Flow River Flow 121409

"Flow river flow through highlands and drylands
Raise blossoms where nothing could bloom
Come living water lift up your children
And nothing shall come between us and you"

Love Is Born Anew by Peter Mayer

Yesterday the Sunday School children presented their program entitled "THE FEAR NOT FACTOR." It was a wonderful way of getting ready for the coming of the Lord. One of the main reasons to incorporate the program into the 10:30am worship is to facilitate the children of the congregation to be faith formers through their singing, story telling and dancing. Another key ingredient in the mix is to present opportunities for parents, children, aunts, uncles and cousins to worship together.
As Peter sings, It's a marvelous time to pray,
"Come living water lift up your children
And nothing shall come between us and you."

G.F. Handel died 250 years ago in 1759. I find it amazing and wonderful that in this year of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of the Species that we are still taking time and making time to celebrate Messiah. For a little taste of this amazing work, check out the Bethany College Choir, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abcgpn2UTV8

Two of the things that I think a lot about are a couple of questions which our culture wrestles with in many ways due to fantastic advances in healthcare and medicine. The two questions are:
1,"When does life begin; and 2, when does life end?"
And while significant progress has been made in regards to the technological and scientific aspects of our lives, it is fairly obvious that it is difficult for many of us to have authentic and civil conversations when addressing these questions. My hope and prayer this season is that Peter's words become personal and cosmic realities:

"Flow river flow through highlands and drylands
Raise blossoms where nothing could bloom"

Last February when our son Nate and I spent some time in London, a key stop was Handel's House. We took the tour and were amazed to find out that in the 1960s a soon-to-be famous musician rented a room in the Handel House.



Wow, Handel and Hendrix. Who knows what will happen next? Maybe the visitors from the East at Epiphany will include Lady Gaga, Bono and Sting.

Sing Joy,
Rtg
PS, extra bonus, my good friend Denise from St. Louis sent me this note on Sunday morning after she attended Mass:

Msgr. Hanneke had a good message in his homily yesterday that made me think of the Advent devos. "Joy is the companion of the belief in Jesus Christ. The realization, the moment you truly believe in Christ can bring nothing but true Joy. Not the giddy joy of youth, or of meeting an old friend but a Joy from your gut that radiates through your whole being bringing peace and serenity."

Joy to the World,
Denise