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