Light on a Dark Night

We were asked this year how a group of Jesus' followers could participate in such a dark holiday as Halloween.

Well All Hallow's Eve, like Christmas and Easter, does have roots in a pagan holiday. However, again like Christmas and Easter, it is a time when the Church has also made an attempt to try and redeem the day. We see the evidence of this, with all three holidays, in the pagan symbols mixed together with Christian ones (ghosts and martyrs, evergreens and mangers, bunnies and crosses).

So, what would it look like for Church to try and redeem this day again?

Well at the House of Grace Ministry Center, the doors were open, and people were available to play games, sit across the table and eat with, and even take you on an educational scavanger hunt through the "Cemetary of Saints". What better place for teens, single moms, and scores of kids to spend this night. Opening our doors and ourselves to the community we tried to be light on this dark night. This was the second year we held a party at the church building, and we were overwhelmed this year with easily over 200 people. Our sign-in sheet revealed addresses that were almost entirely from within a 2-3 block area around the church. I am again grateful for the folks from the church (many of whom also live right in the neighborhood) who were on hand to help us bless our neighbors.

St. Paul, one of the many saints we remembered and celebrated in our "Cemetary of Saints", told us, "shine like stars in the universe..." Whenever we find ourselves surrounded by the darkness of night, may we all find ways to shine bright.

A Visit to the Dominican Republic

Twelve Days of Christmas

With New Year's weekend now behind us, many homes have already packed up all the Christmas decorations, and the fickle focus of our commercial culture has moved on to what's next (who's seen Valentine's gifts being marketed already?).

However, at our home we're still celebrating the Christmas season.

A few years ago, as kids were added to our family, Jess and I had a burning desire to pass on to our children a Christmas tradition that differed from the materialistic tradition we were all too familiar with.

Often attempts to escape this kind of Christmas culture can lead to a lot of negativism. We all had that kid in our class that spoiled Santa for everyone because her parents didn't buy into all that. But Christmas is a time to truly celebrate. So how do we take a step away from all the commercialism, but still find a way to celebrate?

Well, looking back into church history we discovered the tradition of the "Twelve Days of Christmas". These twelve days begin on Christmas Day and extend to the Christian holiday of Epiphany, on January 6. Epiphany is a celebration of light, mainly Jesus being revealed as the light of world; the one who illuminates the way to a life that is truly life.

"In him was life, and that life was the light of all humanity. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

So our Christmas tradition consists of a nearly two week celebration of how in Jesus, the light has come. God's hope, peace, joy, and love have invaded this broken and hurting world. Each day we light a candle and read from the Scriptures. As a family we take time to reflect on what these words and stories really mean. How is Jesus coming into our personal brokenness and the hurting world around us? How is His light confronting this darkness and providing the hope we need to resist being overcome by it?

We also share simple gifts each day. Instead of going into debt to provide a mountain of presents under the tree on Christmas morning, for twelve days we give presence: a date night out with my wife, bringing goodies and singing songs at a local nursing home, building snowmen and sharing hot cocoa with the kids.

We still have celebrations with our extend families, where there are mountains of presents, and gifts marked, "From: Santa" for the kids. And that's OK. Rather than focus on what Christmas isn't, we have found there is so much to Christmas that it couldn't possibly fit into just one day.

So for a few days more, continue the Christmas celebration, and may we all see that the Light has come!

All Saints Day

A lady asked me tonight, "I thought only Catholics believed in saints?"

Well, we are a part of a catholic (universal / true) church, and our history is a full of stories of lives lived fully for God, often in service to those in need around them, even when it cost them everything. We sure do believe in them!

On the second most commercial holiday in America, one also filled with symbols of darkness, looking back and celebrating lives lived like that provides a refreshing altnerative.

Tonight we threw a Halloween - All Hallow's Eve - Party for the neighborhood around the church building. Just before sunset, many of the neighborhood kids were assembling, getting ready to head out to, as one teen put it, "Go to the rich neighborhoods, where the candy's at!" A group of them wandered over to the church. We had a scavenger hunt through the "Cemetery of Saints" outside and many games, crafts, and goodies inside. They admitted at first they just wanted to grab some candy and get going. But after engaging with the people and activities they were hooked. Many stayed for almost two hours!

This couldn't have happened if there weren't many saints helping to serve the neighborhood tonight. It cost them money, time, and effort to bless their neighbors. But what a blessing it was to see kids and families, who thought they had to go to someone else's neighborhood to find good things, be pleasantly surprised to find something good right on their block!

So thanks to all the saints, whose inspiring lives reflect the grace of God, our Master and Messiah, Jesus. May we never stop believing in or celebrating these lives!

Tabernacles

What an outdated religious word - tabernacles. THE Tabernacle was literally a tent, God's temporary dwelling place among His people while they were camped out in the wilderness.

God camped out in a tent in the wilderness.

So each fall for the past five years we have too. It's our family's way of remembering the biblical festival of Sukkot (Tabernacles). The Hebrew people were called to camp out for a week each year, to remember what God did for them during the Exodus, especially how He provided for them in the wilderness. Its main themes are very similar to those celebrated by Americans during Thanksgiving.

Some in America see Thanksgiving as a time to be "home for the holidays," celebrating with family and friends. Others see it as a time to reach out to those with material needs and include them in the celebration. This same dichotomy exists in the Sukkot celebration.

A common parable told during Sukkot, is one of three poor sojourners. They came upon the sukkah (camp) of a rich family. The sukkah was decked out with expensive decorations, decadent foods, the finest produce of the season, and those celebrating inside wearing the finest fashions. They wanted nothing to do with these filthy poor panhandlers.

So on the three travelers went, until they came upon a modest sukkah. The decorations and food sparse, but the hospitality of those celebrating inside abundant. As they were welcomed to table it was revealed that these three strangers were none other than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! It is said that each year God sends the patriarchs in this way, to remind His people of what the celebration is all about.

It reminds me of the writer of Hebrews (whoever she is) saying: "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." Or Jesus saying: "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Last year during our Tabernacles retreat, along with our friend Japhet we welcomed his new friend Alexi, who had been in America just weeks. As we ate and celebrated with them around the campfire we learned one was an ethnic Hutu, and the other Tutsi. One had been a refugee his entire life because of the violence of the Tutsi, and the other had is family killed by the Hutu. Yet here at this table of celebration there was forgiveness and friendship. Often when we include those that seem to be without, it is revealed that they actually have so much to offer us.

So, may we entertain strangers and include them in our celebrations, and may we see that they are indeed the most esteemed at our table.

Fall Celebrations

This week marks the beginning of fall. To celebrate this, Jess took the kids from our house to Tifft Nature Preserve, an urban nature center here in Buffalo. In the fields and forests they explored and celebrated the changing of the seasons.

In upstate New York we are sure to make the most of this time. Each weekend from Labor Day on into November, you can find an apple, pumpkin, harvest, or some other fall festival. These festivals play an important role in our current culture. Before the cold winds of winter bar us inside, these festivals give us a chance head outside. We soak up autumn's beauty and bounty, as well as the last bits of warmth the sun sends our way. However, these celebrations are also important because they link our current culture back to an earlier time, when our dependence on the harvest was more tangible and serious.

If we go back early enough in time, we find another set of fall festivals that serve as a link to our current culture; the biblical festivals of Trumpets, Atonement, and Shelters (Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot). These festivals serve as tangible and serious reminders of our dependence on God and the redeeming work He is doing in our world. Check out what they're all about in Leviticus 23 & 16.

So this fall let's celebrate the beauty and bounty of the harvest, but let's also make time to seriously consider the Source of that beauty and bounty. As we do this, may our hearts be filled with true thanksgiving.

Spreading Good News

St. Patrick was sent on a mission to Ireland, the land where he spent his teenage years as a slave. His mission was to bring the good news of the freedom Jesus brings to the Irish people. He was a devout and peaceful man, and it is no wonder we still celebrate his life and mission to this day...

Here in Syracuse we celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a big parade. So my family rode the bus downtown to take part in the festivities. As soon as we stepped off the bus we could hear someone else attempting to bring good news to the crowds "Irish" folks here today (we're all Irish on St. Patrick's Day right!). He had signs on his chest and back, one read "Wine is a Mocker," while the other had a bunch of fine print and a giant "HELL" written across it. He shouted quotes from the Bible and his version of the good news from the street corner, while other's shouted back, "Go Home!"

Members of large church that's located just outside of Syracuse were also on hand, but had a different method of spreading the good news. On a cold blustery day they offered free hand warmers, rain ponchos, and bottled water.

As the parade started one float had members of a Catholic order holding banners that touted the programs they offer to those in need in our city, again their way of spreading the good news.

How should we be spreading the good news? Dietrich Bonhoeffer encourages us to not only focus on proclaiming God's word, but also on listening to our friends, neighbors, and enemies, seeking to actively help them, and bearing with them through troubling times. To me it seems hard to do all that from a street corner, whether you are there shouting, handing out hand warmers, or advertising social programs.

It may take more time than we like, it might not be as easy to do as people make it out to be, but we do need to spread the good news. So let's make the effort, and let's find ways to listen to what's going on in people's lives. Let's find ways to actively help them. Let's find ways to hang in there and bear with them. And yes, let's also humbly share God's word as it has been revealed to us. Perhaps then it will truly be received as good news.

Celebration of Life!

The holidays continue...

Celebrating Jessica's life on 1/3, Faith's on 1/5, and

Justice - our very hungry caterpillar - his on 1/10

What a blessing life is!

He Has Come

At Sojourn we hear each week, "We are on a journey towards life change w/ Jesus." It has been our spoken goal to be a people who are more like Jesus at the end of 2009 than we were at the year's beginning.

Jesus has come to our community in 2009! He is changing lives as He announced He would in the mission statement He gave while teaching in Nazareth: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has annointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners..."

Amoni -
Amoni shared in our gathering today how he is grateful for all God and the Church have provided for him this year. Specifically he gave thanks for gaining his drivers license and a car to drive in. Good news: those who are poor in our midst are less poor!

LaVonne -
My friend LaVonne shared through a letter today that she has been crying out for God to transform her life. She longs for her life to be an example of love in action. LaVonne has given herself as a dedicated volunteer tutoring the African refugee students at Sojourn. While at first she felt inadequate to help them, she has been freed from that insecurity and has become an example of love in action. Good news: the prisoners are being set free and are enjoying that freedom!

And God has set me free! All my life I have struggled with my wieght, spending most of my adult life 30 or more lbs overweight. This summer I encountered God while in relationship with my friends from Africa, being accountable to my wife, and engaging in spiritual disciplines. My life-long struggle with food is not over, but I can give thanks to God today for the victories He has given me this year.

July 2009

December 2009

Good news: Jesus is spreading through our community, and lives are being changed!

Christmas Eve - He's Coming

Growing up, my cousins would often bring along a cousin from the other side of the family to our holiday gatherings. Tony was mentally disabled, and whenever he came, he would enter the gathering and come up to each one of us and enthusiastically proclaim, "Ho Ho comin'!" He was half looking for our affirmation of this statement and half wanting to make sure no one was ignorant of this. You couldn't help but nod and assure him that Ho Ho was indeed coming.

I wonder what reaction the shepherds got as they enthusiastically went around proclaiming that the Messiah was coming.

Everyone had missed it. The very Master of the universe had come to Earth, but He came to their small village in an occupied country on the fringe of the Empire. Both the religous system and the government, symbolic leaders of God's people, had missed it. Only a couple of kids who were supposed to be out doing their chores were clued in. So they ran up to everybody making sure they knew, "Messiah coming!"

Did their hearers patronizingly nod and affirm them, not wanting to be the kill-joy that exposed the myth?

It seems that today so many still miss the Messiah each Christmas, and I'm not talking about the secularists or pluralists, but our church culture today, and a government that still clings to a Christian facade. Jesus never told us that we would find Him in elaborate buildings, decadent feasts, and holiday rituals (the prophets actually tell us God even hates those things). Instead He said we would find Him in those who are hungry, prisoners, sick, homeless.

So let's proclaim enthusiastically, "He's coming!" All who have missed Him by looking in cantatas, candles, and cookies, look over here - this is no myth! He's with those who are hungry, prisoners, sick, homeless. To all those whom our culture, including our church culture, has labeled as far from God, let's proclaim this good news, "He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty." Most people who've missed it will just smile and nod affirmingly, all the while discounting us as over optimistic idealists. But let's never stop proclaiming:

Joy to the world, the LORD is come.

Wedding Celebration

Our friends Japhet and Orestine (Faraja) got married this Saturday! Many thanks to all the Sojourners that helped make this a reality. It was a beautiful celebration of the love and unity God is bringing to our community.