The Annunciation set to glorious music

Many churches traditionally read the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, the Mother of our Lord, on the 4th Sunday of Advent.

Quotes from the Annunciation in Luke's Gospel and also from John chapter 1 ("the Word became Flesh") are interspersed with the Ave Maria ("Hail Mary") in a traditional Roman Catholic devotion called the Angelus.  In addition to the "Hail Mary"s, these are the Biblical verses and the prayer that are recited in this Devotion in remembrance of Christ's Incarnation: 

The angel declared unto Mary, (Lk. 1:28)
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord
Let it be to me according to your word." (Lk. 1:38)

The Word was made flesh
And dwelt among us. (John 1:14)

The Angelus ends with a prayer that is also found in the Anglican Common Prayer book (at the end of the Mid-day Prayer liturgy):

Pour your grace into our hearts, O Lord, that we who have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his Cross and passion be brought to the glory of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.  (2019 Book of Common Prayer, p. 38)

Franz Biebl's musical setting of the Angelus is one of the most beautiful works of art that I know, and the amazing choral ensemble, Voces8, has (along with "The Ringmasters") put out a new recording of it just this month, which has already enriched my life. 

Average homebuyer is now 56 years old!

I live in a parsonage, though in the past I've owned a condo.  In the future I hope to own a house again.  Many people of my generation will not be able to own a home, or not until late in life.  Here is a discussion from the good folks at "Breaking Points" about new data indicating that, right now, the average age of a homebuyer is 56 years old.  The average age of a first time homebuyer is nearly 40!

Our country faces a housing cost problem.  It isn't as bad (yet) as in countries like the UK and Canada (which many young adults are fleeing), but it needs to be addressed by policy makers and financial institutions.  

I suspect the increasing improbability of ever achieving "the American dream" is one more contributing factor in "the meaning crisis" or cultural malaise that so many commentators have been concerned about. 

The Tabernacle, the Exodus, the Cross, and the Lord's Prayer

Here is a great video from Joe at the 'Young Anglican' channel in which he does a great job showing the symbolic and typological connections between the Story of Israel, the Architecture of the Tabernacle/Temple, salvation through Christ, and even the Lord's Prayer. 
 Very interesting stuff, some of which I had not even noticed before.  

Population Crash: Causes, Challenges, Responses

"Re-enchantment" with Rod Dreher

The great New Testament Scholar and Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright uses a vivid image in one of his books about how the rationalism of post-Enlightenment Modernity has affected spirituality.  With its insistence on elevating empirical and scientific knowledge to the highest (or even the only) reliable form of knowledge, dispensing with folk wisdom, intuitive, or spiritual forms of knowledge, Modernity was (spiritually speaking) like paving over a green field with concrete.  But, over time, the concrete starts to crack.  A hodge-podge of wildflowers and grass and weeds start to pop through.  

Wright points to various movements - Romanticism, Spiritualism (with its seances), and New Age spiritualities - as reactions to the smothering rationalism.  The spiritual realities - because they really are part of our life and experience - have a way of popping through the concrete.  The Charismatic movement in the churches, the rediscovery of the Mystics through the Spiritual Formation movement, and the resurgence of Traditionalist forms of piety (as with the appeal of the Latin Mass among many younger Roman Catholics) are all Christian expressions of this same "popping through" of the super-natural.  What the Rationalists dismissed as 'irrational' may actually be 'trans-rational' and have an unexpected staying power.

So, in recent decades, as scholars have noted the "paradigm shift" from Modernity into Post-modernity there has been an openness to re-evaluating and even reclaiming the spiritual and purpose-filled dimension to life that goes beyond empirical knowledge.  Nowadays many people are talking - openly and excitedly - about the "Re-enchantment" or "Re-sacralization" of our lives in this world. 

Here is one such conversation between news commentator Emily Jashinsky (of the 'Undercurrents' and 'Breaking Points' web-shows) and Eastern Orthodox Christian author and cultural critic (and personal friend) Rod Dreher about "Re-enchantment."  It is very much worth the watch.