Season of Light

What are your Christmas traditions? Perhaps you tell stories about people who cannot be with you, for whatever reason. Maybe you go to church to hear the story of Christmas. Perhaps you decorate your house with lights to pierce the darkness. Maybe you send an annual Christmas letter.

As I've grown older, I've realized that my family doesn't have many Christmas traditions, but it does feel like there's something missing if we don't have a tree, with soothing lights and sparkly ornaments. This year, Syed and I finally have a home big enough for a tree, and we went and bought an ornament together to remember our first Christmas in Ithaca. Every time the lights of our tree are lit, it makes me feel a bit closer to my family and more at home here in Ithaca.

Lighting the Advent candles also makes me feel more connected to the season - especially now that I'm back in the Northeast, where the days are very short and any little bit of light is welcome! At our Advent Monday night services, we turned the chapel into a walkable Advent wreath, with prayer stations at each candle.

Today is the beginning of Hanukkah, the Jewish celebration of the miracle of light - when the oil lasted long enough to provide light for 8 days. And starting December 26, many will celebrate Kwanzaa with 7 candles to represent 7 foundational African values.

In his article "From Darkness to Light: Entering Holy Time," Eitan Fishbane writes that the true meaning of Hannukah is "to awaken light and redemption from within our darkest places, both as individuals and as a community. To break through the barriers and the hardships that hold us back. To realize that the yearning of our heart and the force of our intention can bring about the miracle of transformation."

A few weeks ago, I invited you to join me in resting in hope, while darkness does its work. Now, as we look toward Christmas, I hope we can all rejoice in the miracle of light as we seek to follow the Light of the World. May we all, together, "awaken light and redemption from within our darkest places, both as individuals and as a community." I hope to see you at our Christmas Eve and Christmas morning services, and if you are traveling, may you have safe travels and a joyous Christmas.

Many blessings,

Manda

Building Up the Body of Christ

On Sunday, we had a lovely worship service of music, scripture, and prayer. Thanks to all who participated, particularly Bill and all our musicians! We also welcomed 4 new members, and because they have all started attending our church within the last year, I wanted to give you the opportunity to learn more about them. All 4 of them have jumped right in - among other things, Andi has joined the choir and sang a solo on Sunday, Chris has read scripture in worship, Kate has joined Bible studies at church, and Delphia has participated in women's retreats. They all bring many gifts to our congregation, and I hope you'll take the opportunity to greet them and get to know them better!

Every one of you is a treasured and important member of the Body of Christ. Paul wrote, "The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12). So even as you get to know our 4 newest members, I hope you'll let them - and all of us - get to know you better as well. We need each other to build up the Body of Christ.

Hope to see you at one or more of our opportunities to gather and worship this week.

Blessings,

Manda

Kate Booth was born and raised on a farm in Northwest Missouri until her family moved to town, where she discovered the joys and drawbacks of neighbors.  She attended Missouri Western State University where she received her B.S. in Economics and Business Administration. After graduating, Kate was the Director of Childcare Services for the Saint Joseph School District and oversaw the District's 15 childcare centers. Miraculously, all 1000 children survived her tenure in the position.  In 2009, she accepted a position with the local Community Action Agency as the Director of Research and Planning.  Currently, Kate is the Assistant Director for the Cayuga Heights School Age Program. She is helping coach two elementary basketball teams at CHES and loves to be physically active: working out at the gym, hiking, and playing softball, basketball and golf. She enjoys cooking, taking naps, and being with her wonderful new Ithaca  friends! She is a huge women's basketball fan (Go Lady Vols!) and the proud mother of Stella, a 1-year old puppy. She does not like spicy food but is committed to trying at least one bite of everything.

Delphia Shanks is a second year PhD student in the department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University where she studies poverty, inequality and social policy. She loves living in Ithaca and has been excited to become involved at FCC so early in her residence here. Although she had hobbies before graduate school, she no longer remembers what they were and now divides her time between reading at the library and reading at home. She has taught swing dancing, nonprofit board management, and long division. Previously, she lived in St. Joseph, Missouri, where she worked for a Community Action Agency, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she completed Teach for America, and in Grinnell, Iowa, where she completed her undergraduate degree and a GrinnellCorps fellowship.

Andrea (“Andi”) and Chris Dietrich both grew up in Michigan,met in 1998, married in 2005, and moved to Ithaca in 2008. They jus discovered our church, and dove right in!
 

Andi works at Cornell as a C-Print Captionist, attending classes with deaf and hard of hearing students and transcribing lectures in real time. When she's not working, she spends a lot of my time in various choirs – the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton, the Ithaca Community Chorus, and of course our choir and handbell choir. She is a certified geek, and enjoy gaming, sci-fi and fantasy, Muppets, and dice, among other things! She crochets, and does a lot of gluten-free baking when she has the time. Andi is thrilled to have found such a wonderful church to call “home!” :)

Chris is the sort of person that spends a long time on a bio where he is depicted as being raised by a pack of wild Esperanto-speaking turnips before settling for an accurate description of himself. He grew up in Michigan, but has lived in Ithaca for the past few years. Chris is an avowed geek-of-all-trades, repository for an amusing excess of trivia, and a self-described “conversational black hole.” While Chris hopes to professionally return to the field of disability rights and advocacy, he is currently working as a research assistant at Cornell's Survey Research Institute and as a freelance educational game-master.

From Left: Delphia, Kate, Andi, Chris

"Traditions....Always the Same.... Always Changing"

I am thinking that many of us have holiday traditions that we hold dear, some of them came from our own childhoods and others, we created along the way.

Lighting the candles on the Advent Wreath is a tradition in many families and in many congregations. Avary and I always had an Advent Wreath on our dining room table and lit the candles each night. I don't, however, remember even seeing an Advent Wreath until my 30's and I was in seminary.

Where did we get a tradition of Advent Wreaths? One theory is that some German Pastor in the 19th Century reclaimed a pagan solstice tradition to help children visually move through the long days of winter. (click here to read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent_candles).

There are basics to an Advent Wreath - a wreath of greenery and candles. And, from there the variations are great! The number of the candles, the colors of the candles and the names of the candles. Like my mother's Christmas tree, Advent Wreaths seems to be popular as a tradition, but over time they change and change and change.

In our church, we have a tradition of having members light the candles each week at the beginning of worship and at both services on Christmas Eve. I am sure the basics have remained the same, but the specifics have changed over the years.

When the whole church moved from the purple of penitence and royalty to the blue of hoping and waiting as the color for the Advent Season, we changed to blue candles. We have changed from a rather square arrangement to a round one. We have used different songs and prayers. And, we have sometimes had a pink candle for the third Sunday (traditionally symbolizing rejoicing, but somehow changing to 'love') and sometimes not. We have used traditional names for the candles and we've changed the names to help us focus on our Advent theme.

Our tradition of lighting the Advent Candles in worship is basic, precious and ever-changing. It always reminds us of the Light of Christ, of the church family we share and of this amazing season of hope and waiting. AND, it changes to surprise us and remind us that God is always the same and always changing in our lives. So, enjoy the traditions this year and be surprised by the ways they change. Keep the holidays this year with the old and the new. You'll be glad you did!

Blessings Always - Laura Lee

Resting in Hope

This week's web challenge of the week: Leave a comment on this blog post or on any of our other posts to be entered in a drawing for a prize! Your comments won't show up right away, but I will see them and post them.

Every Advent I reflect on this poem by Wendell Berry:

The seed is in the ground.

Now may we rest in hope

While darkness does its work.

Paul Nixon, Christian pastor and author, once said, "God does her best work just after midnight." Our culture often makes darkness out to be something scary or negative. And it can be, at times, yet it can also be a renewing time, a time of quiet and introspection, where seeds that are deeply buried can be nurtured and cared for and brought to birth. 

Growing up in the South, we didn't really have 4 seasons - I liked to say that Houston had 3 seasons - hot, scorching hot, and warm! I didn't really understand the changing of the seasons like we experience them here, particularly the darkness of the end of the year. In the church year, it seems fitting to me that Advent, the beginning of the year, is the darkest time. It's the middle of the night, growing darker before it grows lighter, an opportunity for dormant things to come to life.

This Advent, I hope you will find some ways to rest in hope, while darkness does its work. Join with us as a community - there are many opportunities listed below, including Friday's Christmas crafts and spaghetti dinner and next Monday's worship and soup supper. Let's rest in hope, together.

Blessings and peace,

Manda

"Balcony Time"

I love this balcony shot of Manhattan. It's a totally different perspective from the one you have when you are down in the street and walking among the people. Instead of individual faces and shop windows and apartment stoops (and trash on the ground), you see the beauty and diversity of the architecture and the overall 'layout' of things. You can appreciate the hum of the traffic and the pace of the people.

Ron Heifetz (corporate 'leadership' guru) says that people who are called to lead through difficult times must periodically step back and take a 'balcony view', if they are to succeed. It gives you a chance to get a bigger picture and to appreciate the whole. BUT, you cannot just hang out on the balcony, if you ever want to go anywhere!

Today, Manda and I are in Syracuse and we are hopefully getting a 'balcony view.' We're attending a workshop led by Dr. David C. Olsen, "Strategies for Creating & Sustaining Change in Ministry Settings." I have recommendations from others that this will be useful and productive information. So, I expect it to be a good workshop. I also think it is important for Manda and me to be able to get away from the busyness of our daily lives on the streets and to reflect on our dynamic congregation from a slight distance - sort of like the picture - not so far away that things are 'blurred', but far enough away to get some new insights and appreciations.

Maybe Heifetz' advice is not only for leaders. Maybe we all need a bit of 'balcony time' to see more than the details and our own limited perspective. I think that's what Jesus and the disciples did, when they periodically retreated to reflect and pray. They didn't stay there (we never can if we want to get anywhere), but I think they returned with a renewed appreciation for the ministry to which God was calling them. I expect the same will be true for Manda and me.

So, I encourage all of you to join us in some balcony-time. We may all be quite surprised at what we see!

Blessings - Laura Lee

AND, a number of you commented on my mention on Sunday of the old UCC bumper sticker: To Believe is to Care; To Care is to Do. For more on the UCC connection to this slogan, click on the link below:

http://www.ucc.org/change-the-world/flash/change-the-world.swf

Challenging CS Lewis

Is it okay to talk about sex in church? In my childhood congregation, it was often only done in hushed whispers or with a hint of scandal. When I was a teenager, our youth minister apparently thought we needed to learn something about sex, so he had us watch James Dobson videos. Yes, that James Dobson! And rather than learning about healthy, whole sexuality, I took away an idea that the body and bodily desires were not holy, and that to be spiritual meant denying the body.


Many Christians, like those in my childhood, are uncomfortable talking about our bodies in the context of faith. And they're not alone, for many of the people who shaped Christian doctrines and theology struggled with the relationship between body and spirit. There was a quote going around Facebook for a while from CS Lewis: "You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." At first glance, this might sound inspirational, but I would submit that CS Lewis, and others, miss the point of the incarnation of Christ. God thought the human body was worth dwelling in, so why don't we? You are a soul, and you are a body. We would not be fully human if not for our bodies, and being fully human means being created in the image of God.


This Sunday, I hope all adults and youth will join us for the Afterword, where we'll have some conversation about faith and sexuality, and how our whole lives are important to God. Have a blessed week!

Manda

We Are Surrounded

"For all the saints, who from their labors rest." Today is All Saints' Day, and I don't know about you, but many of the saints in my life - and the "saints" in Christian tradition - are pretty complicated people. From biblical saints like Eve and Adam; David; Peter, Paul, and Mary (hee hee) to modern-day saints like Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mother Teresa, there are many people we can look to as exemplars of faith. We can also recognize that they are complex human beings, both wonderful and flawed.

I think of of my maternal grandmother, who died when I was young. I know she had a deep, abiding faith in God which she passed on to her children, and she also wrestled with debilitating mental illness. Or another individual who passed away, whose kindness and generosity seemed at odds with his sometimes racist or misogynistic comments. Of course, there are those people who come along who seem to be wonderful all-around - though I'm sure that if I spent enough time with them, I'd know that they, too, were not always their best selves. And how boring would our religious history and our world be if the saints were all flawless?

On All Saints Day, I like to reflect on what I've learned from those who have gone on before me - those with few visible flaws, and those with many. For what is a "flaw," but an opportunity to learn and grow? In the Bible, those people who seemed the most troubling to others are the very same ones God chooses to work through - like Paul, who upset people of his day because of his anti-Christian past, and who upsets people today by his culturally-influenced views on women and slavery, among other things. Or Esther, who lied and used her feminine charms to influence the king. God seems to take particular delight in being present in complex, "flawed" characters!

We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1). This Sunday in our time of worship, we'll remember those saints who have made an impact on our lives. And tonight, at the Healing Ithaca service (5:15 in the chapel), we'll talk with others about what we've learned about peace from the complexly wonderful people in this world. I hope you'll join us, and I hope you'll take some time this week to give thanks for all the saints and for God's desire to dwell in and among every one of us.

Blessings,
Manda