Vigilia Nativitatis Domini

Latter-Day Martinmas
For all those of you fretting that the Christmas lights went up a week ago and the songs started playing in the shops even before that, when everybody (at least in the United States) knows that you shouldn't start worrying about Christmas until after Thanksgiving, it may be reassuring to realize that we Americans actually start the Christmas season somewhat late. Okay, so friends in England have been making the same complaint about the precocious tendencies of town councils and retailers to want to get us thinking about Christmas, but eight hundred or a thousand or even twelve hundred years ago, they, too (that is, the town councils and retailers) would already have been behin

Sexiest Man Alive...Ever
"In the third place there is the physical, visible, palpable beauty of Christ."This can be sub-divided: supernatural beauty, which His most holy flesh was granted in His glorification. It is to configuration with this that our body aspires; and to this it must be brought, when, in the resurrection that is to come our humble body will--according to the apostle's promise (Ph 3:21)--made like to the Body of His Glory. But first we must be conformed to the Passion of Christ and to His crucifixion."But the natural beauty of Christ's Body, when He lived on earth, was so great, so lovely, that of it the psalmist sang: 'You are beauti

Eighth Week of Term
As best I can recall, to the tune of Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969).On Sunday, I went to church, bought some cookies and pumpkin bread at the church auction, graded two sets of papers, and watched two (or was it three?) episodes of season three of Dexter.On Monday, I marked another set of papers (actually, bibliographies for research papers-to-be), attended a staff meeting on Luther's On Christian Liberty, held office hours (during which students came to talk

Reading Lassie's Mind
"It is okay to guess what an animal is feeling, just as it's okay to guess what any human is thinking. This is how we learn to know one another, by guesses based on our own experiences, our (always imperfect) understanding of how someone else communicates what they are feeling or thinking, and our willingness to accept feedback and fine-tune our behavior. It's okay to guess what your dog is trying to communicate as long as you're willing to accept that you might be wrong, correct your misunderstanding and try again. It is not okay to guess what an animal is thinking or feeling if you are unwilling to accept nothing less than absolute compliance with your wishes. Far too common are asser

Puppies 103: Shopping List
1. Collars, lightweight for starters; heavier for later. Not sure whether to go with leather or nylon for the grown-up collar. Probably not a good idea to get rhinestones, but wouldn't my puppy look good wearing diamonds like me? (Really, just kidding, no diamonds. But there are some really pretty patterns, maybe the fleur-de-lis? Or red? Actually, I want the Swarovski crystals.)2. Leashes, one 6-foot, lightweight, nylon or cotton-web (it's only a puppy! No need for a leash heavier than the puppy herself); one 20-foot for training (not retractable!).3. Crate(s), small enough that the puppy can just turn ar