Last night was our last gathering of Monkfish Abbey before Christmas. I really enjoyed preparing for it. To me, as the Abbess, the preparation is nearly as holy as the gathering. I love spending time thinking of the people who will come, offering little thoughts and prayers for them, and vesting our house for worship. I love creating holy space. I just might be a holy space addict.

Paul was home on vacation so he lovingly made the soup. (No migraines for me from chopping onions!) We made our traditional Winter Minestrone with red bell peppers and zucchini. The girls helped clean the house and put the cookies out on a very special tray that my sister in law painted for me–it’s all rimmed in holly. Catie and I made chocolate oatmeal bars and both the girls made pfeffernuse with Paul. We rounded out our selection with gingerbread, Russian tea cakes and peppermint bark – all of which had come from our neighbors.

Once everyone got to the house we gathered around the table and lit all four candles for the Advent wreath. I love watching the light grow as we move closer to Jesus’ birth. The growing light is incredibly symbolic for me. It’s probably my most central spiritual image right now. We’ve been reading this every week:

As our nights grow longer and our days grow short,
we look on these earthy symbols–firelight and evergreens–
and remember God’s promise to our world:
That our Light and our Hope, will come.

But Winter Solstice was Wednesday so now the days are growing longer! If you don’t live in Seattle you probably can’t quite capture how exciting this is. (Well, maybe if you live in Alaska…) On Winter Solstice it starts getting dark around 3pm. So you can imagine how much we long for a later sunset! Now the days will slowly start to lengthen again until we reach the peak of light at Summer Solstice. So we changed the first line of our Advent reading to :

As the days grow longer and our nights grow short.

I’m not sure people can catch sublties like that when we are just reading things aloud, but when I prepare our liturgies and write these things down, they are very significant and moving to me. I can hardly ready those lines without crying. When I work on these things I know I am in the right place. I know this is the right time. I feel the presence of God, and I am grateful.

After we did all of our Advent readings and prayers, we sang all of the verse of O Come O Come Emmanuel. Well, at least the ones we had been singing one-at-a-time each week of Advent. I enjoyed seeing them all come together. I especially loved hearing Catie and Eden belt out the chorus. I don’t know. ….sometimes I just look around at these people and think, “Wow. This is actually real.”

We all had dinner and shared various bottles of Christmas Ales. Lindell brought ales with cranberry, gingerbread, and allspice for us to sample. Jennifer R. (we have four Jennifers) brought homemade eggnog with bourbon and whipped cream–decadence personified! We all noshed and chatted and it felt really effortless. Monkfish doesn’t always feel effortless, and often my plans fall apart. So last night I felt gently happy and generally pleased. It was really sweet.

I got a chance to sit on the window seat and chat with Jen B. about the Blue Christmas service she offers her congregants each year. I’m so grateful to have a small circle of women ministers in my life. They bring me such alternative, and yet deeply central options for soulcare and ministry. Also, I love Jen B because she has this wonderful sense of humor…and she’s defintely a three martini mama!

After supper the tribe cleared off the table. (I can’t meditate in the presence of a messy table.) Then we did a guided meditation using the tricks of the trade that MJ, my yoga instructor, had taught us two weeks ago. I’ll post what we did (typos and all) after this, but for now let me leave you with my favorite reading of the night. It’s from a beautiful picture book, How Many Miles to Bethlehem by Kevin Crossley-Holland and Peter Malone. (Don’t you just love it when men hyphenate their names?) The first line of the book is: I am Mary. Tight as a drum. Round as the lady moon calling out to me…. I love this book and the voice it brings. Many Christmas blessings to you all!

We are angels. We are your secret voices. Listen!

“This baby!”

“Rejoice!”

“This hope!”

“This peace!”

…I am the Light of Light. The baby who will cradle the world. In your heart, hold me. I will never leave you.”