21 December, 2006 at 11:02 pm (General)
Tags: foodbank, General, House Church, hunger, kingdom-bringing, parenting, poverty, samantha, walnut-hills, whhg
90 pounds. That’s about what our kids weigh all together. My back thinks this is an understatement, but the pediatrician’s notes confirm 90 pounds.
This also happens to be the total weight of food Samantha and I dropped off at the Dayton Foodbank. One of the things I wanted to do with our house church is grow into our neighborhood offering opportunities for my neighbors to do Kingdom-bringing work, whether they realize it or not. So, the idea was simple. Print up some fliers and go door-to-door distributing them. The fliers provide some information on hunger and the Foodbank, and they offer an invitation to make a difference: “Next week leave your groceries on your porch, and we’ll be by to pick up the bags.” Then, pick up the groceries, and deliver them to the Foodbank.
We kept to our block, since this was the first time. Out of 36 houses, four participated. My expectations were one - us - so I’m pleased. I’m already planning on repeating the event next Christmas, or perhaps over the summer, “Christmas in July.” As a bonus, I met several of my neighbors face-to-face. I even learned that one is currently out of work. ( ++ Lord, hear our prayer. ++ ) Good seeds are being planted.
During each step, I brought Samantha with me. She went knocking on doors with me; she collected food with me; and she went with me this morning to deliver the food. In addition, she gets an allowance, and the first dollar earned each payday goes in her “Giving” envelope. She decided to give her $9 to the Foodbank. I want her to know this Kingdom-bringing lifestyle from the beginning.
Pardon me while I say, “Yay, us!”
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19 December, 2006 at 12:16 am (General)
Tags: (red)emption, bcc, books, charity, church, General, justice, liberation, mary, money, teaching, tijuana-christian-mission, wealth, world-vision
OK, so I promised I’d answer the question, How do we pray and live out this story of physical liberation when we are not physically oppressed? This is something that’s been on my mind lately. During the Class, we wrestled with this. A few days earlier our home group/church (I’ll start talking about this soon… once I get back into a rhythm here.) went through a few passages of Scripture where the cry for liberation was also expressed, and we, too, struggled to identify with the cry. After all, we are by any sensible standard wealthy and free living in the USA. We suffer no great oppression; truth be told, we don’t suffer much of anything. So, how do we appropriate (Pardon the verb.) these passages and work them into our faith and Jesus-following? Read the rest of this entry »
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18 December, 2006 at 10:36 pm (General)
Tags: General, mates, music, video
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11 December, 2006 at 10:50 pm (General)
Tags: bcc, books, church, faith, General, liberation, mary, teaching
Well… looks like the networks are rearranging things once again, so I’m back. In the hour class I came out of chapters 2 & 3 of The Real Mary. Since this was my first time teaching at BCC, I was planning a one-off event at the end of which I’d float the idea of a 4-6 week class on the rest of the book. (I’ve got enough interest to look into it.) So, in keeping with the Christmas season, I kept to the pre-Nativity Story in Luke 1. Read the rest of this entry »
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11 December, 2006 at 10:00 pm (General)
Tags: bcc, books, church, General, mary, teaching
So, I was one of those who got in on the ground floor for Scot’s new book, The Real Mary. (I feel like I can call him Scot, since (1) I was a part of the push for this book; (2) I think we were able to contribute an anecdote to his previous book, Praying with the Church; and (3) I had no trouble remembering to call him Scot with one “t”.) Yesterday, I taught a class based on the first few chapters during both services at BCC. I was pretty nervous going into the morning. It had been a while since I’d taught, so I was feeling a little rusty. More than that, though, I was excited. Here was a chance to share what I’d been learning with my community. BCC has two morning services, and I offered the class during both.
The first class turned our to be mostly my support group: Kerri, a couple who are among our dearest friends, and one young lady whom I didn’t know. The hour went well, and my nerves settled…
…because the announcement made during the first service was effective. I had nine in the second class and didn’t know a one. No problem, though. The hour went well. One nice lady thinks I should teach a class every Sunday! I don’t know about that, but I’ll definitely look into something again.
Studio 60 is about to come on, so I’ll share what I talked about later.
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4 December, 2006 at 11:12 am (General)
Tags: advent, General
Happy Advent! May you get what you want… just not yet.
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1 December, 2006 at 10:30 am (General)
Tags: (red)emption, b5media, charity, General, world-aids-day
Today is World AIDS Day, so I’m reminding you that Mike is still running the (Red)emption campaign. If you haven’t already, go give your $10. If you have, thanks; now go find someone who hasn’t and tell them to give $10.
I’ve challenged my fellow b5media bloggers to pony up. In fact, I’ll put b5media in the tags, so if any of you blogging media types or members of other networks wander over here through Technorati or something, well, you should go give $10, too. And you should challenge your readers to do the same.
I’m not quite sure why I’m getting on board with this. I mean, I’ve got no personal connection to AIDS/HIV. To my knowledge, I don’t know anyone afflicted. The numbers are staggering - 40 million afflicted worldwide - but in many ways this is all something happening somewhere else, perhaps even on another planet.
It’s only $10… Canadian.
But it’s not happening on another planet. Those are 40 million men, women and children. 40 million mothers and fathers; husbands and wives; sons and daughters. 40 million people.
Here’s what I like about the (Red)emption campaign: It’s only $10… Canadian. This isn’t some fantastic request. It’s $10… Canadian. 99.5% of the people who might possibly read this can afford $10… Canadian. If you’ve got access to a computer, $10… Canadian, isn’t beyond your means.
So, go on, then. Give.
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