well here we go, the last few days before christmas. it was 67 degrees here in colorado yesterday & snowing today! it has been a really wild & crazy refuge week with several of my most favorite events–serving dinner at joshua station, a beautiful transitional housing program in denver that we love, our 6th annual refuge single moms crazy christmas brunch (with a visit from mrs. claus, in rare form), & our annual refuge christmas dinner celebration together, carols & games & great food together. a local grocery store helped us provide gifts for a bunch of families connected in some way, shape or form to the refuge, so it was pretty fun to get to play santa, too. yesterday i woke up really happy & grateful for our little wild community and also relieved that now it’s just cruising toward christmas eve. my kids are all off school & my son’s coming home from college tonight & i’m looking forward to a lot of movies & just hanging out together for the next few weeks (and hoping the 67 degree weather will return, ha ha).
i wanted to share a few christmas-y things before i sign off for the week.
first, here’s a video reflection from our saturday night’s gathering centered on God’s stories, our stories. it’s funny how 6 minutes feels so long in our fast-paced world but how nice it was to take the time to just soak in and be quiet. i also have no idea why the part that shows at the beginning is “is it a story of pain?” but i guess youtube somehow knows me too well?
second, tonight at 9pm eastern time, in honor of advent & Jesus entering into the world in the flesh, i’ll be having a twitter conversation with my throwing parties & telling stories friend steve knight about “incarnational vs. missional” we’ll converse on twitter & then have a skype chat afterward. would love for you to be part if you can. the hashtag is #missionalchat.
lastly, i thought i’d share this fun picture of my family because it makes me happy. i don’t share a lot about my kiddos here on the blog because they already have to put up with a lot of annoying things about me but i knew they wouldn’t mind this one! it’s our christmas picture this year & the good news is i’m jumping, although obviously not as high as jose. a year post-back-surgery it is a huge blessing. my kiddos range from almost 20 down to twins that are 12. life’s good.
i’ll close with this beautiful prayer from christine sine’s gorgeous advent liturgies and reflections–waiting for the light. we used it a few weeks ago at the refuge. i guess that’s actually 4 christmas-y things!
Come Down, Come In and Make Us Whole
This is a season of watchfulness.
We watch for the One who hears our cries and shares the suffering of our world.
This is a season of promise.
We wait for the promised coming of Emmanuel, God with us, God for us, God in us.
This is a season of reflection.
We expect to be transformed so we can be bearers of light in God’s kingdom.
So Come, Jesus, Come.
Into our troubles and weaknesses.
Into the barren places of our souls, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Into the war torn and the refugee,
Into those who live in conflict, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Into the homeless and the unemployed,
Into those who feel abandoned, Come Lord,
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Into the sick, and the disabled,
Into the struggling, the wounded, Come Lord.
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Into the lives of loved ones,
Into those from whom we are estranged, Come Lord.
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Into our struggles and our fears,
Into our joy and celebrations, Come Lord.
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Come down, come in, come among us and make us whole.
Amen.
merry christmas, my friends, enjoy a beautiful week. may God’s hope & peace be near.