12/29/08

Happy New Year


Just popping in to say hello! I hope everyone had a delightful, peaceful Christmas. Ours certainly was. I had a lot that I wanted to share today, but I've been cleaning all weekend, buying groceries, etc., in preparation for my in-laws' arrival tonight from Ohio, and I find myself a bit brain-drained! I will mention, though, that I've finally made a good dent in Acedia & Me by Kathleen Norris. (excerpt here) (In case you are not familiar with her, she had several books on the bestseller lists a decade or so ago, mostly dealing with religion and, a personal favorite topic of mine, living in western South Dakota.) Acedia & Me was a bit slow to get into, but now I'm finding myself absolutely fascinated by the connections she's making between acedia and so many of the issues in our society. I'm sure there are other interviews out there, but you can find one here. I'm marking lines on nearly every page and will likely read it again soon so I can more fully grasp the concepts. So much of what she writes is resonating with me, although she does write from a somewhat different tradition of Christianity than I am in.

I was blessed with many thoughtful gifts this Christmas. One I want to mention for my Orthodox friends is Mary the Mother of God: Sermons by Saint Gregory Palamas, edited by Christopher Veniamin and available from Mount Thabor Publishing at St. Tikhon's Monastery. I began this book this summer while visiting friends (who subsequently sent it and two other books from the series for my gift!) and found it insightful, entralling, and well translated/edited. I am eager to complete the book and the other ones that came with it. I read so much fiction this fall that I decided to force myself to return to non-fiction for a time.

I will be back next week with more photos and more to share. I wish all of you a wonderful beginning to 2009!

10 comments:

Pres. Kathy said...

Christ is Born! Glorify Hime!

Kassianni said...

I started reading Acedia & me, but had to return it to the library.
I hope to finish it in the new year. I really appreciated her insights as well.

thanks for the other book mention. I will be sure to look that one up ( and suggest it for our church library!)

DebD said...

Thanks for the book recommendations. Have a lovely visit with your in-laws.

Cindy said...

Blessings to you in 2009, too. The book you mentioned sounds interesting and I'll have to add it to my list, which is growing! lol

Anonymous said...

Happy New year!!

Mimi said...

Christ is Born! I am off to look for that book, thanks!

KatCollects said...

I wanted to wish you a very Happy New Year filled with many blessing from above. I finally posted the rest of my swaps, YEAH! It was so nice to meet you through emails and our blogs this year.
Hugs,
Kathy

ELK said...

new year ~ such excitement ~

walter and me said...

A happy new year to you! Blessings for all that lies ahead. x

donna said...

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Looking forward to reading lots of great blog posts in 2009!