Monthly Archives: December 2020

New Year’s Improv on Auld Lang Syne for residents and employees in Memory Care Units 2021

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Maren

Should old acquaintance be forgotthe story, face and name,through loss of years — both joys and tears –yet we shall be the same. From old acquaintance and from new –CNA, PT, and nurse,one single touch feels kinder nowthan all the … Continue reading →

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Guest Post, Louise Specht

Posted on December 30, 2020 by Maren

I am delighted that Louise Specht who lives in the San Francisco Bay area is a new guest poet! The photo of the tree is mine. CHRISTMAS 2020 I couldn’t get the tree right this year.In spite of buying it … Continue reading →

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St. Stephen’s Day goes on and on and on …

Posted on December 29, 2020 by Maren

And so we commemoratethe death of the first martyr – and we try to be ones who cryover the stones,and don’t just hold the coats. I could wake up to ‘say the names’and find myself reciting murdersof Black people in … Continue reading →

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Prayer for Rockford, Illinois

Posted on December 27, 2020 by Maren

Emmanuel, we know you are with usin our work and our rest,in our holiday spiritsand our pandemic stresses, but we did not anticipate this,a new gun tragedy,where playing at a bowling alleyand picking up take-out food,the simplest weekend pleasures,led to … Continue reading →

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Guest Post – 3 Magi Gifts from Aotearoa, Australia, and Canada

Posted on December 24, 2020 by Maren

On Christmas Eve we all do “mash-ups” – the lessons, the nativity scenes, the carols, the pageant, bringing together Luke and Matthew with all their differences, with even the wild sweet power of the first chapter of John. And so … Continue reading →

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The Eve of the Eve Musings, 2020

Posted on December 23, 2020 by Maren

I have seen the planetary conjunctionand wept that Covid has reachedthe sixth continent. I don’t so much carewhether such was the long-ago star,as that we find guidance, or whether human contactthat was surely going to bring virusto a place of … Continue reading →

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Remembering lyrics by Al Stillman

Posted on December 21, 2020 by Maren

“There’s no place … but homefor the holidays,”I heard someone complain.Oh, I hope it wasn’t me, because there are so many other places –holding one’s childin a dripping refugee tent, lying in a hospital bed,fantasizing that the IV poleis a … Continue reading →

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Holy Communion Liturgy for January 3, 2021

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Maren

This is Holy Communion for a Journey Sunday. It is the Second Sunday after Christmas, the Sunday three days after New Year, and three days before Epiphany, and in the old song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” it is the … Continue reading →

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The Innkeeper’s Night Before Christmas

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Maren

( for a little light-hearted story-telling fun) ‘T was the night before census and all through my innthere were merchants and pilgrims – what a crowd, what a din! The soldiers of Rome were all playing at dice.They drink my … Continue reading →

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Guest Post from the Enniskillen Tyrone United Church of Canada

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Maren

One of the most wonderful things is to have my work spring forth anew … a couple weeks ago I wrote a letter from a church “Your Sanctuary Misses You” and I am not surprised that Rev. Jeff Doucette’s church … Continue reading →

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