Overcome By Light

Christmas—the light that shone upon a manger—was also, the ancients knew, the light that led them on beyond it as well. If God is truly with us, has been manifested among us, companions us as we go, knows our pains and our hopes, then life is not a dark forest from which there is no exit. It is a darkness, however dark, that is always overcome by light.

Words: Joan Chittister in The Liturgical Year

Image: Photograph "Afternoon River" by The Rev. Scott Fisher

Advent, Day 24

Now all the woods are sleeping
through fields the shadows creeping
and cities pause to rest
Let us, as night is falling
on God our maker calling
sing praise to God who loves us best.

The radiant sun has vanished
its golden rays are banished
from deepening skies of night
But, Christ, the sun of gladness,
dispelling all our sadness
shines in our hearts with warmest light.

Now all the heavenly splendor
breaks forth in starlight tender
from myriad worlds unknown
And we, this marvel seeing,
forget our selfish being
and know a beauty not our own.

Words: Paul Gerhardt (17thC)

Image: Photograph "Hidden Advent Angels" by The Rev. Scott Fisher

Third Sunday of Advent, Day 15

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

[Philippians 4:4-5]

Image: Sunrise on the Yukon River, by The Rev. Scott Fisher

O Maker Of Worlds

O Maker of Worlds beyond us,
help us to live in the world we know
in peace with one another,
a kaleidoscope of nations,
a patchwork quilt of ways and wills
that rise from the depths of cultures
created by Your love.
Open us to the richness
of one another's vision
and the good we can accomplish
when we share one another's views.
We pray this prayer of unity and peace
in the hope of Shalom
Amen

Words: Sister Miriam Therese Winter

Image: The Rev. Scott Fisher

All Lovely Forms

"Formless, all lovely forms declare his loveliness;
holy, no holiness of earth can his express.
Lo, he is Lord of all. Creation speaks his praise,
and everywhere above, below, his will obeys."

Words: From Praise To The Living God Medieval Jewish liturgy (in today's Daily Prayer)

Image: Photograph by The Rev. Scott Fisher (Afternoon Sun in the Willows)

Presence And Joy

"Cast me not away from your presence
and take not your holy Spirit from me.

Give me the joy of your saving help again
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit."

Words: Psalm 51:12-13

Image: The Rev. Scott Fisher, Evening Sky at Chena River

Asking The Blessing Of Light

In the glare of neon times,
Let our eyes not be worn
By surfaces that shine
With hunger made attractive.

That our thoughts may be true light,
Finding their way into words
Whhich have the weight of shadow
To hold the layers of truth.

That we never place our trust
In minds claimed by empty light,
Where one-sided certainties
Are driven by false desire.

Words from "For Light" by John O'Donohue,
in To Bless the Space Between Us.

Image by The Rev. Scott Fisher

Last Night In Alaska

... the people, the place
joined to celebrate Eucharist
and light at Eagle Summit

Image: Bruce Gadwah, St. Matthew's, Fairbanks

Summer Solstice

"Solstice" by Roger Hutchison

From gratefulness.org

Summer Solstice: The northern polar axis of the earth tilted most sunwards marks the advent of summer and long days of sunlight. Like the earth, may we bow before the spiritual sun, so that we are bathed always in its transformative light.



From George Harrison

"Here Comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes"



From Robert Louis Stevenson

"Great is the sun, and wide he goes
Through empty heaven with repose;
And in the blue and glowing days
More thick than rain he showers his rays.

Though closer still the blinds we pull
To keep the shady parlour cool,
Yet he will find a chink or two
To slip his golden fingers through.

The dusty attic spider-clad He,
through the keyhole, maketh glad;
And through the broken edge of tiles
Into the laddered hay-loft smiles.

Meantime his golden face around
He bares to all the garden ground,
And sheds a warm and glittering look
Among the ivy's inmost nook.

Above the hills, along the blue,
Round the bright air with footing true,
To please the child, to paint the rose,
The gardener of the World, he goes."



From The Rev. Scott Fisher

Thou who first placed us in a Garden, and who calls to us from an Easter garden, hear our prayer for, like the plants and flowers of the Earth, we seek Light. Thou, who speaks from Mountains and who walks with us through Lonesome valleys, at this turning of the Earth, we give you thanks for the Gift of Light, seen and unseen, and pray your Company until we come to that Country where there is no darkness at all. In your Name Lord Jesus, who reminded us that WE are the Light of the World, we do pray. Amen.

Photograph by The Rev. Scott Fisher

Miracles

"Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles
that seek no attention.

Be consoled in the secret symmetry
of your soul.

May you experience each day as a sacred gift
woven around the heart of wonder."

Words: John O'Donohue in "To Bless the Space Between Us"

Image: Photograph by The Rev. Scott Fisher

Redemption

in humble mirrors
nature reflects and shares our
Easter redemption

Image: photograph by The Rev. Scott Fisher

Remember Again

"We are praying with great memories in our liturgy. There are scenes of violence, betrayal, surrender, and regret. We pray with the fidelity and trust with which Jesus walks towards his saving death.

We pray as well with the violence within and around us these days. Humanity is suffering from terrible insults to its being in Christ. We pray with our own sense of helplessness, as did his loving mother and even his friends who denied him and abandoned him. We are praying intensely with our desires to be freed again from the slavery of forgetfulness. We pray to remember again who Jesus is saying we all are by his life of faithful trust. We gather together to do the ancient rituals by which we are saved in our times." By Larry Gillick, S.J., in Daily Reflection, Creighton University. Read it all HERE.

Seen above: Altar Waiting for Palm Sunday by The Rev. Scott Fisher, St. Matthew's, Fairbanks.

Mountains And Fog

your sky is sister
to the sky that walks above my head
and holds my heart in thrall

Photograph by The Rev. Scott Fisher, St. Matthew's, Fairbanks.
Words by C. Robin Janning.

Toward A Happy New Year

A Morning Offering

I bless the night that nourished my heart
To set the ghosts of longing free
Into the flow and figure of dream
That went to harvest from the dark
Bread for the hunger no one sees.

All that is eternal in me
Welcomes the wonder of this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate.

I place on the altar of dawn;
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Waves of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.

May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays
To risk being disturbed and changed.

May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.

Amen.

By John O'Donohue in "To Bless the Space Between Us"

Seen above: 11:00 a.m. and -50 degrees New Year's Eve by The Rev. Scott Fisher, St. Matthew's, Fairbanks.

Advent Blue

"I turned down a road this morning and
EVERYTHING was Advent Blue."

Image and Words: The Rev. Scott Fisher

In Your Light

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
- Psalm 36:7-9

Seen above: photograph by The Rev. Scott Fisher, St. Matthews, Fairbanks

All Saints Day

Commemorating all saints, known and unknown, on November 1:

"Therefore, having so vast a cloud of witnesses
surrounding us, and throwing off everything
that hinders us and especially the sin
that so easily entangles us, let us
keep running with endurance
the race set before us,"

Hebrews 12:1
(International Standard Version ©2008)

Seen above, "All Saints" by the Rev. Scott Fisher,
St. Matthews, Fairbanks.

Blessing

"The beauty of blessing is that it recognizes no barriers—and no distances. All the given frontiers of blockage that separate us can be penetrated by the loving subtlety of blessing."

Photograph by The Rev. Scott Fisher, St. Mattews, Fairbanks
Text by John O'Donohue in "To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings"

Communion of Saints

"The communion of the saints is a kind place. It is a world to which we are all connected at our best places, uniting us in the best love we have, a love from which we who remain here often sag away, but from which they never do. They wish us well and they do us good, seeing as they do that we are capable of better things than we often show forth."

"Who would not want to sit for twenty minutes in that restorative kindliness before a long work day begins, or after another hard one has ended?"

As seen above: Images by The Rev. Scott Fisher, St. Matthew's, Fairbanks, Alaska.

Words by The Rev. Barbara Crafton (The Almost Daily eMo from Geranium Farm.org)

Air

"... home of memory where
Our vanished days secretly gather,
Receiving every glance, word, and act
That fall from presence,
Taking all our unfolding in,
So that nothing is lost or forgotten."

Words by John O'Donohue,in
To Bless the Space Between Us:
A Book of Blessings

Photograph by The Rev. Scott Fisher,
St. Matthew's, Fairbanks, Alaska