A Christmas Feast

After waking up to snow, we had a nice lazy morning, an incredible breakfast, some time to just sit and enjoy the tree in Pilgrim Hall, worship (of course) and finally an incredible Christmas Feast.  We had beef and pork roast, and I'm not able to remember all the dishes, but all sorts of fancy vegetables, salads, and of course... desserts!

At the end of the meal, Br. James (the guesthouse manager) brought out Hari, Robyn and Tim, the creators of the meal who all received a standing ovation!



And that brings another visit to the monastery to an end.  Again, it was a warm time of praising God and meeting old friends and making new ones.  I never cease to be amazed at the different people who come to retreat here... my companions on this journey so to speak.  This time I had the pleasure of dining with both an elementary school woodshop teacher, and a seamstress for the Metropolitan Opera. 

It was a Merry Christmas!

White(ish) Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!

We awoke today to the perfect amount of snow, considering that we have a 2 hr drive this afternoon.

Christmas Eve - Worship and Merriment

We went down early for worship this evening since seating last year was pretty tight.  They had an organist, a flute or two, someone on a harp, a vocalist and Br. James (the only one I could see) on an oboe.  Music in the chapel always sounds good - even bad notes (I'm not implying that there were any, just making a point about the acoustics).

The late service on Christmas Eve is similar to that found at any church... lots of hymns, the typical readings and the like.  There's no chanting of psalms like most of the other monastic worship experiences.  The chapel looked stunning of course and the readings, mood and music all came together to bring Joy to everyone.

After worship was over, everyone - guests and visitors included - was invited over to Pilgrim Hall for what is termed on the program as "Christmas Merriment".  Nobody went away hungry from this... lots of food, eggnog (yes, "enhanced" eggnog was available), all sorts of wonderful stuff.  This STARTED around midnight!  As they say, a good time was had by all...

We had a moment on our way to hear the music before worship to have our photo taken... have a Merry Christmas everyone!

A Meditation (and thoughts on assumptions)

We gathered in Pilgrim Hall for a meditation this evening - sort of a way of transitioning between the two services.  Rev. Suzanne Guthrie gave a wonderful meditative reading and interpretation of the Christmas story... with individual sections on Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, Magi, etc.

As I was listening to it, I realized that to someone who wasn't raised as a Christian, there are an awful lot of assumptions we make about the Christmas story.  We say the word "Shepherds" and an image comes to our minds - even though many of us have never seen one - but what if you weren't raised on these stories.

Vicky said that to me afterwards... "You've heard this story before, haven't you?"  Well, um, yes... perhaps I have.  Actually, I've heard and read this story many times each December since I can remember.  She was curious as to why we would all sit around in rapt attention to hear it again.  I tried to explain that each person and each retelling offers a different take on the story and all that builds over the years into what we call faith.  Rev. Suzanne's take was to help the listeners try to picture themselves in the story... and bring the present world into the story.

I gave Vicky a Bible and encouraged her to read the first few chapters of Luke.  That may have been a mistake as I'm getting a steady stream of questions as I write this blog.  So far...

What are Magi?

What is a descendant?

Who was David?

Who was John?  (Which one... my son... the disciple... the Gospel author... turns out it was John the Baptist - from Luke 1)

What does "manger" mean?

Why did God pick Mary?

On that last one, I tried telling her that "learned people" have been debating that for thousands of years.  Answering these challenge my own faith in new ways.  What exactly does the Christmas story tell us?  Which details are important to my faith, and which are adornments? 

As I said earlier, it's a privilege to be along on this journey.

Monks in Hats!

There are all sorts of surprises in the monastery at Christmas.  Tonight at Vespers we were singing the hymn "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" and Br. Roy started it in Unison (melody only - the way the monks usually sing hymns) and we all joined in as usual... but at the beginning of the second verse the monastic choir suddenly broke into 4 part harmony and everyone in the congregation also went to their parts.  It was glorious... no organ, no instruments, just human voice.  It was a nice surprise.

Like last year, the service ended with a wonderful candelight procession around the church to the creche while singing "Silent Night".  Last year I was told the story of how two people showed up at the monastery a while back and offered to make artwork in exchange for lodging.  This wonderful creche, made from discarded timbers, was one of their works.

After Vespers, we had our first feast of Christmas - roasted turkey breast, stuffing and zuccini.  The circle around the table is growing as more guests arrive.

And the other surprise at Dinner was... MONKS IN HATS!  One of the regular guests brought santa hats for all the brothers. 

You can feel the mood lightening all around the place... earlier I heard a brother whistling "Silent Night" as he was walking down the hall.

Christmas Decorating

After lunch (if the meals are switched so the main meal is at night, I guess that means we can call the Noon meal lunch?).... Anyway, after lunch we launched into decking the halls, building the creche, moving the poinsettas and the like.  I helped Br. Bernard in the chapel for the first part where we set up the creche, perfected the seating (figuring out how to accomodate the extra guests without too much knee damage), set up the poinsetta display by the altar.  Then I joined Vicky in Pilgrim Hall where the tree trimming was going on and a little contest started in decorating the window sills.  Greens were being put up everywhere.  Afterward, there was time for a quick nap before all the festivities begin at 5:00.

Exploring the Hudson

Each time I come here I always reserve just a little bit of time to explore around the Hudson. valley. I had to run north to quickly stop by a pharmacy (in my quest to unpack stuff before rushing here, I forgot to pack some things).

On the way back we took a side road and stopped by the little river lighthouse a tad north of the Monastery for a quick look.

A Quiet Morning

I woke up and realized there was only 3 minutes until the bell rang out for Matins (early morning worship). Somehow I made it.

The monastery has a sort of somber beauty. The leaves have all fallen, so you can see more of the river than usual. The sun was just rising as we finished worship and got ready for breakfast. I went out on the Great Cloister where the rising sun had intensified the redness of the brickwork... very peaceful - and cold - out there.

Why Would You Spend Christmas at a Monastery?

Because of our recent move, I've condensed all the normal Christmas Preparations into one week.  We deliberately avoided Christmas preparations (except to order some photo cards) ahead of the move as it made no sense, and I didn't want things to get lost amid the sea of boxes.  I've had one box that was well labeled with Christmas stuff that showed up ahead of the packers and I guarded it like a treasure.  It was quite a rush this past weekend to get some shopping in, find all the essential items from the moving boxes and get up here.

Notice the words above... Christmas stuff.  In our culture today, that's what it's all about, isn't it?  I mean, anything having to do with Christmas - even the Creche I gave Vicky for her first Christmas in our new home - qualifies as "stuff" in some sense.  You just can't get away from it.  You want to send greetings to distant family members... you need Christmas cards - more stuff.  I gave away our old Christmas tree after last year (because I knew my days with the 12' ceiling were limited) so now I had to get a little 5' tree - you guessed it, more stuff.  Sure the stuff can have symbolism.  It can help us focus on Christ.  It can aid our worship.  But frequently, the stuff aspects of it triumph any redeeming qualities.  How long did I spend selecting the right Creche, the perfect tree, the... well you get the idea.

I've wrestled with this for decades.  Raising a family and trying to balance the gift giving with some aspect of worship that day (do you know how hard it is in some areas to find a church open on Christmas day), you frequently loose the focus on Christ's birth and the incredible gift God gave us.  Amid the trains, new flashlights, cookies, dinner, travel, etc., you're lucky if you can carve out an hour or two for God... some years you can't. 

Combining a retreat - that's what any visit to the monastery is - with Christmas gives you the opportunity to break some of these patterns (even if it's only for a few days).  Holy Cross is a "thin place".  You can feel the separation between man and God is less here.  From the moment you walk in the door, you feel two things - a sense of welcome and a holy presence.  They're around you constantly.  (I used to think it was a happy accident... I've since learned that the brothers work incredibly hard to achieve that.)  For the couple of days you're here, the focus IS God and the gift he gave us in Jesus.  Yes, you get to play with wonderful stuff - trim a huge tree, help set up a unique room-size creche, hang garland, etc.  But you don't "own" any of it which greatly helps in putting the stuff in the context of God.

I learned all this last year when what should have been a sucky Christmas (my first after the divorce with my son away at his mother's, etc.) turned out to be one of the best for me.  Everyone who is here for Christmas is seeking something and we're all each other's family for the few days.  Yes, afterward I went to visit family and take part in the typical American Christmas, but those few days at Holy Cross were an essential time for me.

This year, I expect that sharing it with someone special will increase it's meaning to me. Vicky is still exploring this thing we call faith.  That has been an incredible privilege to watch this these past few months.  I look forward to seeing how it all plays out this year.

Christmas the Monastery Way

I had a chance to check the schedule... Today is a normal monastic schedule. We had Vespers at 5:00, Supper is at 6:00 and then compline a little after 8:00 before spending the night in silence.

Tomorrow is normal as well until Noon. After Dinner (the Noon meal), we'll start to trim the large tree in Pilgrim Hall and set up the rest of the guesthouse, etc. a service involving a procession to the Crèche is at 5:00, with dinner later and a more formal worship with lots of music after 10:00 PM. That all follows with "Christmas Merriment" after midnight.

Christmas Day starts with sleeping in, then worship and a feast before heading back home.

We made it!

Whew! We made it just in time for Vespers (with 15 minutes to spare). It's been a whirlwind few months with a condo purchase, packing a move and unpacking. A couple of days of decompression as we observe Christmas with the brothers is needed.

We're in St. Mary Magdelene, which overlooks the river. A barge was there to welcome us.

But I hear the bell ringing... Gotta go.