Last Friday at Boston Warm, we had a party: there were red-clothed tables, a community-decorated Christmas tree, a Christmas movie, hand-decorated cookies, all of it. It was such a joyful and relaxing moment as a community. As always, my favorite moment was our Uno game (shout out to Junior for winning four games in a row)! I’ve often found that when we play Uno, the game brings us together, and there is tangible relaxation in the atmosphere. We can all focus on flexing our skills. Overshadowed by fun and friendly competition, our differences are minimized. This focus on play is also part of what makes drama therapy effective.
Tag Archives: Christmas
The Work of Christmas
The Feast of the Nativity, December 25, 2016
Isaiah 52:7-10 Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem.
Titus 2:11-14 Let no one look down on you.
John 1:1-14 Full of grace and truth.
O God of grace, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.
Wait and watch! (with audio)
Fourth Sunday in Advent, Proper 4A, December 18, 2016; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Isaiah 7:10-17 Before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.
Romans 1:1-7 “including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
Matthew 1:18-25 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.
O God of freedom, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.
This year, our fourth Sunday of Advent falls as far away from Christmas as our calendar ever permits. This year, we have six full days after today left in this longest Advent. Perhaps that’s why the traditional Advent themes of waiting and watching and being patient are really chafing this year. Probably, though, it’s more than just the six extra days. My own irritation with the messages of waiting and watching and being patient, surely has something to do with our unfolding national political crisis, with the dramatic rise of hate crimes, with the growing threats to racial and religious minorities, immigrants and refugees, women, people who identify as LGBTorQ, poor people. My irritation with the messages of waiting and watching and being patient, surely has something to do with global political instability, and growing threats to the environmental condition of the planet. Waiting and watching and being patient seems like exactly what we cannot afford to be doing.
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