Day 16 Sign #lutheranadvent

Down on White Oak Bayou, I came across this row of grass and other debris, obviously deposited from the last time the bayou was out of it's banks. It's synapse jump or two, this sign of water overflowing, in really kind of scary and dangerous ways, reminded me of the images we invoke in baptism (Noah's flood, being buried with Christ). Water leaves a mark on the land and on our head.

Day 15 Prophet #lutheranadvent

Or prophets. A very few personal ones:

I try not to look ahead, because part of this exercise, for me, is having a single word to think about all day, so if I look ahead, I get the words jumbled. This was one case where I kinda wish I'd taken a picture a few days ago and broken my personal rule about making a new picture everyday for this.

There was a piece of graffiti on a bathroom wall that would have been great for this. I'd already composed in my mind what I'd say about it. "Paul Simon said the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, but we don't have subways in Houston, so we rely on the bathroom walls."

The graffiti was one word: somebody.

So without a picture, I tell this story to bring you a word from the Lord: You are somebody.

Day 14 Wreath #lutheranadvent

With this little picture-a-day exercise, I really dislike the concrete words (rose, wreath) and so tyr to find something not immediately so literal (that's just how I roll). I kept an eye out for some ideas I had in my head for how I might do "wreath," but in the end, none of those things materialized. So while waiting for a bus---and I had a long-ish wait for the next one---I saw a bunch of leaves. I decided that while literal, this made a nice little piece of mini-land-art. I'm sure the wind has scattered the leaves again by now.

Day 13 Good News #lutheranadvent

I'd taken a different picture this morning for today's theme but then as I was walking to my apartment from the bus stop . . .

It's hard to tell what's happening here---I took the picture from a distance on purpose, to avoid invading others' misfortune---but all the lights on the other side of the street are flashing lights from a fire truck and ambulance. As I walked by , I saw there was someone on the sidewalk and they were laying a stretcher next to him/her. There were no parked (or crashed) cars nearby and I wonder if it's one of the neighborhood's homeless guys---they camp about a block from there. I thought, "blessed are the broken, for they will be cared for." also: turn around---here is the Reign of God. 

So I took this picture.

Day 12 Await #lutheranadvent

I have this relationship with the moon that I don't think I've ever written about. Maybe it's because I was a preschooler when Neil Armstrong set foot on it or maybe it's something more primal. I can't say. The moon in a day sky especially feels mysterious and, in some way, inviting. Just a white orb in a field of blue.

Today's word, "Await," had a few possibilities for me, particularly since I rely on public transportation in a city notoriously bad for public transportation. In other words, I spend a lot---a LOT---of time waiting at bus stops.

But that "A" at the front of the word felt like something other than "waiting" for a bus or for the Messiah  or even Godot for that matter. It felt like something less tangible than even the undefined Godot. Wouldn't the play have a different feel if it were called "Awaiting Godot"?

Maybe I'm having some idiosyncratic word parsing here. It's a feeling, not a definition.

Anyway, as I've thought on the word all day, I kept coming back to a night sky and particularly the moon. A moon seems to have some promise in it to me (again, an Apollo thing?) but it's not going to fulfill it, either. It just hangs there and says, "at dawn, maybe, you'll see . . . "

Something about the moon teases me with potential I can't name . . . 

Day 11: Beginning #lutheranadvent

Day 10 Rejoice #lutheranadvent