2007 reads...

It’s time for my annual list of books read. I was holding off in hopes that I could add my last couple Word Made Flesh pre-departure required books to the list. But, looks like those last two will start off my 2008 list instead, since I don’t plan on reading my way through New Year’s Eve. You will quickly notice the common reading themes of spiritual formation/spirituality, missions, and poverty. The cool thing is I can see how all these books have further shaped and formed my life in 2007. It’s difficult to even pick out a few favorites. I'm sure I will referring back to most of these books in the future.

My goal for 2008….more fiction! The Kite Runner grabbed me and inspired me to read more stories and fiction! Maybe once I get through my pre-departure reading, I can pack up a couple good fiction reads in my bags for Argentina. I know Wendall Berry is a writer I want to read. Any other suggestions anyone?

Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading, Eugene Peterson
Companion to the Poor: Christ in the Urban Slums, Viv Grigg
The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical, Shane Claiborne
Submerge: Living Deep in a Shallow World, John B. Hayes
Announcing the Reign of God, Mortimer Arias
Missions & Money: Affluence as a Missionary Problem, Jonathon Bonk
Invitation to a Journey: A Road Map for Spiritual Formation, Robert Mulholland
We Drink from Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People, Gustavo Gutierrez
The Art of Crossing Cultures, Craig Storti
Poverty, Raneiro Cantalamessa
Travel Well, Christine Aroney-Sine
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Sacred Listening: Discovering the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola, James Wakefield
Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta, Mother Teresa

Christ Candle

Lighting the Center Christ Candle:
Sing to the Lord a new song, for God has done marvelous things;
God’s right hand and holy arm have worked salvation.
Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you.
The Lord has made salvation known and revealed righteousness to the nations.
Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you.
God has remembered his love and faithfulness to the people; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of God.
Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing.
Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you.
Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord, for God comes to judge the earth. The Lord will judge the world with righteousness and the people with equity.

Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you.

We have now light the four outside candles of the Advent Wreath. The first candle reminds us of hope. The second candle is the candle of peace. The third candle represents our joy. The fourth candle is for love, our love of God, and God’s love for us. We now light the center candle, the Christ candle. Jesus Christ is our HOPE. Jesus Christ gives us PEACE. We can have JOY because Jesus has come to us. Jesus is God’s greatest gift of LOVE. And because of God’s loving gift of Jesus Christ, we have life now nd forever.
Today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you.

We Pray Together:
Loving God, we are thankful that the waiting of Advent is over. We rejoice that today in the city of David a Savior is born. We rejoice that our hope is fulfilled, and God’s peace has come to earth. We rejoice that we can fully know God’s love in Jesus Christ. Help us to celebrate today and always that a Savior has been born to us. Amen.

Taken from: http://images.rca.org/docs/discipleship/advent-readings.pdf

Immanuel & Jesus

This weeks Scriptures for the Fourth Week of Advent include Isaiah 7:10-16 & Matthew 1:18-25. I have really enjoyed these weekly readings from the Revised Common Lectionary and have decided to continue on with the readings this new church calendar year.(http://www.crivoice.org/lectionary/YearA/Aadventlist.html)

Isaiah proclaims, "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." In Matthew, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and proclaims the fulfillment of this prophecy of Immanuel ("God with us"). He also tells Joseph to give him the name Jesus, which means "God saves." Yesterday I read a helpful homily on the significance of these two names for Jesus, Immanuel and Jesus. Here is an excerpt:

“This name, Jesus (the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Jeshua), means “God saves,” and the angel tells Joseph quite clearly what this infant will save the Jews from: “he will save his people from their sins.” God-is-with-us, therefore, for the purpose of saving-us-from-our sins. The Son of God didn’t become God-with-us merely to “hang with us,” as the teenage colloquialism goes, but to hang FOR us. He took upon our human nature so that He could give that nature as an expiation for our sins. But not only does the name Jesus interpret the name Emmanuel, but the name Jesus also makes possible Emmanuel, because Jesus saved us from our sins so that we could be much more fully WITH HIM who came to be WITH US. Our sins prevent communion with God, and hence Jesus, in coming to save us from them, was making possible the fulfillment of the prophetic name Emmanuel.”

(From a Homily for this Fourth Sunday of Advent by Father Roger J. Landry)

Lo, How A Rose E'Er Blooming

This morning I was reminded of this great Christmas hymn this rose rejoicing week of Advent. My personal favorite renditions are from Dorothy Collins and Sufjan Stevens.

LO, HOW A ROSE E’ER BLOOMING
Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!

Of Jesse’s lineage coming, as men of old have sung.

It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter,

When half spent was the night.

Isaiah ’twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;

With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.

To show God’s love aright, she bore to men a Savior,

When half spent was the night.

The shepherds heard the story proclaimed by angels bright,

How Christ, the Lord of glory was born on earth this night.

To Bethlehem they sped and in the manger found Him,

As angel heralds said.

This Flower, whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air,

Dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere;

True Man, yet very God, from sin and death He saves us,

And lightens every load.

O Savior, Child of Mary, who felt our human woe,

O Savior, King of glory, who dost our weakness know;

Bring us at length we pray, to the bright courts of Heaven,

And to the endless day!

what do you see and hear?

This past Sunday I was craving some good ‘ol Advent worship liturgy on Rose Rejoicing Sunday. Since my primary worship gathering with my church family is on Sunday evenings, I have enjoyed exploring other worship traditions on Sunday mornings every now and then. This Sunday I attended All Saints Anglican Church here in Long Beach. The worship and liturgy was refreshing and just what I was yearning for this pink candle week of Advent. The worship was a meaningful and thoughtful weaving of singing, Scripture reading, corporate prayer, and communion.

The pastor’s message was from Matthew 11:2-11, one of the scriptures for week three of Advent from the Revised Common Lectionary (www.crivoice.org/lectionary/YearA/Aadventlist.html). John the Baptist is in prison and sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the one they have waited for. Jesus responds by saying, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the def hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.”

A great passage to listen to and contemplate! The pastor’s message focused on the hearing and seeing of the Kingdom of God. It caused me to consider what signs of the Kingdom I see and hear this Advent? And how am I an active participant of that evidence and good news today?

The other thing I really appreciated about All Saints Church was the intentionality in the preparation and the waiting of Advent. Advent is really a season to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christmas and the Twelve Days of Christmas (until Epiphany on January 6). All Saints Church actually holds off in hanging the Advent greens and decorating the church until after the fourth Sunday of Advent. So, the people will return Christmas Eve and begin the celebration of Christmas and the Twelve Days of Christmas. The pastor of the church actually holds off saying Merry Christmas until Christmas Day and the days following Christmas. This all got me thinking about what rhythms I can build into Advent that better practice the waiting of the season and in turn make the celebration and arrival of Christ Mass all the sweeter.

Here is a link to understanding more about the Twelve Days of Christmas in the church calendar. (And here all this time, I thought it was just a corny song about giving birds as gifts!) www.crivoice.org/cy12days.html

rose rejoicing sunday

Tomorrow we light the pink candle to begin the third week of Advent. Last year my Advent illiteracy became evident when I asked, “Why one pink candle?” The more I learn about the “pink candle” the more I grow to appreciate the theme of joy represented this third week of Advent. The following is a summary for “Rose Rejoicing Sunday” taken from my favorite church calendar website: http://www.crivoice.org/cyadvent.html.

"The third candle, usually for the Third Sunday of Advent, is traditionally Pink or Rose, and symbolizes Joy at the soon Advent of the Christ. In the four weeks of Advent the third Sunday came to be a time of rejoicing that the fasting was almost over (in some traditions it is called Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin word for "rejoice"). The shift from the purple of the Season to pink or rose for the third Sunday Advent candles reflected this lessening emphasis on penitence as attention turned more to celebration of the season.

The rose candle is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, referred to as "Gaudete" or "Rose Rejoicing" Sunday (from the epistle and introit which speak of "rejoicing in the Lord always"). "Rose Rejoicing Sunday" shows how anticipated joy over our Savior's coming breaks through all our serious Advent preparation."

As I begin to prepare for the Third Sunday of Advent, Rose Rejoicing Sunday, I discovered an inspiring homily by Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann. This homily on John the Baptist really continued to connect the dots for me in understanding deeper hope and joy because of Jesus. Here is an expert that especially grabbed me….

The Power to Hope and the Capacity for Joy Always and Everywhere
"I was reminded recently of the remarkable power of Jesus to give His disciples joy and hope, even in the most dreadful circumstances, while reading Advent of the Heart, a collection of Advent homilies and reflections by the German Jesuit, Father Alfred Delp. Like John the Baptist, Father Delp found himself incarcerated for his opposition to the Nazis. On February 2, 1945 Father Delp would be executed, as was John the Baptist, for his refusal to compromise the truth.

Writing with handcuffs around his wrists from his prison cell in December of 1944, Father Delp reflected on the meaning of this Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday: “The conditions for true joy have nothing to do with the conditions of our exterior life, but consist of man’s interior frame of mind and competence, which makes it possible now and again for him to sense, even in adverse circumstances, what life is basically about.”

Father Delp concluded this prison meditation on joy, fully aware of the probability of his own imminent execution, by noting that the many sources of joy found in this world can all “fall silent.” He asserted that life’s meaning and the source of enduring joy was not to be found in the world’s fleeting pleasures. Instead, Father Delp wrote: “. . . man becomes healthy through the order of God and in nearness to God. That is also where he becomes capable of joy and happiness.”

We are called to be witnesses of hope in a world that provides so many reasons for despair. Our task is not to teach theories but to provide living testimonies of the power of the Risen Jesus alive within us to give us hope and joy amidst all the difficulties and struggles of this world."
For the entire homily see: http://www.cuf.org/Homilies/Archive/121607.asp

Life Takes Flight

On Wednesday my parents and I attended a Rose Dedication Ceremony to honor my Uncle Don for his organ donation this past spring. On New Years Day a rose in his honor will be included in Donate Life’s Family Circle Rose Float called “Life Takes Flight.”

Last March my uncle’s weak heart gave out from congestive heart failure. I came home a couple weeks early from South Africa to be with my family. It was my uncle’s desire to be an organ donor. It was an amazing and intense experience going through the organ donation process with the hospital and the doctors. My dad and I were in the operating room with my uncle when they removed life support. I was then with him two days later when he passed away and entered the presence of Jesus. I made it to the hospital less then ten minutes before he took his last breath.

It was emotional and meaningful to return to UC Irvine Medical Center this week. It was special to see some of the doctors and organ donation personnel who walked through those difficult few days with our family. Some we didn’t even remember in the fog and grief of those days.

While we miss my uncle deeply, we are grateful to know his organs gave life to others!

Here is a website that shares more about the Rose Parade float:
http://www.donatelifefloat.org/prod/components/media_center/media_kit/pr_111907.html

Active Waiting!

"In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord;

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” ~Isaiah 40:3

“The people were waiting expectantly…” ~Luke 3:15

I love it when a familiar scripture comes alive with fresh truth! This morning in Luke 3, I noticed the people’s response to John the Baptist as he quoted Isaiah to prepare the way for the Lord. John tells the people to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” The people quickly respond by asking, “What should we do then?” Active waiting!

The people listened to John the Baptist, asked questions, and were eager to respond in obedience. Luke sums it up, “The people were waiting expectantly.” Active waiting!

Both Isaiah and John the Baptist proclaim the Advent of the Messiah by teaching the people to prepare the way … make straight paths … produce fruit in keeping with repentance. Active waiting!

How am I waiting expectantly for Jesus’ presence in my own life today and preparing the way for His Second Advent? Active waiting!

waiting in hope...with confident expectation

“I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,

and in his word I put my hope.” ~Isaiah 130:5

This week I have been struck with the Advent themes of waiting and hope. The more I meditate and contemplate these themes on Scripture, the more I realize how much waiting and hope go hand and hand; they really can not be separated. It is difficult to wait without hope in confident expectation in what will come and what has already started within us.

Henri Nouwen reflects on waiting and hope based on trusting God’s promises, trusting His word….
“People who wait have received a promise that allows them to wait. They have received something that is at work in them, like a seed that has started to grow. This is very important. We can only really wait if what we are waiting for has already begun for us. So waiting is never a movement from nothing to something. It is always a movement from something to something more …. Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary were not filled with wishes. They were filled with hope. Hope is something very different. Hope is trusting that something will be fulfilled, but fulfilled according to the promises and not just according to our wishes. Therefore, hope is always open ended.”

(From “Waiting for God” by Henri Nowen in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas)

While this Advent I find myself often yearning for something more for those who are suffering and living in poverty, I take hope in God's promises and His word. Promises like Isaiah 40:31, “But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

This second Sunday of Advent I light the second candle of love. As I move from the theme of hope to love, I pray I can be attentive to God’s love in my life and all around me. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit help me know your love more deeply. Teach me to love like you!

Advent Liturgy

I discovered this amazing Advent Liturgy on the Godspace blog, written by Christine Sine. The liturgy really puts words to my contemplation, meditation, and reflection as this first week of Advent comes to a close. Christine Sine has also created a great Advent Liturgy video on the blog. This blog is sure to be a new favorite!

Advent Liturgy Video:
http://godspace.wordpress.com/2006/11/29/advent-liturgy/

Advent Liturgy

O Emmanuel we wait for your light, In hope all the peoples of the earth wait,

(Silence)

We watch and wait, expecting new light to shine as the season of joy approaches
We wait in anticipation for God’s light to penetrate the darkness and radiate within us
We watch and wait and prepare our hearts for the promised coming of Emmanuel – God with us, God for us, God in us
We wait with repentant hearts to prepare the way of the Lord
We watch and wait for the coming of the One who broke down the barriers separating us from God, from each other and from God’s creation
We wait in hope for our Redeemer, to bring God’s love into our broken world
We watch and wait to be transformed by God’s holiness so that we might serve in God’s kingdom as bearers of light and guide others to the Light
We wait expectantly for God’s Saviour to come and dwell in our midst
We await and celebrate the coming of God’s Kingdom with its promise of shalom, of wholeness, of reconciliation and abundance for all.
We wait for the fulfillment of God’s covenant, for God’s Kingdom to come in its fullness
Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and will become God’s people
And the glory of God’s Kingdom will be revealed and all people will see it together
We wait expectantly attentive to all the signs of Christ’s coming.
Into our world of darkness, into our places of strife
Into our troubles and weaknesses, Come, Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and awaken us to your presence
Come to lead the captives from their prisons, and the oppressed into freedom
Come to bring peace in the midst of war, Come Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and awaken us to your presence
Come to provide abundance in the midst of hunger, and life in the barren desert
Come to offer comfort in the presence of mourning, Come Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and awaken us to your presence
Come to those who are in need, and to those who are sick,
Come to those who are in despair, Come, Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and awaken us to your presence
Into our joys and celebrations, into our homes and loved ones
Into our work and our achievements, Come, Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and awaken us to your presence

Read daily scriptures from Revised Common Lectionary

After each scripture say together:
We wait in anticipation and hope for your coming O Christ

Light a candle as a reminder of those you pray for who need to see the presence of Christ more fully realized in their lives:
Lord may we be attentive to all the signs of your coming
May we bring glimpses of peace in a world at war
And the offer of freedom for those who are oppressed.
May we see generous giving in the midst of hunger
And plant splashes of green in a sea of pollution.
May we be bringers of healing to those who are sick
And offer hope to those who are in despair.

O Christ we long for your coming. Hasten that day when those who seek you in every nation will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south and sit at table in Your Kingdom. Hasten the day when your Kingdom will come in all its glory and suffering and pain and sickness and oppression and death will be overcome forever. Hasten the day when we will be resurrected as a great multicultural family and live in peace, harmony, joy and love together in your kingdom.

Calm us to wait for the gift of Christ;
Cleanse us to prepare the way for Christ;
Teach us to contemplate the wonder of Christ;
Touch us to know the presence of Christ;
Anoint us to bear the life of Christ
AMEN

(Wittten by Christine Sine, Godspace Blog)

ambassadors of HOPE...

This first week of Advent has me reflecting a lot on HOPE. Saturday was World AIDS Day, so I was remembering and praying for the people I met in South Africa impacted by the disease. On Saturday morning my friend Jon shared at a men’s breakfast about the sex trade and the work of International Justice Mission in India and around the world. My spirit is heavy as the reality of suffering, injustice, and poverty confronted me with faces and stories of HIV/AIDS and young girls forced into the sex trade. It brought to mind the lack of hope for so many around the world.

Hope is defined as, “A wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment.” The cycles of poverty, injustice, and suffering are often hopeless to escape. I remember conversations and tears of hopelessness as new friends in places like Rio, Freetown, and Cape Town have shared their stories and desperation for a better life. There is not much “confident expectation” that their wishes and desires will ever be fulfilled. Yes, we can point people to the Second Advent and Christ’s return when He will dwell among us and there will be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:1-4). But what about NOW! What about Jesus, the Good Shepherd’s, words in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

One of my favorite quotes this year is from Mortimer Arias in Announcing the Reign of God, “How, then, can we announce the kingdom of God as hope? By hoping. By living and sharing hope. By working with hope. By dying with hope! To be an evangelist is to be a sign of hope, a servant of hope, a minister of hope.”

The theme of reconciliation keeps rising to the surface as I think about hope and Advent. God teaches us in 2 Corinthians 2:19-20 that we are “ministers and ambassadors of reconciliation.” A group of 47 Christian leaders from around the world point the Church and Christians to be a people of reconciliation and hope in their 2005 paper, “Reconciliation as the Mission of God” (http://www.reconciliationnetwork.com)....

“Above all, Christians must be people of hope; hope in God’s victory in Christ and that, over time, reconciliation can break in, because this is God’s mission…This costly journey requires hope, nurtured in practices where we listen to God in worship, Scripture reading, and prayer. As we open to the pain of a broken world, we hear God’s word that ultimately, in the eschaton, all things will be reconciled in Christ. In the meantime, we do our part. It is in this hope that keeps the process moving forward…The church itself ought to be a key indication of hope, a living alternative, infusing and challenging the social sphere with a more radical vision of God’s reconciliation.”

This first week of Advent I am reminded of ultimate HOPE found only Jesus. But I am also reminded that I am called to be a minister and ambassador of that hope, pointing broken people to reconciliation made possible through Jesus! Followers of Jesus are called to be the visible signs of Advent….Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love! And, our actions need to speak as loud as our words!

waiting & hope

I have found Psalm 130 and Isaiah 25 encouraging Scriptures to meditate on and rest in this first week of Advent. I have also posted some favorite Advent links on the left sidebar.

“I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.” ~Psalm 130:5-7

“For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat…It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” ~Isaiah 25:4, 9

First Sunday of Advent - HOPE

Here is a candle lighting liturgy I pulled together from various sources last year for the first Sunday of Advent.

First Sunday of Advent – Hope

Scriptures: Jeremiah 33:14-16; Luke 1:67-79

"The first candle of advent draws attention to the hope and anticipation of the coming of a Messiah that weaves its way like a golden thread through Old Testament history. As God’s people were abused by power hungry kings, led astray by self-centered prophets, and lulled into apathy by half-hearted religious leaders, there arose a longing among some for God to raise up a new king who could show them how to be God’s people. They yearned for a return of God’s dynamic presence in their midst.

And so, God revealed to some of the prophets that indeed He would not leave His people without a true Shepherd. While they expected a new earthly king, their expectations fell far short of God’s revelation of Himself in Christ. And yet, the world is not yet fully redeemed. So, we again with expectation, with hope, await God’s new work in history, the Second Advent, in which He will again reveal Himself to the world. And we understand in a profound sense that the best, the highest of our expectations will fall far short of what our Lord’s Second Advent will reveal!”
[Taken from: The Season of Advent: Anticipation and Hope by Dennis Bratcher]

Waiting
As Sarah waited…
Ninety years for a son to fulfill God’s promise
We wait in hope for what we thought had been promised to us
As Moses waited…
40 years in the desert being prepared by God to lead his people
We wait for emptiness and humility; for bravado to wither
As Israel waited…
40 years in the desert, hungry, depressed, thirsting, unsure
We wait for things to move on and generations to pass
As the prophets waited…
1000 years of promises that God would raise up a Savior
We wait for things to change
As Mary waited…
9 months of her 14 years for the child of God
We feel the birth pangs yet fear for the child
As John the Baptist waited…
Scanning the crowds for the one whose sandals he would not be worthy to untie
We long for an experience of the Divine
As Jesus waited…
30 years of creeping time
40 days in the desert of temptation
3 years in the midst of misunderstanding
3 days in the depth of hell
So we wait for God’s time
Preparing the way
Our turn to toil on leveling mountains and straightening paths
Our turn to watch the time horizon
Our turn to pass on the hope
the one who promised is faithful
and will come back
[Taken from: Alternative Worship (Baker, Gay, & Brown, 2003)]

Lighting the Candle:
We light the first candle to remind us that Jesus is our hope. Romans 8:24-25 reminds us, “In this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”