a call to affirmative action

Today was an historic occasion. I sat in a friend's living room with Israel on my lap as we watched Barack Obama take his place as our President. I could not have been more pleased with his speech and was proud to be an American for the first time in quite awhile. We will see what he does once he is in office, but the ideals to which he aspires in his words are nothing but encouraging to hear.

Of course, much of the news has been about him being our first African-American President. (I still think this is strange; he is really our first bi-racial President, but whatever, I guess.) And seeing him take the stand has done a lot of good for a lot of people. It has brought lots of grand ideas about how far we have come in our racial relations as a country. And we have come far. I remember readings and videos from my civil rights history class in college and am astounded that people in my parents' generation could recollect some of those events. It is a long way for us to come from segregation to today. That pushes us toward a feeling, especially today, that anyone can do anything in our country.

However, this evening, still riding on my euphoria from the day's events, I was presented with a sobering reminder that the lives of my neighbors are not suddenly better for all of today's achievement. I am exceedingly happy for the new face of success and all it can inspire people of all races to achieve. But I see that the youth in my town still face the same difficulties in their families and in society today that they did yesterday. I see in some of them the potential for truly great things. But I also see many obstacles in their way and a lack of various sorts of resources that a "black" president cannot fill.

It is especially sobering when we recall how many people gave their lives, either by their living or their dying, to make today possible. (And it is truly a great day, regardless of your political leanings.) It took all those lives for one man to rise up as president. It makes me wonder whose lives it will require for the kids here to rise up. What will my role have been?

I am afraid that electing a "black" president will enable us to mentally put a check in the "promoted equality" box of our lives. But that is merely the beginning of our work. I am not talking about affirmative action here in the political sense. I do think, however, that we ought to be about affirmative action in the sense of affirming the worth of all of us and working to ensure that all of us have what is needed to be our best selves. These are lofty words, to be sure, so let's start small by finding one way to give a resource (emotional, spiritual, educational, financial, or otherwise) we have to someone who has not been provided with that resource. Where can I start? Where can you start? I hope we have not, as a county, come this far merely for the sake of one man. I hope we have come this far and will go further for the sake of us all.

these are a few of our favorite things

It's been a little while since I posted some pictures on here. It may be a while longer, since Israel is hard to catch in anything but a blur these days. (He is very fast!) These are a few of our favorite things he does these days.

Israel officially has a favorite towel: the lion towel. You can see why. He looks forward to seeing his little naked self with a lion on his head when he gets out of the bath now and it's great that getting out of the bath is something to look forward to in his book! He LOVES making animal noises...from cows to cats to frogs and elephants.

This is his Granna and Papaw's favorite thing Israel does: he has picked up on calling his dad "Pat." But it's not just that he calls him Pat, it's the WAY he calls him that everyone likes. I guess he knows what I say to get Pat's attention, but I don't think I'm quite as demanding as he makes it sound. Time to REALLY watch what is said around Israel! He picks up everything and adds his own twist to it! (For those of you unfamiliar with the ritual in this video, Israel talks to his Granna and Papaw by webcam most Sunday evenings and this is one of those sessions.)

This is my favorite thing Israel has picked up: He says, "Mmmm!" about a food he likes. We didn't really spend time teaching him the appropriate response, but he certainly knows when it's the right one! You'll catch him saying it about food I put in the grocery cart at the store, food on the stove, and food in his mouth. He adds this opinion all on his own...usually I'll ask him to repeat the name of the food and if he's feeling fond of it right then, he adds the commentary all on his own.

I'm starting with the [wo]man in the mirror.

This past weekend, we took a last-minute trip to Cincinnati for a conference. It was a mini conference of the CCDA (Christian Community Development Association). For those of you unfamiliar with this organization, you should check out their website here. (Of course, I've provided a link to the philosophy section of their website, but you can get to the home page from there...the philosophy page will let you know what we're all about.) Our church is a member of this organization and our way of life is greatly informed by the wisdom of John Perkins, the founder. In short, this is why we do not just do a ministry or two for the poor, but we have moved to their neighborhood so that eventually we can minister with the poor. If relocating to an area of need is not an idea that is familiar to you, I would encourage you spend a bit of time reading through the website so you can get an understanding of where we're coming from.

So Pat and I relocated to this neighborhood over two years ago. We (especially me) brought with us our middle-class mindset about...well...everything. Part of this mindset, I realized this weekend, was the idea that I came here because I had something to offer. Part of moving here, as the CCDA would put it, is to ensure a more even distribution of resources. As I thought of it on my terms, I was doing this by paying taxes that support the schools the children in this neighborhood attend. And I brought all my money with me, which I could pool with the church to do ministry or use on my own to directly benefit those around me. Or something like that.

What has happened, though, is that I spend a good deal of time feeling poor, much like the people I came to work with. If class in our society was determined solely by income, there is no way we would be middle-class. It makes me feel as though I have no resources to offer. I can't throw big parties for my neighbors or be the person who gets them a nice gift on their birthday. I find myself learning parts of the government system from the inside...just like my neighbors. I don't have anything up on them that I can offer to help them better their standing in life. What a bummer. Why did I move here, again? What good is it to move to help the plight of the poor if I just become poor, too? I haven't been feeling as sorry for myself as I've felt at other times, but these questions have been lingering in the back of my mind for awhile and surface just enough to make me feel pretty powerless.

This weekend, we attended one of the break-out sessions on empowering people in our neighborhoods. (Catch the irony?) It was led by a very spunky old woman, who has made working with the poor her life's work for over 40 years. Sitting under the sound of her voice, I had one of those moments when you feel you mentally "snap out of it." She spoke about beginning with people where they are -- with their assets. She says everyone has something to contribute and our job is to help people know what it is they can contribute to their neighborhood. It does not matter what other problems or issues a person has to work through. We are to help them see their assets, which means we are to see their assets, too, and be open to receiving from them what they have to offer us.

First of all, moving into a poor neighborhood in order to receive anything from the people there goes against the prevailing thought on the matter. We give to the poor; that is the best we can do. Or is it? The speaker had us quote to her the verse that says, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Well, yes. That's why we give to the poor, right? We do not want to be merely people who receive blessings but also people who give them, because that is better and we want to do what is better, right? But then she called us all "gift-snatchers." Come again? If it is more blessed to give than receive, she said, it is stealing someone else's blessing when we always put them in a position of receiving. Hmm. Mindset change #1. I should be looking for what my neighbors have to offer me. This recognizes the dignity God has given them and affirms to them that they have good things to offer other people. So, sitting in that session, I began racking my brain to think of what my neighbors may have to offer me. What could I ask of them? I already ask to borrow an egg from time to time, but that's pretty trivial. What do they really have to offer?

Then she said you can't be fake about asking things of them. You have to actually need the thing they have to offer. Crap. Stop trying to come up with things they can do for me so they can have done something for me. Now what?

I don't know that it sunk in during the session, but certainly over the course of our time there, I had an epiphany of sorts. (And, dang it, it's after I already sent out our epiphany letter!) I have moved into this neighborhood and found myself in a place of need repeatedly. Now, I'm not ready to go asking to borrow a buck from my neighbors (the need isn't that severe, and I don't think that's the sort of thing that would be beneficial to our relationships). However, finding myself in a position of financial need many times since moving here has led me to feel pretty worthless from time to time...which very well may be a feeling I share with my neighbors. We find ourselves in the same boat in this way. The playing field is leveled and I don't have anything to offer them that they might not have to offer me: expertise in a different subject or time (which I may be more short of than them these days) or creative thinking or friendship or who knows what else. And this not having much in the way of financial resources should force me to figure out what other resources I have to offer. Money is not THE resource the way I had been thinking. According to that way of thinking, neither me nor my neighbors have anything to offer anyone. So, when this is all said and done, I will know how to treat people like they have things to offer, even if they are poor, because I will have to take myself through that process first. And that is grace beyond grace, because I will not have to make it up and I will not be fake about it because I will not be treating others any different than I am learning to treat myself. (Not that I'm done...I just now know my assignment.)

I by no means hope to live as paycheck-to-paycheck as we do currently for the rest of our lives, but I recognize that it is a blessing that is preparing us for the work we are to do here. And it is good for this time in our lives. (Remind me of this if you hear me starting to grump about it again. I might not like you for a few minutes, but remind me anyway.) God is faithful to help me see people as He sees them -- beginning with me. This is good.

sizing up the McCrorys

This post promises nothing in the way of creativity or photography, but if you just want a status update on the kids, read on.

As I write, our daughter is moving around in ways that can make my stomach look strange from across the room. She is definitely more active than Israel was in utero and surprises even our midwife with the kicks and flips she pulls off during our visits there. We had a visit with our midwife, Mabrey, last Tuesday. (We go every other week now.) While I have already gained enough weight to be full-term, I still measure small and we had an ultrasound on Saturday just to make sure everything's going okay in there. I measured small with Israel, too, so I tried not to become concerned about it. The outcome was that all the measurements that indicate how long she is -- leg and arm, etc. -- measured at 31 weeks gestation, but her abdominal circumfrence measured around 27-28 weeks. Worst case scenario: Intrauterine Growth Restriction. But nothing else indicates that would be an issue. More likely situation: I grow long, skinny babies. That sounds like good news to me as I look at giving birth in around 10 weeks. (That's right. 10 weeks.) I am having a little harder time not worrying about this pregnancy, though. With Israel I just assumed everything was fine, but I have since seen my young, healthy friends give birth to very sick babies and I'd be lying if I said the events of the last year have not affected my anxiety at all. All the same, it seems as though the smallest McCrory is growing pretty well in there and it was reassuring to see her very strong heart and to watch the technician point to all the organs and body parts in their correct places. (She even already has visible hair on her head!)

Israel is, of course, growing very well. He had his 15 month visit today, including a booster shot and a flu vaccine, which he hated. He hated being touched by anyone in the doctor's office. It's pretty obvious he knows what's coming when we go there. I had thought he had just developed a strong aversion to padded tables covered in paper, but he doesn't mind being on it when it's just me and him. (We were practicing....) He threw crying, scared fits when the nurse measured his length or his head. He especially hated it when the doctor had me lay him on the table and asked me to hold his arms still. (I still think we'd have a better shot of keeping him still if we just left him alone and played peek-a-boo instead.) The nice nurse let me hold him for his shots (which makes restraining him a TON easier). Other than the shots, Israel did great at the doctor's office. He finally made it to the 50th percentile for his weight at 24.5 pounds. (I didn't tell the nurse how much of his water he drank while we were in the waiting area.) He is 33 inches tall (93rd percentile).

I think the milestones the doctors ask about are "on the curve." The doctor asks things like, "Can he drink from a sippy cup?" and, "Does he understand the meaning of 'Mama' and 'Dada'?"and, "Can he point and grunt when he wants something?" Now Israel, and all the kids I know his age have been drinking from sippy cups for a long time now. (Who wants to hold a bottle for a kid his size?) He says "mommy" and "daddy." He says, "Daddy?" first thing most mornings and when I ask him where his daddy is, he now says, "wwwwwuuuuh..." (work). Israel is usually not allowed to point and grunt when he wants something, but says please (both with voice and by sign now) and may point or say the name of the thing he wants, usually followed by, "uh, huh!" (He likes to agree with himself.) I kind of thought they had to be joking, asking if he could grunt and understand "mama." Did they not just see him in the waiting area, as he pointed at the birds and flapped his "wings," and pointed to a dog and said, "dah... woof, woof!" Did they miss him holding his hand to his ear (his sign for "listen") and saying, "pho..." every time the phone rang in the doctor's office and "baby?!" every time a baby cried from one of the examination rooms? All this to say, Israel is either crazily gifted with verbal skills or the doctor's office asks questions to help everyone feel that their baby is smart.

Of course, I am growing, and my verbal skills are decreasing. "Milk, please..." and, "Do you need to potty?...potty...? Can you say, 'potty?'" are about the most complex sentences you will hear me use most of the day. I feel my spoken vocabulary consists of a few hundred words that I repeat over and over these days. (As well as some noises, like "Bah...!" and "Moo...!") Pat is not growing, and that is good. I hope to join him in his stagnation after a few months of shrinking.

You should receive a letter from us in the next few days, assuming we have found your address. (I'm still looking for some.) It has a little more in the way of a big-picture update on all of us. Let us know if you do not receive one and we'll get it to you!

to santa or not to santa...?

So, this year, Israel is not old enough to know the difference. Next year, though, the issue will have to be addressed in some manner or other and some trajectory will be set for Israel's relationship with the most perfect being ever to not exist: Santa.

When the hypothetical parenting discussions between friends took place years ago, my approach was to brush off the "Santa" issue as not a big deal and not worth really thinking about. After all, I can tend to over-think things and that was one thing I didn't want to over-think. I really enjoyed Santa as a kid. And I don't think my whole "I don't believe in God anymore because God is just something my parents taught me to believe in" time of life would have been avoided had they been bluntly honest with me about Santa's non-existence. I don't think Santa is evil and I don't think celebrating Santa coming at Christmas means a person can't or doesn't also celebrate Jesus coming at Christmas. That said, we realized this year that even if we say nothing about Santa, the question will come up for Israel and we will either give him presents from the jolly old elf or we won't. Here are some of the pros and cons we talk about.

Pros:
- We both REALLY liked Santa growing up. We liked the surprise element of the presents. We liked his character and we liked the adventure of trying to catch him at his work. I liked the mystery of putting out cookies and "witnessing" him having eaten them in the morning, though I slept through his visit.
- Neither Pat nor I had traumatic experiences figuring out that Santa wasn't real; in fact, neither of us remember "the" Christmas when it happened. We don't remember anyone breaking the news to us, though I seem to remember one year finding out that my older cousins didn't believe in him. I don't think I ever had a direct conversation about it with my parents. I preferred to figure things out for myself and put the question to the big guy himself one year in my letter to him, which he answered satisfactorily enough.
- We don't want to have that kid who tells all the other kids Santa isn't real and we don't want our kids to think kids who believe in Santa are stupid.
- We don't like the idea of well-meaning adults asking our kid what Santa brought them and our young child answering, "nothing," or, "We don't believe in Santa." At Christmas time, that is cultural suicide. And we don't want people to think that we miss out on fun because we celebrate Jesus's birth and not Santa during the season.

Cons:
- My first inclination not to teach Israel that Santa is real was that I just didn't feel like it. I don't feel like trying to find out exactly what the kids want each year and buying that "best" present only to give the credit for that work to "Santa." If I'm going to get my kid the bomb present, I want him to know that I did it because I love him, not think that Santa brought it to him because of how good he was the previous year. Along those lines, I don't want to be stuck giving my kids the second-best present every year.
- As a kid, I did not like that, contrary to the news spread about the situation, bad kids got presents at least as cool as mine. I don't want my kids to hear that they had better be good to get presents only to have that mean kid down the street get the latest version of Nintendo. Though perhaps it is an accurate picture of the way things are on earth, it is a screwed-up version of justice, since Santa is supposed to know how everyone behaves and reward accordingly.
- The idea of a fat, bearded man knowing when I'm sleeping creeps me out.
- I don't want to have to reinforce an idea that is not true. This is strange, because I don't think it's unethical to tell your kid Santa exists and have absolutely no problem with parents playing the "Santa" game with their kids. However, I don't want to ever have to tell my child to believe in Santa. And I don't want to be put in the awkward situation of admitting, after years of reinforcing Santa's existence, that it was all a hoax and I had led my kid to believe an untruth. Even now, I like being able to ask kids in my life whether I have ever lied to them and them having to admit that I have not. I want my kids to be able to take me at my word, even though this is kind of a trivial matter in our culture. (You don't think a person is a liar just because they say Santa is real.)
- I don't want to wait in long lines places to have my kid tell Santa what he wants for Christmas or to get pictures with Santa. I haven't even paid to have Israel's pictures taken with me, for goodness's sake! Besides, Santas are scary-looking unless they have real beards.
- We want to really be able to celebrate Jesus's birth at Christmas. There are MANY distractions and obstacles to this besides Santa. We may or may not be able to overcome all of them as we look to set our family Christmas traditions. But Santa is one distraction that is pretty easy to eliminate if we want to.
- I don't like that all the magic of the season is summed up in Santa in our culture. I know we don't have to pass that aspect of Santa on to our kids even if we play the game. But it's a whole lot easier not to send the message that Santa represents all things good and right and hopeful about the world and those in it if we teach our kids that he is not real, but that God is. Santa plays a role in our culture that is a little too close to God's rightful role for my comfort. Of course, all Christians would rather our children know God as the one who knows everything, gives good gifts to people near and far, has the grip on the scales of justice and is able to do things that are physically impossible (a fat man going down the chimney? really?) or miraculous than to think that those traits are embodied in Santa. Perhaps it is not an either/or situation, but as a kid, it was a lot easier to get excited about Santa, who adults said had those traits, than it was about God, who adults said had those traits. And even if all we do is put gifts from Santa under the tree, it puts us in the awkward place of having to validate all the stories other people and the songs and all that say about him. I don't want my kids thinking Santa is the best thing ever when he doesn't even exist!

But then, there is a strong pull toward Santa and we really mean that part in the "pro" section of not wanting to be spoil-sports at Christmas. We want our kids to be excited about it and to have the same sort of magical feelings about Christmas time that we had growing up. Can that be done without Santa? Of course, it should be able to be done. We're thinking through how we could go about it. Christmas is supposed to be a celebration and Jesus certainly enjoyed those as much as the next guy when he was here. God even mandated that the Jews celebrate many holidays a year -- more than I celebrate in a given year. So a full-out celebration is in order. We have trouble figuring out how to make a celebration about Jesus, though. Things about Jesus tend to involve silence and prayer and scripture-reading and all that. They are somber and contemplative. But that is part of what Advent is for. This is Christmas we're talking about!

Some of our ideas for solutions have been:
-Writing thank-yous to Jesus in place of letters to Santa. Or even having the kids write requests to Jesus instead of to Santa (though letters like, "Dear Jesus, please bring me a Wii," would be problematic).
- Throwing a party, with presents and good food. This is already done somewhat, with the gifts and elaborate meals at Christmas time, but it could be built upon.

What is difficult is that Christmas is spent, not at church, but with family. For some reason, living rooms and sanctuaries are completely different spaces and we don't do the same things in one as we do the other. As you read in my previous post, the Christmas celebration at our church was great and I'm sure some people (kids in particular) broke a sweat in their celebration. And that time was certainly about Jesus, as celebration and worship combined. It seems odd to think about doing such a thing with extended family, though, since we never do anything spiritual together besides utter a prayer before a meal. I don't see most people's families coming together, playing great music, worshiping, and dancing in the living room before preparing and eating a feast. That is the sort of thing (some) churches do.

Now, I know that most of the people in our particular families will probably celebrate together with us in Heaven. In that way, being with blood family and being with brothers and sister in Christ has the potential to be the same thing here. But doing church at family gatherings is just...awkward. And forced. It's not what people around us do and we're not into trying to make people do things or say things or pretend things just because it's Christmas and that's as true for belief in Jesus as it is for belief in Santa. Religious topics are so divisive and somewhat taboo in families -- even Christian families -- and it's hard to think of a non-awkward way to bring religious practices into family life. But Pat points out that, though this is part of our "how do we do Christmas now that we have children" conversation, it is a digression from Santa. And we can't digress from Santa.

We left the conversation pretty open-ended this year. Maybe it will be a little less open-ended next year. Maybe we will make some decisions based on our ideas of what would be the ideal way to celebrate Christmas; maybe some of these decisions get made for us by way of convention. Maybe some of you do things you have found to be great at Christmas time that we have not thought of and will share them with us. (Maybe we'll use your ideas and maybe we won't.) Maybe we should pay closer attention to the kids, who are really good at celebrating on their own. Maybe, we'll just put gifts under the tree from "?" and when the kids ask if Santa is real, we'll say, "Maybe."

dance, dance...revolutions!

Pat says I'm blog happy, but I said I would post Israel dancing as soon as I could catch it on camera. Tonight, Israel started dancing to no music at all, so Pat put on one of the OLD Christmas records my parents brought from their house last time they were here. Israel was that much happier to be dancing and didn't mind the camera one bit. This is some of his best dancing. The only major move omitted is his clapping. Times like this turn me into one of those parents who gush about how their child is the cutest thing ever to hit the planet.

no small kindnesses here.

It is FREEZING here in Muncie. Last night the windchill was in the -30's, with the air temp. of -5. Our 1-layer wood floors are too cold and our furnace, though brand new and working its hardest, is not able to push past the 64 degree mark in the warmest part of the house at night. All that to say, it is COLD -- both inside and out.

I stayed up last night working on gifts for our neighbors and Pat had to turn in early to get up for work in the morning. I left the lights off when I crawled into bed, to discover Pat's face under my hand where my pillow should be. "What are you doing on my side of the bed?"

"Getting it warm for you."

advent: we will celebrate.

I wish I had taken my camera to church this morning. During advent, I have planned this small part of the service: I pick a passage, ask someone to talk about it, prepare a responsive reading, and ask someone to read it. I sit back and watch what happens. This Sunday the theme was the angels and celebration. I know you hope for this to happen every Sunday, but there are some services, such as this one, when you can sense keenly that God must've organized the time.

For starters, the children were all in service for worship this Sunday, ages 1 month and up. The band played "Go, Tell it on the Mountain," to start and it was the most celebratory rendition of the song I have ever witnessed. The kids from the neighborhood added stomps and hand-clapping. Little girls in dresses, jeans, and pink camo pants spun in circles, holding each others' hands. Adults danced with babies on their hips and a 9-year-old boy clapped and sang loudly while sitting on someone's shoulders. Teenagers were smiling. The celebration took over the front part of the room, just inches (at times) from the guitar player. Normally, I would be the first to jump up and try to corral the kids off to the side, but it was clear that though they had not been asked to, they were leading worship.

The nursery (ages 1-4 at our church) sang "This Little Light of Mine" and "He's God the Whole World in His Hands." These are not Christmas songs, per se, but light is definitely one of the themes of Advent. Particularly beautiful about the time was watching one of our youth, the third of eight children in her family, holding her youngest sister. The little girl, who is less than two, pointed her finger high during "This Little Light of Mine" and stood up straight while her older sister moved her hands along to the motions of "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." Sometimes I despair that these particular children are raising themselves and each other in so many ways, but today the scene of the older teaching the younger brought me to joyful tears.

...As did the scene of the black children and the white children, the middle-class children and the poor chidlren, dancing together without realizing what a powerful image they were making.

...As did scanning the congregation to see adults making circles with their arms above their heads and smiling during "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands."

...As did the older children taking over the song the Sunday School workers were teaching them and doing their own stomp and clap version of "Joy to the World," complete with hip-hop echoes of each line. Only one of the children singing had parents in attendance, but we all cheered when they finished because they are all our kids.

Maybe I'm a bit more emotional than usual because I'm pregnant, but I cried off and on through nearly the whole service. It was the best celebration I have seen in quite some time...most of it impromptu.

I asked one of the "older" couples in our church (they would not be labeled such in most any other church they could attend) to lead the advent time this week. They are a zaney couple and the wife in particular is one of the best celebrators I've met. The characters for this week were the angels. I think they had quite a great job, bringing all the great news to the earthlings. Eric, the husband, read in Luke 2 of the angels making the announcement to the shepherds. Brenda spoke about the other times in Advent that angels made announcements. When Gabriel showed up to Zechariah and told him he and his wife would have a son, Zechariah did not celebrate the good news with the angel; instead, he asked for proof. That lack of belief led to Zechariah being silenced for the next many months. When Gabriel showed up to Mary and told her she would bear God's son, Mary submitted and that submission lead to a time of celebration with Elizabeth that even included Elizabeth's son in utero, who leapt for joy from his place in the womb. When the angels showed up to the shepherds, they joined the celebration and worshipped. When confronted with our good news, do we spread it by celebrating or is our joy silenced by cynicism?

We have been given so much to celebrate. Not only do we have the good news of Christmas, but we also have the good news of the cross. We have gifts in this life and milestones that are to be celebrated. We are unconditionally accepted as God's own children and loved with a love that is not affected by our bad behaviour. Brenda listed many things she is celebrating this Christmas and others, including children in the congregation, took her up on her invitation to verbally list some things they celebrate today as well. We all have many reasons, both universal and individual, to celebrate.

In the absence of a youth to read today's reading, I had my friend Lauren do it. She came up with her one-month old daughter and led us through the reading. She's the only person I know who can do justice to a reading with exclamation points in it without sounding staged. And tears streamed down her face and mine we were reminded of all the joys given and promised to us as Children of Light.

-----------------------------------------------

The angels received good news from the throne of God. Their joy at the news turned into a celebration that was brought to the shepherds. As we come today, let's join in the celebration that began at God's throne and will go on into eternity when we all gather at that same throne. After I read each line, please respond by saying: “We will celebrate!”

There is good news for all the people.

It is good for the poor, young, unmarried mother.

It is good for the well-dressed, old priest.

It is good for us.

The angels brought good news.

We will bring good news.

The Light has come to the world!

Children of Light, nothing is better than this!

Come, let us dance in the light of the Lord.

He gives us peace with God.

He gives us peace with each other.

We are different.

We are one in Christ.

On the street to the new Jerusalem,

On the streets of Muncie,

We will lift our voices together.

With each other,

With those around the world;

With those who have gone before us,

With those who will come after us,

With the angels;

The Spirit and the Church say, “Come!”

If you hear the invitation, say, “Come!”

When you come, Lord Jesus,

Because you come, Lord Jesus;

O, Christmas Tree!

About this time last year, three McCrorys headed out to a local Christmas tree farm and cut down our Christmas tree. The three years before that, there were two McCrorys; next year there will be four. It's a growing tradition for us, I suppose. Last year, Israel was small enough to be placed in a carrier and zipped up underneath Pat's coat to be kept warm. This year, we had quite a bundling job to do and he ended up looking and moving like the little brother in the movie "A Christmas Story." (You know the movie about Ralphie and the red rider b.b. gun.) Though seriously encumbered in his walking and though he fell on his face in the snow several times, Israel seemed to enjoy himself overall.




Once home, and after a nice winter's nap, we set about decorating. Israel liked "helping" by hanging as many gold rings off the same low limb as he could. (Word to the wise: don't let your 1-year-old handle the ornaments while decorating if you're going to try to tell him not to touch them once they're on the tree. He brings us gold ring ornaments every day.) Here are a couple pictures of Israel helping decorate the tree.

getting the ornaments out of the tin

hanging them on "the branch"

admiring a job well-done

Israel loves the Christmas tree. He knows how to say "lights" in sign language and will often flash his hands and point at the tree. He has a few select ornaments he loves as well. I'll let him show you his three favorites: Mickey Mouse, which I think he likes because of Pat's high-pitched impersonation of his laugh, a small snowman he calls, "maannnn," and a sheep he likes to mimic by making a sound like he's choking (which represents, "baaa...."). Enjoy!

advent: we will worship.

This week's reading was Luke 2:8-20, the story of the shepherds and the angels. Our characters for the week were the shepherds. It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted the theme to be. On the one hand, I love what this part of the Christmas story has to say about our humble God showing Himself to humble people. However, when I read the story, worship is what stood out to me.

When Luke picks up the scene, the shepherds are just going about their work. It's quiet and still, except for maybe a sheep stirring here or there. And out of nowhere comes this spiritual being (who knows what it looked like; I hate the way angels are pictured as just really beautiful people with wings) who has to first calm their fears before making the crazy announcement: God has shown up in a human body that is hours old and wrapped up in the feeding trough at one of the local inns. The shepherds leave their important work and go to pay a visit to God. They leave, excitedly talking about it and praising God for this great thing He has done in coming, and presumably thanking Him for letting them in on the whole thing.

The man who shared in our church today pointed out that it is God who initiates these encounters. We don't initiate these intimate times with God; He does. Really, what did the shepherds do to deserve witnessing the heavenly hosts' announcement? Nothing. God decided to share the time with them. Of course, they eagerly accepted the invitation to the manger scene and left all the richer for it. God has given us an invitation to an intimate scene with Him as well. In John chapter 1, John says that anyone who accepts the Christ who showed up in the world this way is given the right to become a child of God. We are invited to join God's family. Talk about God initiating an intimate time together! This intimate time is to include the rest of our lives. Of course, we are more intimate with God at some times than at others and we have certain times set aside as "worship times," but our ability to enter into God's presence is much more dependent upon Him than it is on us. We merely accept His invitation, join in the time, and let Him change us through our time together.

I like the shepherds much more than the wise men at this point in my life. When I was in college, I preferred the wise men because I was sick of hearing about how God chose ignorant, inept, people to "shame the wise." I was happy for the example of the people who found God because they had done their homework and followed the conclusions of their studies. They brought fitting, even prophetic, gifts to the little child. They knew their stuff. Now, of course, I am still glad the "wise people" don't miss out on the chance to get to know their Saviour. However, this year, I love that the shepherds did nothing to be invited to the manger and they took no gifts with them when they went. They were not "prepared." (Chances are they did not show up looking like people I would want to handle my ordinary baby, much less put their grubby hands on God Incarnate.) But God, knowing this, was still happy to invite them. That's comforting to me as I'm feeling a little less sophisticated these days and would have to go pay my visit to God -- if not empty-handed -- at least with a second-hand gift. Seeing the shepherds lets me know that God mostly just wants people to come who will appreciate the opportunity to be with Him. This year, let's be people who leave what they'd otherwise be doing because we realize we've been extended an invitation to something really special. Let's worship our God.

-----------------------------

The shepherds wasted no time when invited to the presence of God. They found him just as promised and left the manger praising His name. We are also invited to the presence of God to worship Him and leave with his praise on our lips.

Lord, you have made yourself known to us.
We will worship you.
You come to us even though we are not worthy to see you.
We will worship you.
If you announce your arrival with angels, as you did for the shepherds,
We will worship you.
If you announce your arrival with pain, as you did for Mary,
We will worship you.
No matter how your arrival greets us,
We will worship you.
Because when you show up, we're found empty-handed,
We will worship you.
We have nothing else to give you, so
We will worship you.
We have seen the great things you have done.
We will worship you.
We find you humble, just as you said we would.
We will worship you.
We find you mighty to save, just as you said we would.
We will worship you.
Because being in your presence leaves us with joy;
We will worship you.
We cannot keep these things to ourselves, God.
We will worship you.
In the quietness of our homes,
We will worship you.
In the streets of our city,
We will worship you.
With our voices when they sing,
We will worship you.
With our voices when they speak,
We will worship you.
With our thoughts when we are silent,
We will worship you.
With shouts of joy,
We will worship you.
With tears of pain,
We will worship you.
With our whole lives,
We will worship you.
Because of all you are,
We will worship you.
We give you all we are.
We will worship you.