I read --
plundered every single source
of knowledge, made captive all the learning
of all time until, I though
I towered in Wisdom over all.

And then I saw a steeple,
against an Easter dawn.

And I was small again.

Bernard S. Patrick (Copyright, 1954, John Deere)
poem found in Easter Ideals, 1964 (Vol 21, No 2)

Steeple of St. Peter's Church ~ Philadelphia
Photograph taken by Ben McCartney ~ February 2018

Cathedral Cherry Blossoms ~ Washington, DC
Photograph taken by Ben McCartney ~ March 2004

Cairn

A cairn is a human-made stack or mound of stones, assembled from prehistoric times to the present, usually as a memorial, landmark, or spontaneous work of found art representing balance and harmony with nature. One might appear as a guidepost on a hiking trail, as a mile - marker on a walking path, or atop a hilltop to indicate the skyline. I came across the one above in a local cemetery -- and the one below on a wellness website.

Here is my little stack of
literary stones for today:
A couple of days ago, I quoted poet Philip Booth:

“I think survival is at stake for all of us all the time. … Every poem, every work of art, everything that is well done, well made, well said, generously given, adds to our chances of survival."

Which in turn reminded me of this Tennessee Williams quotation that seemed so befitting a year ago:

"The world is violent and mercurial - it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love - love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love."

Which made me think of the closing stanza of Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach":

"Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the word, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night."

Which then brought to mind what my friend and mentor Nancy wrote in her Harry Potter Christmas letter several years back:

"Even if you haven't read
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,
you surely know Harry's life was saved by love."


As well as this gem
from Nancy, a card featuring
one of my favorite quotations from E. B. White:

Inside, Nancy writes: "Informed women have to keep talking, asking questions, challenging, encouraging others to think. . . . The woman depicted on this card, incidentally, is the true me."

I wondered for a minute if it was E. B. White's wife, Katharine Sergeant Angell White; or maybe the Queen of England, or maybe just an anonymous model from the archives, who represents "the true us."

Nancy's wise words, written in mid - June 2016, became our watchword a year ago in mid - November 2016 when our hopes for the presidential election were dashed. In January 2017, Nancy offered further encouragement:

"It has helped me a lot to find a group of like - minded women. My advice is to go to Washington and join the women's March. There is still time. In any case, find something that speaks to your most important issues and volunteer. No time to despair. We must be strong: Warrior Women! Get out of your head and emotions and Act! Righteousness and love have kissed."

In closing,
"let us be true to one another" . . .
"for we live in a perpetually burning building!"

Childlike Spring

The Easter Bunny?

Spring has come again.
The Earth is like
a child who knows
poems by heart.

~ Rilke ~
from Sonnets to Orpheus
~ translated by Edward Snow ~

I love this whimsical snail planter (found in the British garden of my parents - in - law) and the above bunny rabbit statuette (belonging to my British sister - in - law). Both figurines, as well as their attendant flowers, exemplify the child - like nature of Spring that Rilke captures in his simile of Earth as a poetic youngster. The following, also by Rilke, is a more serious poem for the Easter season; but keep in mind that, despite the maturity of its intropection, "this is how children cherish You":

Prayer #12

I believe in everything that has not been said,
I want to free my most pious feelings;
what no one has ever dared to want
will suddenly become my nature.

If this is impudent, my God, forgive me.
But with this I want to tell You
that my noblest power should be an instinct,
and thus without anger and without hesitation --
this is how children cherish You.

With this flood, with this flow
into the broad arms of the open sea,
with this expansive return,
I want to bear witness to You; I want to proclaim You
like none before.

And if this is pride, the let me be proud
in my prayer,
which stands so earnest and alone
before Your shadowed brow.

from Prayers of a Young Poet
written by by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
translated by Mark S. Burrows

Many thanks to my dear friend and spiritual advisor
Nancy C. Tiederman
for sending me this latest translation of Rilke's Prayers

Dark Days

Geisha, Nutcracker, Court Jester, Mary Queen of Scots
So who out there has untrimmed the tree and put all the decorations away? ​I still haven't started -- I need all the Christmas lights I can get on these dark days and have sworn not to put one thing away until the end of January (as recommended, even in non - inaugural years, by Stephen Fry)!

Christmas 2015 ~ January 2016
Gerry and I put the ornaments away last week
but kept the lights on for awhile longer.
On the floor, along with the reflection of the tree lights,
see the tiny round reflection of last week's full moon?
Shining in through the livingroom window! (to the left)
~ See also 2025 ~

This month has just been too dark in every way -- weather, politics, all the griefs of the world. Martin Luther King, Jr. is dead; the arc of history does not tend toward justice; Jesus is never coming back; there will never be peace on earth. While we, personally, may not be skewered, greed takes the day, and our happiness is forever tainted by the dark undertoad of the haves vs the have nots and the few hurting the many.

If this isn't the bleak midwinter, then I don't know what is!

I still see so much normalizing going on, even among staunch Trump Objectors. How do they do it? I'm pretty sure that disgust has been written all over my face during some uncomfortable conversations where I was trying my best to maintain a "no comment" stance. But the dismay just leaks out. Disgust, dismay, despair, hate, sadness -- all the aforementioned emotions combined. Thus, Let the Record Show. All the cynical cartoons speak to my heart. I know it seems wrong to hate, but even worse is the sadness. Every day feels like somebody's funeral. A dreadful week.

Too many things that used to be funny just seem sad now, but thanks to comedian Lily Tomlin, I haven't completely lost my sense of humor. I had to laugh when I heard her parting words to President Obama: "Too bad aliens didn't come during your Presidency. We would have been so proud to take them to our leader!"

But then I almost cried.

Thanks to my friend Katie
for offering this antidote to despair:

A Brief For The Defense

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies
are not starving someplace, they are starving
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils.
But we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants.
Otherwise the mornings before summer dawn would not
be made so fine. The Bengal tiger would not
be fashioned so miraculously well. The poor women
at the fountain are laughing together between
the suffering they have known and the awfulness
in their future, smiling and laughing while somebody
in the village is very sick. There is laughter
every day in the terrible streets of Calcutta,
and the women laugh in the cages of Bombay.
If we deny our happiness, resist our satisfaction,
we lessen the importance of their deprivation.
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,
but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world. To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.
We stand at the prow again of a small ship
anchored late at night in the tiny port
looking over to the sleeping island: the waterfront
is three shuttered cafés and one naked light burning.
To hear the faint sound of oars in the silence as a rowboat
comes slowly out and then goes back is truly worth
all the years of sorrow that are to come

by Jack Gilbert, American poet (1925 - 2012)

[see also "Happiness" by Jane Kenyon]

And thanks to friends Cate & Nancy
for reminding me that we are Women Warriors:
Cate: I can only recommend that you back off from your emotional state in reference to the inauguration , etc. You are forcing yourself to carry a hot coal that is only hurting you. Be a warrior. Be of good cheer. Keep on doing what needs to be done. Don't watch TV. Unplug it. Study Dharma. Sweetie, do not look or listen to any news today. Stay off Facebook. Be kind to your self: go shopping, have lunch, get a manicure, dye part of your hair pink! Sending you much love! Peace and love, Cate

Nancy: It has helped me a lot to find a group of like - minded women. My advice is to go to Washington and join the women's March. There is still time. In any case, find something that speaks to your most important issues and volunteer. No time to despair. We must be strong: Warrior Women! Get out of your head and emotions and Act! Righteousness and love have kissed. Hugs from Nancy

P.S. ~ Friday ~ January 20th 2017
"Even the heavens wept." Jesus wept. I wept.

The winner of our election,
standing between two former Presidents.

St. Francis Day

Fuqua (black) and Pine (tortoiseshell),
sunning themselves and being nice to each other!

It's always nice to see everyone else's pets out socializing,
but my cats would be way too nervous to attend a social event,
such as The Blessing of the Pets (this coming Sunday).

A Sermon for The Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi ~ October 4th
given by The Reverend Nancy C. Tiederman
on Sunday October 8, 2006
How we love St. Francis . . . [and] blessing our pets and other living things in his honor. Francis was a theologian and a liturgist. He believed God to be the source of all, and he wrote prayers and canticles praising God’s wonderful creation.

We see pictures of Francis with animals, and we read stories of his ability to communicate with birds, wolves and burros. A person who could “whisper” with so many kinds of creatures must have been the equivalent of today’s scientist – a careful observer, paying attention, listening, watching, thinking and interpreting his observations.

We live with a different scientific world view than a 13th century Italian monk. We know about solar systems beyond our solar system, about black holes and quarks and sub-atomic particles. We live in a post-Darwinian world and Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution makes some people very anxious, even fearful.

To protect their understanding of God and of the biblical account of creation, some deny any truth to the theory of evolution. To respect the scientific approach to life, other people deny the possibility of God. Another group tries to ride both horses and presents an assumption (not a theory) called “Intelligent Design.”

The Bible is not intended to be a source for scientific and historical truth. The Bible records God’s unfolding self-disclosure through time to specific people: first, the Israelites, then the people on The Way. In the 3rd century, Christian theologian Origen taught that some stories are both true and factual (the crucifixion of Jesus) and some stories are true but not factual (parables like the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son). Origen could not believe light and darkness existed before the sun, moon and stars were created. Or that the invisible and transcendent God took a daily stroll in the Garden of Eden to enjoy the evening breezes. Or that the Maker of heaven and earth could not locate Adam and Eve when they hid from him. Origen called these “absurdities” and said they were unsubtle hints from God that he wanted the account of creation read in an altogether different way, as truth embedded in the semblance of history, truth conveyed through story. Genesis answers the question of why the world exists, but not how it came to be.

Religion addresses moral and existential issues. What is the meaning of life? How do we live with each other? Science describes the observable world of experience. Both science and religion have been major contributors to the development of Western civilization. Both play important – but different - roles in our lives.

The well-financed Intelligent Design movement is a highly organized attempt to defeat scientific materialism (and its’ so-called destructive moral, cultural and political legacies) and replace it with theistic understanding. To refute Evolutionary theory, they argue from incredulity: i.e., how can you believe otherwise? Living organisms on Earth are so complex and so intricately constructed they cannot plausibly have arisen through the unguided action of natural selection, so there must be an Intelligent Designer. People find intelligent design in the natural order because they read the evidence through the spectacles of their prior Christian faith. Observation of order does not account for dis-order; for tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes which doom the innocent. I.D. is not science: it is opinion, philosophical preference, a belief, natural theology, religion. Existence of God cannot be proven from observation. God exists outside of creation, beyond observation. We believe in the existence of God by faith – by wavering, skeptical, trusting, humble faith.

Science plays by different rules. “Science,” said Albert Einstein “describes what is.” Science consists of the description of certain laws of nature, summarizing observed patterns, and science consists of theories. In every day speech, we use “theory” when we mean speculation. Scientific theories are not uncertain speculations. To convey uncertainty; a scientist uses the word hypothesis. Scientific theories are based on experiment, experiments which can be repeated. Lasting theories start with an assumption, and then describe all appropriate phenomena. Theories can be broadly applied. New theories are built on old ones. Theories become the basis for predictions. Evolutionary theory is the unifying theme of all modern biology. Darwin’s theory of evolution is entangled with Gregor Mendel’s theory of genetics. The predictive power of Darwin and Mendel is stunning. Hundreds of Darwin’s predicted missing links have been found. The genes Mendel postulated in 1860 are seen these days with electron microscopes; biologists routinely cut and paste genes and observe the evolution of new ones that enhance fitness to survive. The theory of evolution is justified by the rules of science; it is not religion and it does not replace religion. It neither denies nor confirms faith in God.

We affect evolution through genome efforts. We keep alive infants who would have perished prior to recent scientific knowledge. We seek to heal cancer, Parkinson’s, diabetes and other diseases through manipulation of cells. We must use scientific discoveries wisely and that begins with having respect for science and scientific methods.

Religion is the assurance of things not seen. Religion provides the ethical frameworks with which we make decisions about how to use scientific discoveries. Religion guides aesthetics. Interwoven with the evolution of a human exists a love for the music of Bach and Mozart. Why? Where did that come from? Interwoven with the evolution of the human has come increasing understanding of mathematics. We don’t invent mathematics: we discover mathematics that already exists. We needed arithmetic. We don’t need mathematics to survive, so why do some humans spend time pondering mathematical proofs?

Isn’t it possible, isn’t it true, that we are co-creators with God – affecting our planet, changing our air, land mass, vegetation and water. Isn’t it true we sometimes create wisely and sometimes disastrously? Isn’t creation on-going? Isn’t God in the creation from the bottom up instead of from the top down? Isn’t God in the soup out of which came life. I believe that in each and every moment, God is inviting or luring us into the best possible choice for that moment – whether the choice is in our cells, in our observing and thinking, or in the ethics of the situation. We may choose wisely or we may choose foolishly. In the next moment of time, God offers us choices from the new options now available – we may choose wisely, we may choose foolishly. When we choose wisely, we move towards redemption and ultimately reconciliation. When we choose foolishly, we speak of darkness, evil, Satan.

During WWII, Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, wrote: “If we choose wisely, God is with us. If we choose foolishly, God is with us. Wise or foolish, God is with us.” Amen. Emanu-el. God is with us. Do not fear science. Don’t accept the substitute of a weak philosophical approach or a flight to biblical literalism for intellectual thought. Demand systemic rigor and ethical methods in scientific research. We have intellect. Develop it; use it; apply it. Praise God with it by giving God your best. Praise God in song. Praise God in rigorous thinking. Jesus died to take away your sins, not your mind. Emanu-el. God is with us.

~ The Rev. Nancy C. Tiederman

Kitti & Nancy ~ at the Seattle Art Museum ~ March 2016

Additional Blog Posts & Thoughts from Nancy

Cairn

Prepare Ye the Way & Crones At Last

Dark Days & I'm With Her

Ready for the Shift & Childlike Spring

Heart of Hearts & Commonplace Book

Sean or Sam? & Celtic Blessing

Swimming ~ Swimming ~ Christmas

Harry Potter Christmas Letter ~ 2000

Believe It Or Not

Palm Sunday Sunrise

Notes toward next year's Easter Sermon:

1. Cassandra. Be sure to liven things up a bit, shed a little doubt, spread a little worry, a little realism, a little heartbreak.

2. The friend (ordained, Wise Woman, Spiritual Advisor Extradorinaire) who paid me the compliment of likening my blog posts to sermons.

3. The friend (self - ordained, priestess, Earth Angel & Goddess Among Women) who told me something she remembered from childhood -- when "a preacher came to our church when I was a kid, part of whose credentials read "self-ordained." HA! That's me, I think, in the advice department." Me too, though such a faithless one at times, as well as self - certified primary health care provider; I know best! (gmail: 2 / 28 / 09)

4. A Prayer for Owen Meaney: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9: 24). Doesn't that say it all? Especially for a Gemini -- belief / unbelief -- what's the difference really? They go together.

Vernal Equinox Over the Wabash

5. Statement of belief from an introspective friend:

"Sometimes I wish I still went to church. But the boys picked up early on that I wasn't really connecting with the creeds, like I think you should if you're going to say them. And I couldn't satisfactorily answer their excellent questions. But I'm still somehow the "mascot for God" in our family, because I sometimes want to say grace or go to a church service, or talk about the Mystery in some form or fashion! That qualifies me, among this apostate crowd! Of course I do believe every second that God exists and wishes me and everyone else every good and perfect thing, and I am thankful for these blessings in a pretty steady stream of beatitudes. It's a faith that just comes out, moreso than goes in, if that makes sense." (gmail: 8 / 28 / 06)

6. Subversive murmurings and how I feel about repeating some so - called truths about mysteries that I can never really be sure about, e.g.:

God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God -- yes
of one being with the Father -- no
He will come again in glory -- okay
to judge the living and the dead -- no
his kingdom will have no end -- yes
We believe in the Holy Spirit -- yes
who proceeds from the father and the son -- no
We believe in the resurrection of the body -- well, not really
and the life of the world to come -- surely yes, in some way or another . . . (such as, "then shall I know . . . ")

7. I know that everyone is always quoting the "Faith, Hope, and Love" part, but I have always liked the "Knowledge" part best:

"For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity / love."
1 Corinthians 13: 9 - 13 (KJV)

I actually do believe that "now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." I like to think that someone out there somewhere knows more about me than I know about myself, and that one day I'll be able to see the complete picture of my own life in a way that I just don't have access to right now. One day my partial (i.e.,"imperfect") knowledge of this entire puzzling, chaotic universe shall be made whole (i.e., "perfected") and that will be heaven.

Rise and Shine Over the Atlantic

8. Some other things to believe in: Christmas, the precession of the equinoxes, the miracle of oxygen, the lifelong quest for truth and beauty, and of course the pursuit of knowledge. "All who seek the truth are welcome here." "None forbidden, none compelled."

9. The wisdom of refreshingly cynical kids, blurting out things like, "Okay, now remind me again just what is so important about Jesus." Or "Well, maybe that's just not any of God's business!" On the April 29, 2008 episode of the Colbert Report, author Anne Lamott quotes her ten - year - old son Sam as saying, "God has to sort of let life do its thing." I think my sons would agree.

10. If my life depended on it: "I believe, I believe, I know it's silly, but I believe."

The Ecclesiastical / Paschal Moon

Oh, Goddess, how long?
May the Goddess hasten the day!

Ready for the Shift

Surely Rilke would have been quick to observe that
Daylight Savings Time doesn't really save us anything.
It merely shifts an hour of light from morning to evening,
or an hour of darkness from evening to morning --
whichever way you want to look at it.

Prayer #1

The hour bows down and stirs me
with a clear and ringing stroke;
my senses tremble. I feel that I can —
and I seize the forming day.

Nothing was yet done before I beheld it,
and every becoming stood still;
my ways of seeing are ripe, and, like a bride,
to each one comes the thing each wills.

Nothing is too small for me, and I love it anyway
and paint it on the golden base and large —
and hold it high; and I don’t know whose
soul this might yet free . . .

On the 20th of September in the evening after a lengthy rainstorm,
when the sun suddenly broke through the forest’s dark canopy and through me.

Prayer #20

My life is not this steep hour
in which You see me hurrying so.
I am a tree standing before what I once was;
I am only one of my many mouths,
and, at that, the first to close.

I am the stillness between two notes
that don't easily harmonize,
because the note Death wants to lift itself up . . .

But in the dark interval both notes come
trembling, to join as one . . .
and the song remains, beautiful.

After this, the monk drew very near to God; on the same evening.

[Concluding notes from Rilke;
italics and ellipses in original text]
Both selections from Prayers of a Young Poet
written by by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
translated by Mark S. Burrows

Many thanks to my dear friend and spiritual advisor
Nancy C. Tiederman
for sending me this latest translation of Rilke's Prayers

Sean or Sam?

Six years ago, we took our elderly neighbor along to Sam's confirmation. A bit behind the times when it came to gender roles and clergy, she kept asking me during the service if the bishop was the priest's assistant. I don't think I ever did get her to understand that the Bishop was actually the boss! That is not to say, however, that the Bishop is infallible. For example, when she was blessing Sam, she called him "Sean." Outrageous!

I wrote to ask my friend Nancy Tiederman, herself a priest, who remembers Sam from the day he was born: 'Does this mean that in the eyes of God, his name has been forever changed?'

Nancy sent the following amusing reply: "It means that you and Gerry misunderstood the voice of God when you named him originally and that God has always thought of him as Sean (John) and not Sam-u-EL. Well, so much for dream interpretation. Wouldn't it have been great if Sam had said, 'Excuse me, ma'am, my name is Sam'?

"Since that's the name he was baptized under, I think you are safe in spite of fallible bishops at confirmation. Aren't those three good looking young men! May God and the angels watch over them."

2009 Confirmation Class: Brendan, Sam, Ben

. . . and related posts . . .

July 10, 2011: Good Shepherd

August 28, 2011: Back to School

PS. HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY, SAM!

********************************

AND THANKS TO NANCY
FOR BEING MY SPIRITUAL ADVISOR

Happy Birthday Harry Potter!

Harry's Birthday Cake from Hagrid" . . . the day that he had turned eleven,
the most wonderful birthday of his life . . . "
(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, 529 - 30)
Just over ten years ago, I received the following Harry Potter - themed Christmas letter from my wise wonderful friend The Reverend Nancy C. Tiederman. It has to be my all - time favorite Christmas letter ever. Over the last decade, I have read it silently to myself and aloud to my family numerous times, as well as sending photocopies to several very appreciative friends. Now, with Nancy's blessing I am posting it on my blog in honor of Harry's birthday.

Here we are that Christmas Eve:
Sam as a little shepherd boy . . . and Ben as Harry Potter!
Even though you may not know Nancy's friends and relatives, I think you'll find that her letter is so beautifully, so magically written that it all makes perfect sense. No matter what time of year I read it, it never fails to inspire me, especially when I read her closing words: "Even if you haven't read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone you surely know Harry's life was saved by love."

December 20, 2000
Dear Friends and Relations,

A long time ago,when I was very young, my desire [see erised, Chapter 12, 207 - 14] was to live to the unimaginable age of sixty (a round and meaningful number) in order to witness the change to the next century. 2000 seemed impossibly far away.

2000! I made it! I had not known it would be titled "The Millennium," but I intuitively knew the change from 1900's to 2000's would be a Big Event. Something magical would surely happen.

It turned out it wasn't really The Year of Millennium: it was the Year of Harry Potter. Our (adult) children gave me the complete set of books -- hardbound -- for my birthday, and reading rapidly for plot, I began to understand the year 2000.

Bill and I were rescued from becoming compete Muggles -- soft, overweight people who have no vision of the good, the beautiful, the delightful -- by dear friends who persisted until we found a date to join them for late spring hiking in the Smokey Mountains. In my slightly Muggle state, I begged for a heart / lung transplant in order to get back "up" the rocky trail we hiked down. With the help of loving friends, we struggled back into a better view of life.

The Harry Potter stories teach us "There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve - foot mountain troll is one of them" (179). My own mountain troll was several years of health problems and a mind resigned to grow old, inactive and sad. Bill and I are very grateful to have friends who persisted until we joined them in slaying personal trolls and having fun with children our own age.

Hogwarts, where Harry goes to boarding school, looks like a "vast castle with many turrets and towers . . . windows sparkling in the starry sky" (111). Bill and our children rented a house on the Atlantic coast of Florida that had those same qualities -- though on a slightly smaller scale -- for a three - day celebration for the Birthday Girl. Family and friends came from Gainesville, St. Louis, Indiana and California (others wanted to come from Washington and Maine) just to celebrate Life! More giant trolls were slain -- the ones that say: "be embarrassed to tell your age and be ashamed to grow old." It is a lot more fun to sprinkle on some fairy dust, eat four different kinds of birthday cake, fresh Florida fruits and berries, and enough shrimp to sink a shrimp boat. After naps, we bobbed in the warm salty surf off Ponte Verde Beach. Like Harry, it was time for me to realize "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things -- friendship and bravery" (287).

Bravery. That was the quality Bill drew upon when the anxiety producing ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) interviewers / examiners came to U of F: M.E. As Harry said, anticipating facing the evil wizard, there is a "prickle of fear every time 'you-know-who' is mentioned. I suppose it's all part of entering the [magical] world." The wizard examiners came, looked around, talked with faculty, staff and students and left with no alternative but to admit UF's Mechanical Engineering program is "okay!"

One day Harry Potter received the gift of the latest model flying broomstick: a number 2000, "Sleek and shiny, with a mahogany handle" (166). We drove our old sporty midlife crisis Eclipse into broom straw and so one June day we gave ourselves a new traveling machine: A Honda Accord with leather seats, cruise control and power everything. No longer do we receive invitations for highway racing; now we ride safe, cruising down the road to our adventures.

Like Harry's friend Hermione Granger, "I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration you know, turning something into something else" (125). With my friend Mary and my daughter Ruth, I went on pilgrimage in October to Belfast, No. Ireland, to learn about transforming "the troubles" or violence into reconciliation through contemplative prayer. His Holiness the Dali Lama and Benedictine monk Fr. Lawrence Freeman led us. The Dali Lama said, "stop studying meditation: do it." He also challenged the Protestants and Catholics to become Christians. Returning home I felt as if I had climbed "staircases . . . that led somewhere different on a Friday" (131). Unlike working with wands, when working with prayer, one is never quite sure what will happen. As is so often the case with people who enter wholeheartedly into a pilgrimage experience, the three of us were the ones transformed.

A year or so ago, Bill and I thought we might try to move back "home" to the Western States (NOT Western Florida this time) but our ideas, assumptions and day dreams turned out to be "solid walls just pretending" to be doors" (132). We are still not well - rooted in this land of below - sea - level - sand. We cannot explain the chess came called Election of a President played on a chess board shaped like Florida using Live Human chess pieces: Bishop Electors, Queen Secretary of State, Knights of the Election Board and Voter-Pawns. You have to play the game: winner becomes King President. It's a test to get to the next challenge in the battle against evil.

The great Wizard Dumbledore said truth "is a beautiful and terrible thing and should therefore be treated with great caution" (298). The Truth of Ultimate Reality is what all our Christmas activity is about. When we do it properly we are sharing our faith that

"Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas; stars and angels give the sign.

Worship we the Godhead, love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus, but wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token, love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and neighbor, love for plea and gift and sign."

~~ Christian Rossetti ~~
Even if you haven't read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone you surely know Harry's life was saved by love. "To have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved is gone, will give us some protection forever" (299).

When you enter the "forbidden forest" where wild beasts and unknowns lurk, may you draw bravery, strength and life to battle goblins and all that is evil from your friends and family who love you and from the True Source of all Love.

God bless you and grant you a very Merry Christmas,
Nancy and Bill
[page numbers refer to
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
by J. K. Rowling

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Thanks to my guest blogger:
~~ The Rev. Nancy C. Tiederman ~~
Merry Christmas in July!
Happy Birthday Nancy!
Happy Birthday Harry Potter!

Harry's Golden Snitch Birthday Cake"'Out of the way, out of the way!' sang Mrs. Weasley,
coming through the gate with what appeared to be a giant,
beach-ball-sized Snitch floating in front of her.
Seconds later Harry realized that it was his birthday cake . . .
'That looks amazing, Mrs. Weasley.'"
(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, 119)

Gerry, Kitti, Nancy, Bill