Christmas excursion 

Christmas Eve Photos

Family

Christmas Eve Moon

Christmas Even Moon

Peter 

Andy 

Tim 

Mom 

Joe and Thalia 

Consider this:

All things were made by him. Without him nothing was made; space in all its infinite incomprehensible vastness; the stars, the planets, the galaxies, the universe; all things throughout the farthest reaches of space, from the greatest expanse to the smallest atom (or quark, or string) Our world and everything in it was formed according to his will.This fact alone is enough to make us bow before him with hearts full of reverence….

And yet there is something here far greater to consider, something too wonderful for words, too wonderful for thought. This One who was and is and is to come took the form of a baby something like this -

How marvelous is this! - that the source of all things chose to love his creation; that he condescended to the human race, less than a spec of dust in the immense scope of his cosmos. How true are the words of that old familiar song.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining;

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

In Him we find a union with transcendence. In Him we find the meaning of our existence. In Him we find hope, joy and the expectation of a future more glorious than our minds or hearts can comprehend.

On this day, as we consider the nature of the incarnation, how can we help but praise him. We who are less than nothing, consumed with our sin and pride, can be made righteous. We can know this Jesus who took on himself the form of a man and for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame and has taken his seat at the right hand of God.

A Poem for Chistmas

On Christmas morning, Eddy shared the following poem with us:

The Savior

W. Y. Fullerton

When the morning stars were singing,
And the world was newly born,
And all life was filled with music,
Music of the morn,
There was One above the splendour,
Who commanded it to be;
And in all the heavenly radiance,
None so fair as He!

When man's heart was growing weary
And his feet had gone astray,
And his God seemed high in heaven,
Very far away;
Then there came from heaven the Saviour,
To whom shepherds bowed the knee,
And the wise men made their offerings;
None so wise as He!

When my early hope was darkened
By the sin that won the day,
And I stumbled in the shadows,
Groping for the way;
Then His grace and promise beckoned,
And He welcomed even me:
And in all the human story,
None so kind as He!

Ever clear and ever clearer,
Shall His glory yet increase,
And the praises of His people
Never, never cease;
They shall grow into His likeness,
For His beauty they shall see,
And in all the ransomed future,
None so great as He!

A useful thought from Chesterton

"Imagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination. Artistic paternity is as wholesome as physical paternity. Moreover, it is worthy of remark that when a poet really was morbid it was commonly because he had some weak spot of rationality on his brain. Poe, for instance, really was morbid; not because he was poetical, but because he was specially analytical.... Indeed, the common phrase for insanity is in this respect a misleading one. The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason. The madman's explanation of a thing is always complete, and often in a purely rational sense satisfactory."
Chesterton's Orthodoxy

Here is the downfall of epistomological pursuits, the source of the "madness" of so much contemporary philosophy and scholarship.

Library Life

It seems strange, as I sit here tonight. The semester is over and the normally-crowded library is getting emptier and emptier. With a mountain of work to do... I find myself wishing I could leave all these books behind and get out of this place. It doesn't surprise me that so many students never complete their PhDs. It requires such determination (or a rather large bank account) to stay committed - with no immediate (or any definite long-term) reward. Just a few more weeks and this semester's work will all be behind me.

I normally feel much more positive about this whole PhD thing. I love it, it inspires me and challenges me. Just think, 6 months ago my understanding of the study of history and of my field was so different from what it is today. What will I be thinking after another 6 months? This is exciting! My mind is being forced to reshape itself and handle all different kinds of questions, problems and ideas - this is priceless! While most people I know have settled into an intellectual rut, I have the opportunity to keep growing. I am blessed! Now if I stop wasting time on this Blog, I might actually accomplish something useful...

gd nt

CC4

Christmas Caroling

Hi all! Here are some shots from tonights caroling. It wasn't the biggest group but we had some major victories. We took it to the streets and defeated the loudspeakers on Jamaica avenue... We successfully deconstructed arbitrarily essentialized notions of tonality... We had some of the greatest cake in Queens... What more could you want? My camera was accidentally set at ISO 1600. Sorry, but that means the pictures are quite grainy. Better luck next year.

CC3 

CC2 

CC1 

Goodbye Thalia Awwwwww 

(Rev.) Eddy Waldvogel 

C.E.C. Project Update

Below find some photos of the most recent work.

Joe 

Tim and Joe 

Timbooooo! 

See the new floor... 

Dance! Dance! Dance! 

Fire Hazard? 

Fire Hazard? 

LN 

Sushi anyone? 

CCCMD Retreat

Thanks to all from Maryland. I had a wonderful time at the retreat and believe that it was a great blessing!

Here are some photos. You can click on the link to get a larger image, still pretty low res. If you want the full size image please email me @ pwaldvogel@gc.cuny.edu.

God Bless!

CCCMD retreat group photo panaramic