Happy sixty-ninth, Maupin!

I have thought about you so very often in the last little bit. You were a great brother and words fail to say how very much I miss you. Rest in peace!

And NOW

...vacation truly begins. All services done. Weather permitting, we may join the Herberts for church next Sunday. For the first time in living memory, no New Year’s liturgies (Circumcision and Name of Jesus).

 

Work begins again on January 4, and I get to serve at the Epiphany liturgy at 8:20 on January 6th. But till then, I’m off and planning to read, relax, and rejuvenate. 

St Paul’s

And I just figured out how to use the wide angle lens on my iPhone’s camera. Sigh. I’m not the brightest bulb in the pack sometimes. 

I keep looking at my email...

...waiting for some interesting post or rant or joy from Paul McCain to show up. Sigh. I miss that fellow tremendously. As my friend Gary would put it, yes, he knew how to stir the pot, but more than that, he just loved the luminous beauty of our Confession of the faith, and he was ten paces ahead of the rest of us to realize when something was obscuring that. I might just have to go back and read old emails for a while to get my Paul quota. I mean, come on folks, a Gaudete without his usual rant on the “pink”? I miss the man, I just do.

Whew...

....the three masses for Christmas I done; one more to go tomorrow. Pr. Daenzer gave us the most amazing prelude before he assisted as the deacon at the second mass. Yours truly was preacher and celebrant; I’m definitely a tad slower than our beloved Pr. Ball. But then again, I’m older!

AND all set up

For the not so smallish Christmas dinner...

Today was our smallish Christmas Dinner...

...just the six of us: Andy and Bekah; Opa and Lois; Cindi and myself. Cornish hens, potatoes, broccoli, sausages and cheeses, jello salad, and an assortment of cookies, sparkling wine, and regular wines and coffee.

When your son-in-law

Has the same smashing fashion sense that you have:   

Here’s a link to and some pics from our St. Paul’s Aurora Divine Service

At which I was blest to preach and to serve as Celebrant. 

Click here to watch Divine Service

Patristic Quote of the Day

Dearly beloved brethren: Unto us is born this day a Savior. Let us rejoice. It would be unlawful to be sad today, for today is Life’s birthday, the birthday of that life which, for us mortal creatures, takes away the sting of death and brings the bright promise of an eternal hereafter. It would be unlawful for any man to refuse to share our rejoicing. All men have an equal part in the great reason why we are joyful, for our Lord, who is the destroyer of sin and death, finding that all around bound under condemnation is come to make all free. Rejoice, if you are a saint, for you are drawing nearer to your crown! Rejoice, if you are a sinner, for your Savior offers you pardon! And if you are pagan, rejoice, for God calls you to life! For when the fulness of time was come, the Son of God took upon Himself the nature of man so that He might reconcile that nature to Him who made it; hence the devil, the inventor of death, is met and conquered in that very flesh which had been the field of his victory. Let us give thanks to the Father through His Son in the Holy Spirit, who for His great love wherewith He loves us has had mercy on us and quickened us together with Christ even when we were dead in sins, that in Him, we might be a new creature and a new handiwork. Let us then put off the old man with his deeds, and having obtained a share in the sonship of Christ, let us renounce the deeds of the flesh. Be conscious, O Christian, of your dignity! You have been made partaker of the divine nature; do not fall again by a corrupt manner of life into the beggarly elements above which you are lifted. Remember whose body it is of which you are a member, and who is its Head. Remember that it is He who has delivered you from the power of darkness and has transferred you into God’s light and God’s kingdom.—from a Christmas Homily of Pope St. Leo the Great

Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Eve wrap up of our family... May the joys of the Feast fill all your hearts with the peace of Emmanuel!

Herberts:

Weedon:

Ibisch

Old Weedons

David’s O Holy Night

O Holy Night 2020

Just a pic

Of this beautiful woman I am blessed to call my wife. 

If you don’t have

Lutheran Public Radio on today for the joyous music of the holy feast, why on earth not? Cindi and I have been enjoying it beside the fire this morning.

Patristic Quote of the Day

Nature here rested, while the Will of God labored. O ineffable grace! The Only Begotten, Who is before all ages, Who cannot be touched or be perceived, Who is simple, without body, has now put on my body, that is visible and liable to corruption. For what reason? That coming amongst us he may teach us, and teaching, lead us by the hand to the things that men cannot see. For since men believe that the eyes are more trustworthy than the ears, they doubt of that which they do not see, and so He has deigned to show Himself in bodily presence, that He may remove all doubt.

Christ, finding the holy body and soul of the Virgin, builds for Himself a living temple, and as He had willed, formed there a man from the Virgin; and, putting Him on, this day came forth; unashamed of the lowliness of our nature.

For it was to Him no lowering to put on what He Himself had made. Let that handiwork be forever glorified, which became the cloak of its own Creator. For as in the first creation of flesh, man could not be made before the clay had come into His hand, so neither could this corruptible body be glorified, until it had first become the garment of its Maker. —St. John Chrysostom, Christmas Homily

A rare joy...

...this morning I returned a call to an old family friend, Tommy Antonelli. It was sheer delight to share our joy in the Lord and to recall with fondness many who now have long since gone from this earth (but are not forgotten by God). 

I told him he had an outsized impact on my life, for when I was about to start college, and shared that I wanted to be a history teacher, he was like: “History teachers are a dime a dozen; find something else!” And I did! My service to the Church, in which my love of history could be combined with my love of theology and the Sacred Scriptures. Thank you, Tommy!

My mom and daddy thought the world of this man, and it was quite surprising to receive a phone message from him yesterday; and a joy beyond words to reconnect with him today. Though on very different ends of the theological spectrum, our joy in the Lord Jesus was a true connecting point (he’s a retired deacon in the Baptist communion), and I thank the good Lord for his friendship with our family throughout these many years. And we both agreed: my sister absolutely rocks!

You can read Tommy’s remembrance of my father and grandparents right here: https://weedon.blogspot.com/2007/10/another-trip-down-memory-lane.html

For Jamie

Who always wants to know what’s being served at the Weedon house. Well, hopefully we’ll still be having our Weedon family Christmas, God willing (all healthy at the moment) and on the menu: 

Appetizers of Assorted Cheeses, Caviar, and Shrimp Cocktail

Main Meal of Beef Tenderloin with Hollandaise; Scallops bacon-wrapped; Shrimp Scampi; Eggplant Parmesan; Roasted Broccoli; Mashed Potatoes; Sweet Potato Soufflé  in the usual two varieties; Yorkshire puddings; Egg puffs (a kind of carnivorish egg muffin); assorted wines.

Dessert: Carmel cheesecake; Chocolate Marvel Pie; Candies and Cookies of various sorts; Whiskey, Liqueurs, and fresh Coffee. 

I think that’s about the sum of it!  

Patristic Quote of the Day

Since this heavenly birth cannot be described, neither does His coming amongst us in these days permit of too curious scrutiny. Though I know that a Virgin this day gave birth, and I believe that God was begotten before all time, yet the manner of this generation I have learned to venerate in silence and I accept that this is not to be probed too curiously with wordy speech. For with God we look not for the order of nature, but rest our faith in the power of Him who works.—St. John Chrysostom, Christmas Homily

This looked so cheering in the sun this morning...

...thanks again, Pr. Gleason!

Patristic Quote of the Day

And wonder not that the whole world was ransomed; for it was no mere man, but the only-begotten Son of God, who died on its behalf. Moreover one man's sin, even Adam's, had power to bring death to the world; but if by the trespass of the one death reigned over the world, how shall not life much rather reign by the righteousness of the One Romans 5:17-18? And if because of the tree of food they were then cast out of paradise, shall not believers now more easily enter into paradise because of the Tree of Jesus? If the first man formed out of the earth brought in universal death, shall not He who formed him out of the earth bring in eternal life, being Himself the Life? If Phinees, when he waxed zealous and slew the evil-doer, staved the wrath of God, shall not Jesus, who slew not another, but gave up Himself for a ransom 1 Timothy 2:6, put away the wrath which is against mankind?—St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 13:2