advent | BUNKERVILLE | God, Guns and Guts Comrades!

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Sunday Respite – Carol of the Bells

December 8, 2024 — bunkerville

No little hand bell choir with this rendition. Here is a version that will knock your socks off. They put the pedal to the meddle as they herald the true start of the Christmas season. Crank her up. One of my favorite Christmas carols. I caught this version a couple of years ago and it’s a keeper.

Here is your second chance to catch yesterday’s post of “fun and mayhem” and there sure was some.

Saturday Passel of Fun and Mayhem 12/7

Carol of The Bells – EPIC VERSION (by Samuel Kim)

A few links from fellow bloggers who toil in the swamp for us.

Tacky Raccoons – Some great blues and doesn’t disappoint.

Saturday Matinee – Jesse Welles, The Anthony Paul Soul Orchestra w/ Willy Jordan, Curtis Salgado, and Vanessa Collier

Conservative Tree House – It doesn’t get any easier for the Donald

Using Global Intelligence Services as Justification a Romanian Court Has Nulled Their Election Result – Romania is on Precipice of Chaos

The Daley Gator – Everything you wanted to know about firearms ownership. Blog also contains adult content.

What the Left Wants to Ignore

Pirate’s Cove – That should get some knickers in a knot!

Oh Good Grief: Politico Says Pete Hegseth Wants To Turn Military Into “Christian Weapon”

Have a wonderful day.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: advent, Faith, Sunday, Sunday Respite. 7 Comments »

The Winter Solstice – We Remain Waiting..

December 21, 2023 — bunkerville

Today, December 21, we are given a gift, the return of longer days with the celebration of the Winter Solstice. Soon to follow we celebrate the gift of Jesus and his wonderful light.

Many of our customs today have a basis in those early traditions including Yule logs, mistletoe and Christmas trees – having their roots in the pagan celebrations of the Winter Solstice.

Long before the birth of Christ, our stone age ancestors had their own theologies. They were dependent upon the seasons. As such, they followed the wheel of the year. How anxious they must have been as the days kept growing shorter and wondering if the sun would again return, reborn, gifting longer days once more.

This is Advent — when, as sleepers, we awaken to our own light of love, deep within us, waiting to be reborn again.

Lindsey Mead speaks to the nascent light of her own inner longing as Solstice approached, and offers a meditation by author Meg Casey that captures the hushed beauty of December here

December is a holy month. Maybe it is the dark, silky silence that descends so early that speaks to me of reverence. Maybe it is the promise that December holds — that no matter how dark, how cold, how empty it can get, the light is coming back. Something always shifts in me when December arrives — I embrace the darkness, and am eager for the coming solstice when the whole world is still and holds its breath, waiting to be reborn again.

What a not-to-be-missed treasure the natural season of Advent can be then, when the “nascent light” inside each of us can turn to, and answer, the promises of light surrounding us everywhere in the December dark — the whisper of candlelight from darkened windows, the blue-black light of dusk against the silhouetted trees of winter.

Soon we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We also experience the return of the sun after the darkest night.

At the Winter Solstice we reach the depth of that darkness with the longest night of the year. Darkness has reached its peak.

“Now we start to wonder: will this continue? Will the Earth grow darker and colder as the Sun disappears into the south until only darkness is left? But at Yule a wonderful thing happens. The Sun stops its decline and for a few days it rises in about the same place. This is the crucial time, the cusp between events. The Sun stands still, and everyone waits for the turning.”

In our heads we know the light will return. But in the darkness of Winter, can we be sure? Do our hearts believe what our heads tell us? Will the light keep its promises? We all have moments of darkness, when we don’t know how much deeper we will go before the light starts to return (or even if it will). The Mother earth has moments too; understanding us, and lives as we do.

The Sun does start north again and the light comes back. In the world, in our lives, the light comes back. This is indeed something worth celebrating.

More here

Taryn Harbridge created and performed in this video as part of her music ministry with a medley of Christmas music that I think reflects this pensive mood as we remain waiting…….

I suggest watching it in full screen.

What if we could see the Solstice and the Sun/Son as “the light of the world” as did the ancients for thousands of years before us.

It’s a beautiful video that captures the essence of the season perfectly. Enya singing Silent Night in Gaelic in the background, setting the mood.

So Mote It Be….

Posted in Religion. Tags: advent, Christiananity, Jesus, Solstice, winter, winter solstice. 15 Comments »

Sunday Respite – Carol of the Bells.

December 3, 2023 — bunkerville

For this first Sunday of Advent, as we begin our preparations for the coming of Jesus, we will celebrate the Hope that Christ brings into this dark world.

Prepare the Way for the Lord

(Matthew 3:1-12; Mark 1:1-8; Luke 3:1-20; John 1:19-28)

1Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

2Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.

3The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

5And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Carol of The Bells – EPIC VERSION (by Samuel Kim)

Here is a second chance to catch yesterday’s post full of fun and mayhem

Saturday Passel of Fun and Mayhem

I will close out the post with a few links to fellow bloggers who toil in the swamp for us. One or two may catch your fancy.

Fix Bayonets

How I Replaced the Marine Corps’ Mascot

IMAO

Cartoons and Memes : Saturday Night Special

Night Wind

THE SIGN OF THE DOUBLE-CROSS

Pirate’s Cove

Opera Audience Shouts Down Nutjob Climate Cult Members

Tacky Raccoons

Saturday Matinee – The Pogues, Chelsea Williams & Johnny Winter

The Daley Gator

Chicago’s Marxist Moron Mayor – sailing on the Sea of Denial

The Tactical Hermit

White Man’s Creed

The View from Lady Lake

I’ll meet you at the bar – I have stool reservations. WTF?

Vermont Folk Troth

Americans Have Reason Enough to Revolt ~ Time to Clean America’s House Again — The Federal Observer

That is all she wrote… have a wonderful day.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: advent, Christmas, music, Sunday Respite. 4 Comments »

Celebrating The Winter Solstice December 21, 2022

December 21, 2022 — bunkerville

About this time, with Advent concluding, a pensive and introspective mood often develops as we anticipate the day we honor the birth of Jesus.

Lindsey Mead speaks to the nascent light of her own inner longing as Solstice approached, and offers a meditation by author Meg Casey that captures the hushed beauty of December here

December is a holy month. Maybe it is the dark, silky silence that descends so early that speaks to me of reverence. Maybe it is the promise that December holds — that no matter how dark, how cold, how empty it can get, the light is coming back. Something always shifts in me when December arrives — I embrace the darkness, and am eager for the coming solstice when the whole world is still and holds its breath, waiting to be reborn again.

What a not-to-be-missed treasure the natural season of Advent can be then, when the “nascent light” inside each of us can turn to, and answer, the promises of light surrounding us everywhere in the December dark — the whisper of candlelight from darkened windows, the blue-black light of dusk against the silhouetted trees of winter.

This week we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We also experience the return of the sun after the darkest night today, December 21st.

At the Winter Solstice we reach the depth of that darkness with the longest night of the year. Darkness has reached its peak.

In our heads we know the light will return. But in the darkness of Winter, can we be sure? Do our hearts believe what our heads tell us? Will the light keep its promises? We all have moments of darkness, when we don’t know how much deeper we will go before the light starts to return (or even if it will). The world has moments too; it understands us, and lives as we do.

The Sun does start north again and the light comes back. In the world, in our lives, the light comes back. This is indeed something worth celebrating, and it has been celebrated throughout the Northern Hemisphere in remarkably similar ways since the time of the ancients.

More here

A musical selection.

Taryn Harbridge created and performed in this video as part of her music ministry with a medley of Christmas music that I think reflects this pensive mood as we remain waiting……. You will hear O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, Sing We Now of Christmas, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

I suggest watching it in full screen.

What if we could see the Solstice and the Sun/Son as “the light of the world” as did the ancients for thousands of years before us.

It’s a beautiful video that captures the essence of the season perfectly. Enya singing Silent Night in Gaelic in the background, setting the mood.

Wishing you a wonderful Yule.

So Mote it Be.

Posted in Religion. Tags: advent, Christian, Jesus, winter solstice. 4 Comments »

Sunday Respite – ‘Walking on the Air’

December 11, 2022 — bunkerville

What better way to set the mood for Christmas than something from Andre Rieu. I discovered this arrangement several years ago and put this in my “must” for Christmas each year.

For today’s Sunday Respite I have chosen “Walking in the Air” – André Rieu from “Snowman.”

I will add “The Snow-Storm” by Ralph Waldo Emerson to set the winter mood. No “tracking snow” yet in my part of the world, as my father would say this time of year.

By all means, watch in full screen.

The Snow-Storm

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,

Arrives the snow, and, driving o’er the fields,

Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air

Hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,

And veils the farm-house at the garden’s end.

The sled and traveller stopped, the courier’s feet

Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit

Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed

In a tumultuous privacy of storm.

Come see the north wind’s masonry.

Out of an unseen quarry evermore

Furnished with tile, the fierce artificer

Curves his white bastions with projected roof

Round every windward stake, or tree, or door.

Speeding, the myriad-handed, his wild work

So fanciful, so savage, nought cares he

For number or proportion. Mockingly,

On coop or kennel he hangs Parian wreaths;

A swan-like form invests the hidden thorn;

Fills up the farmer’s lane from wall to wall,

Maugre the farmer’s sighs; and, at the gate,

A tapering turret overtops the work.

And when his hours are numbered, and the world

Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,

Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art

To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,

Built in an age, the mad wind’s night-work,

The frolic architecture of the snow.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: advent, Andre Rieu, Christmas, Holiday. 6 Comments »

Sunday Respite – Winter Solstice, Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 19, 2021 — bunkerville

About this time, the fourth Sunday of Advent, a pensive and introspective mood often develops as we anticipate the day we honor the birth of Jesus.

This is Advent — when, as sleepers, we awaken to our own light of love, deep within us, waiting to be reborn again in the dark stables of our own souls.

Lindsey Mead speaks to the nascent light of her own inner longing as Solstice approached, and offers a meditation by author Meg Casey that captures the hushed beauty of December here

December is a holy month. Maybe it is the dark, silky silence that descends so early that speaks to me of reverence. Maybe it is the promise that December holds — that no matter how dark, how cold, how empty it can get, the light is coming back. Something always shifts in me when December arrives — I embrace the darkness, and am eager for the coming solstice when the whole world is still and holds its breath, waiting to be reborn again.
What a not-to-be-missed treasure the natural season of Advent can be then, when the “nascent light” inside each of us can turn to, and answer, the promises of light surrounding us everywhere in the December dark — the whisper of candlelight from darkened windows, the blue-black light of dusk against the silhouetted trees of winter.

This week we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We also experience the return of the sun after the darkest night on Tuesday December 21st.

At the Winter Solstice we reach the depth of that darkness with the longest night of the year. Darkness has reached its peak.

In our heads we know the light will return. But in the darkness of Winter, can we be sure? do our hearts believe what our heads tell us? Will the light keep its promises? We all have moments of darkness, when we don’t know how much deeper we will go before the light starts to return (or even if it will). The world has moments too; it understands us, and lives as we do.

More here

Taryn Harbridge

created and performed in this video as part of her music ministry with a medley of Christmas music that I think reflects this pensive mood as we remain waiting……. You will hear O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, Sing We Now of Christmas, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

I suggest watching it in full screen.

Wishing you a joyous day.

Posted in Religion. Tags: advent, Christmas, Sunday, Sunday Respite. 13 Comments »

Sunday – Waiting in Silence

December 13, 2020 — bunkerville

For today’s Sunday Respite I have chosen “Waiting in Silence.” It is one of my favorite Advent pieces. About this time, the third Sunday in Advent, a reflective mood often develops as we know we are getting closer to the day we honor the birth of Jesus.

On the lighter side I am including “Chips Tips Wrapping A present.” Appeared on Jimmy Kimmel late 2011

First we start-

Diocese of St. Benedict Old Catholic Missionaries.

Artist Carey Landry: Album: All Is Well with My Soul: Songs for Liturgy and Prayer 1970 – 2010

All credit goes to ABC and Jimmy Kimmel for video below:

Anyone who has wrapped gifts can appreciate Aunt Chippy’s problems.

Some rough language.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: advent, Christmas. 9 Comments »

Sunday Respite – Advent and the Winter Solstice

December 22, 2019 — bunkerville

On Saturday, December 21, we are given the return of longer days with the celebration of the Winter Solstice. Soon to follow we celebrate the gift of Jesus and his wonderful light.

Many of our customs today have a basis in those early traditions including Yule logs, mistletoe and Christmas trees – having their roots in the pagan celebrations of the Winter Solstice.

This is Advent — when, as sleepers, we awaken to our own light of love, deep within us, waiting to be reborn again in the dark stables of our own souls.

Lindsey Mead speaks to the nascent light of her own inner longing as Solstice approached, and offers a meditation by author Meg Casey that captures the hushed beauty of December here

December is a holy month. Maybe it is the dark, silky silence that descends so early that speaks to me of reverence. Maybe it is the promise that December holds — that no matter how dark, how cold, how empty it can get, the light is coming back. Something always shifts in me when December arrives — I embrace the darkness, and am eager for the coming solstice when the whole world is still and holds its breath, waiting to be reborn again.

What a not-to-be-missed treasure the natural season of Advent can be then, when the “nascent light” inside each of us can turn to, and answer, the promises of light surrounding us everywhere in the December dark — the whisper of candlelight from darkened windows, the blue-black light of dusk against the silhouetted trees of winter.

O come, O come, Emmanuel – The Piano Guys