reading james 1

"James, a slave of God and of Jesus, the Messianic King,

To the people of God scattered to kingdom come around the world,

Greetings.

When the bottom falls out,

when things come apart at the seams,

when the stock market crashes,

your job is up for grabs,

the mortgage payments are getting harder to pay,

and you really don’t know how you are going to make ends meet,

this is a time for pure, unadulterated, ecstatic and contented joy!

When your church is without a pastor,

when older, faithful members are moving away,

when you are in a time of transition, unsure of the future,

when the budget looks like an unattainable dream,

that’s fantastic!

When you face all kinds of trials,

the infirmities of older age,

the insecurities of being a young person,

the struggles with loneliness,

painful confusion about sexuality,

the collapse of beloved institutions,

a marriage that has seen happier days,

tensions within the family,

you name it!

then again I say to you, this is pure joy!

“Joy?” you ask.

Grin and bear it, maybe.

Dig in and get through the trouble, perhaps.

Maybe even patience.

But joy?

This is the kind of stuff that strips me of any capacity for joy.

Economic anxiety,

worries about the future,

deep internal pain,

that debilitating sense of loss,

that impending death in so many areas of our lives …

and you say we should receive all this with joy?

Pure joy?

Yes, my friends, joy.

to continue, see: When the Bottom Falls Out :: A Targum on James 1.1-18 by Brian Walsh

i still remember memorizing james 1 with pastor ted way back when. it comes in handy. i found this piece by brian walsh to be a source of encouragement as i prepare to enter more fully into the church and her ministry in the coming year.

home but not yet

i've been back in vancouver for a month and a half now. i find myself not knowing how to continue with this "away home" blog, thus the silence.

it's a little strange being back home. part of me still want to be travelling i guess. i get these emails about working opportunities in egypt or tanzania, or friends going to taize or botswana, and i dream of the possibilities of escaping away again.

i went on a little "retreat" last night while worshipping with others at afcvancouver. the experience took me back to the waves near our camp in mexico, the beach of iona, and the different star-gazing nights during my time away. i was reminded of this song, that "god will delight when we are creators of justice & joy", and i realized then that my journey home is far from being over. what an honour & privilege it is to be given the role of a co-creator for things of this earth and for what is to come.

may your kingdom come. may your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

interlocking work, play & worship

have you heard pastor ted from lgc talk about the interlocking cycle of church ministry?




well, this is my interlocking cycle of trying to get through to the end of my masters program:

surviving on 36 bucks this week

and now, to catch up on the blogging i missed:

this is what i've been doing this week: to try surviving on 36 bucks!


it's my classmates' brilliant idea to raise awareness on how difficult it is for those relying on Ontario Works to gain employment and economic independence... with just $36 a week!! check out their blog if you're interested: ONTARIO WORKS DOESN'T WORK

they've asked people to empty everything in their wallet except for $36 for the week of march 12-18. i signed up to join in on their campaign late on sunday night (march 11). cuz really, who would willingly sign up for social assistance if they don't need to? and let me tell you, it's been hard!!!!

even though i was buying myself some good food & nutritional goodies the weeks prior, i've been learning fast and pretty much figured out how to eat with less than 5 bucks a day. it's not too hard to do if you're just eating bread (the cheapest kind), can soups, and instant noodles. the problem is, i have NO energy when i'm in class! what's worse, my pay-as-you-go expired right on the first day, and i'd be crazy to spend $10+tax on a phone card when i need the money for food!! but... HOW AM I going to apply for jobs if i don't even have a phone, or a place where people can leave messages for me?!

and it's a good thing that it's getting warmer in kitchener these two days. or else i'd be freezing by now!!!

well, i don't need to go through the week to be convinced that ONTARIO WORKS DOESN'T WORK! does that mean i should start writing my MP now and eat normal again by tomorrow???!! hahhaaa...

am i spamming you?

yeah!! i have my blog back!!!
blogs are good when you don't have the energy to do actual work.

i got this from blogger help about an hour ago:

Hello,

Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and cleared for regular use so that it will no longer appear as potential spam. If you sign out of Blogger and sign back in again, you should be able to post as normal. Thanks for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

apology accepted! but... WHY???

global citizen

what the... blogger blocked my blog!! (now repeat that three times with me!!)
so anyways, by the time you're reading this, blogger would have had a human approved that my blog is legit. i guess i've been commenting too much on other people's site and not writing enough here!! hopefully it's nothing worse than that. hahaa...

i heard stephen lewis speak last night at laurier's global citizenship conference. he delivered a captivating 5-point talk on darfur, afghanistan, climate change, HIV/AIDS in africa and gender equality, challenging canada to do its part in our world. when he was describing antiretroviral drug-users who are lacking in food, and orphans needing to be raised by grandmas, it brought back a lot of memories of my work in south africa. also horrifying was his stats on climate change, which shocked me into thinking once again about things i could be doing differently each day!

i also went to a few workshops at the conference today. the one that i think is blog-worthy is Global Voices Project -- Lesson Plans for Promoting Global Awareness in Young People. it's a joint venture by free the children, toronto star and nipissing university, whereby the kielburger brothers submit a global voice article to toronto star each week, and the education department of nipissing publishes a matching lesson plan at the same time on the torontostar website! check it out:
http://www.thestar.com/globalvoices or
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/columnists/94598
or you can access the archives through the free the children site as well.

when you get into the article of the week, you'll find a link or two for the lesson plans (in pdf format). if i were still leading a youth group, or if i had a class to teach, i would totally do something like this to get young people involved in being global citizens.

oh, and i found out that the kielburgers' parents (or at least one of them) are teachers as well! that's why they're natural at mobilizing students!

meet barack obama

in continuing with recognizing the great work of community organizers and social justice advocates, this guy is my new favourite:



i dunno why i got involved & interested in american politics. thanks to mr. bush i guess!

calendars collide

so it turns out that i ought to be celebrating next week according to at least three calendars that i follow religiously:

- school calendar: it's reading break next week! feb 19-23!!
- chinese calendar: it's new year all over again!! my iCal marked off feb 18-20 for me!
- liturgical calendar: hahaa... this one i'm stretching a little, but yes there's carnival, three days before lent. it's also landing on feb 18-20 this year!! i've never celebrated mardi gras before, but i guess i will this year!!! :D

one week in counting!!!


(photo from flickr: fishywang)