Holy Mountain

Vermillion Peak, November 2015

Some mountains look like God... or at least the throne of God.

Clouds

Blue sky is beautiful, 
but even more beautiful
with cumulus clouds 
blown into a symmetrical pattern...

Hallelujah!

Chant of the Incarnation

Here's a hymn about the theophany, the mystery of the Creator of all appearing in human form. 

It's the Christmas Troparion sung in Arabic and written by St. Romanos the Melodist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvjiVam2HO4

Romanos was born into a Jewish family in Syria, either modern Homs (then Emesa) or Damascus, according to Wikipedia.  He was baptized as a young boy, whether through his parents' conversion or his own.

He moved to Constantinople "during the reign of Athanasius"--whether Anastasius I (491-518) or Anastasius II(713-716) is not clear.

According to legend, he was a young deacon who on his turn to read the Psalms in worship, read so poorly that he was ridiculed.  Then the Virgin Mary appeared to him and gave him a scroll to eat.  He woke up and chanted his famous Kontakion of the Nativity (sung on the link above).  

He is said to have composed in Greek over a thousand kontakia.  Each one is a poetic sermon of 18-30 verses, each with a refrain and united by an acrostic pattern.

Anyway, listen to this ancient hymn, a taste of how the incarnation was approached long before the days of Santa Claus and reindeer.

One More Seed...

Mountain goat in Zion National Park

Animals and people seeking food and spiritual sustenance in dark days of winter...

Today, the tenth day of Christmas, I went to Jeannette Scholer's home in Pasadena to sing carols.

We sang "People Look East" by Eleanor Farjeon (who wrote "Morning Has Broken") and other lesser-sung carols.

My favorite verse:

Furrows, be glad.  Though earth is bare,
One more seed is planted there:
Give up your strength the seed to nourish,
That in course the flower may flourish.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the rose, is on the way.

I first heard this carol during Advent when I was pregnant with my first child, born March 20, 1982. 

"Give up your strength" was an insight I could relate to--Mary's suffering to bear Jesus.

Now, 34 years later, I have more understanding of what strength and nourishing three children would require over the years.

That first child was named "Rosamond" for her paternal grandmother.  A rose was indeed on the way.


See also:

http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/