Expecting a King

It’s Advent season and in church we are singing Christmas carols. This Sunday we sang one particular carol that spoke of the coming of a King. I know that as humans we try and fail to wrap our minds around God becoming flesh. I sang this carol and tried to wrap my mind around the coming of a King.

As a citizen of the United States, I have no idea what it means to hope for a king. Truly, in our modernized, industrialized, and globalized world, hardly a country exists anymore that waits in eager expectation for a king. Instead, Americans anticipate election years or demand resignations from world leaders. We threaten economic sanctions on governments who would propose to oppose us. And, if we must, we send our very own, our young women and men, to bear the cause of democracy. No, I have little idea what it is to long for a king.

Where monarchies still exist, they are mostly in name only. Still, they seem to be a common rallying point for their people. Japan’s monarchy claims to be 2,666 years old with an unbroken line of emperors. Much historical debate exists around this statement; still it is a monarchy that outdates any other existing one in the world today. And until this year, it was a monarchy on the verge of dissolving due to the inability of either of Japan’s princes to produce a male heir. Between the two of them and their wives, they have birthed three daughters and according to the law, the crown cannot be passed on to a female. An initiative was being drawn up to change this law, until one of the wives became pregnant and then the entire country held their breath and awaited the birth. A son was born and the unbroken line of emperors remained intact. This was an interesting political and cultural dilemma for Japan because the royal family holds no political power. The Prime Minister and the parliament, all of whom are elected officials, hold political power. Instead the Japanese monarchy represents a state religion, even though the Emperor cannot claim to be divine. Still, Japan heaved a sigh of relief when a son was born.

In America, we don’t anticipate the birth of a prince, or for that matter, a princess. We are a democracy and in theory we vote in order to be represented in all forms of government. America represents a level political playing field where, also in theory, a poor boy from Arkansas can become president or a woman can become Speaker of the House. Still, we have our own ‘royal families’ composed of old money and bloodlines. But instead of births we lie in wait for election years anticipating the political victory of a president or governor.

1 Samuel 8 in the Old Testament records Israel’s desire for a king. They were the only nation without one, and so they looked around and wanted to be like everybody else. They wanted a king who would represent them, who would lead them into battle and judge them. Israel was a theocracy, with God as their leader. God warned them about kings, about what kings wanted, expected and demanded. He told them a king would be their demise. Still, they asked for a king. And so, they got ‘em, a whole list of kings that divided their nation, fed their children to the fires of Molech, taxed and impoverished them. In the end, Israel waited and expected only that one King who would make everything right again. He would restore the monarchy and the nation.

The King who was born for Israel was not the King they had been expecting. Truly, not many Jews even acknowledged Him as King. He did not come and overthrow a government and He did not restore Israel as a nation. Instead, He turned water to wine, healed the sick, hung out with public enemies, and occasionally did some fishing. I don’t think this is the King I’d be expecting either. In fact, the carol I sang on Sunday went on to say that this King would set the oppressed free and I thought to myself, “27 million slaves exist in the world today, more than at any other time in human history. The expected King came, and the oppressed still are not free.”

I find myself getting caught up in that Kingdom where the oppressed are free, everyone has enough to eat, disease no longer exists, and everyone lives in equality. I believe in Kingdom living, a way of life that is gospel-centered and hinges on more than mere personal conversion, but on righteousness and justice that make up the foundation of Christ’s throne and lovingkindness and truth (Psalm 89:14) by which He leads and should be demonstrated toward all humanity. I recognize my own tendencies toward living in a materialistic fashion, and wonder how I can live in a more just and loving way.

I immerse myself in considering what it means to belong to Christ’s Kingdom, and forget to expect a King. My days are so filled with what I see as wrong with the world that I fail to recognize the importance of a King. A king represents his kingdom. This King is just, is righteous, is love, is truth, and because of who He is, so will His Kingdom be. I believe that Christ’s Kingdom can find immediacy on this earth and that I as a gospel follower must seek to represent both the Kingdom and the King. But how can this be done if I am not expecting Him?

In the Christmas stories of Matthew 2 and Luke 2, I read that when those who came to see the Baby realized who He was, they worshiped Him. They recognized that the One, the King they’d been expecting, had arrived. The import of His arrival, I am certain, was not lost on them. But they didn’t get caught up in what it would mean for their King to be born. It probably seemed odd to them that a King was born in a barn. But their focus did not remain on His poverty or on a coming Kingdom. Instead they simply brought their gifts, bent their knees, and worshiped.

The course of human history was changed because this King was born and I know that it should change the way I live my life. I hope I am changing a bit more each year because He was born. The future for me and for the world changed because this King was born and died and rose again. But this Advent season finds me hoping that I am changed because I am expecting Him, a King who is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Because of who He is, and not just the Kingdom He represents, I will worship.

Refugees

USCCB, for whom I loosely work, just issued this statement in regards to refugees and asylum seekers. Please read and respond...we are all just refugees, really, waiting for a country to call our own.

I write concerning a matter of utmost importance and urgency, which requires your active involvement in advocacy on behalf of refugees currently barred from the United States on account of an overly broad interpretation and application of U.S. anti-terrorism laws.

Thousands of refugees and asylum seekers are being prevented from receiving the asylum, resettlement, or permanent residence in this country they desperately need. Under U.S. anti-terrorism laws refugees, for example, have been barred from entering the U.S. because they were forced at the threat of death to provide "material support"- money, food, or other support-to an organization now broadly defined in U.S. law as a terrorist organization (including pro-democracy rebel groups.)The U.S. refugee resettlement program, a lifeline for those who flee oppression, has been undermined by the failure to resolve this crisis. Tens of thousands of refugees have been denied entry and asylum seekers here have had their cases rejected.We need you to generate grassroots letters written to President Bush about this problem. There are two particular requests that should be made of him:That he require the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, and State to recognize "duress" as a waiverable circumstance when considering refugee applicants; and That he support bi-partisan legislation, hopefully forthcoming in the new Congress, which legislatively fixes these unintended consequences of current law.

You can access a model letter and send it directly via email to the president by going to www.justiceforimmigrants.org/materialsupport.html .I encourage you to reach out to parishioners and others in the community to have as many letters as possible sent to the President.Ideally, letters can be sent on December 12, 2006 to the President. In this way, we have a better chance for impact. However, if you cannot get letters in on that particular day, please send them whenever you can.Thank you for your essential help on this important initiative. We will keep you informed about developments.

This message was sent from
Migration and Refugee Services
Office of Executive Director
3211 Fourth Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20017

Fun Fact for the Day

There are 27 million slaves in the world today...
more than at any other time in human history.

What I've been thinkin' about...

It's been a bit since I posted anything 'creative.' So, I thought I'd just say something about what I've been thinking about.

I'm in the process of joining a church, something I don't think I'd ever thought I'd do, but I'm excited about. I'm eager to covenant with other Believers and live a life of gratitude with them. There's just one thing I've been struggling with, and that is their position about women in the church. Now, I wouldn't call myself this die hard feminist, but I do believe that being a woman has made me more aware of those who are marginalized in the world, and therefore has shaped my calling. I'm also aware that I'm theologically conservative, for the most part, that is. That is why I feel comfortable becoming a member at my church, because it, too, is theologically conservative. I have also almost completely dedicated my life to social justice, which conservative groups are only just now beginning to awaken to. The church I've been going to, however, feels strongly about social justice and serving the poor, which is another reason I feel comfortable becoming a member.

But. The age old debate, the role of women in the church and, I guess, therefore in life, comes up and I'm faced with old ghosts. I haven't studied this issue extensively, but from what I can tell some of the hard and fast scriptures which support a male only clergy, are mostly cultural. Like headcoverings and holy kisses. Or slaves and scrubbing mildew off of walls. Additionally, I know Adam was made first and as a result of the Fall he would rule over Eve. But, it also seems that Eve was the crown of God's creation, created last as the final touch. Created to 'be as one who saves,' as that passage should most closely be translated (instead of helpmeet. The Hebrew word used here is used about 20 other times in the OT and each time it is in reference to God when we really need Him. And so it would seem, Eve appeared when Adam really needed her.) These thoughts are not my own, I read them in Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. Finally, because of Jesus we are living in a redemptive Kingdom, one that should try to see outside of the curse of the fall, and therefore past Adam's rule over Eve.

And. We are both created in the image of God. Male and Female, He made them. To silence one is to hide, even betray, part of that image and therefore keep us all from knowing more fully who God is and what He has to say to us.

So. Because of the area in which I work, I'm often thinking about the exploitation of women. My dad sent me this article the other day that mentioned some of the atrocities that are occuring to women all over the world. One of them is breast ironing where a young girls breast are ironed and beaten down when she begins to develop so that she is not atractive to any marauding men. This practice can so harm a woman that she is unable to breastfeed after she gives birth and her child may starve to death. There is also female circumcision, or female genital mutilation, which is supposed to keep a woman from enjoying sex and therefore keep her faithful to her husband. It can also cause her or her child to die during childbirth. As a result of childbirth, she may not heal correctly, leaking urine and feces, being shunned by her community and left to die. (I'm just trying to remember what I read, the article isn't in front of me...)

These practices don't occur here in the United States....mostly in Africa and Middle-Eastern countries. What do they have to do with the role of women in the church?

I think they may have everything to do with it. Since the beginning of time, women and children have been the most vulnerable creatures in creation. When devastation, war, or poverty hits, it is the women and children who suffer. As long as the majority of the church views women's roles as being different and in many ways less important, not equal to that of men's, then we are unable to truly fight any battle against the exploitation and marginalization of women elsewhere in the world. I know men, fathers and brothers, who after watching a special on Dateline about brothels in Thailand selling little girls for sex, were ready to jump on a plane and do their own raid Rambo style in order to liberate these little ones. Why is the same not true here in the United States? When many women who are hugely talented, immensely intelligent, and marvelously gifted are relegated to secretarial jobs and children's ministries, is the atrocity any less horrifying?

I believe the conservative, Evangelical American church will have little voice in the world of social justice if these matters regarding women are not settled. How can we tell a little girl in Cambodia she has worth, was created in the image of God, and therefore should not have to be a sex slave, when we also define that worth as something less than a man's. Does it not appall you to think that a mother irons away a young girl's breasts so she is not appealing to a man? It should also appall us when a young American woman irons away who she is in order to remain appealing to a man, in order to save her place in the conservative Evangelical church. This has happened, hundreds of thousands of times. And in so doing, we are missing part of the image of God.

These are my ramblings....but I think they are becoming convictions. I think I believe that the church has to change if we want to see change, if we believe in justice, if we believe in the redemptive Kingdom of God, if we believe in the gospel.

My dad had 4 daughters and no sons. He has 3 granddaughters with a fourth on the way. (Acutally there's 2 on the way, but one we're certain about and the other we won't know forsure until she's born.) We have all been born into privilege, and we were all born women. Once, years ago, the statistic for a woman being raped was 1 in 4...my dad told me that. It meant that statisically speaking, one of his daughters could be raped. The same could be true for his granddaughters. This kills me. The thought of one of my neices being mutilated or violated in any way, brings out the warrior in me...as it would for my dad also.

As a woman, I want to stand in my church, I want to stand in my community, I want to stand for my sisters, my neices, my girlfriends, and for ones far off who cannot stand. I also want to stand for my four nephews, who have yet to grow into men. And while I may stand rather quietly, I will stand all the same, as an equal, both in value and in role. I will stand as a woman of prayer, who believes that as the men who lead the church truly seek God, they will come to see that that which was far off has come close, and women are their equals as much as they are their partners. This will be social justice, this will be the voice of the church saying loudly and clearly, "We will not stand for the marginalization or exploitation of any human being."

Hopefully this sparks some conversation...

Halloween Cuties....

Superman and a Cowgirl Cinderella....

Safest Cities in the U.S.

So, they've released the safest cities in the U.S.....Out of 371 cities that released certain information, Seattle was 262....San Bernardino was 348!!!! and St. Louis was....371. I'll be praying for you, my friends in St. Louis!
Portland wasn't on the list....
Stay safe.

More pics...

Because the first post wouldn't let me post all of the picture in one posting....