Author: debanncuster

“In the Bleak Midwinter,” rendition by Julia Bloom https://open.spotify.com/track/4Zsq1ULPQoX3vVuM3DHyuu?si=frCQXUMnQ0-X9g4vGCjYwg&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A3BBucEuF6lhWhzsq9djuZs “In the bleak mid-winterFrosty wind made moanThe earth stood hard as ironWater like a stoneHow snow had fallenSnow on snow on snowIn the bleak mid-winterLong, long agoWhat can I give himPoor as I am?If I were a shepherd I would bring a lambAnd if I were… Continue reading Advent: Love

An Unhurried Hallow:  Joy “Darkness was cheap,and Scrooge liked it.”~Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol~ “The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.”~Psalms 18:28~ Traditionally, our third candle is pink, the liturgical color that represents joy. The third Sunday in Advent has been referred to as Gaudete Sunday. As Philippians 4:1 admonishes us: “Rejoice in the… Continue reading Advent: Joy

An Unhurried Hallow:  Peace “Peace I leave with you; my peace I given you.I do not give to you as the world gives.Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”~John 14:27~ “Above all, trust in the slow work of God.We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without… Continue reading Advent: Peace

Bing Crosby’s https://youtu.be/moHobaO9TlM?si=M8EMag0i1Ay_R8Qp The fall colors are still swirling around us, and our leaves yet need to be raked up, my dahlia tubers dug up and garlic cloves planted before the impending freeze of the season, and yet the commercial world of Christmas is popping up in the aisles. While radio stations may be holding… Continue reading Silent Night

https://youtu.be/IoHHsQg8pYY?si=AUUa9z61zKQvgrxw “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.”~Psalm 90:1~ “And so there would always be more to remember that could no longer be seen.This is one of the things I can tell you that I have learned:our life here is in some way marginal to our own doings,and our doings are marginal… Continue reading Shelter

https://youtu.be/JKmqyQUDehs?si=cKV9K40jF5tQuxgM “Oh, Marilla, I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers!”~L.M.Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables~  “Mrs. Miniver suddenly understood why she was enjoying the forties so much better than she had enjoyed the thirties:  it was the difference between August and October,between the heaviness of late summer and the sparkle of… Continue reading October

https://youtu.be/Y7VeP6a9mU0?si=etoOVgwP1nKlB13K “Give them wisdom and devotion in the ordering of their common life,that each may be to the other a strength in need,a counselor in perplexity, a comfort in sorrow, and a companion in joy.”~The Book of Common Prayer~ I had awakened, at last having slept. But my dreams had filled me with exhaustion. In… Continue reading In Everything

https://youtu.be/L0csB3us2gA?feature=shared   “The line of its [the leaf’s] flight was the arabesque at the end of a chapter,the final scroll under the death-warrant of summer.”~Jan Struther, Mrs. Miniver, p.171~ “Teach us to number our days,That we may gain a heart of wisdom.”~Psalm 90:12~ Who doesn’t like to keep their lives in some orderly fashion? Especially… Continue reading Overcome

“Give us this day our daily bread.”~Matthew 6:11~ Just as we can play beautiful music only when the strings on the violin are in proper tension,so we can grow only when we are stretched from what we are to what we can be.There is no growth without tension.”~J. Grant Howard~ Like many, I suppose, I… Continue reading Benediction