His law is love and His gospel is peace

Last night, the evening service at Woodvale was a carol service. The church was dimly lit and candles sat on each window ledge. I'll admit that, up until this point, it didn't feel like Christmas here. Santa sat in store windows, mannequins wore snowflake covered scarves and jumpers, and the busyness of City Centre all pointed towards the holiday season, but I didn't feel it. There isn't snow on the ground. Some sits on Cave Hill, but it's not accumulating. It's not Wyoming/Colorado and that's about all I've ever known for Christmas.

But last night was perfect. And Christmas hit me when we started to sing "Silent Night." The ambiance that surrounded us was exactly that which is Christmas to me. It made me think of all the Christmas Eve services I've been to that have closed with the famous carol and each person holding a lit candle. It made me realize that Christmas comes to Belfast the same way it does Wyoming. And it made me so happy to be celebrating Christmas here with our new families: two new church families and a new family of friends in that lovely thing we call the YAV community.

As if the night couldn't have been more perfect, we followed "Silent Night" up with "O Holy Night." I think my favorite line from any Christmas song comes from this carol. By the title of the blog post, I'm sure you've guessed what that line is, but I'll still tell you because it's worth repeating over and over. His law is love and His gospel is peace. What wonderful things we find in Jesus Christ, love and peace, and what better time of year to celebrate those than right now as we celebrate His coming to teach us that love and peace.

Earlier this week, I witnessed a two year old abide perfectly by this law of love and seek peace for a friend. Now, before I tell you about that, note that you will likely hear me tell this story more than just once if we see you after this year. I think I will forever link my YAV year with this story.

Wednesday, at the 174 Trust parent/toddler group, Jacob (whom I've mentioned on here before) was having a tough day. He came with Patrick and Patrick's mother because his mother was away with Jacob's older siblings at a pantomime. And I think Jacob really missed her. He's not one to seek attention and I don't believe he likes others to feel sorry for him so he showed no outward signs of this distress aside from wandering around the hall not knowing what to do and seeming disengaged from anything or anyone. I tried to perk him up and get him over to the tricycle he likes to have me push him around on since his feet don't reach the pedals. When we got to the tricycle, Jacob put his arms on the seat and then buried his face in his hands. I picked him up to comfort him and see what was wrong and if there was anything that could be done. There didn't seem to be so we just stood there in the hall together trying to figure things out.

It's fair to mention, at this point, that Patrick was having a rough day as well. He continued to cry off and on, for some reason I didn't know and neither did his mother. As I'm standing in the middle of the hall holding Jacob and trying to comfort him, Patrick walks up to us crying. I look at Jacob and he isn't in tears so I put him down and pick up Patrick. I begin to walk with Patrick back over to his mother who was busy preparing the snacks for the kids so she gave me a look that said something like "You're good with him, you can handle this." It might not have said that, but if it didn't, I like to pretend it did.

Patrick and I sat down on the steps and I tried to calm him down and see what was wrong. He was starting to lighten up a little when Jacob walked back over to us with Lightning McQueen in hand. Now, the Lightning McQueen car is one of the most treasured toys at the 174 parent/toddler group. All of the boys love it. It's the only toy I've seen Jacob even get a little defensive over. Despite the popularity of the toy or maybe because of it, Jacob handed the toy to Patrick and sat down next to him. Patrick took the toy and began racing it all over the steps and the wall. He was happy again and because of this, Jacob was, too, as I could tell by the newly spread smile on his face.

I was floored by this whole scene. I couldn't do anything to really cheer these boys up and then one act of sacrificial love by one of them worked to make both of them happy. Talk about a great sermon illustration! What Jacob did was truly give Patrick the most sacrificial gift that his two-year-old self could have. In Jacob's world, I don't believe anything could top giving your favorite toy to a friend to help cheer them up. There is nothing more he could've done. Had Patrick not cheered up because of this gesture, I think Jacob would've been shocked. But it all worked, as it almost always seems to when we give sacrifical gifts.

This holiday season, let's strive to give the kind of gifts that make all the difference in the world while keeping in mind that we received the gift of love and a gospel of peace on that first Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone! It really is and is going to be!

catching up part 2

The actual day that was Thanksgiving was very much a typical Thursday for the Belfast YAVs. There's nothing special about the fourth Thursday of November in Northern Ireland. I started my day out with Little Steps (the parent/toddler group at Woodvale). Then it was over to the 174 Trust for the after school program followed by time with the football boys. I then headed back over to Woodvale for Urban Magnets.

The Saturday that followed Thanksgiving told a much different story. First off, I slept in. I normally can't so this was especially wonderful. Then, after lunch, Team Skeg made their way over to Bathgate for a typical Thanksgiving football game. We headed down the Belmont Road to Belmont Park where we were greeted by a beautiful green park, lots of open space to play, and mud. Oh yes, it was muddy! But I can't imagine it would've been better if it hadn't been so slick on account of said mud.

the heimbuck faction of team Skeg

We set up a short field and played that each team got four downs to score. The field was long enough that punting would've been a good strategic move for some of the drives, but we're YAVs, we don't punt. In the end, Kendra led Team Skeg with two touchdowns passes. Christina made a boatload of "tackles" and I was on the receiving end of Kendra's touchdown throws. Team Bathgate featured Patrick with a touchdown reception and a pick six. I think Liz threw the touchdown pass and Ellison just about threw a touchdown pass to himself. On fourth and goal from about the 3, Ellison threw one up for Patrick, I got my hand on it to bat it down and did so but it went right back to Ellison. He caught it, ran, and Christina stopped him just short on the 1. It was a close game and the official score was 14-14 but we decided that we would say that the score was fun to fun and Jesus won.

After the football game, we made our way over to Doug and Elaine's for an incredibly delicious feast. The turkey was terrific and I can't begin to tell you how good the stuffing was. If the stuffing is great, then it's always a good Thanksgiving meal. Based on the Baker's stuffing, it was a GREAT Thanksgiving meal. The YAVs provided most of the desserts and I was quick to take a piece of Kendra's apple pie. It's certainly one of my favorite desserts. Fortunately for me, there was even some to take home. So I enjoyed it more than just once.

patrick on edge! literally.

Before the meal we watched Michigan and Ohio St battle it out. After the meal we were able to watch the Alabama vs. Auburn game. It might be more accurate to say that we watched Patrick reactions to the Alabama/Auburn game more than we did the game itself but it was a treat to have live football. In fact, the whole night was a real treat. Thank you to the Bakers for making the night possible for us. You spoiled us. You really did. And it means a lot to have people that will spoil you right when you're hitting the funk that apparently comes just as the Christmas season is starting and you've been away from home for coming up on 4 months. With that said, I hope you'll be inspired to take some time today to thank someone who has gone the extra mile for you at some point and it's made all the difference. Doug and Elaine, thank you!

a random pic of the group on the North Coast - seemed like a good one to add

catching up part 1

I'm going to try and catch people up with all that's been going over here in Belfast for me in a multi-part blog week. Lots has happened in the past few weeks. We had the 24 hour prayer at Woodvale (mentioned in the last post), I got a nasty bit of the flu, Urban Magnets is going with some sense of regularity, the Christmas market at City Hall opened, we had Thanksgiving at the Baker's house, we played American football before said Thanksgiving, Ellison ate my Secret Santa name so no one would ever find out who I had, Kendra and I went to see Hugo (first movie in about 4 months!), we had the Christmas Ball at Woodvale, we went and saw the Belfast Jazz Orchestra, and I've eaten more snowballs than I can count. But for this post, Part 1, we'll just focus on the 24 hour prayer.

About three and a half weeks ago a group of about ten of us courageously took the night shift for our 24 hours of prayer and stayed at the church overnight. We didn't just pray. We had some fellowship. We even snuck in a bit of sleep. So, to be fair, it was probably more like 20 hours of prayer.

my "pod" dealing with our service in the world for others

The church opened at 11 on Saturday for people to begin coming in. We set up various "pods" in the fellowship room at the front of the church and in the sanctuary for people to work their way around, praying at each place. The pods had different themes, giving people different things to pray about and different ways in which to pray: leaving written requests, meditating on specific trials that we have, or praying for others were a few of these ways.

The mood in the church was incredible. It was calming and peaceful. As darkness fell, the candlelight rose. For some reason candles seem to go well with prayer and this night was no exception. They added to the feeling that the Spirit was at work. At work providing a peaceful place in which we could be heard by each other and the Lord and allowing the space to be one in which it was easy to truly speak and listen.

After time in solo prayer, the group came together to pray for the church and the many requests that were written and left. It was about 2 in the morning at this point and some of us were really fighting to keep our eyes open (that wasn't me yet). But we persevered and spent some great time both praying and then reflecting on the prayers together. One prayer that was left and really stood out to me was "Lord, help me to serve all people, not just those I am comfortable serving." I really started thinking about this a lot over that next week. I think if I was to write out a request like this, I would add "Lord, please help me to serve when it is inconvenient as well." It's great when we serve, but we often do it because the opportunity to just about slaps us in the face and we almost don't have a choice not to serve. Or that the opportunity to serve comes at the right time and this time spent serving isn't going to burden us in some other way later. I, myself, am guilty of this. I even try to justify not serving in my mind when it's so obvious that I just missed the opportunity to. For example, two weeks ago I was headed up the Antrim Road, going back to our flat from the 174 Trust, when I noticed one of the restaurants along the way closing. This restaurant usually has tables and chairs set up just outside the door underneath the black awnings. As they were closing up, one of the workers was carrying in the tables and chairs. She appeared to be the last person left for the day, and the chairs and tables were difficult for her to carry. I could have helped her finish in no time but I walked right on past. A half a block later I knew I blew it, but I kept walking and tried to justify not helping her out. I failed at justifying this and am still wrestling with it weeks later. "Lord, help me serve when it's uncomfortable and inconvenient."

another one of my favorite prayers that was left - "help us to be real"

So thank you Woodvale for getting me involved in the 24 hour prayer. It's helped me remember the importance of prayer. Even if you're unsure of whether your prayers are being heard or not, it's important to work things through in your mind in the way that prayer allows us to. And maybe for you, like it does for me, it'll help you be more attentive throughout your day to all of the ways this world keeps ticking and how we're all a part of keeping the motion positive.

i did get some sleep. also had my camera stolen and found pictures like this one put on it.

mustache, 24 hour prayer, City Centre - just a typical Saturday in Belfast

I haven't posted much lately. I hope to get something with some real content up soon for you but this will have to do for the time being. And I will say, it sure is fun living in a community that encourages doing things like growing a creepy mustache. Now, off to City Centre for some YAV time and then to Woodvale for our annual 24 hour prayer. I'll be there all night! Should be some great worship, fellowship and reflection.

who's that writin? john the revelator!

I had my first opportunity to share the message at one of Woodvale's services last week when I was able to speak at the Sunday evening service. It was a small crowd, as it usually is at that service, which allowed me to be a little more discussion oriented and engage the congregation in ways that one couldn't do so well on Sunday morning. I spoke on Revelation 1:9 through 2:7. This passage was given to me by Margaret, the minister at Woodvale, since the Sunday evening group is working through Revelation. Alright, first time up and I get to run with Revelation. My initial thought was, hope I fair better than Robin Ventura when he went up against a legend. (The first 30 seconds of the video below might clear up any confusion on that one for you.)

The first part of the passage I dealt with, verses 1:9 through the end of chapter 1, dealt with a lot of imagery. I worked through this passage explaining some of the imagery. The combination of some notes from Margaret and my Disciple Bible study class last year made this a much less daunting task than it would've been before. Then, in 2:1 through 2:7, I took the group into a deeper look at the address to the church at Ephesus. I'll take you through some of my notes now.

•  Ephesus was a pagan city and the majority of people worshipped the goddesses Diane and Artemis. It would've been quite difficult to be a Christian in this setting.
• In verses 2 and 3 the church is commended for what they've done well. For hard work and perseverance, not being led astray by false prophets and testing those prophets claim to leadership, and not growing weary despite hardships. What are your church's strengths?
• In verse 4 the church is then condemned for their failures, mostly that they have forgotten their first love. That is, they've lost their passion for Christ. The same church that was commended by Paul in Ephesians 1:15 for their loving attitudes as now lost touch with that.
• The church at Ephesus would've been a busy church. It is likely that they were doing much to benefit the community around them but at this time their mission and programming was of the wrong motive. The work of the church must be motivated by our love of God and the desire to bring equality and a heaven like attitude to this earth. It must be our response to God's love in our lives. Mission and programming for the wrong reasons will not result in sustainable ministry. After looking at this condemnation of the church, are there ways in which our church would be condemned? Have we lost touch with our first love? In light of this criticism, how can we go about reclaiming this first love?  
• In verse 5 the church is counseled. They've been condemned but now they're given some useful pointers. They're told to repent. First and foremost, we must repent. By acknowledging what we've done wrong we recognize our fault and can make changes. On an individual level, repentance is necessary to find Christ within ourselves. If He dwells in us, then we have to work through all the muck within us to get to Him. Much of our relationship with Christ is dealing with the stuff we don't want to deal with but it is that mess that separates us from God and the person He intends us to be. 
• In verse 7 we get the age old advice to listen to the Spirit. God is always working but almost never in the same way. We must be tuned in with the Spirit to know how God wants to reinvent and direct us both as individuals but even more importantly as the Church. What's the consequence of tuning out the Spirit? How's God challenging our church and the wider Church right now? 

You probably weren't looking for a lesson on Revelation or a video of Nolan Ryan beating up a young Robin Ventura. You got both. I would definitely call this post a twofer. But in all honesty, the book of Revelation holds some great advice for churches that is, in fact, relevant in today's society, even when we take it in the correct context and seek to understand what the imagery meant for early Christians. So thanks to Margaret for giving me the opportunity to do a little preaching and to Woodvale for encouraging me in my doing so! It was a great experience to try preaching to a church with a different background than what I've been in before and set in a much different community than I've been in before.

leading the revival!

a visit to the Benedictine community in Rostrevor

Zoe and I during our wee tea break in the bus

Today we visited the Holy Cross Monastery near Rostrevor and had the incredible opportunity to worship and pray with the group of monks there. Additionally, we were able to engage in a Q&A session with Brother Thierry. In the short time we were able to spend with Brother Thierry he gave us many great ideas to think about through the sharing of both his and the monastery's stories.

First and foremost, one has to commend the monks for the way they treat their guests. It is an example of the way many of us strive to welcome others. Brother Thierry shared that anyone who comes through the doors of the monastery is Christ. They are treated in the same way Christ would be. Whether Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Jew or something else, that person is Christ. I nearly broke down as he looked directly at us and declared "You are Christ." And because each person who comes through the doors is Christ that person blesses the monastery. To hear these words simultaneously humbled me and lifted me up. What an amazing attitude: we are Christ and we bless each other.

As conversation continued, Brother Thierry commented that their are three things he believes makes us human beings and are essential to our being: prayer, work and community. Brother Thierry then elaborated on community and talked about ways to build successful communities. One way which stuck out to me was that we have to find how to look at the same person each day in a new way. To look at them continually in the same way is to trap them in a certain stage. It is to inhibit their growth. It is to kill them and the relationship. The other thought that stuck with me was that labelling kills community. At the current moment I'm blanking on the thoughts I had earlier about this but I'm sure you're coming up with examples and thoughts of your own that support this idea. Maybe you're even coming up with counter-examples. If so, please inform me of your thoughts. I'm always looking to hear different interpretations and thoughts on ideas.

a view of Holy Cross Monastery

A bit of background on the monks at Holy Cross Monastery before this next bit. They came to Northern Ireland in 1998, a small group from the Abbey of Bec in France, as a response to the Catholic church's decision to engage in spiritual ecumenism in parts of the world where Christians were (and are still in most cases) divided. This led Brother Thierry and, I believe, five other monks to relocate and begin a ministry of prayer for healing and reconciliation. The monks ministry plays well into their location in Northern Ireland. It is a country that has long had division between Christians. Thus, we found that Brother Thierry had more great thoughts to share. This time on why reconciliation is important and why the monks chose to come to Northern Ireland. And those thoughts let to the quote below from Brother Thierry.

"Self-sufficiency will be the death of the church."

If we let it and strive for it, then yes, I agree. The more divided we become, the less we are the Church and the more we are a broken, splintered group of individual, albeit well-meaning, bodies of believers. Furthermore, as Brother Thierry shared, we cannot be who God intends us to be without each other. Catholics cannot be Catholics without Presbyterians. Presbyterians cannot be Presbyterians without Baptists. Baptists cannot be Baptists without Catholics. So the circle goes round and round. We all bring different things to the table, especially in terms of theology, but when we get down to it, as I believe, the Church is called to be this world's comfort and light. The Methodists aren't called individually to do this. The Lutherans aren't called individually. No one faction is called individually. And no one faction can handle the needs of the world by themselves. They just aren't equipped to, even if they believe so. Because each church is not self-sufficient. Though we sometimes strive to be, God doesn't intend us to be. He intends us to work together. We need each other. Plain and simple. Theological differences aside, we must realize that we worship the same God. We sang praises to the same set of ears. We pray for the same loving arms to wrap themselves around this world. We do the work of the same God because we are responsible for caring for the same broken world. When we begin to understand those simple commonalities, theology isn't such a big deal. What is a big deal is how the Church responds as a whole because I believe the Church IS equipped. The church (emphasis on the lowercase here) is not. We all strive to be a light in this world. Right now we're thousands of candles burning together but placed all around. It isn't impossible for our lights to merge into one bright beam. It will take time but let's pray that the beam will get brighter each day. Then, let's suffer to make it happen. Because, as Brother Thierry shared with us today, "The question will not be 'did you achieve unity?' The question will be 'did you pray and suffer for it?'" (I believe he said this came from Pope John XXIII.)

There's a lot to think about and my mind has been running all day but I thank Brother Thierry for planting all of these ideas in there for me to wrestle with and for taking the time to speak with us. I'd also like to thank all of the monks at Holy Cross Monastery for their kindness and letting us worship with them. Lastly, I thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I hope this post helps to get some questions going in your mind. Blessings and peace!

rollin' up the sleeves

Every once in a while we just get into a mess. No one knows what to do and people just stand around hoping everything will sort itself out.

One of the streets which the 174 Trust's mini-bus must go down while making the after school pick-ups is incredibly narrow. It's the kind of street I was told I'd find in Ireland. You've got to be methodical about when you get there and where you park if you're even going to venture down it. You hope that all of the grades don't get out at the same time because the resulting mass of children rushing out to the vehicles all at once will be the perfect storm.

As a walked back to the bus with the child we had picked up, I noticed the street looked especially crowded. I shrugged it off and we got into the vehicle. Usually this is sorted out by a nice alternating system where a few cars going one direction go through, then a few going the other way and then repeating this process. But after sitting in the vehicle for a few minutes and noticing that none of the cars up the street had gone anywhere, it was obvious something wasn't quite right. Yet, no one was doing anything about the mess!

It was at this point that Pat, the do-it-all guy at the 174 Trust who also drives the mini-bus, got out and walked up the street to check the mess out. It turned out that a lady's car had died right in the middle of the street and in her confusion, not knowing what to do, she just sat in the car. Compounded with that was the fact that a humongous garbage truck was trying to make it down this tiny street. But Pat rolled up his sleeves, got the dead car pushed out of the way, and then directed traffic through in a manner that would then allow the garbage truck to somehow make it down the street. He rushed back to the mini-bus so we could jump in the queue going through and get out of there.

 

Looking back, this mess that we were in was in no way Pat's fault. But he didn't stand by and watch. He took some initiative and got it sorted out. This is a great illustration for what we are called to do as Christians in this world. Sort things out. We've stood by far too long simply because we didn't cause the problems and they weren't affecting us. But the problems are affecting God's creation so we must be forces of change. Matthew 25 says we have to feed the hungry, invite in the stranger, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned. We might not have caused poverty. We certainly didn't cause many diseases that exist. But we're obligated because of our faith to sort out these messes. Not halfheartedly by throwing the man on the street a few coins but by taking him to dinner. By feeding him because he's hungry.

It's tougher to do than it is to write but when we roll up our sleeves and get down to business, we can change the world, even if it's for just one person.