I see the Christmas story every day, all year long at CitySquare:

. . .the young women who discover they are pregnant before they are married.

. . .the poor fathers who lapse into homelessness at crucial moments.

. . .the kinfolks who believe with every new born child that the family is poised for better days.

. . .the ordinary, common, working people who show up to see hope, sort of like the shepherds.

. . .the immigrants who live on the run because of unjust public policy and cruel leaders.

. . .the political officials who go home another way to keep from confronting the oppressors who    threaten the poor and their children.

. . .the arrival of babies and the spread of joy and longing for better days and better options.

. . .the angels, ah, the angels who clearly visit us in strange disguise, but clearly other worldly.

Merry Christmas!

Run, Mary Run

This is from The Brilliance. 

Some may find it offensive, but the story of the birth and childhood of of Jesus was anything but peaceful.  It would be easy to write additional verses to this song, lyrics dealing with hunger, homelessness, and exclusion.  The ability to hear the contemporary truth of scripture through careful and faithful contextualization--ancient and modern--transforms people and systems. 

May we have ears to hear. 

Like far too many children today, violence, discrimination, fear, poverty and life "on the run" characterized the earliest experiences of this special baby.

As we worship the Christ child, may we really see him in the children who suffer today, near and far.

Celebration for Christmas!

Advent Conflict

Advent tensions. . . reading the Gospels

A "virgin birth"                                       A teenage mom

Emmanuel (God with us)                        A very poor child     

A father's dreams                                    Harsh reality facing fathers

A political tyrant                                     Suffering people

Oppression and lies                                 Dishonesty with the poor

Refugee family                                        Immigrants systematically excluded

Children murdered                                  Children in toxic stress

A special child                                         Syrian children

Surprised by joy!                                     Tables turned upside down

Birth                                                         All people included

Waiting ended                                          Celebration of jutice realized

Wise men & shepherds                             Classless community

Advent                                                      Advent

                    

                                      

Holiday needs, holiday greetings. . .

 

Friends,   Everything we do costs money. That’s the nature of the world today, right? It takes money to fight poverty. Lots of it. It costs $15 million to operate CitySquare each year. Annually, that amount allows us to touch the lives of tens of thousands of neighbors. Sometimes we see that neighbor only once when they visit the food pantry between paychecks. Other times, we see them daily as they access a wide range of CitySquare services. In the month of December, we’ve set out to raise $1 million. That amount of money will allow our WorkPaths training courses to continue to provide 100% of graduates with industry standard certifications. It will allow our clinic to be a medical home to 3,000 uninsured individuals. It will once more allow our food pantry to put more than one million pounds of food in the hands of neighbors who worry where their next meal will come from. A $1 million goal maintains hope in the heart of our organization. This is why we have set such a lofty goal by the end of 2015. Please consider making a gift today to make this work possible. We can’t do it without you. For our city, Larry James Chief Executive Officer, CitySquare

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advent: now what?

where to turn?
this cold night gives way
to another day of "what now?"

old, raggedy, damp house
trying to bring kids to a
better address--all they get is sick

but, really now,
so what?
don't nobody "get it," hardly

feeling surrounded by
"the surround" of
continual stress about "what now?"

baby working in dim light
over sheets, pages of
homework--do I have a home?

what is my work?
feeling sold out to
"what's the use?"

and now, Christmas done
come again
to what end--disappointed kids?

folks singing carols in church
where I ain't
really welcome, not really, right?

somehow, though, I see
my babies in
that one baby

now what,
for us and
him?

Waiting

advent 2015

Christmas truth

An Incarnation Into Littleness

The incarnation is the irruption of God into human history: an incarnation into littleness and service in the midst of overbearing power exercised by the mighty of this world; an irruption that smells of the stable. The Son of God was born into a little people, a nation of little importance by comparison with the powers of the time. He took flesh among the poor in a marginal area—namely, Galilee; he lived with the poor and emerged from among them to inaugurate a kingdom of love and justice. That is why many have trouble recognizing him.

Gustavo Gutierrez
Source: The God of Life

Those people. . .

The first ones to hear the news, and thus mark the advent of an age of reconciliation with God, were poor shepherds, some of the lowest ranking members of Jewish society. Their work made it impossible for them to observe the Jewish ceremonial laws and temple rituals, so they were considered religiously unclean and unacceptable. They weren’t considered trustworthy and were not allowed to give testimony in a Jewish court of law. They were social outcasts, yet they are at the heart of the joyous message—that Christ came for lowly shepherds, for all the forgotten people of the earth, for all of us.

Kate Lasso is a member of the Eighth Day Faith Community and loves remembering, and being reminded of, what the Advent season is really about.

Advent reading. . .

Isaiah 11:1-4a

A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;

4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

NRSV

Expectations of the child

I often wonder if anyone today actually understands Jesus.

Certainly, few out of my tradition seem to comprehend what his mother expected of him as she carried him to birth.

Mary's song, often referred to as The Magnificat, anticipates a very different sort of Savior than the one celebrated in many churches on this day.

Her lyrics arise from a strongly prophetic tradition. Her words reveal that the baby she will bring into the world will be a warrior for the poor, a strong advocate for the oppressed, a major source of inspiration for the marginalized.

On this Christmas day may we recover Mary's vision and understanding of the Christ-child:

And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God
my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on
the lowliness of his servant.

Surely, from now on all
generations will call
me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done
great things for me,
and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with
his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the
thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the
powerful from their
thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with
good things,
and sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made
to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his
descendants forever."

The Gospel According to St. Luke 1:46-55 (NRSV)


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El Jesus, the illegal

Advent is a season embedded in the Christian calendar when we are taught lessons about waiting, a waiting that leads us to Christmas and the arrival of the child we've been longing to receive and greet.

Toward the chronological end of the narratives of the birth of Jesus we discover these words:

"When they had gone [the Magi], an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. 'Get up,' he said, 'take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.' So, he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod" (Matthew 2:13-15a).

King Herod, the Jewish leader, issued a binding executive order that all the male children two-years-old and under in the environs of Bethlehem be executed. No doubt, to defy such an order would have been illegal and likely a capital offense.

Border security being lacking between Israel and Egypt allowed Joseph to become a migrant refugee in a foreign nation that shared a border to the south with his homeland.

This story always reminds me of friends I made in New Orleans and here in Dallas who fled to the U. S., usually without documentation, seeking safety from the death squads of Guatemala and El Salvador in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Overall though, the story reveals that Jesus himself, as a very young child, was the equivalent of an undocumented immigrant in Egypt. In many ways he was illegal.

Somehow this Christmas I'm believing the story could be instructional for people of faith as we continue to consider the issues associated with undocumented residents of our communities who've come seeking better lives, safety and new hope.

What do you think?


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The time between

So long as my memory lasts, I'll likely never forget the week linking the third Sunday in Advent with the fourth Sunday 2007.

While waiting for the arrival of the child of hope, my father died.

At mid-week we gathered with a crowd of friends, relatives and associates to begin the memorial and healing process. Dad's wake or "visitation" on Wednesday was not only memorable, but remarkable. Church folks, relatives, long-time business associates, people from all walks of life dropped by to express their love and sympathy. The rich, the poor, the educated, the uneducated, the young, the old--all came to pay their respects.

They lifted us.

Two guests stand out from that evening.

Julio worked with my dad as the maintenance supervisor for one of their retail centers, as well as other properties. He and my dad became close friends. Julio loved dad and dad returned the sentiment. I expect that Julio visited my father 75 times over the past three months. He was a special friend and a valued partner to my dad. Of course, Julio was among the first to arrive Wednesday evening.

Tatum is a little girl from my parents' church. Still in elementary school, she and my dad shared a very special friendship. Not long ago, Tatum went through a major health crisis of her own that included a liver transplant. She loved my dad and he loved her. She came with her parents. She couldn't stop the tears. The bond between this old man and this sweet little girl was beyond amazing. Love is something, isn't it?

On Thursday, we laid my father's worn out body to rest, as he went on to a world we can only imagine at this point.

The crowd returned.

The love flowed.

The ministers were amazing.

John Siburt is a young, brilliant, genuine, loving pastor. The church is so fortunate to have him as their leader. His message was finely crafted and full of the kind of heart my dad always appreciated. My dear friend, Edd Eason spoke and did his typical touching, healing work. To me, Edd is like the brother I never had. Dan Stevens provided the music and, as always, his voice was inspirational.

Friday was quiet and lonely. But, good.

Saturday, while trying to wrap up preparations for our family Christmas, Brenda and I were involved in an automobile accident.

As we drove down LBJ Freeway, a car sped out of nowhere at a high speed and hit our car lightly before crashing into a retaining wall, spinning out of control back into the traffic, hitting another driver before coming to a violent stop on the other side of the highway.

Unnerving to say the least.

The driver of the runaway car was seriously injured, but the rest of us miraculously escaped harm. Cars can be repaired. I pray the other driver can be as well.

None of us have guarantees, do we?

So, during this particular "in between time" waiting for The Arrival, we are very aware that we are fragile, limited, vulnerable. Life is largely out of our control.

It is clear that we need each other.

It is certain that we wait together for a very good reason.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring? But, we wait gladly.

Merry Christmas.

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