Happy New Year 2017!

Lindsey

It was wonderful to start off 2017 at church! In place of our regular service (sermon and Eucharist) we did “Christmas Lessons and Carols with Holy Communion.” I have always loved Christmas songs, but my appreciation for Christmas hymns has grown over the past few years. During the offertory, our choir sang the “Sans Day Carol,” arranged by John Rutter. It is a lovely hymn that directly connects Christmas with Easter, and while I have listened to this song many times (I have the album), there’s always something special about hearing hymns in the context of a service, and followed by Holy Communion.

Now the holly bears a berry as white as the milk,
And Mary bore Jesus, who was wrapped up in silk:
And Mary bore Jesus Christ our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly!

Now the holly bears a berry as green as the grass,
And Mary bore Jesus, who died on the cross:
And Mary bore Jesus Christ our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly!

Now the holly bears a berry as black as the coal,
And Mary bore Jesus, who died for us all:
And Mary bore Jesus Christ our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly!

Now the holly bears a berry, as blood is it red,
Then trust we our Saviour, who rose from the dead:
And Mary bore Jesus Christ our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly!

Dusting Off the Cobwebs

Dusting Off the Cobwebs

Lindsey

After a very eventful two and a half years (family changes, including a death and a wedding; leaving a job and finding a new one, with a bit of a sabbatical in the middle; feeling the call to seminary, deciding to attend, and starting courses; taking a pilgrimage to Israel), I’ve decided to return to this blog with a renewed focus that will be a bit of a content shift for any previous readers. I’m not committing to any kind of blogging schedule here, and I’m not quite sure how regular a blogger I will be, but I’ve got to start somewhere, right?

The shift isn’t so much a change as it is an evolution based on how I have personally grown since creating Reading Red Letters:

  • When I started this blog I was a 21-year-old undergrad student who had pretty much discovered who she was, but was still drinking wine out of Solo cups and, let’s be real, thought naming her blog after a great DC Talk song was cute and witty.
  • At this point in my life I’m a 32-year old single woman who takes pride in her career and has no idea who she is, but feels like she’s getting a little bit closer every day. I not only finished my undergrad degree, I earned a graduate degree too, and on top of a full life of work and volunteering I’m halfway through earning a second graduate degree because I apparently enjoy unnecessary homework. And I’ve upgraded from Solo cups to iced tea glasses (better for the environment, but I’m still too lazy to hand-wash stemware).

I’m currently completing my Master of Theological Studies, and as I started this quarter’s course it occurred to me that some of the things I’ve been learning in my classes could use some further discussion/exploration, and this blog might be the right vehicle for me to take what I’m learning out of a purely academic setting (most of my classmates are seeking ordination, so there are lots of practical applications for them; I, however, am just weird and want to study this stuff because it’s interesting to me).

I imagine that I will use this space for some spiritual reflection, to contemplate current events, and sometimes I’ll share thoughts from seminary, either as ramblings or perhaps even posting some of my short essay assignments (so don’t be surprised if there are footnotes). It may be a bit of a hodge-podge at first, but I’m sure I’ll hit my stride eventually. I also feel like a fresh coat of paint and a new name might be in order for this blog, but one step at a time, right?

All things in moderation, right?

Lindsey

As I mentioned previously, this year for Lent I’m taking on the discipline of being mindful.  I mentioned that I’m not 100% sure what this was going to look like, and that I’m open to adjusting the practice as Lent progresses, but my starting points were removing the social media apps from my phone, no television/movies aside from a planned activity with friends or while I was exercising, and daily quiet times.

Over the past 2ish weeks I’ve noticed that I’ve simply replaced mindless watching with mindless reading!  Since Lent began I have read 11 books, which is a bit excessive.  I live alone, so I think that I usually use the TV to fill the quiet (and, honestly, sometimes loneliness), and since it’s been quiet I’ve been filling that with reading.  However, this has proven to be more harmful than the TV watching – I’m staying up too late, I’m reading books on my Kindle app on my phone during the time when I’m normally on my social media apps on my phone . . . at least I can multi-task when I’m watching TV, that’s not an option with reading a book!

So I think I’m revising this practice.  I can watch television (but not Nexflix) when I’m working (honestly, I work better with the background noise), but not when I’m just sitting down to watch TV.  And I can read books, but no more than an hour on weekdays, and on weekends no more than 2 hours at a time (with the exception of travel – I’ve got hours to spend in an airport this weekend).  I’m also removing the Kindle app from my phone.

That feels a bit more balanced to me, and definitely still in keeping with my intent for Lent.