SMALLBONES SAGA 2024
As I write (mid-December), I’m watching a light snow fall, turning Orange City white. Maybe there’ll be a white Christmas. However, I’m not ‘dreaming of a white Christmas.’ I’m dreaming of a Christmas swimming in the warm Indian Ocean. I’m spending Christmas with family at a beach cottage near Durban, and not far from where I was born in St. Winifreds. I leave behind what’s so far been a mild winter for sunny, and I hope, warm South Africa. Open bags are in various places on my floor as I throw in stuff I don’t want to forget to take.
Some of the highlights of 2024 were:
The election, which means 2024 was brutal, as election years always are. It’s a relief when they are over, especially when the results are downright disturbing, as they were this year. The nation elected a deeply flawed and immoral man as its 47th President. I know some of my friends are excited. I’m not. I’m still puzzled how so many Christians could vote for a man who is the antithesis of all Jesus Christ is and stands for. All I can say for now is ‘I will get to hope. I will get to forgiving. But for now, I must sit in sackcloth and ashes and lament.’ Perhaps it was appropriate that my book on prayers of lament was published a few weeks before the election.
Unseen Footprints and other prayers of lament began in response the devastation from Covid-19. I was always taught to ‘dress in my best’ when I prayed. God didn’t want to hear my many complaints. So, I pretended all was well with me. Then I began praying the Psalms and discovered that no one had told the psalmists to ‘dress up.’ They ‘undressed’ and complained loudly and bitterly, giving me permission to do the same. Unseen Footprints contains 31 laments and permission to ‘undress’ in God’s presence. I learned God delights in our honesty and realness. My book is available at: https://www.lulu.com/shop/jacqueline-l-smallbones/unseen-footprints-and-other-prayers-of-lament/paperback/product-w4vgj76.html?q=Unseen+footprints+and+other+prayers+of+lament&page=1&pageSize=4
In March I made a trip to Atlanta to participate in a friend’s installation service, pastor of Taiwanese Presbyterian Church. This is the friend who organized the translation into Chinese of my book Journey to Jesus. She also organizes translations of my Advent and Lent devotions, which are read by Taiwanese Christians in the U.S., U.K, and Taiwan! It’s humbling, but I’m grateful that I can participate in the spiritual enrichment of Christian is a culture very different to mine.
While in Atlanta, I had a mini-Smallbones’ family reunion with two cousins now living there. The older of the two I last saw in Johannesburg about 5/6 years ago. I think that was the first time I’d been with her since I was a toddler! She now lives in Atlanta with her daughter. I hadn’t seen my other cousin in over 25 years. As you can imagine, we had a lot of catching up to do and I had of lot of catching up on Smallbones news—both knew our Smallbones’ grandparents who died when I was very young.
By the way, the above picture was taken on one of our sight-seeing hikes in Atlanta.
I continue meeting about twice a month over zoom for lectio divina, (prayerful reflection on a scripture passage). The group is diverse in age and location—different countries and differing States—but united in our desire to ‘see Jesus more clearly, love more dearly, and follow him more nearly,’ as Richard of Chichester prayed. Two or three times a year, I also offer half-day ‘virtual’ retreats. Both the monthly lectio divina and periodic virtual retreats continue to be spiritual nourishment for all who attend. Anyone is welcome and accepted. If you’d be interested in joining us, please contact me.
Have a wonderful, joy-filled Christmas celebrating Christ, the life-giver. In 2025, follow the river that gives life wherever it goes, because the River is Christ who gives the water of life freely and generously.
Some of the highlights of 2024 were:
The election, which means 2024 was brutal, as election years always are. It’s a relief when they are over, especially when the results are downright disturbing, as they were this year. The nation elected a deeply flawed and immoral man as its 47th President. I know some of my friends are excited. I’m not. I’m still puzzled how so many Christians could vote for a man who is the antithesis of all Jesus Christ is and stands for. All I can say for now is ‘I will get to hope. I will get to forgiving. But for now, I must sit in sackcloth and ashes and lament.’ Perhaps it was appropriate that my book on prayers of lament was published a few weeks before the election.
Unseen Footprints and other prayers of lament began in response the devastation from Covid-19. I was always taught to ‘dress in my best’ when I prayed. God didn’t want to hear my many complaints. So, I pretended all was well with me. Then I began praying the Psalms and discovered that no one had told the psalmists to ‘dress up.’ They ‘undressed’ and complained loudly and bitterly, giving me permission to do the same. Unseen Footprints contains 31 laments and permission to ‘undress’ in God’s presence. I learned God delights in our honesty and realness. My book is available at: https://www.lulu.com/shop/jacqueline-l-smallbones/unseen-footprints-and-other-prayers-of-lament/paperback/product-w4vgj76.html?q=Unseen+footprints+and+other+prayers+of+lament&page=1&pageSize=4
In March I made a trip to Atlanta to participate in a friend’s installation service, pastor of Taiwanese Presbyterian Church. This is the friend who organized the translation into Chinese of my book Journey to Jesus. She also organizes translations of my Advent and Lent devotions, which are read by Taiwanese Christians in the U.S., U.K, and Taiwan! It’s humbling, but I’m grateful that I can participate in the spiritual enrichment of Christian is a culture very different to mine.
While in Atlanta, I had a mini-Smallbones’ family reunion with two cousins now living there. The older of the two I last saw in Johannesburg about 5/6 years ago. I think that was the first time I’d been with her since I was a toddler! She now lives in Atlanta with her daughter. I hadn’t seen my other cousin in over 25 years. As you can imagine, we had a lot of catching up to do and I had of lot of catching up on Smallbones news—both knew our Smallbones’ grandparents who died when I was very young.
By the way, the above picture was taken on one of our sight-seeing hikes in Atlanta.
I continue meeting about twice a month over zoom for lectio divina, (prayerful reflection on a scripture passage). The group is diverse in age and location—different countries and differing States—but united in our desire to ‘see Jesus more clearly, love more dearly, and follow him more nearly,’ as Richard of Chichester prayed. Two or three times a year, I also offer half-day ‘virtual’ retreats. Both the monthly lectio divina and periodic virtual retreats continue to be spiritual nourishment for all who attend. Anyone is welcome and accepted. If you’d be interested in joining us, please contact me.
Have a wonderful, joy-filled Christmas celebrating Christ, the life-giver. In 2025, follow the river that gives life wherever it goes, because the River is Christ who gives the water of life freely and generously.
