3rd Day of Christmas: St. John, Apostle & Evangelist

This morning, despite have been up long after my accustomed bedtime last night watching the first of the three Lord of the Rings videos we are watching this holiday, I managed to be awake in time to brave the snow flurries* to attend Matins & Mass again this morning, the Third Day of Christmas. (*Those who haven't lived in Seattle have no idea what a mess snow brings to this area with a bad combination of little equipment, hills, inexperienced drivers, and aggravating climatic conditions; many places that get more snow are better able to deal with it.)

We had a smaller turnout than yesterday, but I had reconfirmation that it's been a long time, if ever, that I have attended Holy Communion on this day. None of the Collect, Epistle and Gospel were familiar, and Fr. Daniel's extemporaneous homily on St. John brought in elements of his life I had not known. ("Extemporaneous" means, in part, that it will not appear on the church website -- at least not until we work out a way to record audio, but maybe that's going a bit too far.)

I was shocked to learn at the beginning of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto (I think in sorrow of a friend who lived in Pakistan for a while and fell in love with the country and its people, in much the same way Kathy did with Iran), and local killings (in nearby Carnation WA). Fr. Daniel rightly referred to his most recent Advent sermon in this regard.