New Year

Another year goes by. Though this year feels like a lifetime. It was so rich with change and new experience, I scarce can conceive that another year akin to it is coming. I suppose though, you truly never really know.

I am sitting on the edge of my seat in anticipation for several of the things I do know that are coming this year. I also know that to know Christ is to know suffering and that this coming year will not pass without a few valley experiences. I feel content to know who my trust lies in, and that the One I trust is so relentlessly relational and trustworthy.

It is my sincere hope that everyone I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and knowing, in whatever form or avenue, will experience potency and energy in gearing up for the New Year. It is my hope that all of us when remembering the past and recalibrating for the future, can rest in the fact that God is the God of Yesterday’s and can turn any blunder into a blessing.

I was uploading some old music into my new portable hard drive and came across a tune I had forgotten about. If you get the chance to listen to it, please do. It is a great song by Third Day, a band that I really enjoy. The lyrics are from a song called “Mountain of God”. I printed them and read them for awhile just to remind myself of some things again. These are only a portion of the lyrics, but I pray that will bless you as they did me. Happy New Year everyone!

Sometimes I think of where it is I’ve come from
And the things I’ve left behind
But of all I’ve had, what I possessed
Nothing can quite compare
With what’s in front of me
With what’s in front of me

Even though the journey’s long

And I know the road is hard
Well, the One who’s gone before me
He will help me carry on
After all that I’ve been through
Now I realize the truth
That I must go through the valley
To stand upon the mountain of God

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz-cRVvGe88

Thinking points

I have noticed that I seem to gravitate toward quotes. I am not sure if it is because they summarize dramatic points in a matter of mere sentences, or if it is the fact that they entice me to dig deeper, or perhaps it is just that I find them ascetically pleasing with their compact size. Whatever the case, I have compiled many documents on my computer with quotes and sayings. Periodically I run through them and try to remember why they struck me and why I felt it necessary to write them down. Sometimes it is evident, other times I have to apply some thinking. It bodes well for me that I attend The Meeting House with their affinity for quotes at the beginning of every sermon. I have a kindred spirit with the speakers at TMH and I enjoy the regular dose of quotes.

Running through the ever challenging “Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid” sermon series (5 week sermon series) is proving me with many quotes. Something tells me that in the future I won’t have to work hard to remember why they struck me. Here is just a small sampling; some are from the sermons and some are from my library of quotes.

Selfishness no longer cloaks itself in religion: it has become religion.

~ Benjamin R. Barber

Is there any more certain way of desiccating the soul of man than the

habit of constantly thinking about money and what it can by? Is there a

more potent poison than our economics system’s all‐pervasive

commercialism?

~ Wilhelm Ropke

The lust for affluence in contemporary society is psychotic. It is time we

awaken to the fact that conformity to a sick society is to be sick.

~ Richard Foster

Man’s greatest wealth is to live on little with a contented mind.

~ Lucretius (99 – 55 BCE)

Childhood makes capitalism hum. ~ Dan Cook

Religion begat prosperity and the daughter devoured the mother.

~ Cotton Mather

Money is one of the acid tests of character and a surprising amount of space is given to it in the scriptures…whether a man is rich or poor, observe his reaction to his possessions and you have a revealing index to his character.

~ J Oswald Sanders

God divided the hand into fingers so that money could slip right through

+

If our personal goods are not available to the larger community, they are stolen goods.

~ Martin Luther

God is ashamed when the prosperous boast of his special favor.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

- commodified christmas -

Ever feel like you are on information overload?

I am walking through a season of that right now.

Between my new job at work and life in general, things are nutty in my head.


This past Sunday our church started a new sermon series called "Don't drink the Kool -Aid".
It is timely and so important. But it makes me re-think so many of my foundational, base theories on life, the economy and Jesus in light of it all.
I gotta tell ya, I wasn't expecting a sermon on capitalism, but that is what we got.
And, really, I needed it.

After church I went out to lunch with some friends and my family. Most of the people there were much older than I and they shared quite candidly how they are shifting their Christmas giving like never before. They are radically changing what they give and giving the money they would have regularly spent to things like MCC Christmas giving, World Vision Christmas giving or Advent Conspiracy. It was really inspiring to talk with Grandpa's and Grandma's who this year were starting a new tradition.

I think the distinction to be made for me was not that they were giving 'meaningful gifts" on top of regular Christmas spending, but they were actually just not spending this Christmas. To many this may be old hat, but I have truly never met many people who live with intention in this way. Even living simply is an idea many I know don't understand. Including myself.

These are the kind of 'ordinary radicals' that are really inspiring me lately and contributing to my information overload right now. These people are giving me much food for thought this season and much encouragement to action.

It is very easy to criticize or point the fingers at what others do with their money when you have none. When you make minimum wage and have barely anything left over, living simply with intention is easy. But when you enter into a time where you have more than enough, and then some, that is where the rubber really hits the road.

I can hear the ever so still voice of the spirit asking me to "put your money where your mouth is Michelle" and I would suspect I am not the only one He is nudging this Holiday Season. So, keep your ears open, someone rather important has something to say.

Unity at all costs

This is not a political blog. Anyone who knows me knows that I have struggled recently with the idea of Christian involvement in politics all together. I have come to no consensus on these issues that dance in my head. But, the one thing that I can say with utter assurance, is that I am not pleased with what is going on with the government lately. My opinion is but a grain of sand in the multitude of opinions swirling in the past few weeks. But, if anything I can say that these strange weeks in Canadian parliament have shown me something.

It has shown me the power that people can have when they unite. Whether for good, or for bad unity does something. It can break down the powers that be, or it can prop up the importance of the powers that are. If the church could ever harness this power of unity, there would be nothing stopping us. It is amazing to me that each and everyone of us have at one time or another lived and breathed in our respective denominational corners with no thoughts of uniting with the other churches in our areas. Simply existing does not mean you are unified, as I have heard taught in the past. Unity is active and fluid.

If anything, these strange times have reminded me that I need to seek unity at all costs with those around me. Because unity can make or break us. We are indeed one in the Spirit and one in the Lord, but let's seek to make bridges of peace to those who might not think or act like us.

World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS day.

I thought about it, read some stats, prayed and got overwhelmed.

A great mentor/friend of mine reminded me to do "small things with great love" and not let the overwhelming feelings cause you to freeze and stand still.

Some friends and I have decided that instead of buying one another gifts this year, we would take the funds and make an MCC AIDS Kit. In fact my whole church is doing the same thing, making these kits, trying to do something. Anything.

A small thing with great love.

Consider how this year you could do something by spending less and giving more.