Still alive....

I am alive. That seems to be a theme in my most recent postings (oh, wait...what recent postings?) I've decided I need to get back into this discipline because, well, I miss it and it helps keep me focused and reflective. I've been far too reactionary lately because I've been sick, tired, and far too busy to even breathe...which is probably why I'm sick and on my 2nd cold in a month. Smart.

The Vine is good, Good Shepherd is good, living in community is good, the husband is good, I am...in a funk. To which, my husband responds, in the vein of "when life gives you lemons...": when you're in a funk, get funky.

Prayer Campaign Begins Today!

Day 1 of the UMC Young Clergy campaign to pray for the United Methodist Church begins today. You can follow these 40 days of prayer on the prayer blog (http://umcyoungclergy.com/prayer) and find the first prayer posted here.

What encourages me the most about this effort is its focus on renewal through prayer. Oftentimes, we think that new strategies or new models of church is going to be what grows us or saves us from this decline we find ourselves in. Really, we need to be about reengaging with what the Holy Spirit is already doing in our midst and in our world, and get on board with that. Such sensitivity to God's movement only comes through prayer - confessing where we've fallen short, asking for the grace to move forward, and seeing what emerges out of the mix.

I have great hopes for my denomination, even though some days I get bogged down with my frustration with it. It hurts to see how our apathy doesn't just affect us, but all the broken, hurting people who need a word of hope -- who need the love of Jesus and life transformation.

But I think we'll get there...and prayer is just the start.

Praying for the United Methodist Church

Social media is an incredible thing. Through the UMC Young Clergy's twitter feed, I came to know about this prayer campaign idea a few people had about the United Methodist Church. It's simple really - we talk a lot about renewal in our denomination, but why not pray! This 40 day campaign, starting on May 18th, is a concerted effort on the part of young clergy throughout our denomination to pray for the United Methodist Church and its renewal. To learn more, check out the blog at http://umcyoungclergy.com/prayer!

Resurrection

No, this is not an early Easter reflection, this is more a statement (yet again) about the renewed sense of intentionality with which I want to write in this blog. I've fallen short time and time again!

In any case, I'm going to carve out some time to write each day and hold myself to posting at least twice per week. I've got some great fodder for a couple posts; Matt, Farrah, Ben, and I just got back from a road trip to visiting Westwinds in Jackson, MI and Hot Metal Bridge in Pittsburgh, PA. Both are doing some fantastic and creative ministry in their settings and in their contexts, but I will write more later (I promise).

But for now, a quick poll. Should I choose to revamp this blog or should I create a new one?

I'm not dead yet....

Wow. I went to post on another blog and I did a double-take when I saw the "Jan 5" as my latest post date for this blog. Sad. Well, I have not died, I've just been busy with school, church, new ministry plant - you know, the usual. Lent makes things that much more insane for us pastor-types too, and we're doing double duty with a Lenten Bible Study and a New Membership class. We're *real* smart.

Anyhow, just a shout out so y'all know I'm around...

Drat!

Missed a day. :-(

Today, I'm going to learn how to community organize. I'm taking a week-long class at Drew sponsored by Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). It looks like it's going to be an interesting week -- expect an account!

Change

I'm preaching tomorrow; we're starting a series on how the culture has changed and what the church needs to do to respond faithfully to that change. I'm using the passage in Corinthians where Paul talks about being all things to all people - to the Jews he was as a Jew, to the Gentiles he was as a Gentile, etc...

We'll see how it goes to set up the rest of the series.

Day 2

Yesterday, Ben and I explored the local Whole Foods to see what we could see. I'm excited to start eating more healthy foods, even if it means the grocery bill will be a little higher. We each decided to try some new things to experiment with - Ben got organic soda and I got veggie straws (which are really quite delicious!) We'll have to see if this change in lifestyle will be sustainable...I certainly hope so!

New Year's Resolutions

1. I will update this blog more often. My goal for this month is every day, but normally, twice a week will be good.

2. I will exercise more and eat more healthily. This means (at the very least) getting 10,000 steps in every day, doing push ups three times a week (with the goal of being able to do 100 by the end of the year), and attempting to eat a vegetarian diet (with exceptions for hospitality).

3. Journal once or twice a week as a spiritual discipline. This also includes spending more time in prayer and devotion.

4. Organizing my life. Keep nice, clean records of things I spend money on (also helpful for tax purposes!) and file important documents, church stuff, and other personal things neatly in folders -- for which I will need a better filing cabinet. This also entails getting rid of extraneous junk - papers I no longer need, etc. This also entails organizing and updating my address book and syncing everything to my PDA. Possible computer clean-up as well to remove old files.

5. Encourage my creative side.

I think that will suffice, don't you?

Rev Gal Blog Pal Friday Five: Countdown to Christmas Edition

From RevGalBlogPals:

It's true.

There are only five full days before Christmas Day, and whether you use them for shopping, wrapping, preaching, worshiping, singing or traveling or even wishing the whole darn thing were over last Tuesday, there's a good chance they will be busy ones. So let's make this easy, if we can: tell us five things you need to accomplish before Christmas Eve.

1. Preach a sermon on Sunday. The bulletins and everything else for morning worship is done. Except for my sermon. But, it's only Friday... I'm going with Isaiah 9:2-7, even though it's technically the Christmas Eve text. We've had a very non-lectionary (and very non-adventy) advent; at least it feels that way to me.

2. Wrap some gifts that we're donating to help a family out in need this Christmas. We're not doing gifts ourselves, but that doesn't mean we can't help out people who really would like presents this year!

3. Decorate/Clean/Make Presentable the House. The Open Parsonage Christmas Thingy is tomorrow and we need to not look completely like poor students with dorm furniture and books and papers everywhere for at least 3 hours. And like Christmas is somewhat around the corner.

4. Put together the Christmas Eve service. Fortunately, the service itself doesn't look too difficult to put together.

5. Make Chex Mix! Christmas isn't Christmas without Chex Mix. Well, that and those nuts in the shell that you crack and are so delicious.

I'm going to take the liberty of adding a bonus question: What is one thing that won't get done before Christmas?

Sending Christmas cards. Again. I'm such a loser. :-P

I blinked...

...and it was one week to Christmas. How did that happen? The good news is the 30% off a bunch of Christmas decorations from Target and now the house looks like there might possibly be a holiday coming around the corner.

Really, it's been one of those weeks. Since last Friday: A hard death in the life of the congregation, losing power for four days, having some idiot kick up a rubber brick that smashes into your windshield, and cleaning your entire house for the parsonage Christmas open house. Oy. Praise God that professors abound in mercy this time of year - two incompletes - check, check. I can't think about school until after Christmas.

Christmas. I'm not ready for it. For the past eight years I haven't been ready for it. I am convinced that student life is not conducive to a spiritual advent. Well - at least not in how the season is intended. I surely have had a season of hope and expectation and waiting - for these darn papers to be done and the semester to end! Jesus hasn't really entered my thoughts as of late, unless it's in some desperate prayer -- Dear Jesus, please let the lights come back on -- or as some abstract theological concept -- the Jesus-event re-presented in the Communion meal infuses our own moments of becoming...

But Jesus didn't come when the world was ready. One of my (new) favorite poems is from Madeline L'engle called "First Coming." Essentially, God came down when we needed it - not when we were prepared for it. God came down when life was messy, when things were left undone and unsaid, when people were so much in pain they couldn't find God. And so for me this season, Jesus isn't in the pretty snow or the beautiful carols or the decked out house or in the little manger or in the finished to-do list - but Jesus is in the vibrant chaos, the little light beckoning me out of the darkness, the abundant grace I receive each day to keep moving forward. Jesus comes in the midst of my mess - in the midst of the world's mess - to bring hope, light, and peace.

What I Want For Christmas

In recent years, I've honestly been a bit baffled by the consumeristic bruhaha that surrounds the Christmas season. I walked into Michael's craft store the other week and Christmas decorations lined the shelves and it was barely after Halloween. I've already seen countless television ads for Holiday sales and jewelry and cars (because all of us can afford to give our loved one a new car for Christmas, right?), and it all leaves me thinking that somehow, somewhere, we got Christmas all wrong. We get lost in the insanity of the season, thinking that it won't be Christmas without the gifts underneath the tree, the mounds of cookies and goodies, or the ten billion cards we are obligated to send out to our third cousins twice removed we've never met (though - I am planning on doing cards this year!! I swear!!)

Really - It won't be Christmas without Christ. That is sort of the point, isn't it? That Christ came down to be with us - Emmanuel - God With Us. God's presence didn't come with fanfare, with loads of presents or important people. God came in the midst of a scandal - an unwed teen mother who nobody would take in giving birth in the least sanitary of places, who then becomes a refugee in the land of Egypt. Not pristine, not perfect and put together...and not consumeristic.

So why do we celebrate Christmas - Christ's Birth Day - with the giving of gifts when this day signifies the greatest gift of all that any one of us could ever hope to unwrap? When ever gift we get pales in comparison to this wonderful inbreaking of God's radical presence here with us on Earth?

This is why I want something different for Christmas. Sure, it would be nice to get gifts. I can think of a whole slew of things that I want, because there's nothing that I really need. I can also think of really thoughtful gifts to get for my friends and family; things I know that they will like and appreciate. But to me, that isn't the point of Christmas anymore. If Christmas is about God's earth-shattering, power-shifting, turning-the-world-upside-down presence with us - in us - then shouldn't we share that presence with others? Shouldn't that be our gift this season - to be with those who need the gift of presence more than anything else?

So my plan is to do this: instead of giving gifts to people I love, I'm going to give them stories instead. Stories about my encounters with people who need a reminder that God loves them. During this holiday season, I hope to maybe play a little Christmas concert at a nursing home. I hope to pray with people at Ruth's House. I hope to help bring Christmas to a family in need. I hope to pay for someone's groceries. I hope to have people over for dinner. I hope to sit with someone who is grieving the loss of a loved one.

And I'd like these stories in return. Instead of getting gifts from people, I'd rather that they go out and do likewise in their own communities - to share the gift of presence to those who need it most.

This is a joint venture that I am participating in with another couple - Matt and Farrah - who Ben and I will be joining with in this new ministry venture in Haverhill. Watch the video we put together to see even more reasons why we want to give the Gift of Presence this Christmas season. If you are interested, then please - join us!

Big Fat "F"

Ok, so I fail in writing a post everyday for NaBloPoMo (maybe I would have had a better shot at NaNoWriMo). In any case, life happens and sometimes internet is difficult to find and sometimes...I'm just lazy. There. I confess.

The list of things to do continues to pile up - just like the leaves in our backyard. It's that time of year, afterall. Time to start on the term papers and the stewardship campaign and the planning for Advent and the Christmas cards and the making up of a class from 2 years ago.

So far, I'm surviving. I've lately felt the need to start watching my hours more carefully - both at school and at church. Well, mainly church (to be honest); I could probably afford to spend a little bit more time on some of my schoolwork for certain classes *coughs*UMHistory*coughs*. Not that I'm in danger of earning that Big Fat "F" in that class...but I could invest a bit more of myself there.

Missed A Day

Drat. I missed posting yesterday. Really, I have no excuse since it was my day off; or perhaps that is my excuse. I was a blob all day and I loved it. After the long week, I deserved a day where I could shut off my brain and where the hardest decision I had to make was whether or not to watch another episode of Heroes on hulu.com.

This tends to be the pattern of my Sabbaths, for better or for worse. On these days I really lack the energy to do much that is worthwhile. Getting out of bed is a challenge, and usually the pattern of the day is eat...sleep...eat...sleep....eat and sleep some more.

And then the cycle begins all over again. By Monday evening I'm thinking about Tuesday morning and what needs to get packed, which books need to be taken and read by when, what I need to throw in the laundry to be washed for the end of the week, and what we need to eat for lunch the next day.

For the most part, it's a comfortable cycle, although it's hard to focus on church work in NJ and hard to focus on schoolwork in MA. And it all revolves around Monday, my day off, my blessed Sabbath.