I've kept to the Scandinavian languages this week, though it's Swedish rather than Icelandic; not so close to Old Norse, but still a fun, interesting language in its own right. Swedish was one of the first languages I studied in-depth, when I was first discovering my love of languages back in high school, right after Finnish, and as you can see, my fascination with the languages of that part of the world hasn't really faded with time, even as I've also spent a great deal of time studying languages of various other parts of the world.

We have entered the last week of the liturgical calendar, which means next Sunday we enter the Advent season -- the season of waiting and preparation, season for introspection and renewal. So, before we enter that season, I want to share all that I am grateful for in this past year:

This coming Sunday is the first week of advent. This advent we will be focusing on the story of the liberating Christ. That story begins with the land, because how a people view the land tells us a lot about their relationship with one another. Empire sees land as something to be controlled, owned, valuable for its market price and what resources can be extracted. Indigenous wisdom, however, sees the land as sacred and needing to be protected and cherished.