Becoming a Part

If you are apart from something, it means you do not belong to it. If you are a part of something, it means you do belong to it. Have you ever stopped to think about what it takes to go from apart to a part? Or vice versa?

It's all about involvement and taking a step in the right direction, whichever direction is best. Sometimes taking steps away are best, especially when you are involved in something wrong or unhealthy, and that could be something others think is perfectly okay. But that is not what I am going to write about.

I am a fairly quiet person when people first meet me. When I first join a group, I don't necessarily jump right in and start introducing myself to everyone. It is for people like me that it is very helpful for groups (and I really mean churches) to have "get-to-know-us" type events. It helps to be with others who are also trying to acclimate themselves.

When my family first started attending Vineyard KC North, I did not know anyone that currently went there. I had been the AWANA leader years ago of a young woman who attended Vineyard, but she had since moved to Colorado, and I hadn't had contact with her for many years. My husband knew a married couple there, so he was doing better than I was.

Vineyard offers assimilation classes, Vineyard 101 and Vineyard 201. My husband and I attended Vineyard 101. Everything seemed to check out, so we continued on to Vineyard 201. Through the course of the two classes, we met some lovely people and learned a lot about the church and its mission to our community and world.

In the Fall, we decided to take the Alpha class so that our son would take it. The Alpha class answers some of the most basic questions about Christianity. We felt it would give our son a good foundation in his faith. We did learn, and we made even more friends.

As a result of taking the Vineyard 201 class, we felt that it would be a good idea to find a small group to join. But which one? Would they even want us? Would it be like so many churches, where everyone else already had their groups of friends and didn't really need or want to include me? I needn't have worried. At the end of Alpha it was announced that a couple were going to start a small group. If we were interested, we could sign up, which we did. We have a great group (and you can come join us if you want).

I was invited to start a small group of my own. I attended a small group of people interested in beginning small groups. I decided that I wanted my group to be a women's group, and with the help of others, that group started this past Friday.

Then Friday evening and Saturday morning my husband and I attended a class on How to Minister Like Jesus. I knew from the description it was going to focus on praying and ministering to other people, but I did not know until I got there that there would be "ministry time." My only other experience of that was during the Holy Spirit weekend at Alpha, and that was an uncomfortable time for me. I am very often fearful of that which I do not understand. Again, I needn't have worried. As I let the Holy Spirit work, I found myself going with the flow and actually looking forward to what He wanted to do. It was a very meaningful weekend.

So what does all of this have to do with being apart or a part? For me to make that transition, all I had to do was take the next step, and then the next step. Who but God knows what awaits, but I know that I can trust Him. He has given me courage all along the way to step out of my comfort zone again and again.

Come on! Take your shoes off and dip your toes in! Then keep going steadily. Become a part of what God is doing!

Tomfoolery

My husband, son, and I usually attend church at 4 pm on Saturday and then go out to eat. Last Saturday we went to church and then headed toward Zona Rosa. We chose a restaurant none or us had been to before. By the title, you can probably guess which one.

When we went in we were not greeted very warmly. As we waited for a table, I watched a girl at the host/hostess podium play with her long blonde hair. We were taken to a table and the silverware and menus were just placed in a pile in the middle of the table. After waiting for awhile for someone to come and at least ask us what we wanted to drink, I came to the conclusion that we were not going to get very good service if this was how the meal experience began. I mentioned this to my husband and son and it was decided that we would leave and find somewhere else to eat. Just as we got up to leave someone came to the table, but I just said we were going to go. We ended up eating at Stone Canyon Pizza, which was delicious and an enjoyable dining experience.

This morning I was reflecting on the experience at the first restaurant and realized it had an application to the church. When someone comes into a church, are they greeted warmly? Even if no one greets them immediately, is there a welcoming atmosphere?

At the restaurant I did not feel welcome, more like I was there and they needed to "do something with me." We had something to offer that restaurant - our money and our patronage - and they had something to offer us - hopefully good food and good service. Neither one of us got to experience what the other had to offer, though. It's like that in the church. The people who come have something to offer us and we have much to offer them. Let's not cut the experience short because we are too self-absorbed.

Precious in God's Sight

Eugenics: 1. the science of improving the human race by a careful selection of parents in order to develop healthier, more intelligent, and better children. 2. the science of improving offspring.

Today my husband, son, and I went to The National Archives at Kansas City (located next to Union Station) to view the exhibit Deadly Medicine - Creating the Master Race. It is a traveling exhibition from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum presented by The Midwest Center for Holocaust Education. It is recommended that those attending be high school age or older because of the subject matter. I felt it would be important for my son to see it so he would be aware that this isn't something that was done only by the Nazis, but that it is still an issue in our world.

Before we really got started viewing the exhibit, we watched part of a video about experimentation by German doctors on children. The video gave us a taste of the things we were yet to see.

Germany was not the only country where eugenics was used. The United States had a law at one time that certain people were to be sterilized. People were encouraged to be "fit families." There was a good-sized book displayed that urged sterilization. Other countries were also involved in eugenics.

All of the exhibit was good, but the part where it really started to hit me was when I saw a picture of a mother and her daughter. The daughter, who looked very healthy, had been killed at the age of 6 after the Nazis decided to expand their use of euthanasia to older children. The policy had been previously only for children 3 and under. There were other pictures of children who had been euthanised as well.

Toward the end of the exhibit, it dealt with the use of gas to exterminate people. I read that the Nazis began gassing because mowing down people with gunfire proved to be too stressful for those doing the shooting.

Of all the doctors involved in the sterilization, euthanasia, and whatever else they perpetrated, very few seemed to have been convicted of any crimes. It seemed like most of them didn't even get a slap on the wrist. Thankfully, I didn't read of any of them coming to the United States like other scientists did.

I cannot describe to you the impact of this exhibit. I am not a writer, but I just wanted to share my impressions and encourage others to see for themselves. If you are like me, you will come away wondering where your thinking may be wrong and try to see others as precious in the sight of God.

In Missouri, But Not Of Missouri?

I was born in Michigan and probably always will be proud to call it the state of my birth. I actually don't remember living there, though.

When I was small, our family moved to Indiana. At that point it was just my parents, older brother and I. There was a toy store near our home and a dentist's office. I remember that there were used syringes in the trash behind the dentist's office. How that would be frowned on now! My brother and I walked to school across some major (or at least it seemed so then) streets. While we lived in Indiana, my younger brother was born. And I underwent some radiation treatment to erase a huge birthmark between my eyes. (I kid now that it was that procedure that made me odd.)

When I was in first grade, we moved to Tennessee. A family friend kidded that we would have one leg longer than the other from running around in the hills. My brother and I went to a country school where each teacher taught two grades. It was there I received my one and only school paddling. We were playing dentist and I used a pencil as a dental instrument. It was in Tennessee that I accepted Christ as my Savior on June 10, 1970. My youngest brother was born while we lived in Tennessee.

When I was in fourth grade, we moved to Pennsylvania. Our family began seeing a chiropractor and sure enough, I had one leg shorter than the other. We lived near the Susquehanna River, but we called it the Squashed Banana River. By this time I had come to the conclusion it was going to be me and three brothers. Not so. My one and only favorite sister was born about eight months before we moved away.

We arrived in Missouri (or Misery as I liked to call it) about a week before I started seventh grade. I didn't know anyone except my immediate family and the family we were living with until my parents could find us a house. We lived in a small town where many people were (and still are) related to each other. We were told to not talk about people because we would probably be talking to one of their relaives. It was tough going. I was shy and didn't have many friends.

In my early twenties, my older brother and I started attending a singles' Sunday school class in a larger town and that is when I started really making some friends and having some fun. Since then I've gotten married, had a child, and had my share of ups and downs. I have long since come to a place of peace about living here. Like every other state, it has it good points and bad points.

So I share all of that to say this: I have lived in Missouri for almost 35 years, the majority of my life. I have put down roots here. But I feel like a transplant, that I do not fully belong to Missouri. I don't know that I will ever completely claim it.

ADOREnaments

My favorite name of Christ is Immanuel, which means "God With Us." To think that God left the unimaginable purity and beauty of Heaven to come live among His creation. He didn't come as an adult, busting in and taking charge. He came as a baby, probably the most vulnerable creature there is.

"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

That verse to me is the amplified meaning of Immanuel. Jesus came and set the example of what a relationship with God the Father is all about. And then He died for my sins and rose again to make that relationship an eternal reality. All I have to do is accept the free gift He offers, because no gift is actually mine until I decide to accept it.

Each Christmas season my husband, son, and I use ADOREnaments to draw our attention to the different names and attributes of Christ. There are twelve ADOREnaments in all. The first one is my favorite, Immanuel. A few of the others are The Bread of Life, The Giver of Living Water, The King of kings and Lord of lords. We take turns reading the Scripture, reading the short devotional, and saying a prayer. My son then hangs the ADOREnament on the Christmas tree. I also buy a (usually not too costly) family gift to open after each ADOREnament.

It is all too easy to lose focus on what Christmas is really about. This is just one way to stop and think about the Reason for the Season.

He Reigns!

I cry every time this song is sung during worship at church.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMT_kAD6cOg

Believe it or not, everyone who is a follower of Jesus Christ does not live in the United States. I would venture to say a minority of God's people live in the United States. The church is a world-wide body, but looking around the typical church congregation does not really reflect that, does it?

The United States seems to be more of a melting pot than ever. People are coming here for the same reasons they always have - to flee persecution, better economic opportunities, education, etc. The church should be a melting pot, too.

I want to see the body of Christ united. I want us to remember our brothers and sisters around the world who worship God in spite of the fact that it could cost them their lives.

London Calling

Jane Austen, C.S. Lewis, Midsomer Murders, Foyle's War, Inspector Lynley, Wallace and Gromit, Inspector Lewis, The Lake District, the Cotswolds, Big Ben, the cliffs of Dover.

What do all of the above have in common? England! I have completely fallen in love with things English. I love the accent, the way they turn a phrase, the very Britishness of England. I enjoy books, movies, and television shows from England. The food - not so much.

I would love to visit England, but not as a tourist. I want to experience England like the people who live there. I want to visit the small villages. I want to sit on the rocky beach and look out over the Atlantic. I want to envision the little boats going across the Channel to rescue the British soldiers at Dunkirk. I want to visit a real Anglican church. I want to (maybe) have a ploughman's lunch at a pub with an interesting name. I want to visit Harrod's in London. I want to ride in a lift and visit a flat.

Actually, I have been to England, but only Heathrow Airport. I was on my way home from India and we had a layover there. I did get to see an actual English bobby (policeman). I want to get beyond the airport, though. And if I don't get to England before I die, I hope Heaven will have an England section.