The Beautiful, The Silly, and the Challenging

The beautiful:.  As we all know, I love stained glass.  And so, LOOK at this window:

At 

It appears this morning over at the  dotmagis blog in celebration of today's Feast of the Immaculate Conception (which, as we all know, is the Catholic feast day in honor of the conception of Mary, not of Jesus, right ????).  In my home church, our four-part adult education series for Advent this year focuses on "Mary for Protestants" and this coming Sunday the topic is art.  I so wish I could be there, but I'm preaching elsewhere.  Last week I was able to attend, and we had a wonderful presentation on the development of 14th century music about Mary.  Sounds a little arcane, but this is the third time this particularly delightful college professor has come back for a visit:  He always reminds us that he's a Jewish professor of medieval and Renaissance music, and he's also taught us about Gregorian chant and Reformation hymns!

The Silly: Quotidian Grace's annual Sappy Christmas Song Contest is underway.  The closest thing to Rodgers and Hammerstein you'll find during Advent.  No, seriously -- you really don't want to miss some of the worst lyrics ever produced.  Although at the moment verse 2 is quite impressive.  (No, that one's not mine.)

The Challenging:  My Advent blog (see sidebar) has become sort of a scrapbook this year, and I particularly love the material in today's post. If you are moved by poetry and if Advent is not the easiest of seasons for you, that might be your page right now.

Or just enjoy them all! ~ that's what I'm doing today.