LA SIERRA BLOG

Blogging Through the Seasons

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Advent 2017

Be still and overwhelmed

It’s ironic to be asked to share some reflections on the word “overwhelmed” at this season, the busiest time of the year for many musicians, including myself. I feel as if I could be the poster child for the concept of being overwhelmed! In addition to the typical stresses that accompany the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, musicians have added music to learn, extra rehearsals, and often a full calendar of performances. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

Advent 2017

Overwhelmed with Advent

This Advent, while not ignoring the negative or heaviness of being overwhelmed, we are also searching for its antithesis: the surprise of being overwhelmed with good. Overwhelmed with calm. With quiet. With insight. With choice. With freedom. With opportunity. With potential. With sameness. With relationships. With ritual. And the list goes on. 

40 Days 2017

Day 0, Archaeologists love tombs

Whenever I visit Jerusalem, I enjoy spending time in a lovely garden just outside the Old City. In this garden, there is a beautiful rolling stone tomb—a tomb! Exciting! Archaeologists love tombs—tombs full of stuff . . . but this tomb is empty. It is believed by many to be the burial place of Joseph of Arimathea, and therefore a possible site of the resurrection of Jesus.

40 Days 2017

Day 39, That awful, Good Friday

The reality of the Good Friday is deeply disturbing—or it ought to be, yet we have learned to live with it. It is as if we have grown accustomed to the sour shock of vinegar. Looking at the news, we don’t have to wonder what time we are living in. It is Friday afternoon.

40 Days 2017

Day 38, Feet aren’t pretty. That’s the point.

“Great!” Kristine said and grabbed what I could only describe at the time as a weird, flat pot. She bounced downstairs, and I followed wide-eyed. “Would you like me to go first?” She asked. I didn’t know what this meant. What did going first mean?