Advent

Advent is here. And with it, the expectant waiting of the Christ-child's birth.

Mary and Joseph had a lot to do as they awaited his birth: marriage, pending travels, preparing for birth. I picture it as a time of not stopping - a time of constant work.

I picture a lot of things as time of constant work - like us, during Advent - time shopping, church activities, holiday programs, Christmas concerts, tree lightings, traveling, and the list could go on. We are often so busy with everything going on that we forget Advent is around us... the coming is near... and the world is turning in ignorance.

WE are turning in ignorance.

We are busy on our paths, busy with our to-do lists, busy with our Christmas lists, busy with our gatherings, busy with the preparations...

How often did Mary step out of all of the hullabaloo and sit with the fact that she was carrying God's son? How often did she sit and cry over how her life had changed? How often did she wonder over the life growing inside her?

And yet we walk through this season without a second thought of the waiting, the excitement, the anticipation... more than over a gift under the tree, more than get togethers and concerts, but for the eternal excitement that this season brings with it.

More than the trees, more than the deals, more than family...

But everything it brings with it.

Do we feel that kind of excitement?

Do we feel that kind of rush on Christmas morning?

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Do we ever remember to be interrupted?
Do we let our lives be turned upside down in a momentary visit from the angels?
Do we even have room for a visit from God?

Or are we so busy that all the noise we create drowns out everything and everyone else?
Are we so busy that life passes us by as we keep up with the Jones'?
Are we so busy that we don't notice the world is waiting, too?

The world is waiting for us to listen.
The world is waiting for us to be interrupted.
The world is waiting for the Christ-child.

The world is waiting for us to wait.

Wait with me? 

Thanksgiving 2014

It's a post of thanks a day post Thanksgiving...

There is much to be thankful for this last year -
- My brother deployed the day after Thanksgiving last year, and he returned home safe. For that, I am thankful.
- I rang in 2015 with good friends. For that, I am thankful.
- I completed my MDiv and graduated. For that, I am thankful.
- My family came to the hooding, my dad was present for the hooding and commencement. And I got to see them all again in July. For that, I am thankful.
- The by-laws were changed and I was ordained by FBC Kernersville. For that, I am thankful.
- I was able to participate in the ordination council for a very dear friend. For that, I am thankful.
- I received a call to a new place of ministry, and am surrounded by wonderful people and community where I get live into my calling. For that, I am thankful.
- I have "homes" all over the world and can recall memories of Thanksgivings that are all meaningful in their own ways, and I am blessed to create more memories of Thanksgiving. For that, I am thankful.
- As much as I don't like to listen to doctors, I have medical care, insurance, and treatment available to me. For that, I am thankful.
- More than just homes and places that are important to me - I have the friends and family all over the world that make up those homes - I love them even though they pull my heart in many directions. For that, I am thankful. 

And most of all, I am thankful for a Theology of Abundance:
Love doesn't run out.
Grace doesn't run out.
And for that, I am supremely thankful.

Grace for the Contemplative Parent

"Grace for the Contemplative Parent: A Practical Guide for Mothers Practicing the Presence of God" by Lily Crowder.

I was really excited about this book. In my work I was hoping to find a way to include this while working with parents - especially the parents of YOUTH who are often the parents who feel they need the most grace (after all, those are trying years for anybody). There are nuggets of gold in this book: remembering the present and that sometimes, the present season is difficult, finding contentment in the present moment, noticing God everywhere, etc...

But there are some things that are problematic to me, personally, theologically. The book is rooted in a rather conservative mindset, believer that God gave her her husband, that optimism is imperative and that negativity has no place - Yes the Gospel is optimistic, but then you are casting aside those who may not have been born optimists, Lily. I'm glad God gave you a husband, but what about those who have never married, did God not want to give them a husband?

Ultimately, there are pieces of this book I could share, but I can't honestly see this book working in my context in the way I had hoped. Perhaps someone could come along and bring this book to a more moderate stand-point without such a leaning that it was an exclusive kind of book. Mothers need grace, fathers need grace, and children need grace, and while there is some grace in this book, there are also some spaces that could use more grace.

$ .02

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

Adoration by Martha Kilpatrick

If you ignore that in Kilpatrick's interpretation of Mary she sets Martha as in the wrong and Mary knowing the "one way", you can read a lot of good in this book. Certainly, you can read Mary as the one who chose Jesus, but it discounts much of the actual doing that is required in ministry, as well. On that point alone, I was jaded as I read the book because that is where she started.

Adoration: Mary of Bethany - The Untold Story by Martha Kilpatrick is written in a jarring speech pattern, perhaps on purpose (I use it sometimes, too), but it is used the entire way through that I think I am missing the point in trying to follow, and I have a hard time understanding the purpose of the format.

It is, of course, one reading of the Mary and Martha story - and there are valid points, but I have a hard time jumping to agreement with the whole book because Martha is almost villainized. Jesus reminds Martha not to be distracted, but Kilpatrick takes the metaphor and performs eisegesis to it, rather than exegesis - it is a story that has a lot of space to fill, but I think she fills too much.

This book is probably good if you are just looking for something out of the box, or if you're willing to sift through and find the kernels of insight that can stand on their own - or even if you're willing to and looking to find someone else to fill in some gaps for you. However, I don't see myself going back to this book over and over again. It is probably one that will sit on the shelf for a while.

But that is only one person's opinion.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the author and/or publisher through the Speakeasy blogging book review network. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.