As we continue our current learning series, Family Recipe: A Tasty Exploration Of Life At Home (& Beyond), here’s a resource from the good folks at Soma Communities in Tacoma, WA designed to help children, and their parents I might add, enter the story of God through the Bible.  Each section includes story telling and dialogue.  Why not focus on at least one story over dinner or before bedtime each week?  And be sure to stop back by and leave a comment about you and your child’s experience of entering the story together.

One week ago today I was riding in a car with my friend, Dave Wilkinson (who pastors The Porch in Spokane), when I decided to check the news on my phone (I wasn’t driving).  I looked at him and said, “Did you know that an earthquake struck Haiti today?”  From that point, our conversation turned from the miscellaneous to an exchange marked by surprise, intermittent incoming pieces of new information, and the seemingly odd timing of our travels.  You see, we had decided to take this trip in December.  We wanted to discuss Haiti, the whole gospel and possibilities for how our church communities’ could engage in long term partnership there with a couple of guys who’ve given a lot of there lives to the island nation.  One week ago everyone started discussing Haiti.

Today I received an email stating that 70,000 were confirmed dead.
Today I read a report citing the leading US general in Haiti as saying that the death toll might reach 200,000.
Today I looked at these pictures of destruction from The Boston Globe.
Today I reflected again on this ache filled piece by Régine Chassagne of The Arcade Fire.
Today I heard that one of the guys I met in Oregon, Brian, left for Haiti.
Today I was thankful for the continual flow of aid through organizations like The Red Cross, Convoy of Hope, and even initiatives like this from Paste Magazine.
Today I once again resolved to pray, to resist the temptation to become apathetic with time, to act.

Will you join me?

Donations made to The Red Cross, Convoy of Hope, One Day’s Wages (Haiti partnerships) and other legitimate humanitarian organizations make a difference.
Donations made to people like Brian Graffenberger (I shared about meeting him this past Sunday, and about him traveling to Haiti with water purification systems, etc. above) make a difference.
Prayer is an active force that makes a difference.
Forging ahead in long term relationship and partnership in Haiti makes a difference.

Over the coming weeks we’ll spend our Sunday gatherings exploring family life in light of the way of Jesus and his mission of love and redemption.  With this in mind, what questions, comments or thoughts for investigation are you pondering these days regarding home life, singleness and marriage, the raising of children, family and mission, etc.?  Please reply in the comments area.

The People Walking In Darkness
What do we know about darkness?
To us, darkness is yellow. It’s the color of street lights.
It drains the world of color but not of detail.

What would it be like to see… nothing?
To feel isolated and alone?
To live under the control of empires and powers too strong to oppose?
To long for change, but fear to hope that change is possible?
To lose confidence that God has any power to alter the world?

But darkness is also a place of concealment.
A place where we can mask our true selves.
A place to hide the things we don’t like about us.

Perhaps we know darkness after all.
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light…

Ah yes, the light.
We know about that!
The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes. But little lord Jesus no crying he makes.
But this baby is also the light of the world.
The harsh light of day, penetrator of dark corners, revealer of blind spots
Who tramples on rose-tinted glasses and heals jaundiced eyes.

This is the light that will not be tamed, controlled or confined.
We coo over the baby in the manger, and attempt to cut God down to size,
And make him in our image. For what could be dangerous about a tiny child?
Yet the coming light will overturn empires, rule with justice and righteousness,
See into the heart of us and save the world.

God was born as a boy and made his dwelling among us.
That doesn’t mean that because we know babies, we know all there is to know about God.

So watch and prepare for the coming of the light.
Greet the coming with joy, and also fear.
Watch and wait.
Expect to be surprised.
But not comfortable.
Watch and wait.

via Grace, A community in Ealing UK

Advent, a season of hopeful waiting, begins on Sunday November 29th and lasts through Christmas.  As a community, we will be leaning into this ancient / future time, longing for Christ to be born in us, and through us, as we also await his second advent, or coming.  This first season of the year (The Church or Christian calendar begins each year with Advent) offers an invitation to us.  An invitation to come and see, to watch and wait, to celebrate and worship.   Here are a few ways that we’ll be exploring and participating together during these days.

Sunday Gatherings
During our Sunday gatherings we’ll be exploring a series of texts from the last book of the New Testament, Revelation alongside of the scenes and texts of the original Christmas story.  Our intent will be to experience the healthy tension of living between Christ’s first advent and second advent.  And these scenes and texts will provide ample opportunity to do just that as we see the King revealed.

Shared Experiences
We are once again aligning ourselves with a vast array of Jesus followers through participating in the Advent Conspiracy, a movement centered upon worshipping Jesus fully, spending less, giving more and loving all.  In light of this we’ll be hosting an evening to explore and create relational gifts.  We’ll also provide a variety of ways to serve our neighbors, both local and global.  And lastly, we’ll gather on Christmas Eve for a time of expectant worship, stories and prayer.  While these experiences are being planned, we hope many others will take place among Houseplant gatherings, neighborhood connections, etc.

Resources
Throughout the season, Kaleo will be creating and providing resources for children and adults.  If you have practices, traditions, etc. that you have developed as tools for navigating the holidays (literally, holy days), please share them with us and one another!  Also, be sure to check out www.adventconspiracy.org and www.rethinkingchristmas.com

Consider the impact of your one day’s wages, which is equivalent to about 0.4% of your annual salary.

$20 can build a well to provide clean water for one person for 20 years.
$10 can purchase a bed net to help prevent malaria.
$45 can pay annual school tuition for one child.

One Day’s Wages is you, me, us, them: giving, dreaming, and working together to end extreme global poverty. Join the movement.  Take a few minutes to watch the video in the sidebar for more information from founder Eugene Cho.

Brent & Amy Hendricks of Global Neighborhood, an organization that seeks to help refugees re-settle in Spokane, shared with us on the activist impulse.  Unfortunately, due to technical malfunction, the audio of our time together isn’t available.  However, here is the clip that Brent showed us while talking about the amazing challenges that refugees face when moving to a new land.  Also, here’s a link to Global Neighborhood, where you can find out more about their work, ways to get involved, etc.

Today, a friend of mine began a new business venture.  He and I have had numerous conversations on the possibility of business as mission.  We also came across a book by the same title this past Spring and will be hosting a one month book group for those interested in exploring how their vocation in business (whether they be an owner / operator, employee, someone with future business plans, etc.) is uniquely positioned as a vehicle for partnering with Jesus in his mission of love and redemption.  If you are interested, please leave your name below in the comments area, along with what days and times would work best for you.

“If you don’t need the Gospel more than the people you’re sharing it with, you ought not be sharing it with them.”
Dan Allender, Mars Hill Graduate School

Justin Bryeans and Eric Blauer discuss the contemplative impulse as we continue our learning series focused on re-imagining ourselves, one another and those we’re on mission among.  The audio here is an introduction by Justin.  The video of Eric discussing his discovery and formation in the contemplative way, can be found here.  (You can download the video, but please be aware that it weighs in at 2.6 GB.  If you’d like me to burn you a DVD, let me know.)