Christmas in Review (The God who Gives a Damn)

So much brokeness all around.

Can I begin to understand the new air raids between Israel and Palestine?

I can't.

My Tanzanian colleague, Philemon, lost his dad this morning. He was about 58 and riding his bicycle when an out-of-control taxi van hit and killed him.

If hurts me to think about their loss, how do they feel?

Last week, a depressed guy in LA dressed up as Santa and took a handgun to a party at his ex-in-laws and killed 9 people.

Shootings become "common" and that only compounds our sorrow.

The current economic disaster reveals a broken system and a habitual effort to satiate our souls with more.

Money and stuff. They don't actually heal our hearts.

The people of Zimbabwe are starving slowly. They are dying of cholera in the face of a leader who says there is nothing wrong.

We wait and wonder how long it can go on.

Creation is sick.. so sick. God made systems that heal themselves and honestly, she IS trying. The coral reef is showing healthy signs of life after the damage of the big tsunami. But, God bless her, she can't heal herself when we injure her continually and deeply.

Wars drag on. Rape is a weapon. It's not even rare anymore.

I feel like throwing up.

But, in this welling pain, I remember a stable. I remember a baby.

A friend of mine is a hospital chaplain. He recently stood with parents who had just lost their 25 year old daughter to a massive stroke. In the face of the loss, the mom wondered why she felt so torn up inside when it was a simple matter of the universe taking back her daughter. There was oneness. Why should it hurt?

She answered her own question. "Frankly," she said, "I don't think the universe gives a damn."

A baby was born to bridge the divide; to reach out through our pain and lead us home.

This Christmas, I am aware of much pain.

This Christmas, I am thankful for a baby who came to let me know that there is a way through it.

I'm thankful, this Christmas, for Hope. I'm thankful for Joy. I'm thankful for a redeeming, restoring, renewing, celebrating God.

These things are living gifts that come quietly from The God Who Gives a Damn.

Christmas Eve

It's a warm and somewhat humid afternoon here in Tanzania and we are looking forward to our evening together.

Christmas Eve. So nice!

Sufjan is playing in our living room. Yes, we've been spinning the discs of the Sufjan Stevens "Songs for Christmas" cd. I blogged 2 years ago about this album and how much it pretty much saved my Christmas of 2006 :-)

We've also been listening to a mix of stuff that the boys brought home. They keep putting Tallest Man on Earth on and asking me how I like it. I like it a lot. Sounds quite a lot like my Irish friend, Brian Houston. The boys tell me that this is because Tallest and Brian both sound like Bob Dylan. Ok.

When the boys arrived safely on Monday afternoon, we officially had all we needed/wanted for Christmas. We are content and joyful and that's a rich thing.

I've posted a photo of one of Heather's wrapped gifts to highlight, as I did last year, my recycled wrap. I love using up everything we have on hand as we wrap our little presents. This year we didn't have so many plastic bags and I've been SUCH a good girl about remembering to carry my own bags to the shops. But we've used all we did have, as well as the pretty picture pages from an old calendar and other such things.

That reminds me that Jesse is reading "Serve God: Save the Planet" by J. Matthew Sleeth. He says it's really good so now I want to read it after him.

This post is just meandering around so I will close for now with wishes that this Holiday will be meaningful and sweet for all.

xx

breathing to know you

God, I breathe you in
the sweet-strong
full-ripe lingering

i see you
in warm colors
across the sky

i see you
dance broad leaves
in the wind

i see you
like a thousand lit lilies
burning on the waves

i sit quietly
breathing
to know you

Skyler's Beautiful Calendars (my shameless promotion)

Sklyer is my 18 year old kind-of-nephew. Our families have known each other F-O-R-E-V-E-R and it's his family, the Russells, that we work and do life with here in Tanzania.

Skyler is quite a gifted young photographer and his new 2009 calendar is hot off the press. It's lovely and you should probably buy one because the proceeds will help him with college fees next year in the States :-)

You can view the entire calendar on Skyler's blog HERE . I'm just posting a few teaser photos. I'm sure you're clever enough to know that the actual calendar won't say "S.Russell Photos" across every page ;-)

If you are in TZ, contact Skyler directly at srussell91@earthlink.net
If you are in the States, contact Sharon Reed at sharon.reed@cox.net

God Shines

We sit at the piano
I am the quiet observer, the scribe
My only job, to take note of your instructions

We sit at the piano
And Beethovan's notes ring out
Under your little girl fingers

With the sweetness of the melody
I catch my breath
In sharp surprising wonder

How is it that some people feel
And those feelings sounds like
Music in their heads?

I hear words in my head
My feelings speak English
(And I like the words they choose)

But how great is God
That some of his children
Speak what they feel with music?

I close my eyes
And the lovely notes
Make me want to cry

This is just a piano lesson
But in this simple thing
God shines

Double Digits for Heather

Heather is 10 today. (My goodness!)

That's her above, racing the little 50 last week. It was her first time to do such a thing.

Happy Birthday, dear Heather!!

xoxoxo