50/50

I read a blog post of "my new best friend" that really stuck with me.  She made a rather passing comment about the Biblical passage about "love your neighbor as yourself," asking the question, what if that actually meant 50/50?  If I love others as I do myself, would that mean I spend 50% of my time, money, talents and energy on others [and I take this to be outside of the nuclear family]?  Wow, what a challenge that is.  Months later I'm STILL thinking about it!

And when I began to look for Christmas cards, I saw a verse on one that I fell in love with, “From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another” John 1:16.  I hadn’t remembered that from John 1 (which tells of Jesus’ coming) so I looked it up in several versions until I found the version that was quoted and looked at the context.  In my search, I found this one from the Message that literally brings me near to weeping every time I read it.

We all live off his generous bounty,
        gift after gift after gift.
    We got the basics from Moses,
        and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
    This endless knowing and understanding—
        all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
    No one has ever seen God,
        not so much as a glimpse.
    This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
        who exists at the very heart of the Father,
        has made him plain as day.  (John 1:15-18, emphasis mine)

The more I study and reflect on the Scriptures related to Christ’s birth, the more miraculous and beautiful it becomes to me.  First, it’s important to understand that the Law, though we don’t naturally see it this way, was truly a gracious gift.  The other people followed gods who were capricious and unpredictable.  Here, the God of the Hebrews was telling them just what He expected of them and how to live in relationship with Him and one another.  How much more amazing and gracious – and surprising – that God would come live among His people?  The pagan gods would never stoop so low.

From the IVP Commentary, note "the contrast between the verbs was given (edothe) and came (egeneto). … These verbs are not contrasting a negative with a positive. Rather, the divine graciousness evident in the divine was given is tremendously intensified in the divine came. The same graciousness has now been manifested in an entirely new mode: the Word became (egeneto) flesh.

When God reveals God, it is the ultimate revelation. 'The absolute claim of the Christian revelation could not be put more definitely' (Schnackenburg 1980a:278)."

While this passage from John refers to spiritual blessings primarily (salvation, wisdom, peace, love, joy, kindness, etc), I can’t help but think that some of the abundance God would have us consider, here in this time and place (the United States, 2013 for me), are some of the earthly blessings He has given us in abundance (health, stable finances, home, food, discretionary time).

God has particularly raised questions about my family’s generosity, our treasures.  It keeps coming up everywhere I go—sermons I hear, books and blogs I read, Bible studies I’m doing.  Not only the financial, although that is part of it.  I’m saying this next part not to toot my own horn, but to give understanding of my context for wrestling with this: we’ve always given fairly generously based on statistics I've seen, and given first (we don't make sure all our bills are paid and then decide what we can afford).  But could we (should we) be doing more?

What does it mean to be generous?  What does it mean to give sacrificially?  I mean, we live in a nice enough house but could do bigger if we gave less.  So are we sacrificing?  We could go on fancier vacations if we gave less, but we get to go on vacation.  We have a pantry overflowing with food, although we eat out much less than we used to.  So, is that sacrificial?

It certainly doesn't seem painful most of the time, and to me sacrifice is tied to pain of some kind. But giving is also suppose to be filled with blessing, as the passage above conveys.  We've been blessed in many ways and I firmly believe that some of that comes as a direct result of our being obedient to give.  Sometimes I'd say we've been a part of God's exuberant giving, but most often it's something we do without much thought at all.  It's a part of our routine, our discipline, our spiritual growth.  Those of us who follow Christ receive "gift after gift after gift," an "exuberant giving" from God.  When I reflect on all of those things that I have received: hope, salvation, the help of a mighty and sovereign God, peace, joy, patience with my children, forgiveness, EVERY spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3) as well as material blessing; when I reflect on these, I am spurred to want to be a part of that exuberant giving -- and receiving as well -- as I watch what God does with our giving.  Doesn't that sound amazing?

So, what is God asking me to give?  What is He asking us to give?  Can you give up one lunch out and pack it from home, giving the extra in the offering plate?  Can I be content with my closet full of clothes rather than getting the latest peplum shirt, so I can give more to God?  Can we eat rice and beans one meal a week and pray for the people who eat that daily -- and give the savings to sponsor a child in need?

My two year old recently noticed us packing up 10% or our oldest's allowance one Sunday, to give to God.  He also wanted to give money to God, and though he doesn't yet get allowance, we took some change from his bank for him to give.  Now, many times when we mention going to church, no matter what it's for, he runs towards his room asking for money for God.  I'm a long way from loving and giving to others 50/50, but I'm praying that I can at least live out the kind of exuberant giving that this sweet little child has modeled for me.

Holy Week Activities 2013

I want to repost this idea page as I am looking over it myself to think about how we want to celebrate Easter and Holy Week.  We got out some of our Easter books and decorations last week, so now the Easter bunny is coming up in conversation and I want to redirect the focus on to what we as a family are truly celebrating -- Jesus' death and resurrection!  So, here is the post, with some updates in italics:


Time sure has gotten away from me. I have so much to catch up on, but with Palm Sunday just two days away, I want to get this one out there. I think it was last year that I decided I wanted to do more with our family to celebrate or mark Holy Week. Beyond Palm Sunday and Resurrection Sunday we've never done a whole lot. And yet, if you look at that week in Jesus' life so much happened to him and among his disciples that it's something I wanted to change in our celebration.

Our oldest son is now old enough to enjoy doing some participatory learning activities and get something out of them. And our youngest loves participating and doing what big brother does -- and he'll learn, too. So I started thinking about things I want to do. The Good Friday service is late by the standards of our kids' bedtimes, so I started there, wanting to do something. Then I realized that Jesus washing his disciples' feet was part of the Last Supper the night before his death. I've been part of foot washing "ceremonies" before and they are so powerful, I thought that would be a meaningful way to have our family participate together. From there, I looked online for some other ways to celebrate and remember the events of that week in age appropriate ways. I hope you find this helpful if you're looking for things to do yourself.

This was the starting point for the most helpful ideas.  http://www.christianitytoday.com/holidays/easter/features/activities.html
From there, I am adapting them to be more age-appropriate as many of the suggestions are for school-age kids.  This link is no longer active.  It was so good!  Grrr.

Palm Sunday

We'll attend church. If we decide to do more than that, it will be to act out the processional into Jerusalem as we read the account from Scripture. We'll use palm branch color sheets for the boys to color on, cut them out and sing, "Hosanna!"

Thursday

We'll do a foot washing ceremony, taking turns washing each others' feet. We'll talk about what Jesus did for his disciples and what it means. As our sons get older, we'll reenact the Last Supper more fully.

Good Friday

We'll read the story out of our children's Bible of Jesus' arrest and death.  

Saturday

A Festival of Light service, with a reading shortened or modified from the link above.  This is one thing I wish I'd kept from last year, since I can't find the page anymore!

Resurrection Sunday

Easter service

We'll do the regular Easter bunny thing, but I've already begun talking about what we are really celebrating on Easter. I want our kids to know what this holiday truly means to our family and why we recognize it. We do a lot of jelly beans, so we may do this:

In a plastic egg: Jelly Beans that are the following colors

• black : Stands for the darkness of our lives before Jesus when we were still in sin
• red: Stands for Jesus shed blood
• white: Stands for our sins that are washed away
• yellow: Stands for streets of gold in heaven
• green: Stands for growing in Jesus

This is our start. I loved many of the other ideas from the website for other days, particularly making pretzels as a reminder of our connection to God through prayer and the account of Jesus being anointed. My hope is that we'll add more activities as part of our celebration as our kids get older. This is a small way to make sure our focus is on the right thing during this holiday season.

We *may* add pretzel making this year; I'll see how ambitious I feel.  Another idea, from one I modified, a prayer walk through our neighborhood.  Getting out in our neighborhood and praying for the people who live around us and helping the boys learn how to pray for others.

Also, MOPS international has some great ideas on their website, including Easter cookies and a 12 day Resurrection Egg activity, which starts TODAY!

I'd love to hear what you do with your family, whether you try some of these or share a new idea with me.  I'm looking for more!  Let us encourage one another.

Rescued from wealth

As I have mentioned a few times recently, I have been really thinking about how God is calling me to live with my stuff.  I frequently battle discontent with my house.  It's not my dream home by any stretch of the imagination.  I married into the house, and it's not a layout I desire.  With two young kids, the fact the garage isn't attached and the there is no mudroom or even a good entry way is a hassle and a pain.  The location is perfect for our family right now, but I dream of my boys running wild in the open spaces of a home in the country.  A couple people I know have sold their houses very quickly recently and it has once again given me the bug/raised my discontent.  And then...

Waiting for me in the mail yesterday was the magazine Compassion International sends to those who support kids around the world.  On the cover, the article title "Rescued from Wealth p. 22."  Despite the cute boy on the cover and an article about vulnerable children that I also read very soon after receiving it, I turned first to page 22.  I knew what I would find and I knew I needed to read it.  And there it was.  Following a brief account of her trip with Compassion to Kenya, the subject of the article noted she "could no longer look at life the same way...[with her husband gung-ho, they] sold their house and moved to a more modest neighborhood."  She goes on to be quoted, "I had a redeeming experience.  I felt rescued from my wealth and the American life."

Ooooh, I so need to hear that.  Probably every day.  And boy, do I need to be rescued.  My home is just fine.  It's not too big to clean (occasionally) with 2 young boys in tow.  It's warm and dry.  We each have our own rooms, we have indoor plumbing, heat and air conditioning.  Our neighborhood is safe, pretty and full of parks.  We have clothes to wear, healthy food to eat (and plenty of junk food, too).  If only everyone could be so lucky!  So why do I bounce towards discontent so often?

Honestly, most of the time I live with a "less is best" mentality (though my closets don't agree).  But every once in awhile, I'll read something, see something, talk with someone and I feel that twinge of envy that ______ is missing from my life or not as nice as ________'s.  I wish it was easier and more practical to cut all ties to material wealth.  I can't do that, so I'm hoping for some kind of balance and a way to leave behind the pull of "bigger, better, newer" in my life.

And then, a friend posts this article today and I'm convicted to go deeper again.  I mean, seriously, those of us who claim to follow Christ and live according to the Scriptures, we should be leading the way on this, right?  And who enjoys stepping on Legos (toy trucks, baby doll accessories) every day, climbing into the closet to find that one shirt buried somewhere, or spending a Saturday cleaning the house?  Jesus said the last will be first.  He told us to love the least of these.  Jesus told us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  He said it will be harder for the rich to enter heaven than to walk through the eye of a needle.  Jesus told us to store up our treasures in heaven.  So why do I even struggle with wanting more?

I'm praying I can be rescued from wealth.