Year's end gratetude

It has been good to receive updates from many friends and family at this time of year, and  as we have heard from and observed your good works  these days, I am gratefull that there are so many of you who are people of service and balance in your lives.  As  our good friend from Tanzania, Erwin Kinsey,  concluded in his Christmas letter,
"Many of you are examples to us, people of balance, faith and word, of silence and speech, of guiding and being guided, whether as family, mentors or friends, it is good to keep in touch. And with the pormises of God we willl continue on this way into eternity." 

Eternity indeed. Several friends and acquaintances died this year.. some of them in tragic circumstances. One good and faithful servant I worked with for a number of years in Heifer International, Armin schmidt, passed on - and I give thanks for his many years of sercice to the church, to the poor and to his family and friends. 

And so life goes on......Do you also reflect back on good people in your lives who joined the Saints this year? 

Peace to all as we move into a New Year!

Restoring Justice

Restoring Justice

The story of God's intervention into history, which we call Christmas, has a lot to do with restoring justice. There are many places where people are struggling under unjust conditions and living in the midst of conflict and poverty - we follow some of them in the news daily.   

Recently I have been hearing stories of good news and change from friends in Myanmar,  India, and reports of the good work of some of the non-profit charitable organizations we support.  Here is a story from Guatemala that I recorded in my journal several years ago.  Restoring justice is often a long and arduous, though worthwhile, process.

October 7, 2004, Cotzal, Guatemala

I am in one of the three towns that define the points of the Ixil triangle, an area with a dense concentration of Ixil people – one of the many ethnic groups that are descendents of the Mayan civilization of Mexico and Central America. I came here to witness a celebration of the restoration of justice. Tomorrow there will be a solemn ceremony to officially and joyfully dispense titles of land ownership to 30 Ixil families in the village of Xetze. These families have been laboring on this land and building a new community for over twelve years, and now they have achieved a great thing – full payment of their loans that Agros had given them.

This is an area that was heavily conflicted and repressed during the long civil war that raged for almost 40 years in Guatemala. The stories the Ixil tell of those terror-filled days over twenty years ago are now familiar to me. The most consistent story line is that some of the people had joined the revolutionaries but most had tried to stay out of the way of the violence.  There are stories of the Army swooping in, burning villages, slaughtering or stealing livestock and killing people – in an effort to deny the guerrillas any sanctuary.  Caught in the cross fires of the civil war the Ixiles had to make choices; flee into the surrounding mountains, find refuge in the towns and cities or make the trek to Southern Mexico and become refugees in another country. 

  

It is story of oppressors and oppressed; of the powerful and the weak. It is so much a part of human history going back hundreds of years – even to the time of the oppression of the people at the time Jesus was born and walked on this earth. 

What we witness now is a narrative of a people coming back to their roots, rebuilding homes and having the land restored to them. This is an inspiring thing we are seeing today - God’s people, both from here and those of us from a foreign place, joining together and symbolically restoring justice. This is a picture of justice; of God stretching out God’s hand against the anger and injustice of the foes of these people as the Psalmist wrote in a different though similar setting and time. 

There were many on both sides of this conflict who believed in the same God; those who thought they were totally right to take up the armed struggle and cause. How can it be that the same reality is seen and interpreted completely differently from two divergent perceptions? Both sides were willing to kill and destroy. Those in power did it to preserve a way of life and an economic and political system and maintain order. The revolutionaries saw it as a fight to throw off oppressors be means of force.

How this echoes down through the ages.  How aggressive and self-righteous we humans are – willing to sacrifice the lives of others and ourselves for a “righteous cause”-  now liberty, then justice, religion, oil, power, or just a way of life. Or so we try to convince ourselves. So, Lord, with your right hand, save us!

October 8,

Yesterday was a happy and celebratory time – seeing land titles issued to the people of Xetze and El Paraiso! How good to see people working together in harmony, with pride of accomplishment and a sense of having overcome hardship. 

I read from Psalm 10 this morning and thought about the marks of the presence of God – love, persistent hope and an unshakable faith. Certainly we must add reconciliation and justice as well as the commitment of people to work for the common good.  Within these communities there are now both the formerly oppressed as well as some of the former oppressors living as neighbors.

The women in El Paraiso are impressive as they work together on the land - earned through hard labor. They have had infinitely more burdens to bear than I have; yet we share a common humanity.  We have the same feelings, hopes, prayers and deep desires for our families, children and grandchildren. 

Reflection

The community leaders and Agros staff with whom I worked during those years had names like Bernardo, Juan Zedillo, Maria, Minor, Edna, Mario, Rafa and Helen. None of them ever went to an international conference on peace and justice but they worked every day in those isolated communities to help bring about the Kingdom that Jesus talked about.  The people in the Ixil communities were those who Gustavo Gutierrez, the father of liberation theology, called the little people, the same people Jesus walked among during his short time on earth.    

The Son of God was born into a little people, a nation of little importance by comparison with the great powers of that time. Furthermore, 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. Gustavo Gutierrez, from The God of Life, Orbis, 1991

• Where do you see signs of hope and justice being restored today in your community, country or the wider world?

After Newtown - Reflections during worship

Irene Hauskens, from  Yakama, Washington wrote her reflections during
worship last Sunday.     The gospel was Luke 3:7-18.

I sat in the sanctuary silently praying

As two young children lit the candles.

Instead of the usual two, there were more --

Twenty small votives and seven tapers.

The service proceeded, the candles glowed,

Gradually I realized the tapers were dripping.

 Wax ran down the sides of each.

There must be a draft, I thought, 

No, the Spirit was moving in our midst.

Teachers softly crying tears of wax,

And in the congregation real tears.

He read the lesson, but spoke on 

Just one line repeated thrice,

“Then what are we to do?”

Who are those "illegals"?

Finally, it seems, immigration reform will be on the agenda in Washington.  For some time we have been following the efforts of a coalition of Christian organizations advocating for comprehensive immigration reform.  The DREAM act has been presented but has been on the back burner, the politicians unwilling to confront this difficult issue.  The basic idea the DREAM act is to offer daughters and sons of undocumented workers who have spent practically their whole lives in the US a conditional pathway to citizenship if they attend college or serve in the military.

Most of us don't know the stories of these undocumented immigrants.  Here is a excerpt from a letter we got from Becca Aaker, a high school student from Fargo, who went on a mission trip to the Texas border sponsored by her school.  Becca is the daughter of my nephew Mark and Tracy Aaker. The trip caused her to reflect a lot on stories of the people she encountered and on the meaning of  family. 

" After a couple of hours of painting seven of us were invited to eat lunch with ladies ranging in age from about 20 to 50.  All of them were Mexican, Spanish-speaking women, 2 of whom spoke fairly fluent English.  Of the seven in our group (from Oak Grove Lutheran school), our Spanish is between a semester and a couple of years of class.  The amazing part about it though was that between our broken Spanish and their broken English, everyone of us was laughing, talking and having a wonderful time together.  It felt like a big family holiday meal.  No one in the room was biologically related but a sense of family was so present. If felt loved by the women whom I had known an hour or so and whose names I couldn't pronounce correctly.

We were blessed with the opportunity to listen and talk with a Mexican immigrant who was illegally living in the US.  When asked why she came to America, she said she had to.  She told us about how the village she lived in was extremely violent and that in order to protect her children, she needed to move her family.

I pray that I remember that they all have a story, one that I don't know and maybe never will.  I can only hope that I learn to base my decisions on the possibility of what I may not know rather than what can be easily assumed."

Thanks Becca.

I wonder if Jesus was an illegal immigrant when his family went across the boarder to Egypt after his birth? They really had to leave and go to a safer place.

Expectation turned to Desolation before Christmas

This week I spoke to a Lutheran women's group.  Each one was asked to introduce herself by telling an early memory of Christmas. Several spoke of growing up on farms where "chores" had to be done before any celebrating, church services or big meals - all spoke of excited expectation waiting for Christmas, older siblings returning home, small gifts and the reading of the Christmas story from Luke  One of my memories is of dad saying, "give the cows an extra helping tonight - it's Christmas eve"!. There was a theme of expectation and joy in these stories.

 Animals in the stable play a role in the Christmas story according to St Luke, and a child plays a big role in Dickens' Christmas Carole story.  Giovani Papini, an Italian writer, wrote "First to worship Jesus were animals, not men. Among men he sought out the simple hearted; among the simple hearted he sought out children. Simpler than children, and milder, the beasts of burden welcomed him".
 
Yesterday our eyes were filled with tears as we heard the news and stories from an elementary school in Connecticut - innocent children and teachers killed only a few days before Christmas - the excitement and joy snuffed out.  From such a distance most of us are only observers and recipients of this sad news - but we participate as part of the story through our pondering and prayers, personally and in our places of worship.  I am thankful to hear and see, amongst many interviewed, a rabbi, a priest and a pastor in the midst - there with many others to console and hold close those who are suffering and bereaved.  May God's peace be with them all!

Christmas at Luther

Several of the Lutheran colleges in the mid-west that came out of the Norwegian heritage have wonderful music programs and traditions.  The Christmas programs from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, my alma mater, is being aired nationally on PBS this year on December 23.  In Montana is will be broadcast at 7:00 pm.  I heard several selections from the St. Olaf College Christmas program on NPR the other day.  These are considered to be worship through music rather than performance of a Christmas concert. 

Christmas at Luther: Tidings of Comfort and Joy.  See a preview on the website.

visit the website

We Could Pray for You

In his classic book on prayer, the Quaker, Douglas Steere has an interesting title to one section in the book - He asks "What Do We Do When We Pray?"  His answer is essentially this - In prayer it is a matter of being present where we are.  Just be there!  

Good friend, Kalo Lockerby, from Red Wing, Minnesota sent the following, which is a good example of just being there:

I've been reading your book a little at a time and I have a little thing to share...

I was experiencing a grown up sized EAR INFECTION (ugh). I wanted to go to school on Thursday where I have a little reading group of 6 kids. They had been discussing empathy before I entered the classroom.

So after our story, I asked if they had 'empathy' with me for my sore ear. One of them said "We could pray for you!" and ALL 6 folded their hands and bowed their heads - with little smiles on their angelic faces, and they made my day.

My ear is still sore, but that is nothing compared to the joy they gave me doing that - in the PUBLIC SCHOOL. Where, usually, God is not mentioned.  They asked me if I prayed, so I was able to tell them I did - many times throughout the day without bowing my head or folding my hands - just keeping a conversation going with God.  And praying especially for them.

It was short, sweet, and very neat for this little old teacher's aide.  They  were a culturally diverse group - black, native American, Mong, and Caucasian. It was like a song to my heart - Jesus loves the little children.

Mindfulness While Waiting in Line at the Bank

Here is a story about coincidences, grace and gratitude.  It comes from our friend Mary Hatlestad in Denver

Thank you for the  Advent article about giving and receiving gifts. I read it twice and it reminded me of why I have started to look at long lines at the bank in a different way.

In early November, I got a text message from my son Dan asking the name of the Lakewood police officer who is the son of my friends in England. This policeman began his job in Lakewood 6 1/2 years ago, and about that same time I met his parents, Mary and Richard, who were visiting from England. We met when they came to the museum where I work. His parents and I became friends and I visited them in the UK two years ago. And we always get together when they come here to visit their son and his family.

Dan said that a police officer had been killed. What is the name of their son? I quickly returned the text, knowing that surely he was not the one. But he was.

Inspiration from Africa

The story below about Lillian, an AIDS orphan in Uganda, is all too common. Throughout Africa it is very common for these children to be taken in by aunts and grandmothers. There are 1,200,000 AIDS/HIV orphans in Uganda and an equal number in  Tanzania. The pictures below are from our trip to Tanzania in 2011, where we had the joy and opportunity to visit a boarding home of a program called Help for the Maasai, founded and run by Angelica Kinsey, a Lutheran Deaconess missionary from Germany.  Angelica is a delightful servant of the Lord who has worked with the Maasai people for almost 30 years.  She is now married to our good friend Erwin Kinsey who we have known for many years.

Giving and Receiving: An Advent Reflection

An Advent Reflection

 

 An Advent Reflection

by Jerry Aaker

She out of her poverty has put in everything she had.                                                                           Mark 12:44

As we move through the Advent season towards Christmas our thoughts turn to gift giving.  Christians and non-Christians alike get enthused about buying a gift for everyone on their lists at this time of the year as we are encouraged by a massive marketing campaign to spend lots of money. We will hear of Ebenezer Scrooge again in the retelling of Dickens' Christmas story and that even the stingiest among us can be generous - or should be. One writer said that the story by Dickens has probably done as much to form our notions of Christmas as the St Luke story of the manger. Dickens suggests that down deep even the worst of us can become generous, giving people. 

Both stories - Luke's and Dickens' - get us into the spirit of Christmas. However, the Gospel story is really not only about how blessed it is to be givers, but about how essential it is to see ourselves as gracious receivers. Being a good receiver is hard, especially if we get a gift we had not expected or think that we did not deserve. Then, we always think we have to reciprocate - "Oh no, I got a gift from someone that I had not even thought about buying for and I feel terrible about receiving this gift!". 

But, think about it, God gave a gift so extra ordinary that all we can do is accept it. And we don't have to feel guilty about it, either.  

Think about the people in your life who have given you that which is of much greater value than any material gift - the gifts of love, faithful witness and service to others and to the church, expressions of thoughtfulness, small actions of caring, hospitality and telling us "I'm praying for you" - and meaning it. 

We all have stories from our churches, families and communities about people who give of themselves in quiet and constant ways.  So, during this preparation time, this waiting time called Advent, why not take some time to remember those people in our lives, now and in the past, who have been gifts to us?  Just pause - maybe even once a day during Advent - and put aside thoughts of being the gift buyer and giver and reflect on being a thankful receiver of good gifts.  

The story, "God is Able", from Uganda illustrates this sentiment well, I think.