katyandtheword

More Christmas Books

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett Susan is totally practical, but since she’s Death’s daughter, she must help to save Christmas (tongue and cheek)

Merry Christmas Curious George: Cheering up sick Children!

Little Drummer Boy: yep, just like the song

The Tale of Three Trees: Three trees tell the full story of Christmas

Little House on the Prairie Stories: Read the Christmas Chapters

Miracle on 39th St

Miracle on 1oth St Madeline L’engle Poems and Christmas tales

Letters from Father Christmas J. R. R. Tolkien Stories about Santa and what he does on adventures

The Friendly Beasts: An old Carol, did you know in England on Christmas animals talk

Twas the Night before Christmas & Theater

So, I have 5 amazing children who are doing a performance of Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Joy, Joy, Joy!

This is where the spirit of the season is…let me tell you

1. The kids have come to practically every rehearsal (I tried to keep them reasonable). I am amazed at their commitment

2. The kids have synergy! We have played all sorts of games and learned all kinds of theater skills, and they are definitely in tune with each other

3. Each child is unique! Coming from 4 different families, representing broad socio-economic and cultural perspectives it is a joy to see how representative of the community these kids are…(we have a half Hispanic-Half African-American Child, an adopted Asian Child and Three Caucasian children all from different types of homes)

4. They (almost) know their lines, and we are 3 weeks from the actual performance

5. They LOVE rehearsing “Can we do it again?” “Can we sing more?” “What else are we going to add?” are just some of their questions. They seem to ALWAYS have fun.

6. They are helping with everything! Devoting time to drawing pictures, creating bios and planning the party, each kid is committed to help out.

Last time I did a Charlie Brown Christmas–the adults performed it to 150 people, with squirmy children, a group home and many community members in attendance. It was a huge success, we collected a cartload (well really a pickup truck load) of nonperishable food (the price of admission)…That we have now asked the boys scouts to help us out, in case this year is as good (or better) a success….

But I have to say…this play is already a success, no matter how many people come, no matter how many shelter goods we collect, the kids are coming together and doing Christmas…Being Christmassed together

In the midst of worry about the future (protests re: Ferguson & NYC come to mind), these children Incarnate the HOPE, PEACE, JOY and LOVE of the season! They are my human Advent Wreath, bringing their warmth and light of the season home. Its amazing how a Christmas Play can bring Jesus home.

#Adventus 3, 4 #CrimingWhileWhite

“Am I my brother/Sister’s Keeper” Genesis 4:9

In the Bible “Keeping” someone is a broad topic. It includes caring, loving and doing justice on that person’s behalf.

Thus we give as a blessing “The Lord Bless you and keep you”

It is a good question, am I my brother’s keeper?….but it hints at the deeper question.

In all the swirling news of Ferguson and NYC. In all the talk of cops and criminals, teenagers and adults, white and black. When justice seems weak, and the plight of blacks being shot by white cops hints at what is a huge question. Which is where is Christ in all of this

“If you cannot find Christ in the one being murdered in the street, you will not find him in the chalice.”@JesusOfNaz316

Ok, so Christ is here, so am I my brother’s keeper? Who am I more responsible for the cop or the citizen………

We really are asking, who is my brother?

So much deeper than taking sides, because family is those you claim, family are those you are supposed to love no matter what.

Can I love a cop who shoots people as much as I love the person who has been shot?

Can I claim the black teenager as family, when my white, cis, straight, middle class experience is so foreign?

Families come in all shapes and sizes. So the question is how can I claim as family those people who seem to be more different from me? How can I claim them, without taking away or devaluing their identity.

Somehow, Jesus did it. Somehow Jesus hung out with the sick, the addicted, the foreigners, the unschooled, the political, the poor, and even the rich.

I may or not be my brother’s keeper…….but I am their sister, and I need to claim that

This brings me to today’s Adventus

Gen 16:13 “Hagar named God, you are El-Roi: The One who sees”

Hagar was the outcast, A slave, she was (probably) of a different race than her master and Mistress Abram & Sarai and when she conceived, and Sarah didn’t, Hagar was forced to run away.

God returned her to the family, and got the family to care for her and her son….complicated and still an imperfect situation. Hagar spoke to God, and says God gets it, he sees what I am going through. He knows.

God sees each and every child and claims them as his own.

Just as Hagar is my sister, I have a large family, one that includes Darren Wilson, one that includes Eric Garner……

How can I do what God does….Can I be the one that sees? Can I see Christ in these people? Can I bless them? Can I keep them?

Isn’t that what Advent is about…blessing and keeping people as we await Christ together…….

I pray it is

Adventus 2

In the Begining God Created….Genesis 1:1
Sparkles: the perfect balance of light and darkness

I be God sparkles

#Adventus Day 1

Prepare the Way of the Lord–Mark 1:3

Snuggles……….

How many times do I prepare for things?

I clean, I mix things up, I run errands…

And yet, when I prepare my child for things

I talk to him, I make pictures and tell stories about that which we are waiting for, and I snuggle him, preparation takes a lot of snuggling….

Can I prepare for God this way?

The Rise of the Dones

Holy Soup

John is every pastor’s dream member. He’s a life-long believer, well-studied in the Bible, gives generously, and leads others passionately.

But last year he dropped out of church. He didn’t switch to the other church down the road. He dropped out completely. His departure wasn’t the result of an ugly encounter with a staff person or another member. It wasn’t triggered by any single event.

John had come to a long-considered, thoughtful decision. He said, “I’m just done. I’m done with church.”

John is one in a growing multitude of ex-members. They’re sometimes called the de-churched. They have not abandoned their faith. They have not joined the also-growing legion of those with no religious affiliation–often called the Nones. Rather, John has joined the Dones.

At Group’s recent Future of the Church conference, sociologist Josh Packard shared some of his groundbreaking research on the Dones. He explained these de-churched were among…

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Advent & Christmas at Faith and Wonder: DETAILS!

Faith and Wonder

A Summary of What’s to Come…

There is much to choose from this Advent at Faith and Wonder–check out the offerings below and to see how you, your family, or your church might engage with the stories of God this Advent and Christmas!

Tales from the Jesse Tree: An Advent Podcast Series (Begins December 1st)

**5 days a week of audio storytelling beginning December 1st
**Features stories from the Jesse Tree–including some traditionally left off the branches (ehem…the women’s stories)
**Each episode will include a personal storytelling prompt
**A terrific Advent practice (Episodes will generally be less than 10 minutes in length…as for your own stories…take your time!)

I am hoping to have it up on iTunes…still awaiting some technical changes to make that happen!

Christmas By Heart: 12 Days of Story-Learning (Begins Dec 1st)

This video story-learning workshop is aimed at learning Luke 2:1-20 and includes:

**”Tips for Telling”…

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Christmas: What if we just owned it?!?

The elves are starting. Many parents do the elf on the shelf thing (Not me, Advent is busy, and we find them creepy although lots of parents do a good job) or even the kindness elves. Christmas flyers are being sent out, and of course retail has been talking Christmas forever

Tumblr is starting to look snowy

And us pastors are DEFINITELY starting to think about Christmas-Auditions for our Xmas play have started this week. (which we put on for children as food drive…YAY)

Technically, in my family, we aren’t supposed to listen to Xmas music til thanksgiving

(but I give myself a pass to sneak it in the car, when I’m alone)

And you have to watch Love Actually 6 weeks before Christmas, because that’s when the

movie starts……and that may be before Thanksgiving.

Then on thanksgiving we toast with Egg Nog and watch our first official Christmas movie–which is tricky to decide…. (My brother wants “Its a Wonderful Life” I like “Miracle on 34th” My one sister likes “Holiday Inn” My other sister likes “The Santa Clause” the kids prefer “The Grinch who Stole Christmas” the cartoon)

1020 × 765 – orthocuban.com

And we do celebrate St. Nick’s day on Dec. 6th where St. Nick leaves Candy in everyone’s shoes and a family game/movie in the holiday spirit……

Ok, lets be honest, we celebrate ALL MONTH LONG

I am all for surprises and delayed gratification, I love waiting for good things, and I like advent, but since I (and everyone else) is already planning Christmas…….I wonder if some year WE ought to just OWN Christmas at church the way retail does.

You know go all out

Start celebrating as soon as humanly possible

Tell the Christmas story five weeks in a row. Because there is always Way, way too much story to get through on Christmas Eve (and I always feel sad for the parts I miss)–Angels and Shepherds and Wise Men and Mary and Joseph (not to mention all those animals hanging around)….so many scriptural narratives to cover!!!

And there are so many good ways to tell the Christmas story, Velveteen Rabbit, The Littlest Angel, the Gift of the Magi, Miracle on 34th St, all the puppy and kitten present stories, the shepherds perspective, the drummer boy, the (three) wise men, the unexpected Christmas youtube video, the googlemaps version of Mary and Joseph’s journey, Charlie Brown & the Grinch, the advent conspiracy, the feeding of people on thankgiving, etc. etc. etc.

As someone in the Nextchurch Twitter discussion pointed out, we are celebrating Christ’s birth ALL THE TIME anyway.

Besides, not everyone may even know the Christmas Carols anymore (tears) maybe we should sing them on Sunday–I know the ambiant music never covers as many true hymns and carols as I want (Holly Jolly Christmas is fun, but First Noel speaks to me)

Maybe Advent is during the week and Christmas is every Sunday. (Hey, it works for Lent right?)

How would you take ownership if you starting celebrating Christmas after thanksgiving? How would it change how your church did mission that month? Could you tell the gospel in different ways? Are there lead-in activities that might make it more possible to engage and connect to the community? How about your stewardship campaign, if you directly tied it to Xmas could you do so in a good/GREAT way?

Seems to me that if we are to party people into the kingdom, great mission/storytelling and singing of Christmas is a great way to start….after all, who doesn’t love the candlelit service? Who doesn’t wish that this is how church feels all the time?

One of these years, I’m going all IN!

Killjoy Prophets, Asian America, Evangelicalism (Part 2)

“For some reason the term “oriental,” as a label for those of Asian descent continues to remain in the vernacular of US American culture whether it is the 80 year old grandmother making a side comment about the dry cleaners or the college freshmen from small town USA talking about the international student that sold her a mattress”

In seminary I took a course called Cultural Hermeneutics team-taught by two professors. One would go on to become one of my favorite teachers and the other would become my senior thesis advisor. A close friend, at the time and now, Erica Liu, along with a handful of other Asian Americans and I sat eagerly looking through the syllabus on that first day of class. We would be introduced to African American, Latin@, African, and Asian frameworks for reading the Bible and doing theology. But…where was the section on Asian American hermeneutics? It would be an understatement to say we felt let down.

But, the professors were both very open to revising the syllabus right away and added a section including some relatively new resources by Asian American theologians. This is what made me love and respect these teachers – their willingness to listen to us, and even be changed…

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