Kindness

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post. Amos is adjusting his schedule so my normal writing time is no more. However, Jonathan is on break for a couple of weeks so hopefully I can be more consistent in writing.

There are a lot of things I want to talk about. But they are not related and would make for a very lengthy post, so I will just address them one at a time for now. But first!

Amos is now 3 months old and doing great! He has a doctor’s appointment today and I am anxious to see how much he has grown! His personality is showing now and we really enjoy seeing it.

Now, unto the actual post.

This time of year really seems to bring out the ugly in people. The few days leading up to, and including Christmas, my facebook newsfeed was full of “Merry Christmas!”, Happy Hanukkah!”, “Happy Holidays!” and ugly responses to these greetings. Now, don’t get me wrong; Jonathan and I do not celebrate Christmas, (I celebrate Hanukkah), but we/I am in no way offended if you celebrate Christmas and wish me a Merry Christmas. I will wish you a Happy Hanukkah in return. In fact, Christmas is such a big deal here, that I have said “Feliz Navidad” several times. I think it’s more offensive to refuse to acknowledge an important holiday than to just wish them a good one. Let me explain….

If you don’t celebrate Hanukkah for _____ reasons, that’s fine! It’s your religious right/freedom to do so. However, if you go to someone’s house for dinner and they are celebrating it, and they wish you a happy Hanukkah or a merry Christmas, would it not be rude to not exchange the wish? Ultimately, isn’t it the main point of Scripture to live in unity and love your neighbor as yourself? If you want someone to respect your holiday, shouldn’t you respect theirs? You don’t have to agree with it, but you can still be respectful and loving. There is no need to get all up in arms over this that and the other, just smile and return a greeting. If you feel like X person needs to be told about _____ reason to not (or to) celebrate ____ holiday, trust that the opportunity to share that information will arise. No need to be holier-than-thou and refute/attack a friendly greeting. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

All I am trying to say is, it’s an important time of year for many people, and also stressful for many. Instead of giving them something else to be stressed about or offended by, be the calm face that gives a few moments of peace. No need to be ugly.

That is all I have time for now. Gotta go back to being a Mom. Until next time, may Adonai bless and keep you.  

What does 2017 hold?

“But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” –Luke 18:16 NASB

It’s hard to believe that 2016 is already drawing to a close. It seems to have just flown by. There has been so much change this past year and there is more to come. I want to spend this post talking about what it looks like the Lord wants us to do in regards to ministry in 2017. We have great hopes for the church in coming years, and 2017 is a kick start towards those goals, as well as a time to gather information so we can truly meet the needs of the community.

All of the ministry that we will be doing in 2017 will be free. We do not live in an affluent area, and even if we did, ministry should not cost the people. We provide it from our hearts and do not expect anything in return, financially or otherwise.

The first thing that will be taking place is a weekly training/class for Pastors. Jonathan has been doing a bi-monthly class but starting in January, this will become a weekly, more in depth class for the pastors. Jonathan is currently teaching on spiritual disciplines and formation and will go more in depth with those subjects now that the foundation has been laid.

The next 2 things actually go hand in hand. As you probably know, Jonathan and I teach in English at a bilingual school on the north side of the city. There is a great desire among Dominicans to learn English so we are going to be utilizing our abilities and skills in that area. It has been decided that a community outreach provided by our church, will be started in our area. Sunday mornings there will be a 45 minute bible class for children that will be taught by various teachers. The hope is to teach either bilingually or in English only. This class will be used as a way to teach English to the children of our neighborhood as well as spread the Gospel.

In addition, I will be teaching an hour long worship dance class. The hour will include a short devotional to discuss the importance of worship and/or discuss the song and dance and how it relates to a scriptural concept. Again, this will be taught in English and the songs will be a mix of English and Spanish.

Now, let me take a minute and address a few things about the dance ministry. This can be a point of discord so I want to be completely open and honest about what I will be doing. I teach Davidic dance with a ballet influence (can’t help it, it is who I am). However, every dance I choreograph and teach for the means of worship is prayed about and studied thoroughly. The dance is a visual interpretation of the lyrics of the song. So the lyrics are carefully considered and studied as well. A common learning strategy is to set things to music like the ABCs for example. Since the children will hear the song over and over again, I do not want any unkosher things stuck in their heads, and because of the language difference I need to be doubly careful.

In addition, all dance movements are kept appropriate and modest, as is the attire. My hope is to have a co-ed dance class and we will certainly have a co-ed audience so the pastor and elder are my authority and they will check and make sure everything is kosher.

However, it’s not just dance that will be taught. Worship comes in many forms. Flags, tambourines and such will most likely also be used in the dances. The point of the dance class and presentations are to help bring others into a state of worship. For some people it’s a visual thing and an interpretation of the lyrics, through clean and pure dance, may help them.

The dance ministry will present twice a year (that’s the plan right now anyway) and will learn dances based on the church’s theme for the year. For 2017 the theme is “Worship”. This includes “what is worship”, “how do we worship”, etc.

             

            These 3 things are just the start of things to come. I am excited and anxious to see where the Lord takes this. Prayers for us in as we plunge headlong into this would be greatly appreciated.

            Until next time, may Adonai bless and keep you.