peeling potatoes

 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30, MSG

Work can be stressful, and even though it definitely has it’s rewards, it’s easy to get lost in the urgency of life and ministry. It’s nice to have time to get “down to earth”.

Yesterday, the staff of Casa Adalia were invited to participate in a retreat day at a beautiful property outside of the city. We had some solo time, which I spent lying on the grass surrounded by lemon, mango, mandarin and avocado trees. I may have fallen asleep… just a little bit though. The focus verse of the day was Matthew 11:28, and then, as if God wanted me to really get it, it was also the daily devotional in Max Lucado’s “Grace for the Moment.” (July 30)

Then, today I had the opportunity to play hooky from work and go with Manuel to Otavalo and spend time with our Pastor friend and his family there. I was able to find rest and distraction squatting on the ground peeling a mountain of potatoes with my indigenous friends.

I love how nature brings me closer to God, and I will try to find more space in my life for times like this!

 

best mother’s day gift

Mother’s day just passed, and although this story puts me to shame since I barely even talked to my mom on mothers day (I love you mom!), I’m so proud of 2 of the girls who are part of the tagua jewelry vocational training program for what they did for their mom for mothers day that I’m gonna tell you anyways.

The sisters have been saving up all the money they’ve earned from the jewelry workshop and bought their mom a washing machine! (I didn’t even send a card…). These are 16 year old girls, and one has a baby, they could find lots of ways to spend that kind of cash on themselves, but they wanted to do something awesome for their mom instead. (Believe me, washing machines should NEVER be taken for granted!) They even planned it out that if there is a slow month with the jewelry and can’t afford to make the payment, they saved enough between them to have one months payment ready to go, because they know how horrible the interest rates can get you.

Doesn’t that just make you happy 🙂

Sharing meals

For a couple of months we, along with some friends, have been hosting “community meals” basically opening our houses and sharing meals. Who’s invited you ask? Well, everyone, we have had friends that have lost their jobs, pastors kids struggling to find their place of belonging, skaters, fellow missionaries. It has become one of the times I most look forward to.
Sometimes, it does not feel like ministry, sometimes I wonder why do we even do this. So I’ll just share some thoughts I read the other night.

This meal, which Christians still share all over the world every single day, captures part of the mystery of what it means to be Christian. The Communion meal is a vision of the divine banquet where rich and poor come as new creations to the same table. Incidentally the elements of Communion are not bread and water but bread and wine. Bread is a simple, staple food for the poor. Wine is elegant, often seen only as a luxury of the rich. But the two come together in holy Communion. Both bread and wine have some things in common, they are made up of parts that have to be crushed and broken in order to become something new. Grapes are crushed to become wine, and grain is ground down to become bread. The same happens to us when we become a part of the body of Christ.
The apostle Paul scolds the early church in Corinth because some of them are coming to the Communion table hungry and others are stuffed full of food. They have desecrated what the meal is really about. “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anyone else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk… What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not” (1 Corinthians 11:20-22) we hear echoes of the prophet Amos as he scolds the Hebrew people for worshipping God while ignoring the needs around them, saying the worship is noise and the incense stinks unless justice rolls down like a river for the poor (Amos 5:21-24).
One of the fundamentals of Communion is sharing the bread. We break a pinch and pass it to a brother or sister. No one is to go without. It is a symbol of what it is to come. And part of the prayer we are taught by Jesus, which so often accompanies the Communion feast is “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). This is a prayer that the poor know well, it is also a warning to those of us that might pray for tomorrow’s bread. We are not to pray for “my” bread but to cry out with the poor for “our” daily bread. We are not to pray for the poor, but to pray with them – and to realize that as long as anyone is hungry, all of us are hungry.

Shane Claiborne — Red Letter Revolution

So, why do we even do this? Well because Jesus did it, He lived with people, laughed with people, cried with people, loved on people, and then He called us to do the same. So, that’s what we try to do the first Monday of every month, through sharing a meal together.