Hello February, My Old Friend........
It's Groundhog Day, Again
My brother from another mother, John Heers, who helps me remember that old things breathe life into the new. and his commenting friends, have helped me expand on my own thoughts from one of my latest newsletters, Co-infections and a Good Report, which were spoken in regard to being forced to slow down by illness….
It’s January and instead of setting exercise and weight loss goals and fast-forwarding things to Spring, I’ve been replacing the Christmas lights with fairy lights and candles while reading and enjoying Slow Seasons by Rosie Steer. Rosie has helped me nurture slowness. Having a chronic illness has forced me to slow down, but it has also taught me how to be ok with slowing down. I’ve learned to love the slow season of winter and doing things that align with it. Rosie has some great ideas in her book, but simply looking back to things I used to enjoy and did in my youth, that were distinctively seasonal, is another place I’ve gone for good ideas. I have also found that living within a more traditional, liturgical, church calendar also helps me with this because the traditional church calendar is still connected to nature, agriculture, and the change of seasons in many ways……..
John’s inspiring thoughts from Our Calendar Is Killing Us helped me to do a real bon fide Janus, January, look backward & forward.
If you think of time you inevitably start to think of aging and movement, a passing, a thing that is going “forward” and something that catches up. Most of us think of time this way. If you’re a student of history, time and the notion of a timeline go together. This Substack article is about the way people and cultures understand themselves in time, and the crisis of meaning in which we people of the “common era” find ourselves.
All of these thoughts really came to a head when I found myself staring at a Russel Stover’s chocolate coated marshmallow heart and a Reeses peanut butter egg sitting side by side, at the same time, on a dollar store shelf, tempting me to partake of them in spite of their mish mashing, or running together, of seasons. I almost giggled with giddy delight at the sight of them sitting there as the old, raised in the modern world me, collided with my new to me, old liturgical church calendar. It made me wonder what St. Valentine would think of this mish mashing of hearts and eggs. I could almost justify eating them both at once if only I could just associate these chocolate sirens with Jesus and symbolically connect the heart of Christ with the egg of Easter and the resurrection. But then I heard the spirit of St. Matthias, the patron saint of addicts, ask me if I had a chocolate problem. It was as if he was whispering in my ear, have a little self-control Stephanie, don’t let them mish mash you and turn your seasons into a hazy, chocolate induced, turkish delight, blur again.
Sometimes I don’t totally understand everything John is saying because he has lived different experiences in the Old World that I haven’t, and he presents things in a way that makes them seem a bit mysterious to me, but the thoughts of his friends helped shed some more light on all of these time thoughts-
“I don't think it's possible for our culture to have its own zero. We created a world in which man is the highest consciousness, and therefore the measure of all things,”
~Z
“Can we order our lives around Christ's birth, death and resurrection without knowing the year... I am inclined to think we can... "The calendar was made for man, not man for the calendar..."
~F
“It would be interesting to think about the beginning of year 0, and thus every year, which of course before light people was not January 1st but, obviously!, March 25th. That's why you read dates like "March 1512-13" in olden letters.”
~A
and
Then there was this meme from Anglican Christians Praying helping to bring all the New Year thoughts together.
Hello old me!
Do you see that light trying to shine through that dark and dusty window over yonder? It’s coming from the East and it’s not Juliet or Romeo or TS or JT or Phil, the groundhog. It’s The Christ! He is the sun, moon, and stars! Let Him be your Prince of Peace, your lamp stand, your measure of time for all eternity and you will find rest for your weary soul.
The modern world may have already celebrated the end of their dark season on January 22nd, see the following educational visual aide-
However, most German hedgehogs and some savvy Christians know that dark spooky season starts on October 31st which is All Hallows' Eve.
Clare Coffey helps stir our old memories-
Halloween is properly the inauguration of the spooky season. It marks the turning from the golden late summer and fall harvest season to something darker. The Jack-o’-lanterns go out, the days become shorter, the chill more serious, the stars between the naked trees cold and admonitory. The death of everything is in the air.But you can’t sell candy after October 31, so spooky season ends with Halloween rather than beginning it. The grimacing pumpkins are tossed and the jingle bells go up.
And most groundhogs and some savvy Christians know that Candlemas and the celebration of the return of the light begins on February 2nd, not January 22nd which jumps the gun. Some of us may want to get a head start on light season, but doing so will not outwit mother nature, Punxsutawney Phil, or Jesus Christ.
February 2 is the midpoint between the darkest and the brightest days of winter, between the winter solstice (approximately December 21) and the spring equinox (approximately March 21). “Light and dark,” as St. Paul has remarked, “have nothing in common” (2 Corinthians 6:14). They oppose each other in a most fundamental way. One symbolizes life and being, the other symbolizes death and non-being. When God said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3), he triumphed over the darkness that could not comprehend the light (See John 1:4-5). Here, light has a twofold meaning: the illumination of the world as well as the illumination of the mind.
February 2 is the tipping point in the conflict between light and dark. One can imagine two formidable opponents engaged in a strenuous wrist-wrestling match. February 2 marks the day in which light begins to gain the upper hand. In each successive day, light is revealed more fully until the spring equinox, when light defeats darkness just as Christ conquers sin.
If Candlemas Day be fair and bright
winter will have another flight
But if Candlemas Day be clouds and rain
winter is gone and will not come again
Let There Be Light!
I don’t think it’s necessary to take the groundhog out of February 2nd, but taking the Christ out of February 2nd may be a poor choice. The groundhog’s light is affected upon clouds and weather patterns, Christ’s light is not.
February, februare, to purify or Februa the Roman festival of expiation.
Feast Days:
February 2nd Candlemas Day
February 14th St. Valentine
February 24th St. Matthias
For those of you whose heart just skipped a beat, keep calm, the olden days people knew that you fast from things like meat and dairy (not chocolate) for lent (fasting is not exactly the same thing as giving something up), and I’ve heard Dr. T say that chocolate is a health food (in moderation of course), so those chocolate marshmallow hearts are still very good for a St. Valentines Day Ash Wednesday love treat. Save up the meat and dairy you won’t be eating during Lent for the Resurrection Day Love Feast of the Lamb and set aside some to give to those who are in need of a fine meal. Did it just occur to anyone else that the candy and movie people may have pulled the wool over our glazed over eyes? I think it’s time to watch one of my favorite movies, Chocolat, and ponder all the modern Lenten movie thoughts.
Happy February to you! May God bless you and keep you forever and ever and ever, amen.
and
Don’t forget, to Pray First.
Heavenly Father,
Please help everyone who has gathered here find everything needed to heal their entire being- mind, body, spirit - soul. Please provide us with the grace that we need to bear our trials well.
Please forgive all of our sins. You have created everything in your power, and you have given us the breath of life. In every breath that we take, in every morning that we wake, and in every moment of every hour, we live under your healing care. Please touch us with your merciful, kind, loving, healing, power. Recreate us in your image. Heal our sick soul by your healing power. Cast out anything that should not be in us and replace it with everything good that should be within us. Bind up what is broken within us. Remove and replace any inflamed, damaged, cancerous, or unproductive cells, bones, and tissues from our body and cleanse us from all illness. May the warmth of your healing power pass into our body and make the sick areas of our soul new so that our entire being will heal and be used to bring glory to your wonderful name, that we might be used for your Kingdom to bring you honor and glory.
In Jesus name, Amen.
*Leaving Death in the Dust is a newsletter and is not a replacement for professional, regulated, medical, healthcare. This is informational and educational. Some of us in this community may have worked in the healthcare system, but we are not your medical provider and whatever you find here is not the establishment of a professional medical relationship or medical advice. **That is an MT behind my name not an MD.
Best Wishes,
Stephanie
Simeon’s Song of Thanks
Jesus Presented at the Temple
22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant[e] depart in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
Luke 2 ESV - The Birth of Jesus Christ - In those - Bible Gateway