Break.

For break this year, I decided to join my church in their spring break "trip".  I was so excited because I love this city and wanted to get more involved in the place that I now call home. 

But the week was so much more than serving and learning about Minneapolis and St. Paul.  It was about studying God’s word to gain a better understanding of God’s heart to bless the world and our role in all of this.  And for me, the week was characterized by conviction coupled with peace and joy.  So necessary and so good.

The week was a beautiful combination of service and study.  I am confident that if we would have done one without the other, the week would not have come close to being as great as it was.  For the sake of words, I will briefly recap the week and then tell you what I took away from it:

Friday – prepared and served a homeless meal at First Covenant

Saturday – worked with Urban Homeworks, toured North Minneapolis, ate dinner with some “Urban Neighbors”

Sunday – City Vision Tour with John Mayer [I went on tour with John Mayer and ate a camel burger!], attended a Spanish-speaking church service

Monday – group study [Genesis -> Revelation; Creation, Fall, Restoration], visited International Village and met with some Bhutanese refugees

Tuesday – group study [defining what poverty really is], hung out with some kids and served at Hope Academy, visited the Source Annex

Wednesday – group study [ways to alleviate poverty], learned about and served at First Care Pregnancy Center, helped out at the Fruit of the Vine food shelf

Thursday – reflection and recap

One of the topics we discussed at length was the definition of “shalom”, which is the “Hebrew word for peace and wholeness meaning fullness of life through God-given harmony with God, the world, others, and oneself.”  Shalom describes the way things were meant to be, the world that God implemented at Creation.  It is being in right relationship with God, which causes all other relationships to fall into place.  Shalom is life before the fall.

 But, we live post-fall and suffer from broken and damaged relationships with God, the world, others, and ourselves. 

What are the consequences of this?  Poverty.  When we initially think of poverty, we think of material things, lack of basic necessities, and merely the external circumstances.  But if we give poverty a biblical definition, we begin to see that poverty is deeper than surface level – it is the absence of shalom.  Poverty can be everywhere – it is everywhere.  Looking at poverty from a biblical mindset, we are forced to evaluate all areas of our lives.  And when we realize that we are all poverty-stricken, the differences between all of us start to fade away.  We can finally see that at the core of it all, we are all suffering from the same thing – a broken relationship with our Maker, with others, the world, creation, and oneself.

Who can alleviate poverty and restore shalom? God can.  And one day He will.  Revelation talks about the new heaven and the new earth – “’Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every team from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.’ (21:3-4)”  Friends, I look forward to that day, where God will completely restore all things and the old will be no more!

Christ’s death and resurrection are part of that restoring power, as is the development of the church, the body of Christ.  We have been shown the deep, unconditional, unrelenting, and sacrificial love of God through the death of Jesus Christ for our redemption.  What implications does this have for us as followers of Christ?  What is our role in restoring shalom?  We need to fight to build for God’s kingdom, allow ourselves to be used by God to be a blessing to others, and live as ambassadors for Christ with the message of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20).  “If you spend yourself in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday (Isaiah 58:10).”  Working to restore shalom – restore relationships – requires investment, spending ourselves for the sake of others, in service to God.  And in this intentional investment, we will come to realize everyone has something to offer and we can all unite to build for the kingdom. 

What would it take for us to actually live differently?  How would this city look if we lived with more intention, working to build for the kingdom and restore shalom?  We all have different talents and different ways to reach the world.  And we have been called to declare the message of reconciliation as ambassadors of Christ.  So, how can we spend ourselves on behalf of others, be a blessing to this city, and glorify God?

 

 You can also find this post on the Women at Hope blog. 

Green!

I am often asked, "What is your third favorite holiday?"

And I immediately answer with St. Patrick's Day! 

[It's the one day of the year where I can pretend that I am Irish and green is my favorite color:)]

I didn't realize this until now, but I guess the main way that I chose to celebrate this year was by baking a lot of St. Patrick's Day themed things.

This weekend I made some mint-chocolate cupcakes:

I recruited my mom to make the dark chocolate cupcakes, which I filled with chocolate mint ganache.  And then I topped them with some homemade whipped cream, which had some mint flavoring and green food coloring (naturally)!  The critics (my mom and dad) have spoken and they decided that they were super great.  

 I also decided to make chewy chocolate cookies with crushed Andes' mints:

[I may or may not have set off the smoke alarms in my apartment in the process of making these..]

Of course, I take every excuse to make sugar cookie cutouts.  These are not super pretty - but they are fun and my fellow TA's that I made them for seemed to enjoy them:

Ignore this super horrible photo. 

You're probably thinking, "Wow, you have a lot of free time!"

This isn't true, but baking for friends is a stress-relieving activity, so I press on.

I apologize for this very inconsequential post about my minor obsession with St. Patrick's Day.

Stay tuned for my post on my Spring Break Trip with Hope Community Church.  It was a such a great week.  Ah!  Friends, God is so good - let's tell the world! 

Sabbath.

A few weeks ago, my roommate and I prayerfully entered into a fast.  This consisted of eating only fruits and vegetables for the week (the cool kids are calling this a Daniel fast - see Daniel 1).  We also chose to cut out Facebook for the week and I decided to make it into a full-blown 'friend fast'.  

That week was fantastic.  Beth and I talk about it frequently, we talk about what the fast taught us and the ways that God revealed Himself to us.  I cannot lie to you and tell you that the week was all rainbows and butterflies; there were times when we were annoyed, tired, and just wanted coffee or touch of salt on our asparagus.  But, the week was so, so amazing and those little frustrations were really petty and superficial.  

My favorite part about the fast was the amount of intentional time spent with my Father, which is why I also chose to partake in a 'friend fast'.  Prior to the fast, I realized that I found myself reaching out to others first.  It became apparent that seeking God, through prayer and His Word, became a second option.  To my disappointment, I was doing something that I hated and had encouraged my friends not to do.  Now to be clear, I love my friends and my family; I love community and value gospel friends in my life.  But, I would argue that God is present and eternal and desires for us to desire Him in our lives; I believe that we should bring our cares and worries before the Lord and lay them down at His feet.  I know this, I believe this, but I was not doing that. So, I took a little break from the world and I am so thankful.  

I found that prayer and being in the Word became more necessary.  Both had always been a part of my life, but when I took away people and my normal sources of energy, I was forced to rely on something bigger and greater than man.  When I was joyful or discontent, it did not matter - my heart and mind desired to be filled with God - exactly what was needed.  Mmm.  Amen.  

There are countless things that I learned during the fast (which may turn into blog topics in the future..), but one unmistakable lesson that I walk away with is realizing the beauty, blessing, and importance of constantly being in communion with God. I desire that all of the time.

This reminded me of something I thought a lot about this summer - the ten commandments.  [If I remember right, this was the theme of speaker at Camp Joy the week that I counseled this summer.  Unfortunately, I do not have the memory that I once had - oh, the joys of aging.]  But one thing that really made me think was the idea of observing the Sabbath day.  When I was younger, I just thought of it as an Old Testament practice - something old and outdated.  And then as I got older, I convinced myself that I was far too busy to take a whole day off to spend with God.  But now, I feel called to do this - to observe the Sabbath day.  My heart belongs to God and I fully desire to reserve the Sabbath for Him.  He has all of me the six other days of the week too, but I will cut away more of the crazy from my Sundays to glorify Him.  

I do not desire to become legalistic in this intentional observation.  I know that there is nothing that I can do to gain my salvation - my righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22).  My salvation is apart from the law; but we do not overthrow the law, we uphold it (Rom. 3:21, 31).  The law is not an annoying list of things we should not do, it makes us aware of our sin and ultimately our need for a Savior (Rom. 3:20).  And wow, do I need a Savior!  I know that I cannot maintain the law, but I strive to become like Jesus - to pursue holiness - because I want my life to glorify God.  I desire to glorify Him who saved my life.  

What do I hope to gain from this?  Primarily, I hope to strengthen my relationship with Christ.  I am looking forward to more time alone with God, seeking and pursuing Him.  I also plan on strengthening my relationships with others; I hope to get more involved in the lives of others and deepen connections I have made.  I wish to improve my time management so that I do not put myself in difficult situations regarding all of my commitments come Sunday.  And I hope to serve others and take care of myself in this time.  

[For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. -Exodus 20:11]

Do I think God needed to rest on the seventh day?  No, I do not.  But He did and He made it holy.  I'm looking forward to taking a break from all of the craziness to pursue that holiness.  

Pruning.

I am currently doing a study of John and this week I have been focusing on John 15, specifically where Jesus says that He is the vine, the Father is the gardener, and we are the branches.

[“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

   “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.]

I have read this many times and have even led my campers in a devotional regarding this passage on several different occasions.  But, I have never before been so held up on the concept of God 'pruning' his disciples.  

When I think of what pruning means in the sense of a vine, it means cutting off the dead parts, the areas that are no longer yielding fruit, the areas that are consuming energy and resources but are ultimately not beneficial.  Pruning is a good thing; it improves the condition of the vine so that it may be the most productive.  

But what does this look like when I apply it to my life?

I think pruning in the Christian life guarantees pain.  

It means allowing God to remove the dead and decaying; it means change.  

Studying this passage again forces me to realize the many things that I am holding onto - fighting to hold onto.  There are parts of my life, my character, my goals, my desires that I find myself fearfully grasping onto as if surrendering to God would be an unwise response.

And if I prevent God from 'pruning', I must conclude that I am ultimately hurting the Kingdom and quenching the Spirit.  Because Jesus declared that pruning is necessary to producing more fruit.  I believe that we have been called to be disciples - to do work for the Kingdom.  I desire to help people learn about the greatest thing to ever happen to me.  

And for God to be most glorified, I need to remain in Him and fight for Him.

I desire so much for the sum of my life to declare the work of God.

I long that the more people get to know me, the less of me they will see.

I want Him to increase, but I must decrease.  

So, if cutting away the things that are preventing me from glorifying my Father's name is what is required of me, then I long to be tended by the Gardener.  

Father, remove that which prevents me from bearing fruit.  Continue to cut away until all that remains is You.  Refine me and, though pain and suffering may come, I will still praise Your name.