Spirit Light My Fire in Colombia: November 2009

Monday, November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving Blog - Part 2 the remembering

Colombian Thanksgiving Blog – Part 2: the remembering

THANKS BE TO GOD!!! Our Colombian Thanksgiving was a huge success! Once again God proves to me that He is listening to prayers….continual praying for this event started when we bought the turkey, with the frequency of prayers steadily increasing as the Friday night dinner approached. So, the Turkey did de-thaw in time. By Thursday night it was in a pot of salty-sugary water. I think Martha Stewart and Norman Rockwell would have been equally impressed between the fresh herbs, garlic and oranges and a bird that came out of the oven dark golden brown and juicy. No surprise that there is none left. Kate, Brittany and I had a full afternoon of chopping, stirring and dressing up – all pretty. The gusts started to arrive 15 till 7pm, just in time for us to send them out on errands to come back with more plates and plastic utensils. The group ended up numbering 15. Kate had the brilliant idea of inviting a couple extra friends from the Cathedral that was the cherry on top of the whole event. The three of us put on our dresses, pretty shoes and made ourselves up.

Hey, I will find anyexcuse to where heals, hehehe =.).

Once everyone was gathered we all stood around the table to share what we are thankful for and/or give a prayer. It was a humbling experience as many expressed thanks for our presence and work. The highlight was Sara, an 8 year old who is so very smart and well spoken who gave thanks for us, the generosity of the cathedral and the goodness in her life. Even before we had sat downfor the salads tears were welling up for many. What I was so very proud of, besides the Turkey and brownies (high altitude baking can be tricky), was that the menu involved more vegies than Colombians normally eat at any given meal…yah vegies! By the time everyone cleared out we were left with one dinner plate and a little extra mashed potatoes. Between Brittany’s confidence that we had enough and more than a fewprayers about the feeding of the 5,000, we fed everyone well and weren’t stuck with a tone of leftovers.

First Corse Green Salad and Fruite Salad

The main course

Turkey dressing greenbeens and then some

And this is the beautiful turkey!

Friday, November 27, 2009

A sea of Children

November 21 and 22 was quite the learning experience and event as the Cathedral hosted a workshop on Saturday and all of the participating community members were coming to the 11am service wich would include a bible study time for the children. The prior Thursday and Friday I was in the office trying to figure out what a children’s communication workshop and bible study for some 60-75 children was to look like. I have never taught a workshop nor bible school before especially not with a range of children from 1years old to 12 years old. It was a dynamic learning experience and I was so motivated I actually stayed focused in the office those two days, a small miracle. Well, as things go in Latin Amercia, even with a 2.5 hour meeting on Friday night the communication workshop on Saturday didn’t have a set plan, not as I would consider it. Working in such a fashion really highlights my US upbringing with deadlines, high expectations and solid planning and agendas...this is so not the case here. So as the folks were filling the pews on Saturday afternoon, I sit down with Father Diego and ask him (yet again) ‘ok, what is the plan? How do you see this coming about?’....Well the workshop ended up being with Father Diego in the sanctuary with all the adults and children older than 12 giving his communication discussion while Kate, Brittany and I took all of the some 75 children and split them into three teams. Kate got the little ones, Brittany the middle ones and I took charge of the older group. So I was bound and determined to use some of the work I had done to lead children into a communication workshop. After playing a full round of charades I lead the kids in communication skits. They were great! All through charades and then they blossomed during the skits, especially the group that was being the most difficult. They were dynamically involved whether performing the skits or as the audience, which included a bad communication example followed by a good example. Each of the mini skits was intermingled with the children who were watching answering questions about the situation. It kept them on their toes and made them feel apart of the skit. Unfortunately I didn’t time it well and we only were able to perform one skit, but a good start. The bummer and highlight was when the trouble group transformed into the most energetic and eager team as they came up with their own skit theme, family violence, with it’s bad and good examples only to run out of time. But I was so very proud of them. The bible study went very similarly as all the children went into the salon and I separated the oldest to discuss the gospel lesson. Despite having to share the room with 60+ other children under 10 the discussion was still successful. Most of the children didn’t have a real concept or understanding of Christ (10-14 year olds). I am not even sure if I had a concept of Christ at that age….Dad fill me in on that please. So the discussion was more about making the connections between Christ as God, Christ as human and what it mean to choose Christ as your Lord. The gospel lesson was Pilot asking Christ if he was king of the Jews. I concentrated the kids on “’y kingdom is not of this world’”. I personally had a lot of fun with it. We defined kingdom, king and we also discussed that the kingdom of Christ is in Heaven and earth. I look forward to this coming Sunday and Hope I have the opportunity to teach the Bible study again.

Thanksgiving Blog - Part 1 the preperation

The three things I am grateful for: 1) The supreme grace and love of the Lord who has mercifully called me to His service!! 2) My dear loved ones, friends around the world and family. 3) (inspired by my dad) The supreme beauty of the creation, the natural world, people and experiences, that inspires my soul and surprises my heart.

So far I have received eight emails for the ‘What are you grateful for?’ – 3 blessings request. Thank you very much for those responses….now being that my email list is over 100, I am still missing quite a few. If that is you, please go ahead and write up those 3 things you are grateful for and send them on.

Also I was thinking about all the many traditions that families have as the girls and I are making our own Colombian traditions. I want to share in your traditions. So for you guys Thanksgiving has come and gone and now many of you are feasting on leftovers, while for us, the turkey was put in the oven at 10am and we are preparing for a 7pm celebration with some of our comrades. Devoting times for such requests may seem trivial, however it is important to me. In the Spirit of the season, indulge me. Write me about your Thanksgiving, where did you go, who were (are) you with, etc., ALONG WITH the three things you are most grateful for.

So this is the first time I am cooking a turkey, which involves a cookie sheet and a tinfoil boat….Yikes. So far my day has been blessed with a turkey that did successfully de-thaw, what (after an hour of cooking) appears to be a tinfoil boat that has not sprung a leek and a lovely time getting to chat with Brittany. Thanks be to God!

Next on the agenda: stuffing, mashed potatoes and a number of salads.

Prayers are much appreciated as the turkey roasts and the meal finalized.

Be blessed, in the peace of the Lord and full of joy!!

LauraCatherine

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

a reflection

So I have often had an issue with how I have heard the parable of the raven preached. Luke 12: 24-25 “Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!” - I kept hearing about how God will not let us go hungry or without shelter, basic needs stuff. At least that is what my ears took in. Yet I was acutely aware of the very real suffering and hunger in the world. Now I know that is not God’s will. So up until the other day I would respond defensively to this passage.

While listening to the Daily Audio Bible reading (Luke 12) I finally heard another understanding of this passage. It was revealed to me within the Chapter as a whole. For me, the key was in the passages preceding and following the raven. 12: 16-21First there is a parable about a rich man who had a wealth of a harvest and was storing it up for himself. God renounces this by saying “‘you fool!” pretty harsh. It says that you have all this stuff stored up, but guess what, you will die this very night and what do you think will happen to all of it? This is saying that those of us who are blessed may be focusing on what we are gaining and the amount in our savings accounts or portfolios not remembering the needs of the poor and forgetting that we are not promised even tomorrow. Those who only think of what they can gain for themselves and put greater values in such things are not preparing themselves for eternity with God. It is shortsightedness.

For us, those who do not have all the answers, definitely me, the world we live in seems much more real than the Spiritual world. Yet the truth is that the world we walk in is only a reflected shadow in comparison to the reality of the Spiritual world / the heavenly kingdom. So to us, who are blessed to have, it is so very difficult to see beyond the grocery list, the shopping, the car and house. We feel a since that we deserve this comfort because we have worked so hard for it. We do not have perspective to understand true suffering in comparison to the bounty of our riches.

So who are we as Christians? Who are our neighbors, our brothers and sisters? I say that these are every member of the human race, Christian or non-Christian. Our neighbors, whom we are to love as we love ourselves, are those who are poor of spirit, of basic physical needs, of love, etc. How many of us have felt the Spirit of the Lord tugging at our heart when we see suffering and think to ourselves “I am going to do something,” but never do anything because we forget about it, don’t have time or latter decide it isn’t that big of a problem. Why do we hesitate? Believe me when I say that I am speaking to myself as much as to anyone else.

What will we say to God when he asks how we lived? We are being asked that very question within this passage. How are we living? For whom are we living? What we are promised is not food and comfort in this world. What we are promised is that if we acknowledge Christ before others in our hearts and in our lives we will be given the Kingdom of God. God knows that we all need food and basic needs, but he has given us charge over the recourses to supply these needs to everyone. To spread our blessings to those who lack. I know that I am very blessed. I am comfortable, even too comfortable. God calls us to make ourselves a little uncomfortable to relieve the great suffering of the mass majority of the world.

James 2: 15-17 “If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,’ and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

This was such an important revelation for me. It filled my heart with great conviction and turned me to God, as I had become distracted recently. I propose that you also read through Luke 12, and give James 2 a look. I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on these passages.