The Highs and Lows of My Weekend

This weekend was full of highs and lows.

I will start with the highs:

• Tianna's birthday was Saturday, and Matt came home from Ithaca to be at her party. Chris also came, and it was just fun to see them all together.
• We had a fun birthday party for Tianna attended by 28 sixth graders at our house (don't worry, it appears on the low list too).
• Today's message in church was another powerful one from the book of James, on being a peacemaker. Our pastor spoke about peace making and peace taking relationships and how difficult it is to really walk in the posture of a peacemaker. Characteristics of Peacemaking relationships are that they are pure, peaceful, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and secures. Contrast this with peace taking relationships which are characterized by bitterness, envy, selfish ambition, evil and disorder. It was another one of those messages that I felt was "just for me".
• I had a car load of twelve year old girls tell me I rocked and they sang a song of gratitude for me at the top of their lungs.
• I caught glimpses of the sun rays peeking out from behind clouds.

Now the lows:

• Eleven of the sixth graders, most of the girls, stayed over for a sleep over. We had one high drama incident which made me want to pull my hair out, but we got through it. Yes, of course I know that is way too many hormonal sixth grade crazed girls to have for a sleepover, but how that happened is a story for another day when I am not quite so shot.
• I spent time reflecting on Tianna's birth mother, and that is always an emotional place for me to go. I appreciate her selfless gift of her daughter more than I can express. But my heart is full of compassion for her. I know in Vietnam poverty often drives the decision to abandon a baby for adoption, but I think of her birth mom and wonder what her thoughts are about her daughter, especially on her birthday.
• For other reasons, November 15th is also a very sad, difficult day for me, but that is also a story for another day.

That really is just the overview. I was astonished at how many of the kids had cell phones and had them at the party. That is worth a post in and of itself...

And in terms of my sadness, I will close with words my friend and blog reader Pam wrote and passed to me in church today: "As hard as it is, Jesus want us (I think) to get to the point where if our spouse (or whoever) never connected emotionally with us again, we would find our fill and satisfaction in Jesus." I know that is true, but I also know it is hard; very hard.

An Outreach Kind of Day

I attended a lunch today sponsored by a community church interested in engaging in a cross denominational conversation about outreach and what different groups are doing, are trying and succeeding at, and also what we are trying and not succeeding at. It was a refreshing gathering of people who love Jesus (something I am having a much easier time saying and feel less attacked about than which presidential candidate I support...) The timing was perfect for the two of us representing the church I worship at, Community Mennonite Fellowship (do I look like a Mennonite? Blasts some preconceived notions now doesn't it...hmm...) because we are engaging in our Faith in Action service weekend coming up this Saturday and Sunday.

The local community newspaper did a great job covering this event, complete with photo which I am in. You can read the article by clicking on this link: http://www.standard-journal.com/. It is really cool stuff.

The basic premise is that instead of going to church on this Faith in Action Sunday, we actually serve as the church in our community, by putting our faith in action. I read about the original concept in Outreach Magazine, in an article titled, Church is Cancelled, Service Begins. Catchy, huh? So several churches have actually cancelled their services on Sunday and gone out to serve. After all Jesus healed on the Sabbath, and got blasted for it by the Pharisees (the rule keepers of the day). But Jesus asked, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" (Luke 5:17). In my way of thinking,what could be more life giving than sharing the love of Christ with those who have not yet been touched by that love by going out and serving in the community.

The Sabbath is still protected and revered by some, so for now some of our service will take place on Saturday and some on Sunday but I think what was the most confusing to me was the position taken of not working on the Sabbath so our manual work projects were shifted to Saturday. But then one of the individuals who had strong feelings about this is not participating because she ended up being scheduled to work on Sunday afternoon. There was just a disconnect there for me. I didn't get it and was a bit sad that we didn't embrace the campaign in its fullest sense. But strong traditions are hard to reconstruct, and I am thrilled that we are starting somewhere.

The lunch was a time of sharing and feeling unity amongst ourselves as "the church" and not a particular denomination.

And for that I was thankful.

More Air Travel from You Know Where...

Well, I am sitting at an airport again...My flight got messed up again. But here's the thing. We have a choice in how we respond. No amount of kicking, screaming, moaning, groaning, or other more unacceptable words describing frustrated air traveller's behavior is going to make it any better.
I am going home after an intense two days of visiting with life long friends. Well, almost lifelong. Since first grade. I guess I was saying third grade, but my memory isn't what it used to be...it was since first grade.
We got off to a bit of a later than hoped for start from the hotel, but it didn't matter...my flight was delayed anyway. The earlier one had been cancelled. I was to fly from SD to SF on my way back to Newark, where I then need to shuttle to Timbuktu two to find my car and then drive, once again in the middle of the night.
Well, then my flight got delayed, resulting in a missed connection, resulting in a re booking through Denver. So what are you going to do?
Act in a way that would do Jesus proud.
I greeted the gate agent and thanked him for taking care of me, noting that just for the record I didn't hold him personally responsible for the fact that things were messed up. A pleasant change, he noted.
We had a lovely conversation, and he upgraded me to economy plus; an unexpected perk.
And...I was smart enough to buy a new book at B&N yesterday (Shane Claiborne's JESUS FOR PRESIDENT) and am still coherent enough to write, so I got a draft done for a story on love and friendship for a compilation that Gary Chapman is working on. (If you are reading this and want to submit and don't have the writer's guidelines, email me). Perhaps you could also see the Starbucks sign in the background, so how bad can it be? I'll let you know when I get home! But seriously, its not the poor desk agent's fault, so why take it out on him?
So live the Golden Rule and do Jesus Justice.