There Is A Longing

This Advent hymn of longing is written by Anne Quigley.

There is a longing in our hearts, O Lord,
for you to reveal yourself to us.
There is a longing in our hearts
for love we only find in you, our God.

For justice, for freedom,
for mercy: hear our prayer.
In sorrow, in grief:
be near, hear our prayer, O God.

For wisdom, for courage,
for comfort: hear our prayer.
In weakness, in fear:
be near, hear our prayer, O God.

For healing, for wholeness,
for new life: hear our prayer.
In sickness, in death:
be near, hear our prayer, O God.

Lord save us, take pity,
light in our darkness.
We call you, we wait:
be near, hear our prayer, O God.

Christmas by Dietriech Bonhoeffer

No priest,
no theologian
stood at the cradle of Bethlehem.
And yet all Christian theology
finds its beginning
in the miracle of miracles,
that God became human.

The Lost Art of Anticipation

We live in a culture that is all about instant gratification. If we want something – almost anything – we can just go get it right now, if we have enough money or credit to buy it.  Life has not always been this way.

Consider food. Not so long ago people had no access to fresh fruit or vegetables in winter. Salad was a thing of summertime, as were berries and melons. Winter food was preserved from summer’s bounty, and by the time the first crops ripened in the late Spring, people had been anticipating their deliciousness for months. Anticipation was built into our food supply.  Now we don’t even consider it odd that we can eat mangos in Oregon in December.

The same thing has happened with clothing, entertainment, and products of all kinds – even human relationships. There are just a few rituals remaining in our culture that still give us opportunity for the gift of anticipation.  

I heard a man describe how he decided to surprise his wife with a dream vacation. He was looking at destination guides, shopping for hotels, and planning their outings, with the intention of basically kidnapping her to board a plane one morning.  But as he was planning he realized that half of the fun was in the anticipation. So he surprised her in advance and allowed her the added joy of looking forward to their special trip.

Some of the best moments are the ones just before.  Just before the roller coaster crests the peak of the track. Just before unwrapping the present. Just before the kiss. Just before biting into a piece of Sweet Life Raspberry Rhapsody chocolate cake. The “just before” moments make what follows even sweeter.

Advent is the “just before” season leading into Christmas. But sometimes we allow the trappings of the season to become a burden of busyness. We can become so focused on seasonal chores that little space is left for anticipation. Suddenly Christmas is upon us and before we can settle in to enjoy it, Christmas has passed us by.

In this Advent season, give yourself the gift of anticipation. Let the Christmas lights and holiday jingles and even the extra chores prompt hope and expectation within you. Relish this ‘just before’ moment.

Only 21 more days!

Karlene

Incarnate God

I’ve just finished reading The Suffering of God by Terence Fretheim. He is mainly concerned with Old Testament theology, however, his writings about God’s relationship with the world seem to resound with Advent themes.

Whatever may have been the case before the creation of the heavens and the earth, since the creation God has taken up residence within that creation, and thus works from within the world, and not on the world from without.

Fretheim writes about those accounts in the Old Testament when God appears briefly in human form (called ‘theophany’). Though he isn’t talking specifically of Jesus, what he says about God in human form would apply to Jesus’ incarnation as well.

God’s appearance in human form reveals God’s vulnerability. Appearance only associated with storm phenomena could give a quite different impression. It could suggest that God is totally in control of the situation; the only possible responses before God would be fear and dread. But appearance in human form, even in the midst of such phenomena, reveals another perspective. It suggests an entering into the life of the world that is more vulnerable, where the response can be derision or incredulity. It is to put oneself concretely into the hands of the world to do with as it will.

It is revealing of the ways of God that the word is enfleshed in bodies of weakness within the framework of commonplace, everyday affairs, and not in overwhelming power. For even in those instances where the vestments of God’s appearance are threaded with lineaments of power, they clothe a vulnerable form. There is no such thing for Israel as a nonincarnate God.

Do we see God at work in our ‘commonplace, everyday affairs?’ Why would God choose to come with vulnerability, with openness to the freely chosen responses of ordinary people? How do we open ourselves to this kind of God?

For followers of Jesus, what does this kind of vulnerability mean? Do we try to help save the world by removing ourselves and standing apart from it? How far are we willing to go to ‘take up residence’ with others, making ourselves vulnerable to scorn and rejection?

Peace, Karlene

Henri Nouwen – An Advent Prayer

This prayer by Henri Nouwen reminds us that advent is NOT the season of Christmas, but it’s very own unique season. It is a season of waiting. A season where we anticipate the coming of our savior, who is not yet born. In contrast to our society’s view of this part of the year,  Advent is a season which begs us to slow down, and quiet our hearts in anticipation of the quiet night in which God entered history as a child to show us a different way.

The prayer:

Lord Jesus,
Master of both the light and the darkness,
send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.
We who have so much to do
seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.
We who are anxious over many things
look forward to your coming among us.
We who are blessed in so many ways
long for the complete joy of your kingdom.
We whose hearts are heavy
seek the joy of your presence.
We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light.
To you we say, “Come Lord Jesus!”

Quote for Advent

As we ponder the season of advent, of God breaking into Humanity, I thought that this quote from Dom Helder Camara – an Archbishop and Liberation theologian from Brazil – was particularly worth reflecting on.

“Christ came for all people of all times. But he found the best way of being present everywhere was to choose one particular spot in the world, a certain culture, a specific language. This is an important lesson for all those of us who are charged with perpetuating the living presence of Christ. We haven’t been created with to exist in a vacuum. Oh no! We’ve been created to be incarnate in some corner of the world, in which we’ve been put or to which we are led by the will of God. Here in Brazil I meet missionaries from almost every country in the world: priests, religious, members of the laity. They come to us in the spirit of incarnation. They assume our culture, they speak our language. They merge so thoroughly with our people, they become our brothers and sisters. They take on all own own problems. Not to solve them, but to encourage us to do so. Through them, through all of us together, the incarnation goes on, and so does the redemption.”

Homeless karaoke

How awesome is this:  http://lacentralcity.org/newPages/homeless_karaoke.php

There’s also a documentary about it: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/homeless_karaoke/

Space

How are people feeling about the space we looked at on Main?  I’d sure like to get a look inside to see what we’re up for in the back room.  As far as location, I think it will serve our mission very well.  It’s relatively visible (even if it is hiding behind a truck) and close to the neighborhood we had in mind.  And as cool as it has been hanging out at Karlene and Josh’s, we all know that we could be getting “out there” a little more.

What other kind of potential does this space hold for our church and community?  Anyone getting any kind of great revelations for or against moving in?  I know I *think* it’ll be great, but I haven’t heard any booming voices from the sky.

What’s our time table for getting into the place?  Does anyone else looking at it?

Aristides, 137 AD

“It is the Christians, O Emperor, who have sought and found the truth, for they acknowledge God. They do not keep for themselves the goods entrusted to them. They do not covet what belongs to others. They show love to their neighbours. They do not do to another what they would not wish to have done to themselves. They speak gently to those who oppress them, and in this way they make them their friends. It has become their passion to do good to their enemies. They live in the awareness of their smallness. Every one of them who has anything gives ungrudgingly to the one who has nothing. If they see a travelling stranger, they bring him under their roof. They rejoice over him as over a real brother, for they do not call one another brothers after the flesh, but they know they are brothers in the Spirit and in God. If they hear that one of them is imprisoned or oppressed for the sake of Christ, they take care of all his needs. If possible they set him free. If anyone among them is poor or comes into want while they themselves have nothing to spare, they fast two or three days for him. In this way they can supply any poor man with the food he needs. This, O Emperor, is the rule of life of the Christians, and this is their manner of life.”

Downtown Situation Room

Last Sunday we talked about the proposal for the Eugene downtown security to ban certain “undesirables” from the downtown area.  There have been some threatening incidents toward shop owners, which I agree are totally unacceptable.  But I feel that the ability to banish people from public spaces has a big potential for discrimination, because it would only be used on people who make the respectable folk nervous, aka. dirty homeless people and punk teenagers.  Can you imagine a group of elders being asked to move along from the benches on the sidewalk?  Security certainly wasn’t bothering with the group of middle aged peace protesters who were flanking the entrance to the library on Saturday, but they did shoo the crusties off the benches they were chilling on when I was there on Tuesday.

I’ve been reading “Jesus for President” and thinking about standing up for powerless people who are being disrespected by the powerful.  I wish we had more people in our faith community at times like this.  How do you argue with 50 Christians joining the gutterpunks and homeless people on the sidewalks?  I looked on the City of Eugene website and I didn’t see any upcoming public meetings that will deal with this issue.  I really feel like this will end up being an abuse of power, and that we as a church should say something about it.  Are there any other churches in town that care enough about it?  I know you can’t force respect on people, but we can show others when they are acting cruel.

The second part of the issue is finding and being part of a positive solution, like an alternative safe place for teens to hang out and be themselves without being pushed around.  The teen area in the library is minuscule.  Nuestro Lugar requires those pesky commitments like obeying the law (for the record, I think LEAD is amazing, but I can understand why some don’t want to be involved).  Everyone wants something like that (so they don’t have to deal with them out on the street) but they don’t want to pay for it, and when it happens, it’s a long struggle.  LEAD didn’t have their own space for many many years, and the organization is 10 or 11 years old.  The Youth Action Council has been trying to get a teen center since before I was involved in it in high school.

There’s a cycle in this lack of respect that happens between age classes.  Adults disregard the rights and potential of teenagers, so the teenagers believe it and push back, which proves to the adults that they’re just bad eggs.  Why does it have to happen that way?  Where’s the support that growing young people need from stable adults?

Ok, someone else can use this soapbox now.  What are we going to do about treating homeless people like human beings?