Winn Collier's Blog, page 65

Advent, the Fourth Week

This weekend, we had 36 hours of snow and snow and snow. The boys have some nice sled runs carved down the hill behind our house, and Seth even took to riding his snowboard style (pretty well, I must say).



But now we are here, this morning where the pinkish-orange sky rises above Carter's Mountain and the fiery sun comes to take back more of the whiteness that covers everything. We are here, in the final week of Advent. And I want to touch on one idea that has been hovering with me for some ...

Advent, the Third Week

We know that there are three comings of the Lord. The third lies between the other two. It is invisible, while the other two are visible. In the first coming, he was seen on earth, dwelling among men; he himself testifies that they saw him and hated him. In the final coming all flesh will see the salvation of our God, and they will look on him who they pierced. The intermediate coming is a hidden one, in it only the elect see the Lord within their own selves, and they are saved. In his first ...

and the winner is...

Suzanne Aultman!

She has her choice of the Queen of Puddings' amazing flavors:
blueberry
cranberry
chocolate chip
cranberry chocolate chip
ginger spice
golden raisin
original

Next week: another Advent reflection and another gift.

peace.

Advent, the Second Week

This is the irrational season when love blooms bright and wild. / Had Mary been filled with reason, there'd have been no room for the child. {Madeleine L'Engle}

I believe that if something (anything) is going to happen, I'd best push and pry to make it so. I take comfort in my rightness, in my well-formed opinions, in knowing when to speak or even when to shut my mouth - but always me knowing (correctly, precisely) the when for either. I think what all this truly means is that I love illusion...

Advent, the First Week

I stood at the front of the church in Little Rock, Arkansas that Saturday morning, September 20th, 1997. I was breathing heavily, sweating a bit. For three and a half years (long years, Miska would say), we dated. Finally, I got my act together, strapped on my courage and asked Miska if she would take a big leap with me. And now it was happening. I had been waiting so long. She had been waiting so long. The pipe organ swelled with Pachelbel's Canon in D, the two grand wooden entry doors at th...

Joel Salatin

A piece I wrote for HalogenTV on Joel Salatin, the "high priest of the pasture" just went up.

Cafes and Public Spaces

It is almost as if every great civilization in the world had taken a brief time-out from trying to kill one another to brainstorm what a perfect public space should look like. {Michael Idov}

A frien d, Andrew Albers, passed along this Wall Street Journal story this morning. It hit a few chords for me.

I should offer this caveat: I take major issue with Idov's jab at caramel frappuccinos (my favorite is actually java chip light), and slight issue with his side-swiping of laptoppers (I get his poi...

Augustine and The City of God

Last night, I turned the last page on St. Augustine's City of God, all 1182 pages. Whew.

Augustine and I go way back - he had me write the forward for one of his books. I was happy to oblige, anything for a church father. So I was eager to read his central defining work (with Confessions running a close second).

The City of God is beefy. If you plan to go in, you best take provisions and gear, you're going to be on the trail for a while. I won't offer a full-scale review, partly because I need ...

She Would Always Come

We went to Wyatt and Seth's school tonight for the Reading Cafe. Wyatt's teacher, Mr. Bow (who is a rock star in Wyatt's eyes - and not far behind that with Miska and me), had each kid record a poem they had written. When I heard Wyatt's voice, well, I don't think I can describe it.

The last paragraph tells a million stories. Wyatt has struggled much with fear, particularly this past year. We've been with him, held him, slept by his bed (and in his bed - and him by our bed) many nights. We've ...

Brokenness, the Genesis Project and a Table

Two weeks ago, I shared words from Barth that say better than I could the joy and the terror I find in preaching. Here are words from Henri Nouwen that say, again better than me, what has become a core conviction about leading and loving in God's community:

I am deeply convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self.

Actually, I should say that on my best days, I believe t...