A couple of months ago some members from my church community along with myself were doing some mission work in Lexington, NE. During our time in Lexington we were moved by the generosity that we saw in the projects that were taking place in the churches and in the schools. One of the projects that stood out was a back pack program for a local school that was supported by a local food pantry. One of the ladies that was with me was so moved by what she learned, that in the 5 hour drive home had put together a plan for a food pantry for our community back home. Not only was the plan in place by the time we got home, but by the next morning she had already talked with school counselors and local church leaders. That was the first weekend in November. She formed a committee, found a location, started taking donations and the food pantry was open by December, with some early boxes sent out before Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to the official dedication next week. Since its opening, more and more people are hearing about it, and hours of operation have been increased to meet the need. It already has become a wonderful gift to the community.
A couple of weeks ago our 6th 7th and 8th graders got together to participate in the Souper Bowl of Caring. This is a nationwide service campaign that addresses poverty and hunger around the world. I think that many of our youth were surprised to learn that poverty and hunger exist within their very own community. I think that it is often easy to dismiss hunger as something that exists in far away countries. When actually, 35 million people in the United States live in households considered to be food insecure. This is enough people to fill over 500 NFL stadiums. This is staggering, and a strong reminder of the importance and value of our new food pantry as it addresses the most basic human need. Through this valuable resource individuals and families are able to put meals on their tables - providing food for the bodies, relief to the minds, and nourishment to their souls.
Some things have really stood out to me in watching the development of the food pantry. First, is the way in which a need was seen, action was immedialy taken, and support was and continues to be positive and strong. I am truly moved by the generosity in the time, energy, organizational skills, gifts of money and food products given. Now that the pantry is up and running they want to extend the giving power with a back pack program. It is awesome! I am also moved with the ability of this new venture to bring people of all ages, churches, towns, cultures and families together.
It is a beautiful reminder that we have a Generous God - A God who loves to fill our cups of blessing until they are overflowing. God gives to us so generously and by this has provided a pattern of giving for us to adopt - Giving generously out of love! Because of our generous God we can be moved to be generous with our talents and abilities, generous with our time, generous in sharing our learning, generous in our encouragement and praise, and generous in our hospitality.
“If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” - 1 John 3:17-18
I am proud to live and serve in this community. I pray that the community continues in its excitement and support of this wonderful gift. The food pantry has been and continues to be a powerful witness of God’s love working through the loving hearts and giving hands of our community.
Via: amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.comWhy didn’t I think of that?! We guarantee you’ll be uttering those words more than once at these ingenious little tips, tricks and ideas that solve everyday problems … some you never knew you had! (Above: hull strawberries easily using a straw).
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Via: apartmenttherapy.comRubbing a walnut over scratches in your furniture will disguise dings and scrapes.
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Via: unplggd.comRemove crayon masterpieces from your TV or computer screen with WD40 (also works on walls).
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Via: athomewithrealfood.blogspot.comStop cut apples browning in your child’s lunch box by securing with a rubber band.
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Via: marthastewart.comOverhaul your linen cupboard – store bedlinen sets inside one of their own pillowcases and there will be no more hunting through piles for a match.
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Via: realsimple.comPump up the volume by placing your iPhone / iPod in a bowl – the concave shape amplifies the music.
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Via: savvyhousekeeping.comRe-use a wet-wipes container to store plastic bags.
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Via: iheartnaptime.netAdd this item to your beach bag. Baby powder gets sand off your skin easily – who knew?!
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Via: realsimple.comAttach a velcro strip to the wall to store soft toys.
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Via: flickr.comLook up! Use wire to make a space to store gift wrap rolls against the ceiling, rather than cluttering up the floor.
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Via: instructables.comGotcha! Find tiny lost items like earrings by putting a stocking over the vacuum hose.
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Via: realsimple.comMake an instant cupcake carrier by cutting crosses into a box lid.
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Via: stephmodo.comFor those who can’t stand the scrunching and bunching: how to perfectly fold a fitted sheet.
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Via: sprwmn.blogspot.comForever losing your bathroom essentials? Use magnetic strips to store bobby pins (and tweezers and clippers) behind a vanity door
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Via: realsimple.comA tip for holiday packing. Store shoes inside shower caps to stop dirty soles rubbing on your clothes. And you can find them in just about every hotel!
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Via: familyfun.go.comA muffin pan becomes a craft caddy. Magnets hold the plastic cups down to make them tip-resistant.
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Via: unplggd.comBread tags make the perfect-sized cord labels.
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Via: kiboomu.comBake cupcakes directly in ice-cream cones – so much more fun and easier for kids to eat. Definitely doing this!
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Via: squawkfox.comMicrowave your own popcorn in a plain brown paper bag. Much healthier and cheaper than the packet stuff.
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Via: jengrantmorris.blogspot.comBrilliant space-saver: install a tension rod to hang your spray bottles. Genius!
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Via: 9gag.comWin friends at breakfast with this heart-shaped egg tutorial. Aww shucks!
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Via: wilton.comTurn your muffin pan upside down, bake cookie-dough over the top and voila – you have cookie bowls for fruit or ice-cream. Click here for recipe.
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Via: realsimple.comFreeze Aloe Vera in ice-cube trays for soothing sunburn relief.
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Via: lifehacker.com.auGutter garden: Create a window-box veggie patch using guttering.
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Via: re-nest.comUse egg cartons to separate and store your Christmas decorations.
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Happy New Year! It is that time of year when people reflect on the previous year and begin to make resolutions for the coming New Year. How often do you make and then keep your resolutions? I have not been very good at it in the past. I can usually get to March and then I lose steam. I wonder if it is because my approach or my attitude could have been different? So, this year I am taking a new perspective, and I have a new attitude. I am approaching the New Year from the perspective of being a Steward. I know, I know...when people, especially people in a church, first hear “Steward” they think Stewardship, and then they think money, and then they get uncomfortable. It is not my goal to make you uncomfortable, but I can’t help it if you are excited about my idea by the time you are done reading this article. So I would like to provide some rationale behind my attitude - mostly because I am going to invite you to be a part this 2012 Stewardship perspective.
Christian Stewardship is given a bad reputation because it all too often means "we [the church] need more money now.” It has even become like a bad word in the “commitee world” of churches. While, money is an important part of stewardship, it goes much further than that. As Stewardship committees pull ideas together for their annual Stewardship drives they often talk about Christian stewardship with the phrase, “time, talents, and treasures.” While time, talents, and treasures are valuable aspects to Stewardship, I think it still goes much further. Therefore, it is the hope and goal of the remainder of my internship in Emerson that I work toward expanding or reframing the understanding of Stewardship to mean so much more for myself and for the people in our community - taking the meaning from Stewardship as “something we do” to “who we are.” Afterall, we ARE Stewards, and we can be excited about this. We are loved and cared for by God, and we are freed to love and care for others. It is a part of the very essence of who we are, and therefore we can’t help but live it daily. It is expressed in faith-filled lives of gratitude, joy, hope, and love.
What does this mean?
Stewardship means “belonging to God" - all that we are and all that we have comes from God - All the gifts, abilities, resources, and opportunities we possess are from the Lord. Whether our work is in the sciences, helping the poor, preaching the Gospel, teaching, farming, or managing a business and/or a household, we are all stewards of the abundant gifts of God. Stewardship entails accepting all aspects of our lives as gift and inviting God into each aspect. God loves us and God cares deeply about how we take care of our bodies, emotions, relationships, environment, work, play, etc. God wants to use everything we have to bring about the Kingdom in our lives and the world around us. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians. 10:31).
When stewardship is understood as the faithful lifestyle of being a disciple of Christ, emcompassing every piece of our life: What does that look like for you? How does it change the way you view your future? How does it change the way you view the world and Christ’s call to a love based mission in the world? What stories of joy does it bring about? What stories of hope does it bring about?
(Photo by Guest Blogger S)
Luke 1:26–38 (NIV) 26In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." 29But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" 35The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God." 38Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
HEAR YE! HEAR YE! The Lord is with you
HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Do not be afraid
HEAR YE! HEAR YE! You have found favor with God
HEAR YE! HEAR YE! You will conceive and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Nothing will be impossible with God
These are the announcements from the angel Gabriel to Mary. Up until this announcement, Mary was just an ordinary young peasant woman, living in a remote village. I imagine that when she received this announcement from Gabriel, she was going about her normal daily routine, with no hint that she was destined for this role….And then, the announcement that basically says:
HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Miracles are happening!!
Miracles are happening with you!
And through you!
I think that during this time of year we are in the mood for miracles, and this annunciation contains all the ingredients needed to satisfy the yearning…We have an angel appearing as if out of nowhere, and a virgin learning that she will defy nature and bear a child. To add to all of this, the angel talks about another miracle - a woman well beyond childbearing years is in the sixth month of a pregnancy. The angel is referring to Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin.
Miracles!
And how does it come to be that we have these miracles?….Gabriel answers this with, “Nothing will be impossible with God." These are more than announcements for Mary. These words from Gabriel are announcements for us today.
HEAR YE! HEAR YE! Miracles are happening!!
Miracles are happening with you!
And through you!
I love this narrative in Luke. I love it from the first announcement:
"The Lord is with you!"
I don’t think that it is possible to hear this enough. This narrative is a reminder that we are not going at our lives alone. God planned for Jesus. God specified the circumstances preceding Jesus’ birth, and designed a plan that greatly affected Mary. Well, Gabriel’s words provide a reminder that our lives are not initiated wholly by human effort and intention. Although the details rarely are readily apparent, God takes part in the unfolding of human existence, from before the moment of our conception. God does not control our lives, but God takes part in the unfolding of our lives. And God has plans for us - plans for good and not for disaster, to give us a future and a hope.
HEAR YE! HEAR YE! The Lord is with you!
God bursts into the earthly realm with Jesus, and God continues to break into our lives with the holy all the time. Mary was not at all anticipating this announcement to come her way. We, also, cannot anticipate the ways that God will break into human history - into our history! God’s breaking in, brings new life, AND new possibilities. As Gabriel says about Elizabeth’s own pregnancy, “nothing will be impossible with God.”
As we prepare for Christmas, I think that it is a happy time, filled with excitement and joy. However, as much of a happy time as this season is for some, I think that for many it is an especially hard time of the year, maybe even the hardest. It can be a lonely time, a financially difficult time, a time of worry and sometimes regret. And it may be tempting to imagine that the human predicament, whether we define this as the state of our warring world or the state of our broken lives, can never be healed or overturned.
Yet Luke’s gospel tells us that not only is redemption possible, it has already happened. Because of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ, Salvation has already happened! And the holy continues to break into our lives, bringing us new life, and new possibilities.
This announcement of the long-awaited birth of the Messiah also makes it clear that we do not create our own salvation, nor do we have the capacity to imagine the ways of God. Well, since we cannot imagine the ways of God, I think that when we hear God’s astonishing announcement:
Miracles are happening! Miracles are happening with you and with me!
And through you and me!
We are puzzled.
What?
How can it be?
Miracles are happening with me, through me?
I, am a part of God’s working in the world?
Are you sure? Are you sure thats a good idea?
Does this mean more work for me?
How often do we feel unworthy, thinking that there is someone better qualified, someone more articulate, someone better trained, someone with more energy, someone with more time? We sound just like Mary, “How can this be?” I am glad that Mary’s first response was this. I think that Mary’s puzzlement grants us permission to take time to adjust to astonishing news, to question whether or not God’s astonishing promises are for real and to contemplate what it means for us. This is what is called discernment.
When Mary hears this message, her response is cautious at best. After-all, there is nothing overtly special about Mary. She is an ordinary young peasant woman, living in a remote village far from the busy religious center of Jerusalem. Yet Gabriel announces that God has found favor with her. God chooses Mary because she has nothing - she is a young girl in a society that values men and maturity. Later Mary writes a song of praise and identifies herself as lowly and poor. In other words, not one who is favored in the human realm, but God has shown favor with her.
Well, through our baptisms we are children of God, and God has found favor with you and me as well.
So what does this mean for us?
I think there is a tendency to think that leading unassuming lives in out-of-the-way places isolates us from the extraordinary. Well this theory is totally debunked by Mary’s surprise visitor. The selection of Mary to be the mother of Jesus is an occasion to encourage Christians to leave the realm of predictability and open ourselves up to the unexpected and the unimaginable - The unexpected and the unimaginable that is even possible wherever you live.
Can we believe this?
It is easy to say the words - “nothing is impossible for God” - But Do you and I actually believe that nothing is impossible for God?
Are we actually capable of letting go of all our attachments to feelings of unworthiness, to worry, to safety, to the opinions of others, to the most comfortable lives we can make for ourselves; all this in order to say with Mary, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."
Mary comprehends that her life, and not only hers, but the whole world’s is about to be rearranged. She ascribes more credence to God’s vision for the human community than to naysayers who’s words suppress courage, who suppress faith.
"Here am I, the servant of the Lord;
let it be with me according to your word."
What does this mean for us as stewards of our time, our gifts and our talents?
When we see ourselves as stewards of what God has entrusted to us, how do we do things differently?
It is only when we with Mary, stop, look and listen to angels, and to the voice of the Holy Spirit, that we will be transformed able to do this. It is only then that we are capable of the surprising, crazy, things God may be calling us to; it is only then that the Holy Spirit gets us participating in the life of God in a way that changes our lives, changes the way we use our time, our talent, our possessions, our energy.
As we are overwhelmed with awe at being loved in this way, we find ourselves caught up in doing what matters to God; our words and actions begin to overflow with gratitude that Christ has bound himself to us, inviting us and surprising us, like Mary, to bear God's fruit in the world, to bear Christ’s redeeming love to all the world.
Perhaps Mary’s words deliver God’s Christmas wish, that followers of Christ will believe that nothing is impossible with God, and invite the Holy Spirit to work through them to attain miracles.
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