LOST

Time travel, monsters, pain, joy, ontology, relationships, peril, paradise, personal triumphs, catastrophic failures, unexplained occurrences, religion; just some of the topics you will find on my favorite show LOST. I am very much excited about Season 6, which is the last and final installment of this "time travel odyssey." Creators Carlton Cuse, Damon Lindelof, and J.J. Abrams have created, what I would consider to be one of the most intricate and perspicacious television show to date. I am not even going to attempt to recap the past five seasons. I will say if you haven’t watched them I would encourage you to do so. We will finally see what becomes of the passengers from Oceanic Flight 815. Lost Season 6 premiers Tuesday, February 2nd at 9PM EST. Below is a stirring recap:

Epiphany

Most Christians I know are not in a liturgical tradition. I personally find this grievous seeing that most Protestants have lost rich Christian holidays and the rhythm that comes from the Christian calender. The liturgical year is as follows:

"The Christian calendar is organized around two major centers of Sacred Time: Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany; and Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, concluding at Pentecost. The rest of the year following Pentecost is known as Ordinary Time, from the word "ordinal," which simply means counted time (First Sunday after Pentecost, etc.). Ordinary Time is used to focus on various aspects of the Faith, especially the mission of the church in the world. Some church traditions break up ordinary time into a Pentecost Season, (Pentecost until the next to last Sunday of August) and Kingdomtide (last Sunday of August until the beginning of Advent)."

Today is Epiphany (January 6th) or three kings day. We are all familiar with the twelve days of Christmas, at least the song. For centuries the church has agreed that there are twelve days of Christmas beginning Christmas day and ending with the feast of Epiphany. The feast of Epiphany is a feast celebrating the 'shining forth' or revelation of God to mankind in human form, in the person of Jesus Christ. Moreover, Epiphany is the date on which Caspar,

Melchior, and Balthasar, who are variously referred to as The Three Kings, Three Wise Men, or Magi arrived from the east bearing gifts for Jesus. In the story they see the star in the west announcing the birth of the Messiah and then follow the star to see the new king. They bring gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh (Matthew 2:1-7).

My hope is that whatever tradition you are in that you would stop and ponder in you heart God's ultimate revelation in the person of Jesus Christ and thank him for our great salvation on this last day of Christmas.

For Want...

I just finished A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’ Engle, which is the second book in her time travel quintet. In the novel she quotes from

the proverb For want of a Nail. In the book it is used to show how a microscopic creature can affect the fate of the universe, and is the impetus for much of what takes place. Here is the proverb:

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

This is a proverb that I have been ruminating on as I begin the New Year. The idea relayed by the proverb- that my seemingly minute attitudes, beliefs, and actions could have catastrophic or constructive effects on my life. The idea in physics known as chaos theory or the butterfly effect viz., that all events are linked and affected by initial conditions.

Proverbs 4:23, Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Happy New Year!