Lifeboats

My youngest son has his mother’s fascination for subsurface sunken treasures, stories of what lives in the abyss, sea monsters and pirates.Last year it was the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic sinking and so this became a big subject for my son’s growing fascination in the Titanic.We have countless books, Life magazines and National Geographics. He’s even asked if he can redecorate his room with the theme of the Titanic and started by taping  posters of the Titanics breaking and sinking to it’s demise at 12,000 feet (kinda morbid if you ask me!). We’ve watched the documentaries and the underwater exploration of the wreckage (thank you James Cameron). It’s eerily fascinating and yet scientists keep diving down to see what happened to cause such a massive watery grave. When James Cameron’s epic movie came out in 1997, it brought to light a spectacular reality of what luxury, wealth and status could buy for the aristocratic class at the turn of the century. I guess at this point I should point out the movie grossed more than the cost of building the actual ship!

Now because my son shares my fascination for the deep sea grave, and archeology, scuba diving and such I have sat through many hours of factual information on the Titanic. Most people would find it boring... I love it over and above popular sitcoms. So how in the world do I bring this whole Titanic thing into my blog because it’s been on my mind a lot more recently. Here’s why.

Though several theories of the how could the Titanic sink, it’s the “whys” that seem to increase my thoughts to a more comic idea. The more eerie lesser known fact is that upon the sailing across the Atlantic, an employee of White Star cruise lines said, “Not even God himself can sink this ship!”.  They never customarily prayed or blessed the ship. Another lesser known fact is that the ship was strong indeed with strong steel however,the weakness of the rivets that held the ship together have been found to contain too much “slag” in the metal that gave way to the iceberg when it hit. The final portion of the tragedy was death for the ship and it’s people, was that they hadn’t put enough lifeboats that would allow the ship to save each passenger should they come to disaster. They were so sure of themselves that the Titanic would never sink. One ponders this kind of thinking right? Too big to crumble, too strong to break, it will never happen and we are so right that God can’t even correct us. I am reminded of the tower of babel in this situation as ancient mankind built up, God stooped down and pretty much confused that corporate gathering with some strange new languages because it was not something He had commissioned. He actually said “go to the ends of the earth” not stay and build a tower to heaven.

Anytime there is a corporate building of any entity it’s only as strong as what it’s built on.
Have you ever found yourself depending a corporation that is so big and powerful that it surely couldn’t sink? Maybe retirement?  I think of several times when working in the fashion industry when big names fell like the tower, sank like a stone into bankruptcy. More recently, the World Trade towers actually were built very similarly to the Titanic in 1974. They were modern marvels of their time, build architecturally to withstand a hit from a plane and still stand. For thousands of years mankind has built pyramids, tombs, highways, coliseums, temples, sea faring ships, rockets, houses of worship, cities, countries, kingdoms. They all pass away eventually. In the climax of a country’s empire building it’s extremely blinding and deceptive to corporately think something would never allow such a large entity to crumble. Has there been any “empires” that has for the benefit of us all crumbled? I am thinking of a time in history when the church was forced to disperse throughout the nations, the Gospel was stuck in Jerusalem until the stoning of Stephen.

I’m reading an awesome book right now, Creature of the Word by Matt Chandler/Josh Patterson/Eric Geiger. It’s got some good juicy nuggets of truth in building a community of grace- a Jesus centered church. The fact is even any given church is only as strong as it’s rivets.If we see the Gospel as the rivets that hold the gathering of “the called out ones” or church being ekklesia than the foundational thread that holds a community together. If a church is full steam at 22 knots in an iceberg ridden sea it will soon enough be tested in it’s strength not because of it’s ability to go fast and make good time.

Just as the river forms the distributaries, the gospel forms the Church. The distributaries do not form the river, just as the Church does not form the gospel. When a church confuses the order, she loses her true effectiveness. When a church chooses something other than the river of the gospel as the driving force behind her teaching, programming, staffing and decisions, she empties herself of all power. Instead of becoming a distributor of life, she becomes a distributary of death. She doesn’t really have anything else to offer.

Can you imagine yourself bobbing along in a lifeboat watching the Titanic sink as a survivor? Almost 866 people were in that situation. I’ve stood in my office on 9/11 watching the twin towers smoke and billow then finally crumble to the ground under 40 minutes full well knowing it took an hour and a half to actually evacuate them because of the design of their structure. Trust me, I know I share that experience with many people and it’s not a good feeling in the moment. We now see Freedom tower being built, with added fire proofing and structures, although much of lower Manhattan was slammed by hurricane Sandy and flooded...again, never expected or built to accommodate a massive superstorm of Sandy’s size. Devastation affects an entire community, not just victims but survivors and spectators as well.

The gospel is not only the foundation for our service: it also radically purifies our motivation for service.

When we build something, we must be sure it’s not only built strong but the motivating purpose must be pure as well. We can count on God to purify those motivations when we find ourselves off kilter. The church is a great networking place, it’s a great place to be social, kids programs can be relevant and fun with parties and potlucks. But if the motivation and foundation of the community is not built on the foundational rivets of the Gospel and the motivation of our service isn’t out of a heart of the gospel’s commission we will find ourselves wishing we had jumped onto the lifeboat when we had the chance. God builds up the Church His way with His Word. His Word is the Gospel. Connectivity does not equate to community, nor the depth of the relationships guaranteed if they aren’t gospel centered. The survivors of the Titanic, many of them women and children share something in common in that they instantly were part of a survivors community: corporate experience. Some were rich, some were lower class, many were children now orphans and it was a tragedy that bound them together. That’s the story of the Gospel for all of us “called out ones” who believe, have faith in the grace of Jesus to save us from ourselves and our self deceit in thinking we are so strong that nothing can take us down.

Community is only as strong as what it’s built upon. And nothing is as strong as the gospel. 

All quotes are from Creature of the Word written by Matt Chandler/Josh Patterson/ Eric Greiger

The Revival that Never Comes

The Revival that Never Comes

Many people come to this area of the country, Northampton Massachusetts and the Connecticut River Valley because of it’s rich history, some of the oldest in our country. Church history on a more specific front because our green pastures of valleys, hills and mountains are speckled with the likes of DL Moody and Jonathan Edwards to name a few. Why do people find church history in this area so fascinating enough to want to visit Northampton? Many will explain that a Great Awakening happened here in the 1730s that was rooted in the preaching of several people like George Whitfield, but more importantly in Northampton was the ministry of Jonathan Edwards. This has fascinated me, as someone who loves history and theology all wrapped into one lovely morsel to study. Part of that fascination with the Puritan church is that my 10th great grandmother was martyred by her own church and community for being a “witch” in Salem Massachusetts. She was neither witch, nor heretic but a 70 year old bedridden woman, Rebecca Nurse who was wrongly accused by religious insanity. The puritan church in New England before our independence was a colony, and the church governed the land and our liberty looked very different than modern American context yet we look back to these same foundational fathers both in country and church desperately trying to hold a similar passion in patriotism and religious tradition. It still fascinates me that people within the church today look up to Jonathan Edwards, try to duplicate this supernatural happening that we know as the Great Awakening that reached as far as Scotland and the depth of our new country as New Jersey.

Many church planters and missionaries, come to Northampton inspired with what Jonathan Edwards did because since that Great Awakening Northampton but New England has succeeded in being the most “unchurched” area of our country, per capita over and beyond the Pacific Northwest. Why is this so? What happened in the last 200 or so years that this area has become dark, dim and ever so seemingly hopeless since that dawn of a great spiritual revival that sounded across our country?

In doing some research over the years of my residence here in the Pioneer Valley something that might be surprising is the fact in history that Jonathan Edwards preached on several very hardline subjects. For one, he preached on  the doctrine of Hell. Dare I mention Rob Bell here? For another he preached on Grace. See, during this time, many “denominations” were starting to take sides on doctrines and creeds within this country. Jonathan Edwards most likely got into deep doo doo when he attacked Arminianism first and claimed God’s Divine Sovereignty and choice. He was a Calvinist.

On July 7, 1731, Edwards preached in Boston the "Public Lecture" afterwards published under the title "God Glorified — in Man's Dependence," which was his first public attack on Arminianism. The emphasis of the lecture was on God's absolute sovereignty in the work of salvation: that while it behooved God to create man pure and without sin, it was of his "good pleasure" and "mere and arbitrary grace" for him to grant any person the faith necessary to incline him or her toward holiness, and that God might deny this grace without any disparagement to any of his character.

By 1735, revival spreading in Northampton was so severe that businesses were at stake. But we must note that 300 people were admitted into the church, not thousands as the population was quite low compared to Boston and New York. Many New Englanders also accused Edwards in leading his flock to fanaticism. From what the records show, there also were several suicides, 2 were from his church. This was not taken lightly, but pressed the local Congregationalist churches to put pressure on Edwards’. I personally think they got some bad rye, much like during the Salem witch trials. It was not uncommon for Puritans to flop about in the “spirit” to prove their “election”. While something we don’t think in context to the puritan church, in order to “prove” your salvation you had to have a personal “encounter” or divine revelation in order to become a full fledged “member” of the church and I would mention that this was heavily emphasised on “experience” not by simply stating “I am believer”. This gave you rights to vote in the congregation. When Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” this was in Enfield, CT the shock waves were felt as far as England and Scotland. Many historians “brand” this sermon as “fire and brimstone” but in actuality it had more theological content that was softly spoken and in emotive love than the Max Mclean CD I have seems to evoke. 

The fact is, Jonathan Edward preached on Grace and Predestination. This statement might make someone reading this a bit antsy, if they are on the Armenian side of theology. But I believe the reason the Great Awakening happened was Jonathan Edwards was anointed and gifted in the teaching and preaching of grace. And that rocked the boat to the point that it confronted their Congregationalist traditions. He wasn’t a screamer, a legalist, nor an uneducated man by any means.

“He moved his audience slowly from point to point, towards an inexorable conclusion: they were lost without the grace of God.”

The above description of Jonathan Edwards preaching “style” doesn’t sound fundamentalist even by today’s standards. He also was a postmillennialist, but a literal “millennialist” nonetheless. In today’s modern terms, he most likely was like a John Piper or a David Platt. Popular,  passionate, and Reformed, but maybe some Charismatic thrown in for good measure but literal in his prophetic view of the Kingdom of God to come. None of these “Calvinist” nor “literal millennial” doctrines were ever considered “weak or anemic” theologies, nor were they “fringe” teachings to the Puritans that saw the opportunity to spread the gospel to the native tribes their call and motivation over and above their escape from the royal crown. After all, the natives helped the first pioneers survive this bitter and harsh climate and didn’t demand cultural obedience in the depravity of winter when they were starving on the banks of Plymouth, MA. When your near death and starvation...you’ll eat anything. The natives taught them to till the ground, and the Puritans were grateful to God peacefully to commune with them and spread the gospel in peace, not demanding obedience to their puritan ways.

Northampton has given way since those days to many multicultural, polytheistic cultures like first century Israel’s existence. Many yoga studios, hip hemp stores, smokers, pot heads, homeless, caffeine addicts, and rainbow flags decorate this town and praise God they do! They would be the gentiles in relation to Israel, them... and us. Not much different than the tribes that once speckled the valley that lived here thousands of years before Christ came to earth. Does a rainbow make me less of a disciple that is willing to cross barriers to preach the gospel of grace? No less than my deep motivation to seek the Kingdom and to proclaim it’s coming! I believe we are required to have both in mind as we walk the streets in Northampton.

When I walk the streets of Northampton, for years I’ve asked myself, “what changed?” Or better yet, “..have we changed at all?” The fact is that Jonathan Edwards was in high demand as a preacher, but he also was rejected by his peers eventually because he became unpopular because he held tightly to his beliefs, and eventually was forced out by other Congregationalists because of the results in the awakening didn’t continue in their preconceived packaged expectations. In short, members declined, and things went back to "normal" whatever that is. His theological standing was not in Congregationalism as a governing force but in the Scriptures, rooted rather in Calvinism, and the Kingdom of God would be proclaimed by the Gospel would going forth to every tribe and tongue, a final regathering of Israel would occur and Christ would come to rule over the earth in a literal sense and reality. He had something to say about eschatology in his: Dissertation Concerning the End for which God created the World. He certainly didn’t remain quiet on his perspective and lived out of these systematical theological truths which were widely popular in the Puritan church. This fueled the Puritans in their worldview to spiritually claim the New World in a very literal sense forging towards a Golden Age before Christ returned. The problem with that, is that Christ never came after their great awakening or golden age and the members declined. God always has the bigger picture in mind!

Some of these theological terms might at this point be making your head spin, (see link below) but we can’t ask ourselves where is this Postmillennial “golden age” is or another last revival that many have been expecting for years since Jonathan Edwards long spoke his words at First Churches, or trying to duplicate this event without looking at our church history and facing facts. The fact is that Jonathan was booted out of his church by the governing forces at the time. He went the way of Luther, Calvin and others that were persecuted by their own brethren within the church. He was not scalped by the native pagans! The truth is, the same man that preached grace, and love of Christ as a pioneer in that great awakening was voted out of his church, not for his immorality or scandals. But because he simply held firm a faith in his systematic belief in these things, the doctrine of a literal hell, predestination, salvation by grace alone, and a literal return of Christ that he became an unpopular in the other side of the Great Awakening that also produced foreign doctrines that seeped into the church. He still held to the idea that the lost that lay but by the sovereign grace of God, they dangle by a thread over the fires of Hell. In fact, when he was completely tossed on his skids for preaching against the corrupt traditions of hierarchy of seating in the puritan church.  This still did not stop Edwards in his life's call, however and he went onto minister to the native Americans until his death. A tribute to his postmillennial eschatological view pushing forward the Gospel to every tribe and tongue. In the end, he was a faithful servant and held to his personal convictions of the Truth of God’s Word even to his last breath.

Many a church in this Valley have rich traditions and history, but no person in our history here is more notable than Jonathan Edwards because of that Great Awakening that occurred. But we need to be careful in thinking that Jonathan Edwards was received because he preached the “middle” road of interdenominationalism or post modernism that we have today. He was very well educated, his wife was his inspiration in being devoted to the Scriptures but the fact is he took a strong stand against the human “will” producing any obedience apart from God’s Sovereign grace. That grace was by God’s choosing and not any will of our own. He was very much Pauline and yet he preached to his own brethren, the Puritans who loved law and covenants. They eventually rejected him. I would venture to say, that it created a spiritual vacuum here in the Pioneer Valley that the church has never been able to fill that void with any new modern hip churchy program or outreach because they miss the point in doing so without knowing the facts. They also miss the point in thinking choosing a road somewhere in the middle or all inclusive will bring about any great revival to this area.

So, in a recent conversation with a person who is thinking of moving to Northampton to start a church, I was reminded of how caustic our environment is here, yet how high the expectation of church leaders view preachers even within themselves. “...looks like Northampton hasn’t changed.” he said. To which I say, “Don't look for Northampton to change, hearts change and lives are transformed when hear the message of Grace and His Sovereign choosing of them.”  

Who will wander the fields and speak Grace to  that depraved, lost sheep wandering the streets looking for fulfillment in self justification? We need more Jonathan Edwards in this town, but make no mistake...you can’t put new wine in old wineskins because they just might run you out of town into the rich harvest of the natives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmillennialism

http://firstchurches.org/?page_id=5

Lucy of the Law

"Lucy comes from that part of me that’s capable of saying mean and sarcastic things, which is not a good trait to have, so Lucy gives me a good outlet. But each character has a weakness and Lucy’s weakness is Schroeder."

Charles M. Schulz on Lucy van Pelt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h38srxvt6qE

In a recent sermon at Christmas time, a very famous Christmas special was mentioned at my church. A Charlie Brown’s Christmas. I think it must have been a theme this year, because I had bought the DVD of my favorite Christmas special to show at our church’s Christmas party to the kids. I bought a Blu-ray instead of the stock standard and wouldn’t you know it, I had to pick an alternative movie because I am in the techie world deemed “Amish” by my techie husband so go figure. Something very interesting about this Christmas was that one theme seemed to keep popping up everywhere was the comic, “Peanuts”. It is with no irony that my mom used to call me Lucy 2 Shoes, Lucy for short because...well...I was a lot like Lucy. I was the one who would yank the football from poor old Charlie Brown. I have a younger brother and I think I even tried this a couple times...it didn’t go over too well.

In this wonderful sermon, Lucy was mentioned as being “the epitome of the Law”. I can vouch for Lucy and yeah, boy she got such a bad rap in the Christmas sermon this year I almost blushed. I have a soft spot for Lucy, despite her bossy shortcomings but who really wants after this sermon to identify with Lucy? I mean yikes! She is so demanding, bossy and critical. She is portrayed as a great analyst sitting in her psychologist stand shaking her nickel in a can, relishing in her accomplishment of having a client in Charlie Brown. She’s prouder of having Charlie Brown come to her for help than she is of actually helping the depressed Chuck. She means well with her sense of purpose and speaking out for injustice but all she can do is tell people what their problems are and what do with their problems. She always seems to set poor Charlie Brown up for failure! Poor Chuck doesn’t even have a chance. I remember thinking, will he EVER kick that football? Not if Lucy keeps moving that ball the second Charlie goes to punt. I have always wondered why Lucy kept doing that to Charlie Brown. It seemed like a funny practical joke for a while, and even Lucy seriously thinks she is doing a great thing in presenting her suggestions of how to fix his failures. You really want to kick the habit of failure Charlie Brown? Just ONE more try! Until the pain of failure seeps so deep that Charlie Brown gives up because he realizes he is following Lucy’s demands for success to no avail. According to Lucy, all his failures are because he’s not seeing the world a certain way, his personality, his style...even his looks. Good grief!

Lucy isn’t without her own issues and internal conflict. She has massive crush on Schroder, a musician and artist who plays Beethoven and other classics all the time. She really goes out of her way to get his attention and to no avail he just keeps playing Beethoven, never giving her the time of day.  A love estranged is tragic theme! So what do we do with Lucy of the Law? Lucy’s weakness is Schroeder. She is obsessed with getting Schroeder’s attention because under all that bossy demand for perfection...is her absolute need for grace in love. This issue with Lucy and Charlie Brown’s relationship is that both of them are failures. Lucy in convincing Chuck can be successful and kick that ball, she keeps moving the ball...that is a wild expectation and hopes are always crushed. Charlie Brown  for giving into Lucy’s convincing that THIS one time will mark a new beginning of success! Satisfaction guaranteed! No one will ever be able to kick that ball for Lucy if she keeps moving it around. And poor Chuck, he is a sucker every time for her manipulative tricks. I wonder if she’d let Schroeder kick the ball, simply because her love for him is her weakness? Maybe if Schroeder initiated a love song to Lucy on his piano she’d stop moving that football for poor Charlie Brown because it would satisfy her need for perfection from others and scrutinizing of Chuck. The theology of Peanuts is deeper and more complex than we take for face value obviously, but a closer look will show us that we all have a little Lucy of the Law in us. Longing for love and grace to satisfy our needs we often think ourselves "righteous" to point out other people’s faults, when really...they are faults of our own making and a false image of who we are in Christ. 

If I could say one thing to my alter ego Lucy, I would give her some analytical psychological philosophical and theological advice. Stop moving the ball and let poor Charlie Brown kick the ball!

Back in the Saddle!

I am resurrecting the old blog! Why? Because I have so much to say. 

No, really. I am a bit of a writer, and I haven't been writing so I believe this has contributed to massive insomnia for me. So early this morning I was reminded that I used to actually spend some of my day in the practice and art of writing. I have been writing, just more academic papers for my degree in Biblical Studies. I was inspired by my school, and a recent very affirming email that I was a good writer...even if the content of my writing was not appreciated in this particular email, it was the spark I needed to basically get back in the saddle so to speak and get  typing.

Things I tend to write about. My life. Theology. Being a wife, a mother and Biblical Studies student.

Sometimes I rant. Sometimes I just share a little perspective that I think is missing in the larger conversation in a progressive community. I am kind of a feminist, but not the militaristic crazy hair brained kind. More of a Deborah from the book of Judges feminist, which means that I really appreciate when men grow spinal cords and stand up for what is right instead of letting the ladies do all the dirty work. See what I mean? Feminist...but not shave my head bald and sing ripping up a picture of the Pope. Well...I might do that. But that's another story for another blog.

So with the resurrection of my blog, kindly click on to follow me and trust me...you won't be bored with my posts. 

My Memory of Love

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

Ten years ago I was working on the 42nd floor of an office building in midtown, happily sipping my morning coffee as it was the first day back from a lovely vacation at the Outer Banks. I slipped into the elevator and making my way to my desk when I noticed my co workers faces crowded around my office. (I thought I had left something very interesting on my desk to my mistake.) They were all looking south towards the Twin Towers one was on fire. I sank to my seat and turned on the radio and instantly saw the plane hit the south tower. Several co workers lost it, I remember knew my family would be worried so I called my Mom and told her to turn on the news. Once she turned on the news, our conversation turned serious.

I instantly knew from friends that refused to work in the Twin Towers that it took 2 and half hours to evacuated those buildings because of the past bombing attempt experience several years before. That conversation with my friend ran through my head, wondering what could be going on down there when soon after that I watched the first tower fall. I was shocked. I had just witnessed a complete slaughter of thousands of people." What is going on?" I silently asked God.

At this point my co workers were a mess. My buddy Rob was screaming. People were holding onto each other crying. What was I to say? I had no words of comfort for anyone. I picked up the phone and told my husband to call his family and just let them know we were safe, because I knew distant friends would wonder. Phone lines started going down. I tried to call my boss. No answer. This worried me a bit. Especially as the second tower right before my eyes. Imploded. The second witness to a devastating slaughter of human life. People started leaving the office because we were so high and close to the Empire State Building. Over the radio reports of a plane in DC, and soon one down in Pennsylvania close to my hometown. It was getting a bit much, especially as I had family that worked in the Pentagon and my family lived close in the area the 4th plane went down. All four planes hit close to home.

I decided to leave the office, I left a message on my bosses machine. People were making mass exoduses towards their homes in droves, crossing bridges covered in dust and debris to get home. No transportation. The city in complete lockdown. Soon, walking up 7th Ave the city was crying with sirens. Chaos. Sadness. Terror. Dismay. My husband agreed to ride our motorcycle to Columbus Circle...”I’ll meet you at the fountain.” People walked past crying, running, some people sitting on the ground. Few talkers and no one was ambitious in New York, except firemen that day. I came to that place, still shocked, still unable to speak and the traffic and crowds were so bad that I couldn’t move to get to our meeting place. Then I saw my darling’s red hair on the oblesk at the rotary, he was looking for me. I waved. we met. We sat at our fountain and spoke few small words. Not much I could say really. We got on the motorcycle and weaved our way through traffic to our apartment. What now? The phone calls weren’t coming through. Our neighborhood was completely still. No one moved. We knew we all collectively had been through something horrible. Find your people, your friends, your clan. That became the imminent job for several days. People went missing. Never made it. Evacuations downtown. There’s a rumor someone’s husband was due to fly out, but got bumped and was saved. Chance?

We decided to take a walk in the park. There was not much else we could do and I needed to process stuff. We walked for several minutes when a dog approached us with a belt around it’s neck. It was a stray. No one was going to do anything with the dog. I coaxed it and put our dog’s leash on it. The chances of a shelter taking it in were pretty good. The dog had clearly been abandoned and abused. Later I tried to pet it and it lunged at me. By midnight we drove over to the shelter in Harlem and handed the dog over to them. The world was not right, even the animals knew. I finally broke down and cried in the car on the way home. The thought of what really was lost that day was overwhelming. It’s taken years to process 9/11 for many people, myself included.

I noticed the day after Sept 11...was that people bound together in love, compassion and good will like never before. Many turned to God. People hugged each other. They reconcilled with family memebers. They made room on the subways or housed a co worker who couldn’t get access to their apartment downtown. Today in face of a country divided by different ideologies, differences of opinions and different convictions we should take time to reflect what good came out of 9/11. The hurt and sting is still there. It’s 10 years down the line. Pictures and memorials. Flowers, tiles, notes, pictures secured to fences and walls to honor people and place. Heros died. Loved ones were lost. Families were devastated.

Occasionally when I visit New York now, I remember how I would look at those towers at as a needle on a compass as to which way I needed to walk.... uptown, downtown, east side, west side. That compass is gone. The air space hangs now like a ghost. Hollow. Empty. Scarred with emptiness. But still reminding me of the people that ran into danger to save others.The heros that knew they were facing death by a mere attempt at the impossibility to save both another and themselves. The people that continue in their bravery that serve us in this way everyday and do not let their fear of the past cripple them from carrying on today. Remember the love for each other that came out of all that mess? This is what I want to remember most about that day.

Get Some Fresh Air

So, after a summer long neglect of posting anything on my blog the weather has churned up more than just hurricane Irene but that post storm feeling of a clear day, a new season and the fact that that it’s time to get back to business baby!

I think in looking back in my huge attempt to keep the summer simple. I failed.

We’ve had an amazing summer- I’ve taken the second class needed in my Biblical Studies degree in the Old Testament while single handed (one is holding a book) managed to keep the kids entertained, fed and somewhat safe. We did a lot of swimming at our lake beach, had a vacation on Cape Cod, drove out to my parents in Pennsylvania. The big ticket happening was that my boys all got brand new shiny bikes for their birthday. We have also done some camping with our church at Indian Hollow and in the backyard during those extremely hot days. But, like all journeys sometimes it’s been uphill. We’ve battled lice, now fleas with the dog and trying desperately to get the kids to read just twenty minutes a day in preparation for 3rd grade and not letting their brains ooze out of their ears before they graduate elementary school.

I think the most memorable event this summer, was hosting a Fresh Air Fund child that came up from New York City. These kids come from poor disadvantaged areas of the city, and many of them have never been away from home or put bare feet in backyard grass. We took our friend Evan camping and he was exposed to a lot of new things. Like water. Sleeping in a tent. Riding a bike. The highlight of our friend Evan’s trip, was his chance to sit on a horse. He’d never seen a real live horse before...not even in Central Park. Because he was one of those kids who even at the age of 8, had never gone to Central Park.

Last year in Red Hook Brooklyn (now much of it is flooded after hurricane Irene) I watched kids play in the hot oppressive city by throwing water on each other from garbage pails. It was a scene like Sesame Street, fire hydrant going and kids having a blast. My kids love playing in “the hood” with city kids when we visit our friends in NY. But last year it was really clear to me, after living in New York City for 17 years and now living in Amherst all that I have access to and what these kids don’t have. So thus, the pressing of what God would have me do. It was clear that we were to sign up to do the Fresh Air Fund program, the nation’s oldest non profit in our country’s history.

Despite trying to keep our schedule simple and failing mostly because we crammed so much in in so little time, I feel like what was meant to happen and the experiences my kids had were vital to their perspective. In opening our home to someone that does not have the same kind of home life that they do, we also exposed parts of ourselves that are resistant to sharing “our daily bread” with someone that might be disadvantaged. It was in the study of James that deeply convicted me that my children needed to be trained from a young age about what it means to truly have faith. Not just going to Vacation Bible School or camp and learning about Jesus in church, but how we need to have faith in action in our own lives regardless of what other people do or don’t do.

James 2:14What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

What amazed me about the Fresh Air Fund is it’s history. It’s rooted in this scripture. Truly the man Rev. Parson’s was a visionary but he also called his church to take heartfelt faith in heartfelt action. Today there are only 18 families in the Pioneer Valley that host a child. We are a so called “friendly town” for the Fresh Air Fund and this year the director told me the buses in years past used to be filled with kids. This is not because the need has gone down to host. If we are a “friendly town” it seems to me that we are not that “friendly” in reality.

I would say the numbers clearly reflect the state of faith in New England. We want social justice, we want to educate the poor, we want to give kids like these opportunities here in the Pioneer Valley but in opening our homes for two weeks? That is a pain in the butt. It’s a hassle. Yeah, parents have to work. Yeah, you don’t have space. Yeah, you go on vacation. This agency was created during the era of immigration and tenements in NYC a time when kids used to work in factories and sleep 8 to a room. Do you think a clean air mattress and a week at a local camp isn’t the most exciting thing in that child’s life? An experience like this can have the potential to change not just your kids perspective, but that child learns there is something more to life beyond his neighborhood. Many have been propelled to strive for an education and rise above their current situation,like Mariah Carey. You can speak Truth into that child’s life. And most of all, it does something in you. God worked out a lot of kinks, more than what I thought I had.

Consider being a host for a child next year. Let’s be more friendly. Let’s have more faith.
I would love to see those buses filled again.
http://www.freshair.org/programs/our-history

Confessions of a Soulless Suburbanite

I am reading an amazing book right now called Half Broke Horses by Janette Walls who also wrote the Glass Castle, both being true memoirs of family. If anyone is looking for a book to read
quickly I highly recommend either book. I love reading memoirs, travel writing and a gripping story that displayed culture of different times and places. I’ve been reading aloud to my husband as we clip away at the Pennsylvania highways to return to our home in New England. Several things that we have discovered in reading both these books is that our kids are way way coddled and spoiled and live in the lap of luxury. Second is that we are grateful we didn’t live in the wild west growing up or during the time that these books were portrayed. I vicariously have been a homesteading rancher for 3 days reading this story. But like all good books do it’s made me see things with a different perspective for the time being...and here’s whats cooking up in my brain.

Everybody chooses to live or move on from where they grew up for different reasons. It’s also interesting to hear how places change over the years. Both my hometown has changed and the town in which I live has changed for the locals that have remained here since childhood. Trees grow, they are cut down, developments are made or things torn down, road widen to make way for more traffic or areas by passed and drain all business away from a once thriving business district, shopping centers are built and family owned shops close down after generations of success. In the book I’m reading it talks about the development of the west and how the over grazing, lack of water, drought and dust bowl almost regularly did family ranches in and not to mention the changing perspective of what “progress” was for the nation at large. Cars, airplanes and electricity all changing our culture.

When I was a young child I loved the woods behind my house. I spent a lot of my free time with my friends building tree houses or hiking through the winding paths with my dog Blondie. We also loved playing flashlight tag and in winter sledding down the pipe line which was as steep as a ski slope. Creeks were clean and I spent time making dams and looking for crayfish. We were untethered compared to some children now and the outdoors without Wii or computers were our main source of entertainment. When big bulldozers came to clear those woods away for the development of new construction of homes that are now the more desirable homes that people crave I felt a grave injustice had occured to my neighborhood and...myself. I mourned for weeks the forest that today is completely filled to the brim in my hometown with McMansions. I sat every morning that summer eating my cereal and watching them rip all the trees out and I felt like chaining myself to the trees that I loved to climb. Do one of those tree hugging protests like out in crazy California or Washington State. I started really identifying with conservationists and those hippies that lived in redwoods for a year to stop the loggers in the Pacific Northwest.

There many things I loved about growing up where I did. But even now, everytime I return home there is another strip mall, a new chain restaurant, and the highway is much much wider to help the progress of people moving out of higher taxed and dense areas. There are no sidewalks, the farmland is at this point mostly developed now with new constructed homes, I’ve never seen anyone in the few local parks and nothing is a walkable distance to anything and there is no public transportation. On a recent discourse with another hometown fogie I made a joke about some cultural aspects that I always saw as funny about PA. It didn’t go over very well with one person in-particular...to which it was not meant to offend however it hit a raw nerve with someone. Point is that I never felt that I “fit in” with the culture in my hometown white collar upper middle class suburban expanding sprawl. I was an animal lover, conservationist who didn’t see the need to hunt deer or bear the day after you eat your fill of turkey on Thanksgiving and I certainly didn’t understand or could have cared less about sports...especially football. I was artsy fartsy and I love the ocean and the overstimulating excitement of the melting pot of New York City’s mixture of cultures. I also loved working farms and dreamed of living on a farm one day myself. I love the Amish...to which I still occasionally threaten! I have always had a hunger to experience other cultures, and different ways of life and a very wide variety of diverse people. So I just will say what I have to say....suburban sprawl is souless. Do we all need to be so damn close to a Panera Bread and a Starbucks? When a community values new construction over smart sustainable community planning it rips the soul out of a part of that place if it ever had one to begin with. That’s what happened when those bull dozers did when they ripped my childhood “playground and park” and poured cement in the name of progress. This is the scar that will never lead me back to my hometown. The same thing happened to me on 911 in New York when I watched my beloved city wounded. Not all hurts come from people. Progress looks different to me and this is why I live where and how I do. It’ important to preserve land for our children, it imperative to plan for the future and health of our neighborhoods by providing safe routes to school and natural spaces for discovery. It’s not utopia by any means, but I must commend the town I live in for spending years of investment into our now future. It is a unique place to live with a lot of character, soul and vision of how to preserve our values well into the future.