Subbing and Serving

I've been substitute teaching for two weeks now. It's been good to be working some again, but it's not an easy job. Older grades especially don't respect you and you just deal with a lot of hassles and issues. And maybe you get to teach. Mostly I've been subbing for paraprofessionals. It seems to be the way you get your foot in the door in larger school districts (which I have never subbed in large school districts on principle, so this is a new journey).

The paraprofessional jobs have been the most rewarding so far. They pay less (unfortunately), but they tend to give you the most interaction as you tend to spend more focused time with students. I've been in one elementary classroom a couple of times now, which was fun to return to the second time, knowing many of the kids' names when I walked in the hallway. I worked mainly with two boys whose families had come from different parts of Africa. They have some developmental issues going on and can be moody at the drop of a pin, but they're also a delight to be around. During outside recess the other day, they were mad because they couldn't play in the snow on the playground because they didn't have boots or snowpants (any kids without--and there were several who didn't come to school with them--had to just play on the sidewalk). And I have a feeling these boys might not have snowpants and boots at home--nor the available resources to get them. (If your kids outgrow their snowpants and they're still good, please see if you can pass them on to kids who can't afford them at a nearby school.)

Today I was with high schoolers and young adults (18-21) with varying developmental disabilities. I know that some of the classes are rough to be in with some, as some students have behavioral issues and outbreaks. But overall it is highly rewarding. Honestly, today was one of the happiest work settings I've been in in a long time. Most of the other staff were really courteous and friendly. And the students are fun to be around. Yes, it's work...they need to be frequently kept on task or kept from doing things they shouldn't be doing. But they are also a lot of joy. They love to affirm and be affirmed, to give high fives and laugh and joke around.

For the most part, many of these students are kids that the world would classify as "the least of these." This past Sunday our text in church was from Matthew 25, where Christ the King sits on the throne and judges the nations, separating the sheep from the goats based upon how they served "the least of these"--the hungry, naked, thirsty, imprisoned. Jesus tells the sheep that when they served, they were serving Him. The goats are told that they missed out on seeing Christ because they didn't help those who needed help.

St. Benedict tells those who lived in his monastic communities to see Christ in everyone. We are all created in God's image: the immigrant child, the mentally retarded young adult, the imprisoned drug addict, the homeless vet on the street corner.

As much as there are days when I don't want to go to a school, there are also days when being there makes it easy for me to see Jesus. For that I am thankful.

Christ: the King

Today on the church calendar we celebrate Christ the King Sunday. As Americans we have a hard time understanding kingship. But if we call Jesus our Lord, we have pledged our allegiance to Him alone and, in theory--if not practice, made Him Lord over every area of our life. We have made the choice to let Him rule and have His say in our daily decisions.

Christ's reign has been referred to as "The UpsideDown Kingdom." He doesn't always go along with the social norms. Frequently He turns them upside down. The last in our society shall be first in His Kingdom. The social outcasts get attention, the lowly are raised up, the undesirables are given care. Disrespected women are looked in the eye. Those who couldn't afford health care are healed. The immigrant and alien are made a part of the family. The sinner is forgiven.

Christ chooses unlikely followers: fishermen, tax collectors, traitors. He makes leaders out of lowly people: Abraham, Moses, David. He expects His followers to stand up for the orphaned, the widowed, the alien, the oppressed (honestly--it's in the Bible, you can look it up!). He's not looking for the most qualified, but those who are willing to follow--no matter how much they mess up or how shady their past is.

It's the end of the church calendar year. Next week we begin anew in Advent, awaiting the coming of our King--celebrating both His incarnational coming as an infant and His future return in glory. How does the Lordship of the one who's birth we celebrate next month play out in your life?

Planning for the Holidays

Target and other big stores have been in the news lately because of outrage from some over these stores decisions to open on Thanksgiving night. Holidays are getting crowded out for the sake of revenue. Christmas decorations were in many stores before Halloween was over. I've seen people post a picture on facebook of a sign from Macy's stating that they won't put up Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving, saying they believe in the importance of focusing on one holiday at a time.

We all know how stressful the holidays can be. Activities abound--not to mention all the money to be spent. If you've been around this blog before, you know that as a family we try and make space for holidays--and to keep them focused. I confess that Advent often sneaks up on me...so I'm trying to think ahead now (it helps that others at church are doing the same).

So, I'm hoping to get away in the next day or two to look for some family devotions for Advent. We try and do most of our shopping ahead of time (like in July when the toy sales happen). We also don't do many presents. The kids get one on St. Nicholas Day and one on Christmas morning. We try and make the season about giving (we try and do a couple boxes for Operation Christmas Child). We try to keep Advent in its place and not rush Christmas, but keep its twelve days.

It doesn't make sense to rush from a season of thanksgiving into a season of making lists of gifts we must have. Real gratitude should be seasoned with an outpouring of charity. And in the midst of it all is a season of waiting...waiting for the Christ Child to return as King (which we celebrate this week on Christ the King Sunday).

I encourage you to not let the holiday run you ragged, but to enter into the holidays with purpose. May the be a blessing as they were intended to be.

Expressing the Heart vs. a Pursuit

"When money becomes a means of the heart, it is good. But when money becomes the pursuit of the heart, life gets warped."
     - Gary Walter, President of the Evangelical Covenant Church

Circles

This past Sunday at church I was in a discussion on sacred places. Some one mentioned the sacredness of the circles we gather in: at church, around the meal table, in our living rooms at small groups. When we gather, we gather in circles. Tonight, we had people in our home to talk about world missions with someone from denominational missions office. We started in a circle around the table. We finished in a circle in our living room. Tomorrow night we will do the same with our small group from church.

Our church ancestors (alongside some other religions) were known as "The People of the Book" because of their devotion to God's Word. I decided that our local church should be known as "The People of the Circle." There is something sacred about circles. They have been a symbol of the eternalness of God. When we stand in circles we are connected. Our church rhythms are cyclical. Every year we begin anew on the first Sunday of Advent. We go through the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and the Ordinary times. And we find ourselves back in a new year. In many ways life is more cyclical than linear.

In the west, we tend to think of life and time as being linear. The east tends to be much more circular in their thinking. Literary scholars are quite familiar with circular narrative as many stories throughout history--from Beowulf to To Kill A Mockingbird--end in much the same manner as they began.

In our sanctuary at church we sit in a circle. Three rows of church surround the central altar. As we worship we are aware of the community we worship with--not just by the back of someone's head, but by their faces. When we sing The Lord's Prayer together we often hold hands in three concentric circles, the middle circle moving in the opposite rotation from the other two circles around the table. We get to see each person present as we move and worship.

Because of entrance points at each end of the room, the circle of chairs are really two semi-circles. They look like parenthesis in retrospect. And in many respects, our gathering for worship or in other circles is largely parenthetical. It brackets our daily routines as a beginning and end. Our circles frame who we are during the week--not workers but servants and followers.

And so we come back each Sunday and sit in our chairs for worship--not in rows. We are, after all, the people of the circle.

Benediction of Being

"May all that is unforgiven in you be released; may your fears yield their deep tranquilities; may all that is unlived in you blossom into a future graced with love."
     - John O'Donahue

Living in the Here and Now

"Just to be is a blessing...just to live is holy"
     - Rabbi Abraham Heschel

A Visit to St. Ben's

Today I went with four other people from our church (and a friend of one of them) to St. Benedict's Monastery for a Spiritual R&R Day retreat they offered to our church (as well as others). Three of us are in our mid-to-late thirties. The other two were almost twice our age. It was nice to have a mix and be able to talk with each other.

It was my first visit to a monastery. I've been wanting to go for a long time, but this was one of my first opportunities. The day was largely just an open day for spiritual renewal. We could sign up for a 10 minute healing touch neck massage (which was full) and a half hour of spiritual direction (which I did). Sister Josue gave an opening presentation on celebrating All Saints Day. Sister Eunice gave a closing prayer that was a nice end to the day. But what I looked forward to most was getting to attend prayer times with the community. The mid-day prayer was the only one we were there for, but it was a blessing. It was wonderful to hear the psalms sung and get to be part of the choir singing back to each other. My one desire for the day would have been to have had time to talk with the sisters more. There is much I would love to learn about monasticism (especially Benedictine) and to draw on their wealth of faith.

But the day did what it was designed to do--providing spiritual R&R. I hope to be able to spend more time down the road with that or other communities.

Sister Eunice shared from Matthew 11:29 in the closing prayer: "...learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest..." Amen

Somewhere Beyond the Sea...

Our good friends are heading to China tomorrow. They're going to meet their daughter and bring her home with them. The word excitement would be and understatement. They've been waiting for this to happen for a while (though not as long as some in the adpotion process, I know). Their process really has gone quite quickly--but I know it can feel like eons at the same time.

They have boys the same age as ours (which is very convenient). Actually we got to know each other because our oldest and their oldest became best friends in Kindergarten. And then we moved--just as we were getting to know each other well. Granted, we're in adjoining cities, but it's not as convenient as when we lived in the same school. Or the same neighborhood for that matter. 

I don't say this to be judgmental of anyone else, but I laud them for adopting. They could have poured a lot of money into IVF or other means of having a baby themselves. They chose to seek out a child who didn't have parents to take care of her and make her their own. This is valuing life.

We've been praying for them (they requested it, but we would have prayed anyway). It'll be a big transition for their family. When the boys come home (they're spending time with their grandparents while their parents fly to China) they will have a new sister. Not a baby, but an 18-month old. An 18-month old who won't understand the words they say (except for the few Chinese words they know). She will have trips to the hospital to take care of deformities in her feet. There will now be three kids in the house--not two (and one of them is a girl!). And of course it will be a huge transition for her to leave the orphanage and meet her new mom and dad, to fly in an airplane for the first time across the ocean to a country with strange customs and language. 

But for as long as our friends have known about the sweet little girl, halfway around the world, who would one day join their household, they have called her their daughter and sister. And she is. She may have been born in a different country to a different woman and man, but she is still a part of their family (even though they haven't met her yet).  It's a beautiful image of love and family.

It's also a beautiful image of God. Throughout the Bible God uses the language of adoption for how He loves us. He invites us into His family. He longs to call us His child. He desires to make us His heirs and give us our inheritence. He loves us deeply and perfectly.

And while I hope that little Gracie Yuan Yuan may one day know that love, I am grateful that for now she will know the love of an earthly family--especially in a wonderful househould like our dear friends have. Blessings to you, dear friends. Many, many blessings.

Spiritual Multitasking (or How to Be A Contemplative)

God has wired us to multitask. At least that's what I decided during our informal teaching time Sunday night at church. He has wired us to be able to two tasks at once (which I admittedly struggle with).

1. Our first task is to be aware of God's presence and voice. At all times. This presumes that we are following God. It presumes that God is ever present (not just omnipresent--in all places--but at all times as well) and that He speaks and His voice can be heard. It also presumes that we want to hear God's voice and know that He is with us. I believe that this is at the root of following Jesus, however.

2. Our second task is doing whatever job we have before us. This may be our paid vocation, doing household chores, visiting a sick friend, studying for a class or a number of other regular routines or work.

This is how we're meant to multitask. We're meant to be able to focus on God while doing whatever it is we do throughout our day. Jesus had many analogies for this like a branch being connected to its vine or sheep hearing their shepherd's voice. The Apostle Paul referred to it as "praying continuously." The ancient monk Brother Lawrence called it The Practice of the Presence of God. 

These thoughts came up on a discussion about living a contemplative life. It's one of the values of our church. Contemplative living isn't a very easy thing to take hold of, though. Our first thought is probably of ancient monastics living by themselves, speaking to no one and spending all day in prayer and fasting. That kind of life isn't obtainable (nor desirable) for most of us.

Contemplation is more than that, though. At it's basic meaning, to contemplate means to think about something thoroughly or to look at something thoughtfully. At it's foundation in the same root word as "temple," the Latin templum: ground set aside for worship. Contemplation is worship simply through awareness of God.

There is also an intentionallity about contemplation. It rarely just happens. This is often why I fail. I neglect being intentional about focusing on God. Yet in order to multitask in this way--to be contemplative throughout my day, no matter what I'm doing, I must be intentional. You can't be contemplative without fostering a intentional focusedness on God. It's something you must choose to do each day--each minute.

Fostering this intentionality doesn't require that you become a monastic recluse. God intends that we do it in our daily lives. That is where we need God most, and that is where He shows up.

One of my friends at church doesn't like the word contemplation--mainly because of all the high and lofty images that come with it. It seems that a contemplative life is unobtainable because of that. Instead, though, he offered up the phrase, "Immersed life." That works: being immersed in God's presence...in His love, in our place before Him. It's a good place to start each day (and continue on throughout every minute of it).