Plot Points #33 💌
Candlelight services, funny murders, getting older, and the Golden Rule
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On Sunday, we attended our first-ever Christmas Eve candlelight service at Trinity. (For those of you who are new, welcome! We became Anglican this summer after decades of membership in non-denominational/evangelical congregations.) It was a beautiful, simple service, made all the more profound by the inclusion of hundreds of little ones talking, crying, and shifting about. How can we appreciate the unexpected arrival of a baby King if we always send the children away? I’m all for kids having their own place to learn on Sundays, but not for every single event. We mustn’t let ourselves forget they are an integral part of the Body, too, and learn so much from watching us worship together.
We got a nice surprise when we saw one of our old Buckhead Church pastors at the service. It was a lovely blast from the past and a sweet reminder that even though we’ve moved churches, we are all still a part of the same beautiful faith.
After the service, we went down to the gym to eat a candlelit potluck feast (a beautiful tradition that stirs memories of my childhood church) where the 1947 Miracle on 34th Street was projected onto the walls. As we ate, my husband looked across the table at me and whispered, “I really love our church.”
No matter what challenges we faced in 2023—and there have been a generous plenty—coming home to Trinity has made them all seem a little bit smaller.
Happy (almost) New Year, friends! May your 2024 be full of light, love, and joy. Thank you for spending some of your time with me here.
Wendi
Point #1: “I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age.”
This refreshing essay from looks at the legacies we sacrifice when we refuse to think of aging as a normal, healthy thing we all face at some point, no matter how we try to avoid it. As I near the middle years of my life, I want to keep this point in mind: “There are many ways of achieving immortality. Some never have children and leave other kinds of legacy. For myself, though…I’m grateful for the chance to see my own child growing up, so like me and unlike me at the same time - and boundlessly fresh, where I’m getting older.”
Point #2: The Golden Rule still applies.
As we enter into what is likely (okay, guaranteed) to be another contentious election season, I found this piece from
to be a thoughtful analysis of why some Christians continue to support Trump although “he hasn’t materially improved their circumstances but has fanned their resentments into a raging inferno.” As Ron notes, this is an opportunity for us to check our spirits and reflect Christ even when we want to scream, “Whyyyy?!” (Or maybe that’s just me.)Point #3: We’ve all stood on the cliff a time or two.
Oh, I loved the latest piece from
about the longing for deeper intimacy with God while not feeling able to step into “church.” There is such beauty and courage in asking for what you need in the small wonders of Creation, and I think this essay will resonate with a lot of you.Point #4: Let’s plant some seeds.
As I approach my no-buy year, it’s causing me to revisit some ways I’ve progressed in my approach to slower living and the many ways I still want to learn. I so appreciated how
catalogued the many, many ideas her readers offered for less tech reliance, embodied lifestyles, and “simple acts of sanity” in the coming year. Take what you want and build a peaceful garden for yourself in 2024.Word of the Week
Ellipsisism: (n.) A sadness that you’ll never be able to know how history will turn out.
Reading in The Nook
I finished The Burning by Laura Bates last week, and I’m happy to report at least one of our heroines got a bit of justice in the end. It was unrealistic in the sense that I can’t imagine high school students who have engaged in such vicious slandering suddenly stop and listen to their victim, but I was pleased by it anyway. (I’m also even more convinced that Lucy will never have social media as long as she’s a minor.)
My request for Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto came in at the library this week and I am delighted. Funny murder mysteries are some of my favorite books to read. If you liked the Finlay Donovan is Killing It series, I think you’ll like Vera, too.
This last one is more of a reference book, but my husband remembered how I swooned over it in the bookstore last month, so he got it for me as a Christmas gift. I can’t wait to do some naturecraft with Theo when we begin homeschool in the fall!
Did you get any books for Christmas? 👇🏼
“And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.
—Rainer Maria Rilke—
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Thank you for the kind words, Wendi! And no, it's not just you screaming, “Whyyyy?!” 😉