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!

 

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.

Living Simply: the experiment!

So, to start with,  Manuel and I and 3 of our friends here are starting a new ministry project thing. I’ll give more details on that soon, I’m actually working on the update right now…or was until I saw that my co-worker Dana posted on her blog and I thought that would be more fun… so I’ll finish the update later. or tomorrow. we’ll see. Anyways, our little group has been doing a book study together, “Economy of Love” by Shane Clairborne. It’s pretty great, really getting us to think about what we’re getting ourselves into! Last week we read the 2nd chapter, “Enough”.  Here’s a little quote that kind of kicked our butts “whether i make a lot of money or a little, the more i need- or think i need- the less i’m able to love my neighbour with my wealth. .. i’m just less free to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, to live responsibly toward my fellow human being.”

Here’s the deal. I grew up in a half Mennonite family and therefore have some awesome skills in frugalness and thrifty living. Maybe I’m a little extreme. Maybe my husband would like some meat other than ground beef and hotdogs once in a while, he doesn’t complain though, God bless him! So good, right? The thing is, that’s only half the story. What do I do with the money I don’t spend? I keep it. Save it for when we may need it in the future. Not that having savings are a bad thing, but that quote up there got me thinking…all of us thinking actually… how would we feel if we decided to set aside the money we saved for one week, and at the end of the week, give it away. Would if be freeing? would it be stressful?

So that’s our experiment! We all agreed to try and live simply this week, for example, make a lunch at home instead of going to subway ($11.00 in the box!), walk or take the bus instead of cab, and put all that money we purposely don’t spend on ourselves in a box. Praying throughout the week what to do with the savings.  Next time we meet we’ll put our saved money together and collectively decide what to do with it.

We just started yesterday, sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes I just want to go and get a coke.

Kristin