Lectio Divina
I wanted to share an ancient prayer practice called Lectio Divina. I just learned this technique in Betsy's Wednesday night (6pm, 4th floor) class about the book "Creating a Life with God" by Daniel Wolpert. Although I still struggle to settle my mind, I find that this technique allows a particular Bible phrase or verse to pop back into my mind throughout the day. Give it a try and see if it works for you!
Lectio Divina has 4 steps: lectio (reading), meditatio (pondering), oratio (responding), contemplatio (resting). Basically, you pick a Bible passage and read it through twice. This is not a Bible study but rather a chance to allow a certain phrase or idea to catch your attention. Once you find your phrase you can repeat it to yourself many times and allow God a chance to conjure up images in your mind or respond to you in various ways. At last, you are to respond and you pray to God about how the phrase works in your life. Once your conversation with God comes to a natural close you may rest a minute before saying, "Amen." The book suggests starting with Mark 1:14-20 or Isaiah 40:1-5.
Tebowin’
I have to admit that I am pretty intrigued with Tim Tebow. I don't know much about him, I don't care if he wins or loses BUT I do appreciate how much he openly loves God. He is not a closet Christian! I know the publicity around John 3:16 is getting mixed reviews- some love it and some hate it. Some say Christ has no place in football. What do you think?
Take a minute to check out the success of Tim Tebow from Good Morning America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmAXe8cGRvA
Got Questions?
I'm a little obsessed with Rachel Held Evans' blog.
She always has thoughtful things things to say about things happening in the Christian world, the Bible, how people read the Bible, good books to read and interesting things going on.
My favorite thing though is a series she's done called "Ask a..." where she allows the blog readers to offer questions to people from a wide variety of faith backgrounds. Sometimes my world gets a little insular and I realize that most of the people I interact with on a regular basis look/think/act just like me. This series is a nice small step outside of that.
ReGifting
So, we had a blast at the Epiphany Party last week and exchanged some fabulous gifts- everything from a "Forever Lazy" onesie to some handy office supplies. It got me to thinking about regifting in general, though. I am aware of how much stuff I have, excess that I simply don't need. We had a good time giving silly, rather useless items away at our party, but are there useful things I have collecting dust in my home that would be a real blessing to someone in need?
I came across a cool organization in Relevant Magazine this month. They repurpose the balance on your gift cards for organizations who serve the poor and the marginalized. You can check them out at http://www.giftcardgiver.com/story.php
Think about the stuff you have of value (gift cards, coats, shoes, food) and find a way to give some of it away to bless others this year.
Celebrating Ephiphany
So, in light of the fact that we're celebrating Epiphany tomorrow night at Lani's parents' home, I thought we should brush up on its meaning.
SIGNIFICANCE OF EPIPHANY-
As with most aspects of the Christian liturgical calendar, Epiphany has theological significance as a teaching tool in the church. The Wise Men or Magi who brought gifts to the child Jesus were the first Gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as "King" and so were the first to "show" or "reveal" Jesus to a wider world as the incarnate Christ. This act of worship by the Magi, which corresponded to Simeon’s blessing that this child Jesus would be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32), was one of the first indications that Jesus came for all people, of all nations, of all races, and that the work of God in the world would not be limited to only a few.
The day is now observed as a time of focusing on the mission of the church in reaching others by "showing" Jesus as the Savior of all people. It is also a time of focusing on Christian community and fellowship, especially in healing the divisions of prejudice and bigotry that we all too often create between God’s children.
AN EPIPHANY PRAYER-
Father, we thank you for revealing yourself to us in Jesus the Christ, we who once were not your people but whom you chose to adopt as your people. As ancient Israel confessed long ago, we realize that it was not because of our own righteousness, or our own superior wisdom, or strength, or power, or numbers. It was simply because you loved us, and chose to show us that love in Jesus.
As you have accepted us when we did not deserve your love, will you help us to accept those whom we find it hard to love? Forgive us, O Lord, for any attitude that we harbor that on any level sees ourselves as better or more righteous than others. Will you help us to remove the barriers of prejudice and to tear down the walls of bigotry, religious or social? O Lord, help us realize that the walls that we erect for others only form our own prisons!
Will you fill us so full of your love that there is no more room for intolerance. As you have forgiven us much, will you enable us with your strength to forgive others even more? Will you enable us through your abiding Presence among us, communally and individually, to live our lives in a manner worthy of the Name we bear?
May we, through your guidance and our faithful obedience, find new avenues in ways that we have not imagined of holding the Light of your love so that it may be a Light of revelation for all people.
We thank you for your love, praise you for your Gift, ask for your continued Presence with us, and bring these petitions in the name of your Son, who has truly revealed your heart. Amen.
We hope you'll join us tomorrow night. Here are the details...2nd Annual REstore Epiphany Party on Thursday, January 5th at 602 Beaconsfield Rd, Sherwood, AR 72120.
Bring a less-than-loved gift or an inexpensive gag gift to exchange and join us at 6:30 PM for food and drinks.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great 2011! In honor of the new year, I want to share these words from Thomas Merton - a Catholic writer and monk. I hope these resonate with you in this next year! Here's to 2012!
My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the
right road, though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust you always though I may
seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and
you will never leave me to face my troubles alone.
Epiphany Party 2012!
Hey Restore folks! We're having our 2nd annual Restore Epiphany Party next Thursday night, Jan. 5th at 6:30 p.m. If you were able to come last year, you can attest that it was a good time with some even better eats and drinks! For those of you who weren't there, this is our version of dirty Santa, and you are sure to end up with an "interesting" prize!
Come on out to Lani's parents house and bring a gift that you're already ready to re-gift from this past season or just an inexpensive gag gift. Who knows-maybe you'll be the lucky one who gets to take home the infamous "book!"
Lani's parents live at 602 Beaconsfield Rd., Sherwood, AR, 72120, and there will be food and drinks to snack on! If you have any questions, e-mail Lani at lanilenore@gmail.com. Hope to see you there!
Hitchens
This past week humanity saw the death of Christopher Hitchens, one of the great thinkers and debaters of the 20th Century. Many in the faith community didn't like his attacks on religion, the Pope, evolution or any other number of topics. I disagree with Hitchens on lots of things, but one of the things I appreciated about him was his desire to pursue truth (as he saw it) and to ask the hard questions. I know too many Christians who simply 'believe' because it's the easy thing to do, the thing they've always done and probably will always do. It's not something that shapes their lives, their interactions with others or their own thought processes. I think the damage to the Christian faith is much greater as a result of these 'pseudo-Christians' then from somone who's asking tough questions and persusing them to whatever end it takes them, even if that end make us a Christians feel a little bit uncomfortable.
Thoughts? Agree/disagree? 
Money, Athletics and Jobs
Ok as many of you know, I'm a huge fan of Arkansas State University football. What you also might not know is that I'm also a Saint Louis Cardinals fan. Recently both programs had some personell decisions to make.
Saint Louis was working on a contract with Albert Pujols, who is arguably the best player in all of baseball. Pujols has been with the Cardinals for the entirety of his professional baseball career. In 2000 he was in the Cardinals farm system and in 2001 he began starting for the major league team. In negotiations, Albert was looking for a 10-year contract in the range of $19 to $20 million per year. Through the mess of it all, the Cardinals made a final offer of around $200 million over 10 years only to be surpassed by an offer from the Los Angeles Angels for around $250 million over 10 years. Albert ends up signing an agreement with the Angels and leaves the team he has been with for 10 years.
Arkansas State was looking for a new head coach after the previous coach left for a job at the University of Mississippi. There was an intense search, but one night the athletic director, Dean Lee, received a call from Gus Malzahn. Malzahn was the offensive coordinator for Auburn University. The previous year, Auburn had won the National Championship in college football and their quarterback, Cam Newton, had won the Heisman Trophey. Gus was one of the most desired applicants for any open coaching position. It was reported that he turned down a head coaching job offer at Vanderbilt for $3 million per year in late 2010. He could have had most any job with just a phone call, and that phone call was to Dean Lee. It was reported that Malzahn was making approximately $1.1 million at Auburn and was the highest paid coordinator in all of college football. He would sign a contract to become the head coach of Arkansas State University for a base salary of $156,000 plus a series of perks that would be estimated to an annual salary of $750,000 to $800,000 per year.
Now I'm not sure of all the details surrounding the separate deals, but in my mind I see two examples of responses to money that are opposed. One in which money was given priority and one wasn't. Now there's a lot to be said about that, but I would just encourage everyone not to let money be your ultimate reason for making a decision. I've worked for three different companies since I've graduated and I can tell you that money and joy do not correlate.
Adorable Christmas Story
I have nothing to say about this other than it's adorable.
As we learned in the Poteet Class, some aspects of this video maybe inaccurate, but whatever. It's adorable.
REstore Pics
