peace

Tapestry: Desire of Nations, Come

December 19, 2008 By heather 1 Comment

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

I’m up today at Tapestry, writing about the advent, with all its anticipation and waiting and hope. A taste:

"We’d crack the perforation on the Advent calendar to reveal the day’s
picture–a Nutcracker, perhaps, or a doll, or maybe a wise man
preparing for his journey, depending on that year’s theme. Or we’d
break another link on our homemade chain made of red and green
construction paper. As the chain shrunk, our excitement grew."

Read the rest.

Note: I’ll continue the series on contextual theology after the New Year.

Filed Under: Advent, Christmas, justice, Messiah, peace

Artuality: Advent

December 10, 2008 By heather 7 Comments

Advent holds ideas of waiting, anticipation, peace, hope, incarnation, justice. I think of Mary, her hands rubbing her belly. I think of the shepherds, searching Bethlehem. I think of the wise men, following a star. All waiting.

We wait still. We wait for peace on earth and goodwill toward men. We wait for justice. But it’s not an empty waiting. This waiting embodies hope, the kind that is sure of what isn’t seen.

Yet.

We anticipate the day when heaven meets earth, when God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

How does the Advent season inspire you artistically? I’m not a poet (as you shall see!), but in honor if Emily Dickinson’s birthday, I’m celebrating Advent today with a poem. Four pictures came to mind as I thought of this idea of waiting.

His belly round
from hunger,
under his arm, he holds
a suitcase and a
gun.
He searches the
dump
for scraps and pieces
for his sister. She cries
and cries and
cries. Desire of nations,
come.

Her belly round
with child,
in her hand, she holds
a paintbrush.
She prepares the
room
and stacks diapers
on the table. A
suitcase stands
by the door for the
night. Desire of nations,
come.

Her belly round
with cancer,
in his hand, he holds
hers.
She trembles with
cold
and pain. The
machines beep, and needles
pierce
her skin. Desire of nations,
come.

His belly round
with bassdrum,
in his hand, he holds
a mallet,
ready to beat
the rhythm. Mark
time mark.
The lights
in the stadium
shine bright, hiding
the judges
from view. Desire of nations,
come.

Now it’s your turn! How does Advent inspire you? Use Mr. Linky below to link to your posts, and leave a comment so I know when you add your link.

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
(Second Sunday of Advent Collect, from The Book of Common Prayer)

Filed Under: Advent, anticipation, artuality, hope, incarnation, peace, waiting

Pursuit of Happiness

October 16, 2007 By heather Leave a Comment

Is it a God-given right as our handy-dandy Declaration of Independence claims?

I struggle with this question.

On
the one hand, let’s be honest, I pursue it everyday. Who doesn’t want
to be happy? If you pursue a bad state of being, we call you a
masochist and give you happy drugs.

On the other hand,
what would Job say? After everything was taken away from him and he sat
in ashes in mourning demanding an answer from God? I guess the very
nature of the fact that Job demanded an answer shows that he believed
he had the right to be happy–after all, he lived a righteous life. So
the appropriate question would be, what would God say? God swept in and
said, Where were you when I created everything? You have no right.

But
on the other hand, a piece of the fruit of the Spirit is joy, which we
are called to practice. Now, before you tell me, well, there you have
it. Joy and happiness are two completely different things, let me say,
I don’t think so. I think we’ve made them two different things to say
why one is okay and one is not okay. But look, first of all, at the
Merriam-Webster definition:

2 a: a state of well-being and contentment : joy

The first definition, they tell you is obsolete, so we default to 2a.

And consider, second of all (or reverse the order, whichever), its use in the English translations of the Bible:

But the godly are happy; they rejoice before God and are overcome with joy.
(Psalm 68:3–The Hebrew uses two different words, although their roots
appear to be related.)
Happy
is the one who endures testing, because when he has proven to be
genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those
who love him.
(James 1:12–The Greek term is "blessed, happy, fortunate" and is the same one used in the beatitudes.)

Ah,
so here is the suffering, which is my problem. If we expect to suffer
(which Jesus told us we should) and we are to be happy/joyful, how does
that fit?

Here’s the thing: don’t we all know the answer? Yes, yes, we suffer and are to find our joy and hope in Christ. Absolutely.

Maybe
I’m trying to make this more difficult than it is, but is that the same
as pursuing happiness? So we should always be pursuing contentment in
Christ, right? We all know that. Paul told us that in Philippians: the
secret of being content–doing all things through the One who
strengthens us.

Okay, so let’s get down to my real reason
for all this babble (Merriam-Webster: 1 a: to talk enthusiastically or
excessively b: to utter meaningless or unintelligible sounds–thank
you). How do we know when to get out and when to endure through?

No trial has overtaken you that is not faced by others. 9 And God is faithful: He 10 will not let you be tried beyond what you are able to bear, 11 but with the trial will also provide a way out so that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13

Well that’s about as much help as an employee at Wal-Mart (don’t even get me started on that!). Way out or endure it? Which one, Paul? Make up your mind!

How
do you know when to quit the miserable job and find a new one? How do
you know when to leave a ministry that seems to be going nowhere?

And
then there’s the flip side. Pursuing happiness: pursuing a state of
contentment. Of course, our contentment in God is the basis. But what
about pursuing a felicitous situation? Is it okay to save up for a new
book or that HDTV or retirement or a dress or an iPod? In Acts 2, the
believers basically lived as communists (in its true sense, not in the
Lenin sense), or in hippie communes. They put all they had together, as
one. Is that descriptive or prescriptive? I’m assuming it’s
descriptive, but even if it is, is it a situation we should work
towards today? And, if so, how far do we take that? Believers in my
suburbs? In the nation? In Africa and Guatemala and the nations?

These
are hard questions for me. They affect everything: what I do with my
time (work and ministry) and what I do with my money. And
relationships, come to think about it.

Filed Under: contentment, finances, happiness, joy, peace, work