Books Read in ’21

I thought it would be fun to write out the books I read/listened to in 2021, and see how many fiction vs. nonfiction I read, as well as how many books I read with my kids this year. I was able to complete the Scholé Sisters 5×5 Reading Challenge (although I kind of made it a 6×5 actually) as well as The Literary Life Reading Challenge… and while I had intended to put some overlap between the two, I really didn’t end up doing it that way. My habit tends to be always having at least one fiction and one nonfiction going all the time, as well as always having audiobooks and paper copy books going all the time. I always have a fiction and a nonfiction going with my kids, and try to read at least one or two books a year with just one child at a time. These are just little habits which help me never have an excuse for not knowing what to read next. And it is good to always have things feeding my intellect as well as my imagination!

I read over 100 books this year, which feels like a surprising number to me, but pretty fun. Let’s see how they stack up. Here we go!

FICTION (23)

Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall
Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall
Home Front by Kristin Hannah
The Blue Tattoo by Margot Mifflin
The Bookwoman of Troublesome Creek by Kim M. Richardson
The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri
The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
When Stars are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson
Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry
The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer
The Warsaw Orphan by Kelly Rimmer
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin
Silas Marner by George Eliot
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
The Right Sort of Man by Allison Montclair

NONFICTION (50)

The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis
Alexander the Great by Jacob Abbott
Popes and Feminists by Elise Crapuchettes
A Welcome Shore by Suzanne Rhodes
Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
A Joyful Noise: Praying the Psalms by Mike Aquilina
Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis
Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes du Mez
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat
Live Not By Lies by Rod Dreher
Hamilton by Tony Williams
Meditations on Psalms by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Decluttering Your Marriage by Douglas Wilson
Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot
The Whirlwind Bides its Time by Joseph Carlson
Twenty Wild Decembers by Jason Farley
No One Doubts a Belly Laugh by Jason Farley
Another Gospel? by Alisa Childers
Beholding and Becoming by Ruth Chou Simons
Wintering by Katherine May
French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano
The Price of Panic by Axe, Briggs, and Richards
Spokane’s Stories by Blythe Thimsen
The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Butterfield
First Family by Joseph J. Ellis
The Turquoise Table by Kristin Schell
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Classical Education and the Homeschool by Callihan, Jones, and Wilson
The Paideia of God by Douglas Wilson
Classical Me, Classical Thee by Rebekah Merkle
A Place to Belong by Megan Hill
The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
I Choose Brave by Katie Westenberg
Good Man by Nathan Clarkson
Live Not By Lies by Rod Dreher
Love Thy Body by Nancy Pearcey
Finding Selah by Kristen Kill
Rhythms of Rest by Shelly Miller
A Sacrifice of Praise by James Trott (not complete, but spent time here)
Words by the Wayside by Classics Series (not complete, but spent time here)
Mountain Breezes by Amy Carmichael (not complete, but spent time here)
The Litany of Every Day Life by Margaret Kim Peterson
The Case for Classical Christian Education by Douglas Wilson
Teach Me to Feel by Courtney Reissig
The 4 Hour School Day by Durenda Wilson
Mortimer Adler: the Paideia Way by Robert M. Woods
On the Incarnation by Athanasius of Alexandria
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
The Case for the Psalms by N.T. Wright

WITH MY KIDS (35)

Alice’s Farm by Maryrose Wood
The Door at the End of the World by Caroline Carlson
The Clockwork Crow by Catherine Fisher
The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase by Wendy Mass
The Ordinary Princess by MM Kaye
Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld
Dragons and Dragonslayers by Tim Chester
Jimmy McGee by Eleanor Estes
YWAM Amy Carmichael by Janet Benge
Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes
Pinky Pye by Eleanor Estes
YWAM Hudson Taylor by Janet Benge
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Rescue by Jennifer Nielsen
Resistance by Jennifer Nielsen
The Bookwanderers by Anna James
The Knights’ Tales Collection by Gerald Morris
The Cross of Lead: Crispin by Avi
Henry and the Chalk Dragon by Jennifer Trafton
The World’s Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson
The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz
Cilla Lee Jenkins: The Epic Story by Susan Tan
The Storm Keeper’s Island by Catherine Doyle
Radiant by Richard Hannula
A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus
Mark of the Thief by Jennifer Nielsen
The Vanderbeekers Make a Wish by Karina Yan Glaser
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
Peril and Peace by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
Monks and Mystics by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Rise of the Wolf by Jennifer Nielsen
The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Green

Advent, Fourth ’21

Fourth week of Advent, 2021.

Saturday, 12.18.21
Family Advent Feast

Menu:
Pork tenderloin, roasted in the oven with peaches, pears, and sweet onions (this is similar to what I did, but I added a can of peaches-in-juice before roasting – and then added about two cups of chicken broth to the pan when it was about half done in the oven… so no need to make another dirty saucepot)
Roasted potatoes with garlic & herbs
Fluffy rolls
Cranberry sauce (left over from last week)
Green bean casserole (yep, a classic from my 80s childhood – canned cream soup and all)
Peppermint Flourless Chocolate torte with ganache & peppermint

Reading:
John 1:1-18
First Coming by Madeleine L’Engle
Ontology of Incarnation

Carols:
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
Lift Up Your Heads
Psalm 24
Psalm 150

Kids’ Group Gift:
Everdell and Bellfaire expansion (so we can have 6 players)

Sunday, 12.19.21
Sunday Soup Supper

Menu:
Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden copycat recipe)
More fluffy rolls (from KingArthurFlour recipe)
Pink salad, brought by a friend (like this)
Apple pecan salad with vinaigrette (like this)
Christmas treats platter, brought by a friend (there were peanut butter balls, soft brittle, and much more… but those two were my favorite!)
Ghirardelli brownies topped with ganache & crushed peppermint

Rested with:
fellowship with friends
kids playing games
reading books with the toddler
affogato for dessert
not doing dishes because disposable dishes are a gift
talking to my mama on the phone
writing Christmas cards
reading poetry

Light Incarnate

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1-5

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:9-10, 14

Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

Jesus said, “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” John 12:36

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so thatthey may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

We are talking about light. Latin lux, lumen.
And we are talking about incarnation. Latin incarnatio. Embodiment. Taking on flesh.
The mysterious taking on the material. Light becoming touchable. The Word who was with God—and who was God—from before the beginning of time. He was the One who created all things. In Him was life.

This Word—this eternally existent Creator—was the light of men, shining in the darkness, the light of the world to be followed, to be believed. This Word—life, light—gives true light to everyone, and yet even though His light shone in the darkness and couldn’t be overcome by it, eyes were blinded and people did not know Him. They did not recognize Light wrapped in flesh. He counseled His disciples to believe in Him, in the light, in order to become sons of light. He preached to a multitude saying that they who believed were not just sons of light, but were in fact the light of the world (which is what Jesus said of Himself as well), meant to shine before others so that their good works would be seen and glory given to the Father in heaven.

St. Athanasius wrote in On The Incarnation, “For we were the purpose of his embodiment, and for our salvation he so loved human beings as to come to be and appear in a human body.” “The Self-revealing of the Word is in every dimension—above, in creation; below, in the Incarnation; in the depth, in Hades; in the breadth, throughout the world. All things have been filled with the knowledge of God.” “There were thus two things which the Savior did for us by becoming Man. He banished death from us and made us anew; and, invisible and imperceptible as in Himself He is, He became visible through His works and revealed Himself as the Word of the Father, the Ruler and King of the whole creation.” “The Saviour of us all, the Word of God, in His great love took to Himself a body and moved as Man among men, meeting their senses, so to speak, half way. He became Himself an object for the senses, so that those who were seeking God in sensible things might apprehend the Father through the works which He, the Word of God, did in the body.”

This is a beautiful and mysterious way to describe the material One who was Spirit incarnate. God who took on flesh. Material and immaterial knit together in inexplicable but perfect harmony and balance. Douglas Wilson wrote in God Rest Ye Merry, “What is the great mystery of godliness? What is the foundation of our salvation? God was manifest in the flesh. We sometimes do not appreciate the magnitude of the problem here. How could the eternal Word of the eternal Father take on limits? How can infinitude and finitude marry? The doctrine of the Incarnation proclaims frankly and without embarrassment the most stupendous miracle that can be imagined. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the Incarnate Deity. But we are dealing with mysteries and miracles, not contradictions… The body that was broken on the cross was the same body that was formed in the womb of the virgin. And that body was taken on by the eternal Word in order that it might be broken. The blood that began to circulate in the veins of Jesus before He was even born was the same blood that was to be shed for you many years later. If the body that was suckled by Mary was a different one from the one that died on the cross, we are all still in our sins… The virgin birth is an important “handmaiden miracle,” pointing to the central miracle itself, which is the Incarnation. The thing that should stagger us is the “God with us” part, and not the virgin birth. The virgin birth points to this greater miracle. And because God is with us, thus we are saved… We believe in the Incarnation, in the Word made flesh. This is our glory: this is our salvation.”

So this brings it all the way around: the Word became incarnate in order to fulfill the prophecies and laws, to save His people from our sins. He created us in His image, we marred that image with sin (beginning with our father Adam), He took on our created flesh and then spiritually bore our sin when His body died, and then not just the Word—the Spirit—was raised from the dead but so was His body. The incarnation was not suppressed, suspended or ceased by the death and resurrection of the Word of God made flesh in Jesus. His body was touched after His resurrection, He ate, He was recognized. And when He ascended into heaven, in Luke 24 it talks about His hands being lifted up in blessing. And in Acts 1 we read about how He was taken up while His disciples were watching Him—He was still incarnate, else He would not have been seen—and also that “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” In the same way. Incarnate. Manifest in flesh. This is no inconsequential detail. This is a core tenet of the Gospel. Good news. God became man. Incarnate Deity. Not for thirty-three years only. But for all time. He became like us so that we could become more & more like Him.

He is the Light so that we can see by Him, follow Him, and let the world know who is in charge. For without the Word, nothing was made. And without the Light, we only stumble blindly in the darkness.

Advent, Third ’21

Third week of Advent, 2021.

Saturday, 12.11.21
Family Advent Feast

Menu:
Chicken cordon bleu (chicken breasts rolled with ham & swiss inside, then dipped in oil & bread crumbs; topped with shredded mozzarella; baked with a wine & broth bath)
Brown rice (it was al dente… oh well… instant pot isn’t infallible)
Roasted brussels, asparagus, & onion (gotta roast them long enough there is some good char for flavor!)
Cranberry sauce (with fresh orange zest and a pinch of cinnamon)
Garlic bread (yes, my kids are addicted to garlic bread lately… so I have been obliging them for the feasts!)
Sticky toffee pudding (I had never made this before, but this will absolutely be an annual favorite from now on!)

Reading:
Isaiah 11:1-10
A Child is Born, from Nativity, by G.K. Chesterton
Love’s Incarnate Birth by Madeleine l’Engle

Carols:
Comfort, Comfort Ye, My People
How Brightly Shines the Morning Star

Kids’ Gift:
Christmas shirts/dress
Olympic rings to hang from the basement ceiling

Sunday, 12.12.21
Sunday Soup Supper

Menu:
Chicken taco soup (chicken breasts cooked in enchilada sauce in the instant pot; then after that was shredded, added black beans, yellow corn, onions, crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, and seasonings; simmered for an hour – topped with sour cream and shredded cheese)
Chips (anybody else love Juanita’s?) & salsa
Bread & jam (homemade all the way)
Cinnamon coffee cake (needed to be gluten free, so I went with a Krusteaz box that is a winner) topped with vanilla ice cream & salted caramel (left over from previous gingerbread sundaes)

Rested with:
delightful friends
the big kids played incredibly beautifully together
the toddlers didn’t burn down the house or need stitches
we parents got to sip wine and share stories
we laughed, and at one point I almost cried
we talked about books… lots of books
we toasted and ate chocolate truffles
we sang the Doxology around the table
the kids pulled party poppers
watched a family movie (Beethoven, anyone?!) while nibbling cheese & apples
ate snickerdoodles made by Autumn Creek Bakery

Advent Hope

Come, Thou long expected Jesus,
     Born to set Thy people free,
From our fears and sins release us,
     Let us find our rest in Thee:
Israel’s strength and consolation,
     Hope of all the earth Thou art,
Dear Desire of every nation,
     Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
     Born a child and yet a king,
Born to reign in us for ever,
     Now Thy gracious kingdom bring:
By Thy own eternal Spirit
     Rule in all our hearts alone,
By Thy all-sufficient merit
     Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Longing, expecting, hoping, asking. These are overarching themes during the season of Advent. (And as I look for words to share about the hope before and behind us, I land on some thoughts from Peter Leithart, a friend of my father… many of the following are his.)

Advent hymns, unsurprisingly, are full of longing, and the language of the prophets. Advent hymns are about Israel’s desperations and hope, and specifically hope that the Christ would come in order to keep God’s promise to restore His people, and through them to restore the nations.

Advent hymns look forward not just to heaven but the redemption of Israel and of the nations, the coming of God’s kingdom on earth.

Our hope is in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:19; Ephesians 1:12). Christ in us is the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Christ’s resurrection is the target of Abrahamic faith, he who hoped against hope for resurrection, for new life to come from his dead body (Romans 4:18). Hoping in God’s promise, he didn’t consider his own impotence looked for the impossible.

Jesus is the one who reveals the “God of hope” (Romans 15:13). He is the incarnation of the God of hope, the God whom Jeremiah addresses as the “hope of Israel” (Jeremiah 14:8; 17:13; 50:7). Only Jesus ensures whatever future we look forward to.

This Christ-centered hope gets misaligned if we separate hope for Christ’s coming from hope for His body, for ourselves. It’s true that the coming kingdom is Christ’s. But Christ is head of a body, and so the coming kingdom is also ours. The Christian hope is that the saints in Christ will reach their ultimate maturity as human beings, the fullness of our Adamic calling.

Advent isn’t supposed to soothe us. It doesn’t teach us to be stoic in the face of the irreparable damage of the world. It doesn’t teach us to be piously hopeless. It teaches us to have a hope that is irreversibly entwined with faith. Advent celebrates the Creator’s arrival to repair the damage of sin, judging and making new. Advent comforts because it promises final restoration, justice, and peace. Advent encourages us to persevere in trials and injustice because it demonstrates that God has pledged to make all things new. Advent unveils a God so determined to fulfill His purpose that He did not spare His own Son but freely delivered Him up for us all.

Isaiah 8:17 says, “I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.” In the very next chapter, Isaiah 9, we read that “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone… For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” THIS is hope. This is the promise. The Savior came! And He is ruling at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again. We long for Him and we expect Him. Therefore, even as the Israelites looked forward with hope, so do we. Jesus, the God who became incarnate, IS our hope.

Advent, Second ’21

Second weekend of Advent, 2021.

This weekend was particularly special because we got to attend a local school’s performance of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever along with my parents, my grandma, and my brother’s family. It always feels special to attend a performance, even if you are sitting on folding chairs in a school gym and the mics are popping intermittently. The kids genuinely thought it was magical. And the young actors did such a great job, it had me feeling rather childlike and giddy myself! Shazzzam! (If you know, you know.)
And because it was getting late in the afternoon by the time the show ended, it was pretty easy to convince my brother’s family to join the rest of us for the formal Advent Feast this week! That’s a highlight of the entire season right there. We squeezed in an extra table into the dining room so all seventeen of us could toast and sing and read and feast together. God is good.

After church on Sunday, we got to invite two young couples with small toddlers over, plus a single gent new to our church & neighborhood. It was fun to share stories about how we met spouses, where we spent childhoods, and how we are each differently navigating current affairs in our broader culture but rooted here in a tiny country town. That evening, I got to take my older four children to a dance – jigs, reels, swings, two-step… my kids were absolutely loving it. It’s a step in the direction of being countercultural… and I’m eager to continue down that path with my kids. When your six year old asks your forty-something year old friend to dance with him, you know you’re doing something right.

Saturday, 12.4.21
Family Advent Feast

Menu:
Lasagna (ground beef & Italian sausage, simple marinara, ricotta & egg & herbs, shredded mozzarella, al dente noodles… made a day before for a simple Saturday)
Garlic Bread (simple white loaves, sliced and slathered with garlic butter, and warmed up wrapped in tin foil)
Caesar Salad (went easy, used store bought kits)
Gingerbread Sundaes (maybe I’ll get around to sharing my recipe sometime… because it’s the best gingerbread ever! Topped with vanilla ice cream and homemade salted caramel for a hearty dollop & drizzle; garnish with a shard of Heath.)

Reading:
Every Moment Holy, liturgy for the start of the Christmas season

Carols:
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming

Kids’ Gift:
four movie DVDs, which were $5 apiece on Amazon
(totally worth it even if we only watch each once)

Sunday, 11.5.21
Second Sunday Supper of Advent

Menu:
Chili (beef, onion, garlic, four kinds of beans, tomatoes, broth, red wine, dark beer, cocoa powder, espresso, cinnamon, chili, cumin, salt, pepper…)
Rice (rice, water, bouillon, butter – in the instant pot)
Green Salad (recipe from Magnolia Kitchen cookbook)
Sourdough Bread (with soft butter)
Gingerbread Sundaes, reprise (because once is never enough)

Rested With:
fellowship with friends
laughter around the table
kids enjoyed screen time
adult conversation
hearing new friends’ life stories
putting toddler down for a nap
taking big kids to a folk dance
teaching some folk dances
watching my children delight in dance
wine and snacks with my hubby

Advent, first ’21

First weekend of Advent, 2021.

Two family birthdays and Thanksgiving Day AND a family tradition of tree hunting & homemade donuts… it was all packed into a handful of days this year. It makes for a good kind of chaos and girding up of the loins for all the celebration. Of course, it was bookended with illness in my home, which just added to both the crazy and the exhaustion… but God’s grace was poured on like the best gravy. This life is a gift, and celebrating the start of a new Church Year is absolutely something to treasure. So we pursue this. We cultivate it. We dig in. And it is very good.

Saturday, 11.27
Family Advent Feast

Menu:
Started with Lindt chocolate truffles and a toast with merlot to King Jesus when we lit the Hope candle
Red Wine Tri Tip Steaks (used this for inspiration, but tweaked it like I always do…)
Mushroom risotto (my daughter loves to make this… but we don’t use a recipe… we just go by method, look, and taste)
Roasted veg (olive oil, s&p, garlic powder, Italian herbs; brussels sprouts, asparagus, carrots, beets, and red onion)
Garlic pull-apart bread (used this for inspiration, then made it monkey-bread-style using a butter-olive-oil-s&p-crushed-garlic-Italian-herbs mixture for dipping each piece of dough)
Salted Caramel Cheesecake (used this recipe for the most part, but used Nilla wafers for the crust. And added a fat pinch of sea salt to each layer of this, because DUH. Extra pink salt in the caramel as well.)

Readings:
Every Moment Holy, liturgy for the start of the Christmas season
Isaiah 9:2-7
Poem, Advent Calendar by Rowan Williams

Carols:
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
Savior of the Nations, Come
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

Kids’ Gift:
Stratego, 1986 version

Sunday, 11.28
Sunday Soup Supper

Menu:
Creamy tomato soup (in my instant pot)
Grilled cheese sandwiches (36 of them, sliced into halves)
Green salad with balsamic vinaigrette
Sliced honeycrisp apples
Double chocolate brownies with toffee & sprinkles on top

Rested with:
Fellowship with friends
Honoring my husband’s birthday
Sharing a meal
Disposable dishes
Playing Fishbowl with all ages
Handel’s Messiah on CD
Singing O Come, O Come, Emmanuel in harmony

Advent Hospitality

Happy New Year, Church! That’s right: with the dawn of Advent season comes the new start of the liturgical year. While I did not grow up from the cradle with a big emphasis on the Church Year, my parents were naturally very purposed about setting aside certain things for celebration and observance. There was a definite cyclical rhythm to our year, mostly informed by Christian holidays and weekly Sunday habits, even though I am not sure my mom would have been able to direct you to any books or church traditions for their origin or information. It simply came naturally to her! She has always been good at decorating, showing hospitality, feeding people, and celebrating holy events with simple festivity. Actually, let’s be real: Mama has not always jumped into festivity with simplicity. She can cook up and decorate with incredible flair, detail, abundance, and bounty. As a child, when it came to holidays, I never doubted that our cup overflowed. But it was my mother who taught me by example that celebration & hospitality are both extremely flexible, and that there is just as much value & delight in the simple as in the extravagant. Mama showed me that there are different blessings attendant in those different expressions.

Now as the mama in my own home, I seek to train my children in a similar way… and I try to do it as she did: by action and example rather than by words and description.

Peter Leithart said: “We don’t keep the rhythms of the church calendar out of traditionalism. We mark time Christianly in order to honor Jesus, the Lord of ages whose Advent starts a new age of human history. We observe the church calendar to evangelize time.”

One of my favorite times to do this is during the season of Advent, which is the four weeks leading up to Christmas. I have written about this before, but I will share it again this year, because it is always good to share ideas for cultivating a family culture bursting with feasting and joy and multi-generational fellowship. I honestly can’t remember how many years we have been doing this, but my children have no memory of NOT marking Advent in this way… so it is definitely a notable part of our family culture.

Each Sunday of Advent is kicked off for our family by an open invitation to any of our family members (my parents always come, my grandma frequently comes, and my brother’s family has come a couple times) to join us for an Advent Feast on the Saturday evening prior. This is the big meal of the week, where I use our fancy dishes, light extra candles and use ironed linens, make time-consuming meals or things which require special ingredients. We always toast our glasses, cheers to the King! with wine (or sparkling cider), starting the meal with Lindt chocolate truffles and ending it with some kind of sumptuous dessert. We read Scripture, a liturgy, and/or poetry. We sing Advent hymns in harmony around the table. We give our children one group gift at each Saturday feast (books, board games, videos, matching jammies…).

On Saturday, while cooking for the family Advent Feast, I also prep for Sunday… because on each Sunday of Advent, we invite friends over (we aim for two families each Sunday – and then if someone has to cancel last-minute we still have fellowship to look forward to) for a simple meal and afternoon of fellowship. The meal format is almost always soup, bread, and cookies. All of it can be made ahead on Saturday, easily heated up after church, and can be added to (sliced apples? cheese plate? green salad?) if our guests offer to bring something for the meal. I also often opt for disposable dishes, in order to make clean-up extra easy. It not only makes friends feel welcome & at-home without worrying about breaking Great-Grandma’s china, but also enables me not to have two hours’ worth of dishes to wash afterward. We like to play board games or group games with our friends, and often sing some Advent or Christmas carols. Again, we start our meal with a piece of chocolate and a toast to the coming King!

It’s not that it doesn’t take a lot of prep, planning, work, and money… but it feels simple and predictable, completely doable and entirely special.

This is one more of those little “glimpses of paideia,” where we are teaching our children through our family habits and purposed culture about what we believe is important. Where ought our focus be? How should we spend our season of Advent? There is no one right way to do it. This is simply the way that my family has cultivated a practice and a love. It folds in people from our church, our homeschool co op, our family members. It involves food and music and books and gifts. It points us toward Christmas without making us go crazy. It gives boundaries to our plans, so we do not overschedule. It brings our hearts back to Incarnation. Which is really another topic for another post another time…

For now, let me simply leave you with a few links with suggestions for posts and books which I have found enculturating for myself over recent years as I have sought to cultivate a family tradition of marking Advent – this anticipation of the miraculous so extraordinarily astounding that it has been the beginning for the historical church for centuries.

The History of Advent

Lists and links to all kinds of Advent things by Sarah Clarkson

Psalms of Advent by Peter Leithart

Hallelujah: Cultivating Advent Traditions With Handel’s Messiah by Cindy Rollins

Joy to the World by C.H. Spurgeon

Let Us Keep the Feast by Jessica Snell et al

Unwrapping the Names of Jesus by Ashiterah Ciuciu

Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross

Around the Year by Maria von Trapp

The Great Architect

After contemplating God as the ultimate Artist last week, I was intrigued with the idea of God as the ultimate Architect this week. Someone who is very methodical, mathematical, organized, precise. Someone who knows about building and fortifying and anchoring.

What is an architect?? A brief definition is that an architect is the person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of a building. Last week, we pondered God as an artist in the context of Genesis chapter 1—so let’s briefly think about that chapter again, envisioning God as an architect.

God divided light from darkness, waters from firmament, waters from other waters, and gave names to each thing, like an architect might divide rooms with lines on a blueprint or framing during the building process, and different rooms are assigned different names for their different purposes. Dividing “kitchen” from “bathroom” from “bedroom” are helpful distinctions. He also gathered some things together into one place, like someone might organize their building supplies, putting like items together. Bricks here, planks there, pipes in another place. And then He added depth and layers. Have you seen how a blueprint does that? Makes a simple 2-D sketch suddenly have a 3-D aspect? God adds trees and flowers and vegetation… and they carry seeds within them so they can continually reproduce and fill the earth. God planned where to put lights, and organized them to bless the space they illuminated. Just like an architect places canned lighting and chandeliers and sconces around their design to illuminate and accentuate particular places in their work.

Without going ad nauseum through the early chapters of Genesis, I think you can see how God shows characteristics of an architect. Dividing and lining up and saying how far to go, adding character and light and depth, naming places and describing what their uses will be so that their purpose can be not only obvious but also fulfilled. God was intent upon creating a good work, and indeed He called it very good upon His completion.

Interestingly, when I searched online for something about “God as a great architect,” the top hits were actually Hindi, Mason, and Mormon—I really wasn’t quite sure what to do with that. The idea of the Creator of the universe, of all things both massive and miniscule, using aesthetic and mathematic, logically and artistically bringing order out of chaos, building foundations and erecting heights—just think about the redwoods along the coast of California and the layers of rock down the sheer cliffs of the Grand Canyon—what could be more foundationally Christian than recognizing our Creator as an architect?

So are there places to see in Scripture where God is referred to in this way? Of course there are!
Hebrews 11:10 calls Him the builder and maker of the city which has foundations.
Psalm 127 also describes God as the builder, without whom we labor in vain.
Hebrews 11:3 talks about the universe having been created by God, which makes me think about the aspects of architecture and building and constructing: the knowledge and wisdom that would be behind it.
In Job 38, we can read all about God’s testimony to Job, describing His creation and authority over it.
We read about God laying foundations in Psalm 102:25 and Isaiah 48:13 and Hebrews 1:10.
In John 14, we see Jesus talking about His Father’s house with many mansions, and He goes to prepare a place for His people.

So he lays foundations, he builds, He fortifies, He prepares places. Therefore, while nowhere can I find God specifically called an architect, when we remember the definition of an architect being that of a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of a building—that is absolutely something that God has done, and does. He is the greatest Architect.

Calling God the great architect of the universe is actually a conception discussed throughout centuries by theologians and apologists. Science, especially geometry and astronomy, were linked to the divine for medieval scholars, because of the geometric and harmonic principles found there. They believed that to seek knowledge on those things was a way to seek and worship God. Thomas Aquinas said that “God, Who is the first principle of all things, may be compared to things created as the architect is to things designed.”  In Calvin’s Institutes, John Calvin repeatedly calls God “the Architect of the Universe,” particularly when commentating on Psalm 19—“the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices like a strong man to run its race. Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; and there is nothing hidden from its heat.” (vv1-6)

Colossians 1:17 says, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” It is His genius that not only displays the artistic side of creation but also the engineering, mathematical, tangible side. He didn’t just throw planets and comets and galaxies across the blank canvas when He created solar systems. He put order and logic into the plan. His works are measured, calculated, precise, exact.

Creation Magazine said that our sun is a star in the Milky Way Galaxy, which is a spiral galaxy (there are three types: elliptical, irregular, and spiral). Astronomers estimate the Milky Way is made of over 100 billion stars! And our solar system is ideally placed in one of the arms. If we were too close to the center, we would be swallowed by a massive black hole. If we were somewhere else on the arm of the galaxy, we could be in danger of colliding with other stars. And our stable sun, our special star, is exactly specifically created to bless: it is the right color (white), because if it were red, it would be much cooler and its light could not give plants the energy they need. If it were blue, it would be hotter and emit dangerous radiation. God also has our planet orbit precisely far enough so the oceans don’t boil yet close enough to the sun so they don’t freeze.

We can witness so much of God’s majesty by looking at the things He has created. The blueprints He designed, which He has used millions upon millions of times over, are marvelous. Every snail shell, every toenail, every oak leaf, every sunflower seed, every mountain crag, every tree trunk, every honeycomb, every embryo.

Job 38 is one of the most beautiful Scriptural expressions of God as Creator, as Architect. Here are verses 4-13:
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
“Or who shut in the sea with doors,
When it burst forth and issued from the womb;
When I made the clouds its garment,
And thick darkness its swaddling band;
When I fixed My limit for it,
And set bars and doors;
When I said,
‘This far you may come, but no farther,
And here your proud waves must stop!’
“Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
And caused the dawn to know its place,
That it might take hold of the ends of the earth,
And the wicked be shaken out of it?”

God laid the foundations, determined the measurements, stretched lines and fastened foundations, laid the cornerstone. He shut the sea in with doors, fixing a limit for it, using bars and doors to precisely keep the waves and tides in their place. He commands the sun so that dawn knows where to be and when. This should make us tremble with awe and wonder and praise.

Romans 1:20 tells us that nobody has an excuse not to know God, to see His handiwork, to recognize His power and authority and workmanship and design. We can look at the stars or the insects or the mountains or the tides or the path of the sun, and clearly perceive the hand of the Lord at work.

My encouragement for you today is to look around you and see the Hand of God in the order and mathematics and lines and strength and measurements and glory of creation around you. And then, as a bearer of His image, replicate to the best of your ability and imitate your Father in heaven when you figure math problems and sketch castles and plant seeds and write essays. Divide things, name things, give structure to things. Bring order out of chaos and build upon Him as your strong foundation. He is Your fortress, the mightiest structure of all.

Little Artists, Imaging

Theme: God is the Artist. We are little artists, imaging Him, reflecting Him, looking at our Father and wanting to do what He does. What are we called to do as we imitate the Artist, and how do we love His art?

Verse: Genesis 1:31 “And God saw everything that He had made,
and behold, it was very good.”

Catechism: New City Q4-5
Q: How and why did God create us?
A: God created us male and female in His own image to know Him, love Him, live with Him, and glorify Him. And it is right that we who were created by God should live to His glory.
Q: What else did God create?
A: God created all things by His powerful Word, and all His creation was very good; everything flourished under His loving rule.

Where does Scripture talk about God being the Creator?
From Genesis 1:1 clear up through Revelation 10:6 Scripture is absolutely packed full with reminders that God is the Creator, the Artist, the One through whom all things exist and have their being. Just a few snippets to glance through are John 1:3, Colossians 1:16, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 33:6, Jeremiah 10:12, Hebrews 11:3, Isaiah 45:18, Jeremiah 32:17, Isaiah 40:28, Proverbs 16:4, Revelation 4:11… but look for yourself and you’ll find that there are many more.

I don’t think it is unusual for God to be acknowledged as Creator, at least in Christian circles – but I have heard people hiccup at the nuance of God being an artist. They would argue He is more of a scientist or an engineer or a composer or an author than an artist. Yet, I think we are severely limiting the glory and scope of God if we try to put Him in a single box anyway. (That should go without saying, but there: I said it anyway.) One isolated facet of our incomprehensible, unfathomable Creator is that He is the King of art, Master of artistry, ultimate Painter and Sculptor and Framer and Architect. There should be absolutely zero argument from His people that He produces good and true and beautiful work, and we ought to take exceptional delight in observing His work and seeking to imitate it.

Not infrequently, when driving home after my daughter has ballet lessons, there is a stunning sunset out her window. She once commented that it looked like a painting from a great artist. I told her she wasn’t wrong. And yet, the nuance really is reversed: it is the great human artists who are the imitators. They only paint representations of what God has already painted, created, sculpted, and gifted to us.

When thinking through the creation account in the beginning chapters of Genesis, if you think of it as God taking the chaos and mayhem of everything being void and without shape, it does not conjure up an image of beauty or goodness. But then He takes it into His hands and uses His words as paints and brushes, to separate and delineate. He put in a horizon line and vanishing points when He put firmament and waters into their own specific places. He added depth, dimension, shadow, and vibrancy when He placed lights in the sky to rule day and night. He added color and texture and movement when He placed plants and creatures all around. And He painted Himself into the portrait when He placed mankind in the garden.

In Ephesians 2:10, we are called “His workmanship.” I have always envisioned God as a carpenter in that way. Wearing a toolbelt or something. Ha! But it is so much more rich and fat and beautiful and powerful than that. As we have been studying the works of artists like Leonardo daVinci in recent weeks, and I absolutely marvel over the things that have been produced by the work of mens’ hands, I find that I am somehow underwhelmed by the work produced by the work of God’s words.

I want to grow in wonder and awe of His artistry. The sculpted detail of tree bark. The blended colors washing the sky that are ever changing in sunrise, sunset, rainbow, and aurora borealis. The straightest of all horizon lines when I stand at the edge of the seashore and look out past the waves. The self portraits, countless in multitude, which take their turns walking the dust of the earth for their apportioned days – they were molded from dust, walking on dust, they will return to dust…

Yet one of the most fascinating aspects of His creation and artistry to me is that it is both finite and infinite, temporal and eternal. What returns to dust from my body when it decays in the depths of soil will someday be raised and glorified. I don’t understand the artistry techniques He uses, but I love the Artist and trust His skill. As I marvel at the beautiful and complex works of art in His created order, and then also find the creations of mankind fascinating, may I be drawn to look up to Him in praise and gratitude and awe. May I glean inspiration for my own creativity because of His lavish grace as my Father.