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Christmas Day 2019: O Sacred and Immortal Day

“We mortals all may find in Him a brother”

Blair’s Thoughts: It’s been an emotional and eye-opening journey for me during this advent. I learned a lot about my fellow man as some responded to my readings this year. I had hoped perhaps to open up some dialogues about the photos, song lyrics or my readings, but there were only two who wrote me with questions, and they were both quite negative. One…

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Advent Day Twenty-Four: We Three Kings

“Its bitter perfume breathes a life of gathering gloom”

Blair’s Thoughts: Here in Central New York, I sometimes awaken to a blanket of fog surrounding our home. It’s always surreal and makes me feel like I’m living in a fantasy novel. However, the picture above is no fantasy, but a reality caused by air pollution in New Delhi. In several countries in Asia and the Middle east, the air pollution…

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Advent Day Twenty-Three: I Wonder as I Wander

“Poor on’ry people like you and like I”

Blair’s Thoughts:How many of you remember the image above? It was published in September of 2011 as a symbol of growing discontent within America’s working poor. Did you know that if you earned $5,000 a day since Columbus first landed in America, you still would not be a billionaire? And yet, there are more than 600 billionaires in the United States alone.…

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Advent Day Twenty-Two: It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

“Its Babel sounds”

Blair’s Thoughts: The other day I tried an experiment. I turned the silent feature off on my cellphone for several hours. I also set the notify function on all of my apps to on. Normally I leave all of them off, as well as the ringer and don’t use the vibrate function either. So, really, I use my phone like an answering machine, and play the occasional word game or check my…

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Advent Day Twenty-One: Away in a Manger

“The cattle are lowing”

Blair’s Thoughts:Americans love their beef. I find it interesting that of all the “fast foods” over the years, hamburgers are still the king. I do enjoy a nice burger or steak now and then, but I’ve definitely cut back as the prices have skyrocketed over the past few years. Sure, you can still get crappy cheap burgers at drive-thru’s, but when my wife and I go out to a…

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Advent Day Twenty: The Coventry Carol

“Herod the king, in his raging, Chargèd he hath this day His men of might in his own sight All young children to slay”

Blair’s Thoughts: Since 2017, our current administration, led by D. J. Trump has separated more than 5,400 children including infants and toddlers from their parents near the Mexico/U.S. border. Several hundred of these children have been locked in cages. This is a clear violation…

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Advent Day Nineteen: Nations, That Long in Darkness Walked

“With judgment clear, and justice right”

Blair’s Thoughts: My only interactions with police have been speeding tickets. Being white, middle class and middle aged, I don’t have the same concerns as my brothers and sisters with darker skin tones. Over the past several years the news has been filled with stories about white police officers shooting unarmed men, women and even youths of color. And…

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Advent Day Eighteen: Once in Royal David's City

Advent Day Eighteen: Once in Royal David’s City

“With the poor, and mean, and lowly”

Blair’s Thoughts:Isn’t it a strange thing that in the “greatest country in the world”, there are some who are still homeless? Few of them grew up that way. Many had families, jobs, and places to live. A fair number of them were in America’s military. Especially at this time of the year, I find it baffling that people care more about buying lots of unnecessary…

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Advent Day Seventeen: What Child is This?

“The silent Word is pleading”

Blair’s Thoughts: Silence is golden. Not really. As we have discovered over the past few years, women are no longer staying silent about sexual abuse. It started with a movie producer who was accused by dozens of women of taking advantage of his position of power to use them for his own needs. It continued from there and changed the lives of several high profile men…

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Advent Day Sixteen: Go Tell It on the Mountain

“Go, tell it on the mountain”

Blair’s Thoughts:Perhaps unsurprisingly, I had already chosen the above photo before Time Magazine had recently chosen Greta Thunberg as the person of the year. Greta is an unusual choice, not because she is a teenager, nor because she has Asperger’s. No, she is unusual in that she has become the unofficial spokesperson for a generation that is often dismissed as…

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Advent Day Fifteen: Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming

Advent Day Fifteen: Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming

“Half spent was the night”

Blair’s Thoughts: With so many serious issues happening around the globe in the new millennium including the climate crisis, the rise of right wing governments, racism, the #metoo movement, financial inequity, warmongering and on and and on, we are closer to the doomsday clock striking midnight than ever before.

Some see this as the end times and welcome it, hoping for…

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Advent Day Fourteen: O Come All Ye Faithful

“Light of light”

Blair’s Thoughts:At this time of the year, light is very important to me. I wake up when it is dark, and get home from work when it is dark. Luckily, I don’t sit in an office all day, but I do a lot of driving for my job. An average of 50 miles a day. On days when there is sun, I often will sit in my car after a gig and just soak up the sunlight for a few minutes before I head…

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Advent Day Thirteen: In Dulci Jubilo

“My heart is sore”

Blair’s Thoughts: The holidays can be a difficult time for a lot of folks. As I perform music at various senior facilities, I elicit all kinds of reactions. Some are happy, tapping their feet to the beat and singing along; while others can be reduced to tears. One phenomenon that still amazes me is “broken heart” syndrome. It mainly affects men who have suffered heart attacks.…

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Advent Day Twelve: Angels We Have Heard on High

“What is this celebration for?“

Blair’s Thoughts: The above picture is from November 8, 2016. It shows a celebration of young people who are wildly enthused that their candidate was elected to the highest position of power in the United States. Although to call America “united” is a stretch. The 45th president lost the popular vote by the largest margin ever in US history. In any case, things…

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Advent Day Eleven: The First Nowell

“One entered in then, for to see, And found the Babe in poverty”

Blair’s Thoughts: My memories of growing up in the 1970’s included television breaks featuring spokespeople like Sally Struthers asking for donations to help impoverished children around the world. To my young mind, this seemed like a documentary about an alien race on some other planet. I was a white, middle class American living in…

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Advent Day Ten: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence "Ponder nothing earthly-minded" Blair's Thoughts: Climate change, loss of species and devastation of our beautiful earth are increasing at a breakneck pace.

Advent Day Nine: Hark the Herald Angels Sing

“That man no more may die”

Blair’s Thoughts: For many years my wife and I couldn’t afford health insurance. We were either lucky or blessed to have no major health issues. I had lost my full time job and all of the additional benefits after ten years of working my way up to vice president, and try as I might, I could not find a similar position that would support my family. So, I joined the ranks…

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