Comfort in the Midst of Waiting

I continue to sit by my mother’s bedside. Thank you for your prayers and supportiveness. Particularly appreciate this poem sent to me by Heather Jephcott

You Lord are my place of safety
Since finding you I need no other
Having experienced your shelter
I knew I need look no further

You keep me secure
locked in Your vastness

You are my maker, creator of all
the one whose giant hands
hold this entire magnificent universe

You not only made me
but gave to me a place of safety
a place where I am secure,
locked in this sanctuary
a place of peace, hope, love and joy
you not only hold the keys
but are this place

You save me from the onslaught of the dark
helping me to cope with times of sadness, difficulty
You are the rock on which I build my life
no shifting sand that varies with the days
but solid, safe, secure

You save me from the worst in me
keeping my brokenness for your use
within your kingdom
to remould it into something of beauty
where you are king and I am not alone

You fill me with hope
calmly expressing that you are
all the security I need now and
throughout the eternal ages
this hope glows bright now
becoming stronger, more dazzling
each passing day

 

Death of A Friend – A Memorial to Richard Twiss

Many of us are grieving the loss of good friend and co-worker for the kingdom Richard Twiss. I am sure that many of you have already heard he died this morning from a massive heart attack. Richard and his wife Katherine, open the eyes of many of us to the challenges faced by indigenous peoples im many countries, especially that of Native Americans here in the U.S. He will be greatly missed. The quote below was posted on Facebook this morning.

The Passing of Richard Leo Twiss, Taoyate Obnajin “He Stands with his People”

As of Saturday, February 9, 2013 Richard Leo Twiss, Lakota, co-founder and President of Wiconi International, passed into the eternal kingdom of the Creator as he took up the journey of life on the other side, to be with the Lord whom he loved and served so diligently on this side of life.
Richard walked the good road with Jesus from 1974, and continues his walk now on the other side of life.

In the final hours of Richard’s journey on this side, he was surrounded by his wife Katherine, his four sons, Andrew, Phillip, Ian and Daniel, along with close friends who sang, prayed, laughed and reminisced together about his impact in life among them, and within the wider kingdom of his Creator.

A fuller description of the impact and ministry of our brother, Richard Twiss, will be posted at a later date.

Celebrating Advent with A Birth and A Death by Edith Yoder.

Today’s Advent reflection was written by Edith Yoder, Executive Director of Bridge of Hope an organization that creates a three way partnership between single mothers, social workers and church based mentoring groups. Edith’s spiritual journey includes a deep sense of call to engage and equip churches in ending homelessness for single mothers and children. She authored The Mentor’s Resource Guide, a training tool which helps equip caring Christians for an effective ministry of friendship with homeless families.

Antependium_Straßburg_ via wikimedia

“Advent is not a time to declare, but to listen, to listen to whatever God may want to tell us through the singing of the stars, the quickening of a baby, the gallantry of a dying man.”  

– Madeleine L’Engle

The Christmas season began this year for me with a funeral and a birth.  At the beginning of Advent we celebrated the birth of our third grandchild.  Makenzie was welcomed into the world by loving parents, her big brother, and a joyful extended family.  My stepson and his family live in Corpus Christi, Texas and so my waiting this Advent season means waiting to hold this precious new baby for whom I have already made lots of room in my heart!

But last week was also the funeral of long-time Bridge of Hope ambassador and co-founder of Bridge of Hope Harrisburg Area, Joyce Eby .  Joyce was a social worker who lived a life of service to Christ and who cared deeply about homeless single mothers and children.  Joyce also lived a courageous life, giving of herself even as she faced cancer.

These two events – a birth and a death – have put this Christmas season in a new light for me. This season, as I embrace Makenzie’s new life and say goodbye to Joyce, I recognize anew the implications of “making room” for others.  Making room for others means opening ourselves up to sharing in both the joys and the sorrows of life.

Advent is about making room, both in the physical sense – Mary, Joseph and the newborn Jesus needed a physical place to stay – and also in a spiritual sense – making room in my heart for this Christ child who is the Savior of the world.   My life is enriched when I truly make room for each person and family I encounter, whether housed or homeless, single mother or two-parent family.

I am grateful for the ministry of Bridge of Hope which values each life, each homeless mother and child that we walk with and serve.  While once-homeless single mothers in Bridge of Hope often continue to struggle to pay bills and provide a safe physical home for their children, they can rest assured that their mentors are walking with them and have, indeed, made room in their hearts for them.

May this Advent be a time when you catch a glimpse of the possibilities that abound when we allow God to make room in our hearts for our own family – as well as homeless families.

Death Is Good

Death is good – leaves must die

I am sitting in my office looking out at a slowly dying world. The maple leaves whose bright red colour I have been admiring for the last week are now buffeted by the winds and falling to the ground. The squash plants are dead, the tomatoes are dying and everything is getting ready for winter. Last year I wrote this reflection on Weathering the Winter Storms. It is as necessary to be ready for the death of winter as it is for the new life of spring.

Death is a necessary part of life and that is not only in the garden. Yesterday I chatted to MSA team member Cindy Todd about the transitions we are going through and the things that have had to die in order for us to re-emerge with a newness that comes from God. “Death is good” she commented, reflecting on the fact that her business Snohomish Soap Company would never have been birthed if she and her husband had not lost jobs in Florida and decided to move to Seattle. Watching Cindy give birth, grow and bear fruit out of the seeds that were planted through the death of her old life has been inspiring. I love this video that she put together for her recent involvement in Fast Pitch.

So often death in the form of a lost job or failed expectations is necessary for God’s newness to emerge.  Sometimes when we look back we are aware that God has been prompting us in new directions for a while but the security and comfort of the old holds us bound. God in love and compassion forces us to die and let go.

Jesus says: If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it. (Matt 10:39) The journey of faith is a cycle of birth, growth, fruit and death. And in the place of death we often find the seeds of new life – the longings and desires of our hearts that we have suppressed because change and radical newness threaten our comfortable status quo.

Two questions emerge for me from this reflection. First: What does God want to put to death in your life that you are still clinging onto?

For those who feel they are in a season of death: What are the seeds of newness God is planting within you during this season? What are your dreams and hopes from the past that might be birthed into something totally new at this time?

Gratitude: A tribute to a Friend

Yesterday when I wrote my post Grieve with those that Grieve, I had no idea how close to home that would come.  I heard last night that a dear friend of mine was killed in the Christchurch quake.  He was working out in his garden when a rock from the nearby cliff fell on him.  He was 82 and had lived  rich life but it still makes me grieve deeply, not just for his family but for all that lost loved ones in this disaster.

Don and his wife Jocelyn were the first to draw me into a community of believers.  They rescued me from the austerity of the medical residents’ quarters at Christchurch hospital where I was working and offered me a place to live.  I was a complete stranger but they opened their homes and their hearts to me.  And I was one of many that they opened their home to.  The last time I was in Christchurch I stayed with Don and Jocelyn.  They had just had a Japanese businessman staying with them.  Jocelyn had met him while shopping in Christchurch and invited him home.

As I thought about this today I wondered Where would I be without Don and Jocelyn? Their welcome and inclusion of a stranger set my feet on an new path that eventually led to my call to the mercy ship Anastasis, my time in the refugee camps in Thailand and eventually my marriage to Tom and the wonderful life that I lead now.  I doubt that I would be such an advocate for community today if it were not for the foundations that they laid in my life.  And I wonder if my faith would have endured and become as strong as it is today without their open hospitality, strong encouragement and supportiveness.

Part of what this has done (and probably also a symptom of turning 60) is made me look back on my own life and ask the question:  What legacy do I want to leave behind? My prayer this morning is that when God calls me home I too can leave behind strangers as well as friends who have known God’s hospitality through my life.  May God welcome me as I am sure God has welcomed Don into a loving embrace with the words: Well done good and faithful servant

 

Advent Reflections by Karl Westerhoff on the Loss of His Daughter.

This morning’s post is another very poignant reminder that Advent is not necessarily an easy time especially for those who have lost loved ones.  This is the season when many of us remember the pains and griefs of the past years.  It is the season when we long to see the brokenness that is so much a part of our lives transformed into God’s wholeness through God’s redemptive love.  Our hearts go out our to Karl, his family and all who have suffered the loss of loved ones this last year.

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Karl Westerhoff has been working for the Christian Reformed church in areas of racial and social justice for 40 years.  He has a wife and two kids, one of  whom lives in heaven and the other in Taiwan.

What Am I Waiting For this Advent?

On November 1, my daughter lost her battle with leukemia.   That loss (for me) turned my eyes toward the resurrection.  Her cancer ravaged body will be new.   I’ll get to hug her – pain free.  She’ll have her wonderful thick hair again!  Her smile will be back!      But what about now?

When I was a kid my dog died, and I asked my stern Calvinist dad if there would be animals in heaven.   Dad came up with just the right answer.  Yes, he said, there will be animals in heaven; it says so in Romans 8 —  the whole creation is groaning and will be set free from bondage to decay.   The whole creation!   My dog Pepper too.

What this Advent is about for me is a reminder that the brokenness of this world is painful and real.  The cross was real.  Let no one ever think that the powers are weak or ineffective!   But….  what God did on that first resurrection day was the Bomb!   He killed Death itself.  He vindicated the ministry of his son Jesus.

He established the victory over death.     And resurrection matters for the whole creation – now!

Now nothing is the same!   Every single thing must be seen in the light of that event.   God’s power is firmly set up as THE power, and his big redemption and restoration project is guaranteed.  He invites us to participate with him as he makes all things new. The new beginning has already happened! We get to be part of it!   We get to help!

So, what am I waiting for?   I’m waiting to see Sarah again.  but that’s then.   I’m waiting for so much more!  I’m waiting to see things as God intends….     And the resurrection tells me the change is underway.

I’m waiting and expecting to see signs of the Resurrection around me.  I’m expecting my eyes to be opened so that I see Jesus, see his risen Spirit lively and at work in me, and in my marriage, in my  church, and in my work.   I’m reading I Corinthians 15:58 in a new way.  My work matters; it has eternal significance!   I’m reading I Corinthians 3:14 and thinking, I need to build really well!  By God’s grace my work can have eternal consquence!       And it’s not just “spiritual” reality that God is concerned about.   It’s all creation.  The resurrection was a BODILY one.

Well, this Advent I’m looking around with new eyes.  I’m expecting….  with Mary I’m expecting.   I’m expecting my own sorrow to be healed.  I’m execting my life to have new meaning.  I’m expecting my marriage to be enriched.  I’m expecting my congregation to be transformed.  I’m expecting justice to roll down like water….. and I’m expecting my own efforts to count, to be used by the Easter King in his grand enterprise.

That’s what I’m waiting for this Advent!

New Meaning For Black Friday.

Well Black Friday has claimed its victims.  The first occurred in Long Island New York at a Walmart store but I have heard of other deaths as well since then.  As my friend Peter Geel commented

Strange, isn’t it, how in Saudi Arabia, people get stampeded during the Hajj. In India, during the pilgrimage to the Mandhara Devi shrine on a holy day. In America, when Walmart opens on Black Friday.

And another comment from Carol Ann Bass

I thought about that similarity as well and also about the soccer (futball) rushes too where people perish. It seems, however, that when it happens in situations like a shopping spree attended in order to buy more” things” for a spiritual holiday like Christmas, something is terribly vacant in our morality.

And some good thoughts and reflections on the subject from Eugene Cho at Beauty and Depravity

And all done in order to keep America spending and reboot the economy.