Team Ukraineee!!

Sledding near the castle

Lobau- right outside of Herrnhut

Nine people, two weeks, one van, twenty hours of road tripping. The destination? Ukraine!!! My team leaves next Saturday for mini-outreach, which is a shorter version of the 2-3 month outreach we'll be doing later on. While there, we'll be helping out an orphanage. After a lot of time in Herrnhut learning and processing, I'm looking forward working with kids! And the road trip should be a blast, too- I'm excited to see the countryside and be on the road again.

The excitement carried throughout the whole castle this past week as over 100 students from the September DTS just got back from doing two months of outreach in Southeast Europe, Kenya, and China. It's been fun having even more creative energy around here- we've had salsa dancing lessons, Attic Church (sermon and music in the attic- put together by the September students), playing music on the street in Zittau, and a successful all-night prayer service (prayer until 6am, hoorah hoorah). 

It was also a solid week of lectures last week. Cory, the speaker, talked about Foundations. She said that our values make our decisions. If we want to live like Christ, we must align our values with those of Jesus. What then are my values? And where do they come from? She said that an easy way to determine the things we value is where we spend (or don’t spend) money. 

Not only do our values decide our actions, but our actions show what we value. Just by looking at a grocery store, Cory mentioned, it’s easy to tell what a culture values. Germany designates lots of space for chocolate (yahh) and dairy.. The U.S., on the other hand, sets aside an unusually large amount of space for cereal. Perhaps it’s because the U.S. values speed. Food that’s easy to prepare. But what does G-d value? 

During one lecture, Cory sent us outside the classroom with this question. Based on what we see nature, what can we conclude that G-d values? We came up with loads of answers: Relationship, diversity, creativity, beauty, rest... but what was most profound to me was that G-d values change. The seasons change, plants grow and die- nature is constantly changing. Likewise, humans are constantly changing. We can't be boxed in easy categories or defined by a single action. Joe reminded us, “We are human BEINGS, not human DOINGS.” I hope, then, that I, too can value change. If I know the reality of change, I will be more present to each moment, knowing that this moment can never be replicated. Time changes. 

"There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

  a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 a time to tear and a time to mend,
  a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace."

 -Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

"Arrow Up"

“Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in a love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.”

-Pedro Arrupe

    


      “More than anything else, Christianity is a love song” says Diana Butler Bass in A People’s History of Christianity. I find the same truth throughout Scripture: “Love the Lord your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:37)… “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13)… “For G-d so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16)… “G-d is love” (1 John 4:8). Ultimately, the Gospel is a story of love. Therefore, in love, we must be able to find G-d. But what stops us from seeing love- and therefore from seeing G-d?

      This week, Fiona talked about sin. A stuffy word for most of us... But first, what's sin? Thomas Merton says, “All sin starts with the assumption that my false self, the self that exists only in my egocentric desires, is the fundamental reality of life to which everything else in the universe is ordered.” So according to Merton, sin starts with the ego- with believing that my desires are most important. Because in this mindset, there is no room for G-d. No need for love or any external force- I am all. So to experience love, I need to step outside of the self-centeredness- step out of my pride, and acknowledge that G-d works both in me and outside of me. Then there is room for love. G-d can become clearer. But how do I let go of pride? Of selfishness? Of this human tendency to follow my ego? Only through G-d Himself (…Herself, Itself…). Fiona had a tip: anytime we begin to feel this human tendency to sin, “Arrow Up” (up being figurative here, as G-d is not only "up"). Acknowledge the selfishness (or whatever it might be) and offer it to G-d. Think “Arrow Up.” 

Week Four: Pick a Pocket

Photo taken by Corey Hart. In support of Pick a Pocket. For more, check out http://pickapocketart.webs.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=10556058

Day One: Listen to stories from Pick a Pocket, an organization that began as a group of young people who wanted to use their art to increase awareness and fight extreme poverty. It began at YWAM Herrnhut.

Day Two: More testimonies from Pick a Pocket… Stories of creating the Koshe project- of educating kids living at a garbage dump and helping former prostitutes open a café in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia- of using crafts to spread a message of love and awareness…

Day Three: Watch Born into Brothels, a documentary about a woman who taught photography to kids in Kolkata’s red light district.

Day Four: Pick a Pocket Café opens in town and Liz and the Lions (a band working with Pick a Pocket) have their CD preview and pre-order night at the castle. Hoorah! I’m reminded that I can create change. With some creative thought and a bit of determination, I can do as the members of Pick a Pocket have done. They’ve created projects abroad, they hold the keys to a café in town, and they play music on tour. So can I- with a bit of initiative.

Day Five: Uli, another Pick a Pocket member challenges us to be creative with our gifts- Uli’s passion for Super Heroes (yeah!) has allowed him to spread a message of love… What am I passionate about? After a week of Pick a Pocket’s inspiring stories, Uli shares some tools to go forth on our own journey. He notes some things that he’s stored in his “Bat Belt:”

            -Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

            -Pray.

            -Follow what you love.

            -Feed your passion.

Day Six: Watch video about Dorothy Day and the beginning of the Catholic Worker Houses. Feel more inspired.

Day Seven: Rest. Reflect. Go sledding. Think: How can I use my gifts to serve others?

For more info on Pick a Pocket: http://pickapocketart.webs.com/aboutus.htm

Look closely...

Java in Germany

I notice the blueish-aqua-turquoise wall color—my favorite. Spot on. The color I love but that I can never exactly describe. Across from me, Sierra and David review Philippians for today’s Bible study. Other books clutter the table in the corner, and, upon closer look, I notice Not For Sale in the stack… David Badstone’s book- here! In Germany! How incredible. I take a sip of mocha and smile. Mocha, comforting color, Bible reading, a reminder of home… I’ve found my place. What’s more, Trevor Hall’s sweet music rings behind the chatter! Yeahhh!!! Trevor Hall is known at the castle! Another coffee shop has become a sacred space. My new Java Beach of sorts. 


I think back to the peace of Java Beach.. A sacred place back home where I encounter G-d- in conversations over coffee, time spent journaling and in prayer...  Learning to listen and discern. It's a place where I can rest in G-d and know peace. But India made me question… Who is G-d? Who is Jesus? What does a relationship with G-d mean? 

Pete’s lectures last week reminded me that I can question and be at peace. But the peace comes from a relationship with G-d. I can talk about faith, read scripture, sing songs about G-d… but the only real way to get to know G-d is through relationship.

So again, I find the challenge this week is to make everything I do a prayer- to know G-d’s presence in everything I do. 

"The bad news is you’re falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is, there’s no ground" (Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche).

And yet…

"The name of infinite and inexhaustible depth and ground of our being is God" (Paul Tillich).

At the Warehouse

Chris Greene's Photo Brilliance!