A Journey, But Not Alone: November 2014

Sunday, November 30, 2014

So what are we preparing for?

And it rolls around again . . . in case you weren't aware, it's the first Sunday in Advent. To be quite honest it sneaked up on me this year. In the midst of celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend I was almost caught unaware that the annual time of preparation was upon us.

That brings me to the basic idea of preparation. What exactly are we preparing for? That question can be answered as many different ways as there are different people to ask. In the Burke house we're preparing for Christmas. However, we choose to prepare differently than the way some others might choose. As of right now there is no tree in our house. We do plan to get one at some point, but there is definitely no rush. There are no gifts to speak of. There will be a few, but very modest ones. There are no decorations up in the house. However, the outside of the house does sport some lovely pink lights on the ornamental bushes. I must admit though, the only reason those are out is because they never came in from last year. We have no special goodies and treats in the house. I would lay wages that those will enter our house when the Berg grandparents arrive for Christmas festivities. You may ask, what are our preparations this year?

We are preparing to celebrate the incarnation of God. We are preparing to celebrate God in our midst, walking the earth and ultimately dying for our sins. I know, it's kind of dark to be bringing the whole Jesus' death piece into the Christmas story. I should save that for Lent and Holy Week. However, it's true. This season is all about the incarnation of God. God became flesh. Jesus was fully human while at the same time being fully God. God came to be with us, to teach us and to die for us. That's what we're preparing for.

How are we doing this? We reading the nativity stories piece by piece from each Gospel over the course of Advent . . . and we're reading them twice. Once in "M^"s Oromifa Bible and then again out of our English Bible. We doing this as part of our FAITH5 bedtime rituals. Here is how this works.

1. SHARE. We share our high (best part of the day) and our low (worst part of the day).

2. READ. We read first the Bible verses from the Oromifa Bible and then from the English Bible.

3. TALK. We talk about what the verses mean and how it helps prepare our hearts for Christmas.

4. PRAY. Each family member chooses people to pray for and we pray together.

5. BLESS. Every night Kevin and I each bless all 5 girls while tucking them into bed. Often times the girls bless us as well.

This has been an amazing tradition that we started when the girls were very small. I can't take credit for coming up with it. All credit is due to my friend Rich Melheim. You can check out more of his great ideas at http://www.faithink.com/.

Who knows where these preparations will take us this Advent season. However, we know that we're excited to celebrate the incarnation of God together as a new family of 7. May your family be blessed as you prepare for the Christ child as well.

Friday, November 28, 2014

Being Thankful verses Living Thankful

It's now the day after Thanksgiving. Reflecting on our holiday I wonder about those traditions and how they are being lived out in our lives. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It started with worshiping on Wednesday night. It was a pleasure for me to give the sermon for our little community's ecumenical worship. A true blessing to worship together! Thursday brought friends over to our house and a table full of food. Yes, filled . . . absolutely filled. The 12 of us ate and laughed, played cards and laughed some more. It was a day of being thankful for friends and family.

However, there was a friend missing. We had invited a dear friend of our over to join us for the holiday. She told me that she had to work from 10 am - 6 pm that day. Yup folks, Thanksgiving day. I was very excited though she would plan to join us that evening for some Thanksgiving fun. I totally understood when I received the text message at 6 pm saying thanks so much, but she was just so tired and 1 am would come very early. My friend had spaghetti-Os for dinner that night. So . . . to recap, she missed Thanksgiving dinner with her own family, she missed Thanksgiving leftovers with her friends and, to top it all off, she would go back to work in the middle of the night. All for what? Retail. I completely understand that there are certain people who must work holidays. Our family has lived that life. Nursers, doctors, prison guards, police officers, firemen . . . the list goes on and I know I am missing many that should be included. However, retail . . . really? Our society just devoted a day to being thankful. Then the very next day (or depending on your shopping preference, Thanksgiving night) our society spends time in a frenzy buying on Black Friday.

Black Friday. Try explaining that concept to two children from Ethiopia that are experiencing American Thanksgiving for the first time or two. On Thanksgiving, people are thankful to God. On Black Friday, people go in the middle of the night and buy things just because they are on sale. There are people who do not have the opportunity to be with their families on a holiday because other people want to be able to shop and still other people that own those companies want to make money.

To me this is the difference between merely being thankful and truly living thankfully. When we settle for just being thankful, we say thank you when it's obvious to do so. We celebrate what we have. We think of ourselves being the recipients of blessings. When we live thankfully we look at things a bit differently. We notice the world around us with gratitude. We manage our resources in a more responsible way looking out for others as well. We are thankful for what God can do for others through us.

Under no circumstances do I believe that I have this all figured out. Nor do I pretend that I always live thankfully verses just being thankful. I can be really bad at this . . . often. I am both guilty of merely being thankful (and at times forgetting even that) but at times I do manage to live thankfully. It is something that we each need to strive daily to remember.

May God bless you and keep you. May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He look upon you with favor and give you peace. In response may we live lives of thankfulness and gratitude in this season and each day. Amen.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Another birthday at the Burke house . . . celebrating Kevin!

This week our family has the blessing of celebrating Kevin's birthday. God has blessed us with the most amazing husband and father that anyone could ever dream up!

He is patient beyond measure. Well . . . he is patient beyond measure most of the time :)

Kevin is one of the most creative people I know. He actively encourages this creativity with all of his children as well :)

He is compassionate beyond belief. I have watched him engage in the most deep levels with people to accompany them on their journey in life.

Kevin seeks out the wonder in life. He enjoys watching our children and joining them to explore the world around us.

He is up for any adventure that life brings our way. (and . . . any adventure that will continue to be in our path!)

One of Kevin's most favorite things is to share a cup of coffee and conversation.

It is with great honor and pleasure that we celebrate Kevin's birthday today. Please pray with me . . . Gracious God, thank you for blessing us with Kevin. Please watch over him today and each day of his journey. Help him to continue being a man of great faith, love and compassion. Walk alongside him to strengthen him. Carry him when he is weary. Bless him and keep him all of his days. Give Kevin your peace and comfort for the future ahead. In your holy and gracious name we pray. Amen.