"Phenomenology of religion concerns the experiential aspect of religion, describing religious phenomena in terms consistent with the orientation of the worshippers. It views religion as being made up of different components, and studies these components across religious traditions so that an understanding of them can be gained." Wikipedia, "Phenomenology of Religion"
Every year my Christmas gift to my parish parents and students is a reflection based on this clip from A Charlie Brown Christmas. Every year the reflection is different even though the clip remains the same. Here is my reflection for this year, I hope you all enjoy!
Watch the video above. While you are watching, stop at each time mark and answer the question. You can simply think about it in your head, write it down in a journal, or discuss with a friend or your family. Take a break to reflect on the true “reason for the season,” and have fun! Have a blessed Christmas!
STOP 0:50
Linus doesn't think the little tree reflects the "modern spirit." What do you think the "modern spirit" is? Is it a help or a hindrance to celebrating Christmas?
STOP 2:30
Charlie starts with good intentions of finding a nice tree, but he gets discouraged by those around him. When have the voices around you discouraged you? Did you work through it? How did you do it?
STOP 5:15
Charlie hears the Gospel and allows it to transform him and give him new purpose. Has anything ever inspired you like that? Have you ever tried to let the Gospel transform you? How did it go?
END
Charlie gets discouraged again, but his actions inspire others. Together they create some beauty and praise God. Charlie evangelized the rest of the Peanuts gang. Have you ever inspired someone else? What happened? What did you or can you build together?
God bless us, everyone!
*Depending on what option you choose, this could take longer than 10 minutes!
As posted by HolidayFavorites Dec. 10, 2009
I love this song, guys. And by love, I mean I'm writing a 4-part arrangement of it. And by writing, I mean I started it a year ago and haven't touched it since... but whenever I finish, it will be awesome. I think this song is the perfect cap to my theme in Advent reflections this season, seeking hope. I also highly recommend the actual music video. It's beautiful.
People often reference the origin of the celebration of Christmas when they are feeling snarky about Christianity.Yes, the date of December 25 was chosen because it was the pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice. (the calendar of the time was a bit confused) But there are a lot of pagan celebrations to co-opt, why the Winter Solstice? Because it is the celebration of the sun coming back to the earth. After that date the days start to get longer again. Instead of diminishing each day, the light increases each day. Definitely a day worthy of celebration. Can you think of a better day to celebrate the birth of our Lord?
It's a dark time, and I mean that literally and figuratively. You don't have to go far to hear about another disaster, death, injustice. It is hard to keep your head up when that's what you hear and it literally seems like the sun is never out. I think we have had a fully sunny day once this entire month. Maybe you have better weather where you are, but Chicago has been completely overcast. With only bad news to hear and gray skies to see, it's not hard to stay "with eyes cast down, fixed upon the ground, eyes cast down."
That is the challenge of Advent. To "keep my eyes fixed on the sun." You have to ask yourself what you believe about Jesus. Do you believe that Jesus is truly God and truly human, come to bring light and hope and healing to everyone? Do you believe that Jesus did that for you? For the person you love most? It is the fourth week of Advent. There is no more time to waste. Is your heart ready for the coming of the Son?
A great thing about this song is the end - the repetition of "even on a cloudy day" takes a phrase that could be dismissed as cliche and makes you listen. It builds to "I keep my eyes fixed on the sun" like a person who has struggled to find hope and is walking with your struggle now. Someone who was "way down had to find a place to lay low" and says "it almost stopped me from believing." A person you might trust when trying to tell you to keep hope.
HAPPY GAUDATE SUNDAY! This is my favorite Sunday of the whole liturgical calendar. Advent is my favorite liturgical season, and Gaudate Sunday is like the climax. I wear pink all week.
I chose this song because in content, it is extremely basic. "We've come a long long way together, through the hard times and the good. I have to celebrate you baby, I have to praise you like I should." That's all the lyrics. Today does not need a lot of words. It just needs a lot of praise! Praise is very simple. It doesn't require lots of fancy words (though you can use them if you want) it just requires giving part of yourself to God. It can be a moment of thankfulness, a gesture, a song, a dance. Any expression of love for our Maker is the praise we are reveling in today.
That's a big reason why I chose this video. I could have gone with a lyric video, but since I put all the lyrics in two sentences earlier it seemed unnecessary. There are two things I love about this video: how terrible all the dancers are, and how committed each of them are to their dance. They may be truly awful but they love what they are doing. Even when someone turns off their music they do not respond with anger but dance all the more. It's a beautiful example of what we are supposed to do: dance for joy even if we cannot dance. Sing with all our breath even if we cannot sing. Give with all our hearts even if we have nothing to give. All without shame.
Why? Because that's what God asks and that's what God wants. You think God does not know what is in your skill set or not? You think God cares how you sound when you sing Alleluia at Mass or service? God created you and walked with you your entire life. You are not going to surprise the guy with your voice. God wants what you freely give, your praise in any form is treasured. (this is my way of saying pick up your hymnal and sing in church, ya layabout)
There are so many stresses this time of year and so many reasons to look down. To curse God for the hardships and the suffering that seems to surround us. That is the challenge and the blessing of this day. Not to forget all of those things but to just spend some moments putting them down to just praise. To recognize and celebrate the good things, the blessings with God's caring hand on them. So this week, blast this song and have a little dance party. Sing your pump-up song in the shower with extra vigor. Sing at Mass. Go rock climbing. Watch a sunrise. Write a poem. Play soccer with your family. Build something awesome with LEGOs. Do something for the simple joy you get just by doing it.
I chose a Regina Spektor song last year for the second week of Advent, too. I wonder if there's a connection? There is a lot I want to say about this song and Advent, but I'll start with just a general expression of love for Regina Spektor. She's fantastic, isn't she? Anyway, "Open" has a beautiful, slow build reflected in the instrumentation and dynamics. It starts minimally and a little dark. Even though the content of the verses do not get much lighter, it remains hopeful in the chorus and the music. There it is again, hope. Advent is about waiting in darkness, with hope, for light.
Potentially lovely Perpetually human Suspended and open Open
With those words, the song switches from minor to major. The piano is fuller and the vocalization louder. Just because we are waiting, that does not mean our time is devoid of joy or beauty. Waiting can be hard, boring, painful. It is definitely "perpetually human." Sometimes it can be "potentially lovely." The situations in the verses are sometimes painful, "wires 'round my fingers" or the gasps for breath in between the lines about being trapped in the last verse. I wrote last week about the journey being hard and sometimes unknown. To pretend it is not is denial - one of the reasons I like Catholicism. It's homey and rich and it's not very cuddly. No one accuses Catholicism of trying to con you with warm fuzzies. (Or maybe I'm watching too much Daria on Hulu?)
Even though the song is not particularly happy, it recognizes beauty. In the bridge, everyone is confined but they see beauty in the falling snow and the streetlights. It's a delicate part of the song and almost a rest from the tugging extremes expressed between the verses and the chorus. Throughout, the piano anchors you throughout the song with a steady pulse and lovely counterpoint to the vocals. It asks you to look beyond the hard, boring, painful.
Then comes the word "open," often repeated, is triumphant. Every time she sings it, it has more power and is more full, joyful even. The song asks you to recognize the potentially lovely, accept the perpetually human, and embrace being suspended and open. Be open to all the experiences we endure, beautiful, painful, confining, lovely. Be open to allowing experiences to affect you. Be open to the Nativity event, the Incarnation, God coming to earth. It can be a slow build, like this song. On the last chorus, the last "opens," we get the finale we have been waiting for.
So that this week is actually a reflection, I'll leave you with some questions:
- Where do/did you recognize beauty in the coming week? This past week? In your Christmas preparations?
- What do you need to make yourself more open to this Advent? In the new year?
- Finish the last line of the song, "Open up your eyes and then..."
With Thanksgiving on my heels and being without my usual 9-hour marathon of music (aka driving back from KC to Chicago) I was at a loss for the song to choose for the First Sunday in Advent. I asked myself what I think of for the first Sunday, and my answers were: hope, beginning, journey. And I had my song.
I used to listen to Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits over and over on car trips when I was a kid. I would be watching America go by my window while listening to this song. Still today the images that flash by my eyes when hearing it are of farmland, mountains, sand dunes, forests. Thanksgiving is a national holiday and our nation definitely gave us a lot to be thankful for, as well as cause for worry. We have had times of uncertainty before, but lately it seems to come from all sides: ebola, Obama v. congress, Ferguson, Keystone pipeline, ISIS ... not to mention the things we were always worried about, global warming, hunger, poverty, violence, abortion, disease, ignorance, racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, fear.
But this song is hopeful, right from the first line. "Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together...and walked off to look for America." The US is a country founded on ideas, not a person. In the song, the couple are on a journey to seek those ideas. Intangible yet somehow embodied in Mrs. Wagner pies, turnpikes, and games with fellow travelers, seeking those ideas sustain them even when "I'm empty and aching and I don't know why."
Advent is a journey seeking truth and love. We commemorate the journey of Mary and Joseph with Christmas pageants (I can still hear "he's the one we've been waiting for" delivered in awkward kid actor cadence from all 9 years at my Catholic gradeschool) and putting the figurines from our nativity sets on the opposite side of the room from the stable. Despite the fact that we do them every year, the pageants and the figurines still remind us of a story of an uncomfortable journey with an uncertain conclusion. Like all our journeys, we are rarely ecstatic the entire time and our destinations usually throw a few curve balls. This is particularly true of journeys seeking something, even something as intangible as truth and love.
That is why we have to remain hopeful. The lovers in the song endure hitchhiking and buses and depression because they want to capture that elusive America idea, and they believe they can. What comes after is unknown. Mary and Joseph endure persecution and donkey riding to have a baby in a stable. Not an ideal situation. We know what comes after: more persecution, death, and resurrection. Also, not ideal, but ultimately the greatest hope possible. Our Advent starts in the usual swirl of consumerism and this year even more uncertainty and darkness. But we are hopeful that our destination will be full of truth and love. It may not be easy or comfortable, but when was solid truth or deep love easy or comfortable?
It's not on YouTube, it's too new and awesome, so if you're not buying Fr. Kent's Advent album (which can be found on iTunes, Amazon, and CDBaby), I recommend you go to Spotify and listen to it.
This is a rare song that makes a jam out of the genealogy from Matthew. I mean, rare rare, because I've never heard of anyone else doing it. Then again, I haven't been following Danielle Rose too closely, and she's the only other person I can think of who could pull it off. (Yes, this is the kind of promotion you get when you're friends with me. It's even free.)
I chose this song for the first week of Advent because it's the beginning. And as the song goes, "We'll start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start." The story of the coming of Jesus does not start with an angel appearing to Mary. It starts with Abraham, the father of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three peoples recognize the story of God working in our lives. Christians call it "salvation history," the history of God saving us, person by person. The story spreads and more people come to follow. So as Advent begins, look back on the rest of the calendar year: What brought you to this point? Who brought you to this point? What is your salvation history? As you look forward as the new liturgical year begins not so far from the calendar year, How do you want to move forward? How have you seen God's promise "that all will be fine," come through this year? If nothing seems fine this year, do you have hope in that promise for the future? Jesus is coming - look for hope.
For this week I chose "Laughing With," probably the most theologically correct pop song out there. I would rank it higher than quite a few Christian songs, too. I like this song because it asks you to look at your image of God, to ask yourself if and when you think about God. There's not a lot of frills in this song, it's very to the point. "No one laughs at God in a hospital, no one laughs at God in a war." To put it plainly and politely, stuff is real.
It might be a silly thing to say about life, but it is most definitely real. There is no time when it seems more real than the painful times, all the times Spektor lists in the verses and any other times that come right to mind. In those times, we tend to lean on God, or blame God, find comfort in God or cease to believe. What she's saying here is to pay attention to how you see God in the bad times and "when you're at a cocktail party and listening to a good God-themed joke."
Advent is a very short season, less than four weeks. We don't have much time to ease into it, so stuff has to get real fast. What are we preparing for? God getting real - the Incarnation, the birth of the second person in the Holy Trinity as a screaming, eating-and-pooping baby. If you've spent any time with babies, you know they are terribly real. Our God, the unknowable, all-powerful wanted to make sure we understood him in a real way, not just as a good punchline. After all, Emmanuel means "God with us." So, in your preparations this week, think about how you think about God. Is God real to you? Have you ever thought of our Lord and Savior as a baby you hold in your arms? As someone you would go do a very real activity with, like go on a hike or to a baseball game? As the friend who's shoulder you cry on in painful times?
Advent Reflection #2.5 :: Fiesta de Virgen Edition: Excerpt from Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
The scene: The old Archbishop felt called to pray in the church that night, and found Sada, the old Mexican woman kept as a slave by an American family, had come to pray as well. She was not allowed to come to Mass.
"Never, as he afterward told Father Vaillant, had it been permitted to him to behold such deep experience of the holy joy of religion as on that pale December night. He was able to feel, kneeling beside her, the preciousness of the things of the altar to her who was without possessions; the tapers, the image of the Virgin, the figures of the saints, the Cross that took away indignity from suffering and made pain and poverty a means of fellowship with Christ. Kneeling beside the much enduring bond-woman, he experienced those holy mysteries as he had done in his young manhood. He seemed able to feel all it meant to her to know that there was a Kind Woman in Heaven, though there were such cruel ones on earth. Old people, who have felt blows an toil and known the world's hard hand, need, even more than children do, a woman's tenderness. Only a Woman, divine, could know all that a woman can suffer. --- ..."'O Sacred Heart of Mary!' She murmured by his side, and he felt how that name was food and raiment, friend and mother to her. He received the miracle in her heart into his own, saw through her eyes, knew that his poverty was as bleak as hers. When the Kingdom of heaven had first come into the world, into a cruel world of torture and slaves and masters, He who brought it had said, 'And whosoever is least among you, the same shall be first in the Kingdom of Heaven.' This church was Sada's house, and he was a servant in it."
Of my favorite liturgical season, this Sunday is my favorite day. On Gaudate Sunday the priests' vestments are pink, (they insist on calling it a manlier "rose," but we all know it's pink) hence our song from Pink Martini. I like to celebrate by wearing pink every day this week; if you know me, you know that's not hard.
I love this day because it's about joy. Joy is deeper than happiness or delight, and it has to come from something more than a good piece of chocolate or your favorite tv show. Joy breaks through the status quo to bring you to a new sense of self. In C.S. Lewis's spiritual autobiography Surprised by Joy he defines joy as almost an event that changes his perspective. It's the Holy Spirit making itself known in his life.
Last week, I talked about the "realness" of the season. That's another reason I love this Sunday: it's a reminder that in all this drudgery there is joy. Hope. We ARE looking forward to something, remember? This season is about the coming of Jesus! Rejoice! It is so easy to forget in the crunch time before Christmas. There are only 10 days left to finish your shopping, your crafts, your baking, your travel plans, and for students add finals. It is so easy to forget what, in this season of preparation, we are preparing for. The other important thing to be said about joy is that it is not exclusive. You can have joy AND be sad, or mad, or any of those emotions we like to not talk about. Joy does not have to deny suffering to exist; joy is found in those nuggets of hope that persist when everything else is pushing down. That pink candle is saying that the day isn't here yet, but it is coming. You are allowed to take a breath, discover your hope, and be joyful.
So here is Gaudate Sunday, dressed in pink, to say to you that the one who conquers death is coming, the one we've been waiting for, the New Star, the Light of the World, the Savior of Nations, yes, THAT guy. C'mon get happy, happy days are here again! That's right, "Forget your troubles, happy days, c'mon get happy, are here again, you better chase all your cares away, the skies above are clear again, shout Hallelujah, so let's sing a song, c'mon get happy, of cheer again, get ready for the judgement day, happy days are here again."
Advent Musical Reflection #4 :: 4th Week: "I Found a Reason" Cat Power
For this week, I picked a short song as this is a very short week of Advent! I specifically chose the Cat Power version, which is as much based on the Velvet Underground original as Disney's Pocahontas. (Confession: I knew this one first, thanks to a great mix from Elise Keeney.)
This song is simple, pared down, with only voice and minimal piano. We're at the end of our Advent journey; we've discussed, reflected, hosted parties, baked cookies, shopped, sang O Come O Come Emmanuel for four weeks. My reflections have gotten longer and longer, too - did you think you'd ever get to the end of last week's? Here I am saying, ignore the rest. This is it. At the end, intellectual posturing and grandstanding are meaningless; it's just you and God.
The Nativity is almost here. Last week I listed off names for Jesus that are grand and glorious. This week, I say just think of the baby, lying in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. The baby Joseph was told in a dream to love. We might use that fancy-to-us sounding name of Emmanuel, if we remember all it means is "God with us." You and God.
So, as we approach Christmas, use this song as a prayer. Say that you Found a Reason. Put all your hurt, joy, love, pain, peace into these words: "I do believe in all the things you say. What comes is better than what came before. And you better run run, run run to me. Better run, run run, run run, to me. Better come, come come, come come to me. You'd better run."
Gasp! Modesty? Yes, modesty. It's a thing, and I'm for it.
This is a bit of a follow-up to my last post, and a bit not. In this article, I am going to speak about modesty of dress and not any other kinds. And yes, there are other kinds. I am going to reference #YesAllWomen again, but there are two main points I want to make here: 1. Modesty is important, and should be utilized by men and women. 2. Modesty should not be used as a flimsy excuse to oppress and attack women, and people who get angry about this sort of thing should not be surprised when women react so vehemently to the word.
1. Modesty is important.
Clothes are the first ways we communicate with the world. For good or bad, we constantly read into a person's personality by what they are wearing. Polo shirts and khaki's? Prep. All black and heavy eye makeup? Goth. Fitted jacket and pencil skirt? Professional. Daisy Dukes and a bikini top? Like she's not interested in protecting her reputation.
Of course, this doesn't tell the whole story of a person's life story and those assumptions could be wildly off-base. That's why Halloween is so fun - we get to tell a story with our clothes that is crazy. No matter how many times I wear my rainbow fairy wings, I will never be a fairy. It's something I've had to come to terms with, unfortunately. I won't go into the entire saga here, but I've had several personal struggles with the whole concept of our clothes saying everything about a person. That would be why every day in college I wore jeans and t-shirts and lamented the loss of my Catholic school uniform. (Uniforms are the best. The BEST.) Then I worked at Ann Taylor and obsessively watched What Not To Wear.
We DO live in a visual world and for the most part, clothes are designed to bring attention to ourselves. Why not? I don't want to wear shapeless brown clothing all the time - I love color and jewelry and I like to draw attention to the parts of me I think look the best. Is that vanity? Maybe. I try to balance that desire with no-make-up days and sweatpants days and cultivating-the-other-parts-of-myself-that-have-nothing-to-do-with-how-I-look days. Back to clothes, though, they do say something about you, and people will look if you are visually telling them to. Ask any advertiser - changes in shape or texture cause the eye to travel there. People cannot help but look where an arrow points, and a v-neck is basically an arrow to your cleavage, or muscular pecs if you're a guy. (not that I have anything against v-necks, but there is a point of no return) If you have words on your butt I'm going to read them and if you're wearing a speedo I'm going to try my best but no guarantees. Gentlemen, I don't know if you heard that you are more visual than women - I did, and I have no idea how that's measured, but I will tell you I'm a very visual person. If you run around without a shirt, I will look.
Yes, modesty is important for both men and women. It is important insofar as clothes are important. They are the first way we communicate with the world, and dressing modestly communicates that you have more to offer the world than your body. I'm not talking about shapeless brown sackcloth, but wearing shirts when you run and skirts that cover more than crack. In the perfect world it would not matter what you wore, because we would not judge people on how they look and if we lived in perfect innocence and love, we would not need to wear anything! (Thanks a lot, Tree of Knowledge)
2. Modesty should not be used as a flimsy excuse to oppress and attack women.
I mentioned men and women in my discussion above of modesty, but how often does that happen? Usually if someone is encouraging modesty, they are talking to women. Why? Because we put so much stock in the myth that men are visually and sexually driven animals with no self-control and women's bodies cause that carnal lust to overpower them. I hope men are as offended by that myth as women are. It's degrading to everybody. Remember that definition of feminism from my last post? “both a coordinated set of ideas and a practical plan of action, rooted in women’s critical awareness of how a culture controlled in meaning and action by men, for their own advantage, oppresses women and dehumanizes men.”
Here I want to reference this great article Women Swiftly Running Out of Things that Aren't Sexy. Her main point is that even when we talk about modesty and being more than your sexuality, we sexualize it. Phrases like "modest is hottest" still sexualizes modesty. Why can't we say "modest is prudent?" I know it doesn't rhyme, but if you're going to go around telling women they can be smart, you can just let them be smart. They don't have to be sexy-smart.
To go a step farther, I'm going to quote a very good friend of mine who is a priest. He once told me, "I will never tell a woman how to dress." It was a bit shocking, because I've always heard rules on dressing from my Christian leadership. He was acknowledging and respecting the history that dress regulations have had in respect to women. Dress has always been restricted for women. It was a way to oppress them - there are certain actions you just can't do in skirts that touch the floor. It was a symbol of dainty weakness. Women who dared to wear the garb of men were burned, stoned, shunned. I say once again, clothes are important.
When women say that dressing scantily or going to a nude beach was "liberating," they are not being purposefully difficult or lying. I have no doubt it was liberating. Women live in a world where they will be sexualized and objectified no matter what they are wearing. By virtue of being female, a woman knows she is in constant danger of lewd comments, looks, and violence. Wearing something revealing makes her feel in control of this. If it's going to happen no matter what, she might as well give it a direction, one she has control over. I'm not saying that's true for every woman, but it's probably true for several.
The cops who asked me "Well, what were you wearing?" when I reported an attack and attempted rape. #YesAllWomen
— Aimee Mann (@aimeemann) May 25, 2014
This is the most horrifying stage of ill-used and misunderstood modesty - that a woman's dress caused a man's violence. Stories like this one popped up all over the #YesAllWomen tweets, and victim shaming is more common than anyone would like to believe. While as I discussed before, certain dress might garner looks it can never invite violence. I'm thinking of the Still Not Asking For It campaign, where protesting women dress... however they want. Full hijab, a pair of panties and pasties, the clothes they were wearing when they were sexually assaulted and asserting that no matter what they could possibly be wearing, that in no way means attacks are their fault. Would you blame a mugging victim because they had money? An arson victim because they owned flammable things? Of course not. But female victims are blamed for assaults because of their clothes. Clothes are important, but not that important.
So please, dress modestly. I'm talking to you ladies - get shorts long enough to actually cover part of your leg. Gentlemen, pull up your pants. You look dumb. Invest in a belt. Encourage others to do the same, but when you do remember what people could hear when you speak.
Because this got heavy and I like to end on a high note, here's a little something I treat myself to every Halloween.
