Fourth Sunday of Advent
Peace
In those days Mary set out and went
with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of
Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."
[And Mary
said,
"My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever."]
Luke 1:39-45 [46-55]
Visitation of Mary
PONTORMO,
Jacopo da
1528-1529
Pfarrkirche
Carmignano,
Italy
Detail
"Jean-Luc Nancy has written astutely of the
"unnoticed" details of Pontormo's painting...The second sight to
which we are recruited by Pontormo's painting of the meeting of the divinely
impregnated Mary and her older cousin Elizabeth is signaled, according to
Nancy, by the ecclesiastical Latin meaning of the word "visitatio."
"Visitatio" denotes not merely a visitation but "a procedure for
becoming aware of something, for examining and experiencing something."
(Singer, 180) "The model of the embrace might have come from a slippage of
meaning in the Greek word "aspasmos", which means a joyful, warm, and
emphatic greeting." (from "Ground of the Image" by Jean-Luc
Nancy, 2005, p. 155)
Vision is the art of seeing what is
invisible to others.
~
Jonathan Swift
Peace is the only battle
worth waging.
~
Albert Camus
PTS (Painted Toe Society) Holiday Brunch
Monday,
December 14, 2015
at
Linda Bradford’s home
Linda
Bradford with her daughter, Dorothy Vernon.
Dorothy
came to help her mother!
Most
of our Painted Toe Society
My
wonderful young neighbor, Kaleb,
brought
me a darling (still warm!) gingerbread man
that
they had made.
Thank
you, KALEB!!!
He’s
too cute to eat.
Our
Wednesday Breakfast Group had an abundant breakfast
at
Deborah and Harold Linke’s home.
Deborah
Linke
Steve
Sumner, CEA Director, with Carolyn Seymour at the CAE Thank You Reception.
Carolyn
Seymour is going to have a one-woman exhibit of her paintings
at
Center for the Arts Evergreen in September!
Emily
Corey arranged for our church Book Club to have lunch at Mt. Vernon Country
Club
on
Thursday, but she was not able to join us. So, after lunch, we went
to visit her.
Vicki
Kyle admiring one of Emily’s 36 silver musical bells.
We
wound them all up and had a joyful concert.
Tara
Nellis led the discussion at our Thursday Evening Book Club.
Two
book clubs on one day this month!
At
Rotary, several members of the Evergreen Chorale entertained us.
We
met at the new
El Rancho!
Since
she attends every week with her mother,
Jenna
was given her very own Rotary badge to wear!
Nancy
Eldridge with her daughter, Deidre.
Friday
was Nancy’s last day as our Silver Sneakers “Yoga” instructor
and
she had a champagne party to bid us farewell.
Mankind must remember
that peace is not God’s gift to his creatures;
peace is our gift to each other.
~
Elie Wiesel
December 20, 2015 Fourth
Sunday of Advent
Agnus Day, by
James Wetzstein
Agnus Day appears with the permission
of www.agnusday.org
Merry Christmas to all,and to all a Good Night!
by Tom Newsom
Wednesday Breakfast Group
Micah 5:2-5a
Luke
1:46b-55 Magnificat
OR … Psalm 80:1-7
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45 [46-55]