Advent Calendar - Part II

In a recent post I talked about my sister Rebekah and I taking turns each day in pining the ornaments to the advent calendar. I can't believe I have a picture of it but here it is. Mom made it in the '70s along with the three kings wall hangings. Weren't all Christmas decorations made of felt in the 1970s?

As Christmas Eve and Christmas Day inch ever closer, I'm getting more and more excited for the celebrations, times of worship, times of quiet reflection along with the laughter that being with family brings.

I also think about a girl I met about 6 months ago. She is an Iraqi veteran. She is a young girl who since her return to the US, she has lived in shelters due to the red tape and snail like process of getting her disability checks. She told me yesterday that the greatest gift she could have received is the the new apartment she moved into on Friday and the approval of the GI Bill which has allowed her to enroll in college. She begins classes in January. She doesn't have family support but our church staff was able to find a fun family for her to spend Christmas with this year. In your bedtime prayers tonight, please thank God for the love shown my new friend as she continues her path back to a life that every human being deserves. One with purpose, food to eat, clothes to wear and the ability to listen to where God wants us to point the frontside of our body and proceed.

Chapel of the Abiding Presence

As a student at Texas Lutheran College (now University...sorry I can't say it...doesn't sound right) we had the opportunity to attend chapel at 10:30 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. As a theology major, I was kind of expected to be there...and I was, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It was a 25 minute service with scripture, song and a meditation by the campus pastor. The pipe organ was played by a rotation of sacred music majors. Then we would all pour out into the gathering area just outside the front door of the chapel and eat doughnuts and drink coffee till we finally didn't want any lunch. Some of us had class right after chapel and stuffed pastries into our backpacks and filled our mamoth refillable coffee cups from the Sack and Save before running off to Greek or Philosophy in Literature or Business or Ethics or Homiletics. It was interesting. It wasn't just the theology majors in chapel...most of my friends were Biology or Chemistry majors...and there we all were, worshipping together. Ah...college. The best place I can think to receive that really rude awakening that everyone isn't just like you. Believe me, I was shocked...actually more pleasantly surprised. I don't know if that was glimpse of what I might be doing later but as I look back, I accidentally had people coming with me to chapel. People who told me later that they never would have believed that given a choice between a quick toes up or chapel they would have chosen chapel.

Ah...Evangelism. Another great equalizer :)

Eschmangelism continued

So I've been thinking about what I wrote yesterday and hoping that you all have a sense of humor because these I think these card are hysterical! I probably won't send you one in the mail but still....

Another one I saw said, "Jesus called. He wants his religion back." Hey if God has a sense of humor I can too...

Evangelism Eschmangelism

I am the director of Evangelism at First United Methodist Church in downtown Dallas...scary huh? First, the word Evangelism...yipe! Second, Dallas...in the beltbuckle of the Bible belt...double yipe!!!! I think many Christians have given evangelism the scary rep it has for many people. Since as long as I can remember I've had a weird feeling when I see an evangelist on TV. The hair on the back of my neck gets all prickly and I want to run away even though the Christian faith has always been a part of my heritage.

Evangelism, in my view, is the job of everyone. We practice it every single time we encounter another human being. Another opinion I have is that if we, as Christians, meet someone for the first time and mention our faith in God and what that means to us without having first been asked seems only self serving...somehow thinking we're going to 'win' a soul for Christ is in our power. We're doing that because strangely we think that that person is just dying to know about us and what we believe. Why don't we wait for the invitation? Why can't we allow God to move that person to curiosity instead of biting at the bit to 'please be interested in me'. Rather, we should be more interested in that person, respect them for who and what they are and let God work in God's own time. God gives every human being free will and they may decide not to make their life with Christ. If you've argued someone into wanting to know more about Christ, have they really made that choice? Don't speak the language of what seems to many non-Christians as 'club speak' and just be a person loving other people.

Don't feel like you have to learn some special steps to Evangelism. Don't think that you have to have a Theology degree in order to talk about spirituality. Love and commune with God, then allow that love to flow back through you into the midst of others. Just let it be.

Tell me what you think about this brand of Evangelism. A great way to better understand this way of thinking is to read John Shore's, "I'm Okay, You're Not"...his blog is listed in my favorites to the right.

Are you the Church Lady?

Since my arrival back to Dallas and my church slash job...I've worked my hiney off! This coming Sunday, September 9th, is a huge day in the life of this congregation. The third graders will be presented with the gift of a study Bible during worship, there are people planning on becoming members of the church during the 11:00 worship service, all the children move up a grade in their Sunday school classes and a partridge in a pear tree. AND, with the beginning of the school year, lots of other opportunities for growth ramp up as well...In-depth Studies for adults, children's choir rehearsals begin, the Rotunda theatre series is in full swing and our newest ministry, UrbanLife, is about to launch in a HUGE way with tons of new visitors and members of the church in new leadership positions. It's all very exciting.

I was thinking about my job and life here at the church and wondered what someone on the 'outside' of this place thinks when they hear me go on and on about church and faith and stuff. Do they assume I'm the Church Lady? Yes, I know, I worry too much about what other people think. But more than that, I worry that many Christians today have given Christianity a bad name. My biggest (and most egotistical) fear is that I will be equated with the "are-you-washed-in-the-blood-of-the-lamb" Christians who try to scare people into heaven or try to group people into "good" and "bad" lumps of faceless masses. The idea that I can only help dispel this idea of Christians is overwhelming. I cringe when I hear trite phrases like "Just give it to God" or "If it's God's will..." or my personal favorite, "Are you saved?" I think immediately of how these long practiced utterances sound to the non-Christian or to the undecided. This is language that life long church goers can spit out not realizing that it doesn't mean anything to one who hasn't decided for themselves what it means. It's almost like the language of a club.

From singer/songwriter: Damien Rice

"So why do you fill my sorrow

With the words you've borrowed

From the only place you've known

And why do you sing Hallelujah

If it means nothing to you

Why do you sing with me at all?"

I have no idea what Damien is really singing about but when I hear this chorus I think it sounds like someone has attempted to comfort someone else with some really well rehearsed words instead being a genuine person and truly having empathy. This is what I don't want to be. This is my reason for attending worship, studying scripture, being involved in a church family and practicing my faith as I understand it...so that I can strive to be a 'real' person and not just a product of a religion.

Anyway, that's my soapbox for the day and it's soooooo time to get off of it :)

Christians....PLEASE!!!!

I left the church last night a little after 8:00 p.m. and was feeling pretty hungry. I love the tofu spring rolls from Pho in Valley Ranch so I set my route to land me there. I just love the family who own and run the place...they know me and they know what I'm going to order ha! I love that I live in a place where there is rich diversity in culture, religion and lifestyle...I benefit highly from it and don't think I could grow much as a person without it. So my spring rolls were ready, I thanked them and paid and bopped out of Pho feeling pretty good about life. I got in my car, got to the stop light and what did I see on the bumper of the car ahead of me???

My mood went from bliss to growling mad in two seconds flat! What is wrong with some Christians today!?!? What the heck is going on around here?!?!? What part of that message is Christlike and loving? How is that 'loving your neighbor'? It just doesn't fit. This bumper sticker may be the best way yet to completely push non-Christians over the edge of distain for Christians. Congratulations! you've done it. That's all I have to say about that!

Chasing the Trolley

I love to ride The McKinney Avenue Trolley between downtown and uptown Dallas. I don't like driving in Uptown. I get all nervous and stuff when I have to drive on the trolley tracks. Am I in the right lane? Is this lane about to end? Am I going the wrong way on a one way? YIPE!!! Another reason I don't drive well in Uptown Dallas may be becuase I'm always scoping out the trolley to see if it's the one with our FUMC Dallas ad on the side. I love to look at it! I know the people in the pictures and I know their love and connection to their church...and I just love the way the thing looks. My friend, Brian Owens, designed it and I can't quit looking at it. Anyway, I guess if I practiced driving in Uptown more, I would begin to feel more accustomed to the streets, which restaurant is where and how to get to Tom Tom (yum! Great white teas they have) Maybe my favorite thing about the trolley is the visual connection it provides between uptown and downtown Dallas. So many members and visitors to First United Methodist Church of Dallas live in uptown and downtown but are all members of one community in each other's midst. This place connects the relevant and the traditional and is inclusive of everyone. Get on the trolley and come CONNECT!!!

Queen of Vogue!

This is my sister voguing in the hot, humid and buggy jungle in Belize. Yes, that's right, with a smile, a pose and more humor than I can muster...well...ever! We took a vacation together this summer, our first one with just the two of us. We have no other siblings and as time goes on, we just grow closer. What I appreciated most about the time we had together was the ease in which we could simply be in each other's midst. There is enough understanding of what our history is, what we think, what we believe and what we dream that there is a built-in basis for our relationship. I started thinking about this and wondered why it should be so different for people who have never known each other. Don't most people crave basically the same things??? Acceptance, love, respect, trust...why is it so tragically hard to recognize these needs in everyone we encounter no matter how differently they live, look and act. We say, "I can't talk to people I don't know because I don't know them" Huh? Fix that! We have to take a quick stock of how we as humans beings enjoy being treated and then mirror that. Now, if only I could mirror my sister and vogue like that!

I gotta have it!

What is it about coffee? What is this hold it has on me? It is the aroma? The memories of sitting in my Grannie's kitchen when I was only 4 being poured a cup? (yes, it was mostly milk but still) Actually, I think that might be it. Every time I have a cup of coffee, especially in the afteroon, I think about the fact that my Grannie is probably doing the very same thing at that very moment. Coffee meant we were about to all sit down together and talk about something important or at least about something juicy that Mrs. So and So's daughter did last week.

How many times have you heard people say, "ewwww, church coffee!" But we still stand around and drink the stuff and visit, build on our relationships, get to know that girl and guy over there I never met before. It's all about the coffee...oh wait, I mean it's all about the relationships :) Somehow they just go together for me. What else in my life should be linked to time spent with people I know and don't know? For now, I'll use the coffee angle!