Comfort and Joy

Last Sunday at church, Joe was preaching on the subject of Advent and the anticipation of the birth of Christ. He segued into his thoughts about the anticipation of the return of Christ to the earth. The birth of Christ was highly anticipated and, apart from Herod and his cronies, maybe many looked forward to it with hope and joy. Not fear. Luke 2 tells us that the angel appeared to the shepherds and said, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people."

When Christ comes again, though, it has not been described as an event to look to with anticipation. There will be no great joy, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, I've been told. Fear the Lord, keep His commandments. Is your life right with God? Where will you spend eternity? I've looked to Christ's return to the earth with fear. I daresay I am not alone here.

Joe told church on Sunday, look to the return of Christ with comfort. Look to the return of Christ with peace in your heart. It's gonna be a good thing. Not a good thing like, yee-haw, we're all saved and all of you are not! A good thing because He will bring comfort to a world that knows too well the sorrows of discomfort. Peace will come with Christ. Suffering will cease. Joy will abound.

Sunday, December 10, 2006, was the first time in my Christian life that someone dared to suggest that we look to the return of Christ in the same manner in which the shepherds and wisemen looked to His birth. Talk about a paradigm shift. Comfort and joy? Like the angel said, Do not be afraid. It has been a very long time since I have been so struck by someone's words.

Thank you Joe for you boldness, for your wisdom, for your peace, comfort, and joy.

The Red Party

P. Diddy has his annual White Party. This year, I co-hosted my first Red Party. It was a huge success if I may say so myself. 20+ church friends gathered for food, hot-spiced wine, party games, Christmas carols, and a little salsa dancing, too. Check out the pics.

God Answers Prayer

Over the last two months at church, we have hosted a couple of fellowship dinners at the local YWCA where we rent our meeting space. We looked to these dinners as a time of meeting new faces, welcoming these residents of the Y, and maybe even providing a church home for some who were looking for that. We prayed about it, for God to open doors and bless us with this opportunity, and He did. But maybe not in the way we presupposed.

There's a woman who has come the last two weeks who has no shame and telling you, upon meeting you, "I'm bipolar." She also has reported, in so many words, that she isn't taking her prescribed medications, and it is evident by her behaviors. Among others, she interrupts our silence during the sermon with observations about the texts, frequently speaks in non-sequiturs, or gets up and paces around the room at the prompting of whatever voices she may or may not here. I'm not making fun here, I'm speaking as a professional.

There was the woman in the front row who didn't know here Old Testament from her New Testament and kept shouting, "What? Where's that?" during the Scripture reading.

Or how about the other woman, also seated in the front row, who coughed/sneezed/expectorated into her hand for most of the service, and then reached for a handful of communion bread as the tray went by, without ever having sanitized those hands.

I think it's great. We prayed for people, and God sent them. They don't look like us, they don't act like us, and that's wonderful. God's little way of saying, "You want to serve my people? Here they are, as I created them. Now love them, church."

Can I get an Amen?

Take the N Train

How delighted was I last night when a brand new N train rolled in to my subway stop at 36th Street. It's shiny, it's computerized, it's angular. It's HUGE on the inside, making the ride much more comfortable. And it's super fast. I made it from my stop in Brooklyn to 57th Street in Manhattan in 25 minutes! Yee-haw!

If you see a new N train, please hop on and take a ride for a stop or 5. It's awesome!

Fun facts about subway riding in NYC

Bush Calls For Immediate Withdrawal Of Troops

Violence is escalating in Iraq. It's now being dubbed a "civil war" by NBC News and I'm sure others. The number of US soldiers who have died is approaching 3000. We, the Democrats, want the troops home and we want them home now. This will largely solve the problem in Iraq, or so we believe. The immediate withdrawal of troops (IWOT, my name) is something that united us through the midterm elections and it has become a buzzphrase as of late.

I read an article this week that made me question whether or not the IWOT is actually the most prudent action. The point was raised in the article that maybe what Iraq needs right now to curtail increasing violence is the presence of more US troops instead of less. Some argue that there are not enough US soldiers there right now to adequately do what needs to be done and thus the civil violence spins out of control. I hadn't thought about it that way before.

Or that more troops are needed to stay there longer in order to properly train the Iraqi army in the ways of whatever we're training them to be/do. Again, I hadn't considered this before.

I'm not saying I'm backing Bush or agreeing with his commitment to keep troops in Iraq. But I am saying that toeing the party line isn't always the best action. It's fun to rally behind a cause and makes us feel united, especially because we are a generation keen on protesting, regardless of the issue. However, we/I might not completely understand the ramifications of IWOT or other political actions we speak out against. I have to remind myself to consider what is involved in a political action or decision and must understand other vantage points beyond my own before I can fairly denounce everything un-Democratic.

I Thought It Was Over

In the last few weeks, I have been blown away by a few incidents of blatant bigotry and racism that I have encountered.

Waiting outside my classroom at school the other day, I overheard a group of my classmates telling Holocaust jokes and other anti-Semitic remarks. Not in jest, they were very serious.

In line a couple of weeks ago to see Josh Groban, the group of people in front of me was mocking the names that "those people" have. They were speaking about the African-American girls that were also there waiting in line. I'm sure the girls heard what was being said about them.

A good friend was telling me last night about her Thanksgiving. She had gone to visit her in-laws. She is Christian, they are Muslim. She was ridiculed for being a Christian, she was called "dirty", among other racial slurs.

Each of these may seem innocuous, but I disagree. It's inexcusable. However, I'll be the first to confess that I didn't say anything in either of the situations I overheard. I was shocked, but I didn't do anything about it. That's as good as condoning it, right?

Makes me call into question my own biases and prejudices and re-examine them.? How much joke-telling can be dismissed as "all in good fun"?

Avenue Q http://www.avenueq.com/ has a song called "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist". So say the lyrics :

Everyone's a little bit racist / Today. / So, everyone's a little bit racist / Okay! / ethnic jokes might be uncouth, / But you laugh because / They're based on truth. / Don't take them as / Personal attacks. / Everyone enjoys them - So relax!

I feel like this is the pervasive feeling out there and so a lot of inexcusable jokes/comments are excused. If we all agree to not listen to these kinds of jokes, then they'll stop. But we (I) have to take a stand. Thoughts?