Christ the Saviour is Born

Christmas greetings from New Zealand.  Yes, its Christmas day and I'm wearing shorts and I'm already sunburnt  (apparently theres a hole in the ozone layer over this part of the world).  Its the first Christmas that I've had that hasn't been in our living room at home, but thats really not what matters.  I got to experience the day a five and an eight year old, and again see the familiar stack of lego kits that remind me of my brothers younger years.  I've gotten to read a lot today, and take my youngest cousin Connor to the park to play.  (What a concept- playing outside on Christmas!)  Its so nice to be away from everything and have a chance to feel relaxed.  It has definitely been an eventful few days.  First came A LOT of flying with NO motion sickness (!!!!!) which was fun because international flights are long, but the planes are excessively nicer than domestic ones.  (Individual screens with a wide selection of movies free of charge, games, music, and even messaging between seats!  Plus free food!)  The time went by fast.  I've had pumpkin, lamb, and mint on a pizza (delcious), observed my father learning to drive on the left, and seen the infamous Maori haka.  On the other hand, we've also had earthquakes.  If you didn't know, Christchurch has had several earthquakes in the last year or so.  Most of the downtown is now closed off, and many buildings are sitting crooked or have large chunks missing from them.  The ones two days ago also caused a lot of liquefaction, or water coming up from the ground so many streets and homes are flooded with water and silt.  The majority of homes and buildings have been damaged in some way, and unless there can be a significant period without quakes, insurance payoffs will be hard to come by so people can't rebuild.  Saddest of all is the effect that these repeated earth-shaking (literally) events have had on the people.  People are terrified.  We were driving in the car when the first one hit, and it first felt like someone was jerking the wheel back and forth or we had hit a huge pothole.  My uncle was yelling to pull over and I thought we had blown a tire or something.  My first clue that something was really wrong was the sight of a woman in business skirt and heels running for her life across the street, as people poured out of their offices.  Christchurch is not the happiest of cities right now.  The people have been beat down again and again, just when they start to fix their homes they have been knocked down again and again.  Another quake was especially tough to have at Christmas.  Though the malls had to be shut down the day before Christmas Eve, not all hope is lost.  I'm reminded of the lyrics to "Those Who Trust" (Waterdeep).

Those who trust in the Lord
Are a strong mountain
They will not…not be moved

Those who trust in the Lord
Are as Mount Zion
They will not…not be moved

Christ the King, He sets my feet
On a firm foundation
They will not…not be moved

Though the world moves like mad
You alone are faithful
Jesus, you, you will not be changed.

In the craziness of this world, Jesus Christ is the only thing that does not change.  He's the God of this broken city.  This was proved to me at Christmas Eve Church last night.  We weren't meeting in the orignal church building (damaged) but in another church that was nonetheless being held up by several wood beams on the outside.  It was beautiful.  The sun was setting (at 9oclock!).  8000 miles away from home it was God's people coming together to sing the same songs and hear the same story.  The story of a King that came into the world in the humblest way to do the most selfless thing that anyone has ever done for anyone.  That the world be forever changed. 

Christ the Saviour is born, Christ the Saviour is born.

Merry Christmas, dear friends.

On Missions- 5 am style

Now, its just way too late.  I've been hashing out some writing for Social Witness, responding to a ministry scenario and describing just about every detail of how I would set up a ministry in this situation.  I've been blessed to get to know a beautiful freshman girl Sam through Hope for the Nations this year whose sister Sophie is a missionary in Zambia right now.  In not really wanting to think about this assignment anymore, I found her blog.  A girl a few years older than myself, Hope grad, being a real life missionary in another country.  In the first picture, I saw the resemblance to Sam right away.  I've heard about this girl since last year, and I hear stories from Sam sometimes.  I could not stop reading.  Sophie was recently called to adopt a baby girl named Natasha, and she shares beautiful stories of being called "mommy" and the recent challenge of not being able to return to the US to raise funds.  All I could keep thinking while reading the blog was, "she's really, truly, a Christ follower."
This is what I want for my life.  I want to be a Christ follower.  This is my call.  To go live and serve somewhere in the world.  To care for those who cannot care for myself.  I admire Sophie for following where God has called her to.  Most people would think its crazy for a single young woman just out of college to adopt a baby girl who she can't even bring home to America right now, but that's what the Lord called her to do, and that's what she did.  You need only to read a single post to see how God is working in and through this adoption, and to see the love that Sophie has for her baby girl.  It's now officially 5 in the morning, and I've been designing a ministry for the last 5 hours and reading about a real life missionary and I'm thinking about what this really. really. really. might mean.  Giving it all up to gain so much more.  It's completely terrifying and even more exciting and the only thing to do is trust God in it, His stories are better than any that humans write.

His Love Never Changes

I started today by decorating Christmas cookies with my Bible study.  They are a beautiful and wonderful group of girls- six of us sophomores and two junior leaders.  We have shared some great times, laughing, learning and praying together.  One of my leaders brought up the quintessential question (that’s fun to say!), “What has this semester been about for you?”  What has God taught you?  It gave me the opportunity to think.  So, so much has happened this semester.  So here’s the answer I gave- “God is the only thing that doesn’t change.”  Everything around us ultimately will change.  Even in one four month semester’s weather, we go from 90 degree days to snow.  Relationships change in seasons- periods of closeness, distance, deepening, breaking.  I started off this semester the nervous RA of 23 beautiful freshmen women who I didn’t know one bit.  They were nervous, scared, and didn’t know where campus buildings or their own mailboxes were.  (Don’t worry, we all did the same thing).  I was told wisely, “It will take longer than you think to feel comfortable around your girls,” and I held onto this hope.  Over the months we got to know each other slowly but surely.  That’s what happens when you live with people.  They become your friends and you know them.  They become part of your day and your life.  You have inside jokes, favorite shows, and you sit around for hours making paper snowflakes together and covering the walls with gift wrap. 

Academically, I learned a whole heckuva lot this semester.  I had two ministry classes which taught me by far the most- Theology of Worship and Music and Theology of Social Witness and Mission.  The readings were tough, but I learned so much.  I went from being terrified of my singing voice to comfortably starting a song in front of my classmates.  I wrote a theological explication of a worship service I wrote myself, starting with a theme of worship and finding music and all the parts of a service to fit it and then explaining why I chose everything I did.  I got to articulate my dreams for ministry.  On the other hand, Research Methods has been a huge ride on the struggle bus and I learned about working hard, asking for help and accepting my own shortcomings.  The format of the class was different than any other class I’ve ever taken, and I had to attempt to learn this new format.  I also started learning Chinese this semester.  The first few months of learning a language I think show the most profound changes.  I went from not knowing a single word to be able to write characters (it’s the only part of the language I’m good at) and say a few words. 

There are seasons of life.  In a semester, I went from aching for camp to accepting that that season is over and thankful for what it gave to me.  I spent 24 hours in prayer for the city of Detroit, and have been a part of a prayer group on campus praying for God to do great things here.  I am proud to call myself a ’14 song girl, and to have been part of one of the most amazing groups of people ever- the Nykerk family (youtube if you’re confused).  My friendships have changed around a lot too.  The RA staff has been continued to be a huge blessing.  I’ve gotten to know more people as well, just through classes and whatever.  However, I’ll end by talking about how my day ended, the Hope for the Nations Christmas party.

Hope for the Nations is a campus group dedicated to praying for and equipping students to serve in missions, which is God’s call on my heart.  I walked into my first meeting at the beginning of freshmen year and instantly felt at home.  I was asked to be on the leadership team over the summer, and it has been so awesome.  The people I am with are second to none.  My other friends don’t believe that I’m the crazy one there but its true.  I can be completely myself.  Its great.  The Christmas party tonight was partly a send off for the leaders studying abroad next semester.  In true H4N fashion it’s a full half of the leadership team.  We also had many laughs with a white elephant, ugly sweaters, and ourselves.  There are some new leaders coming on who I am so excited to get to know better and we are going to have so much fun I know it already.  This semester has been quite the ride, learning to balance school and RA stuff and the rest of my life, good times, bad times, but always always always, God times.  The lyrics of this popular chapel song originally by Jesus Culture pretty much sum up all of this:

Nothing can separate
Even if I ran away
Your love never fails

I know I still make mistakes
But You have new mercies for me everyday
Your love never fails

Chorus:
You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There may be pain in the night but joy comes in the morning
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/jesus_culture/your_love_never_fails.html ]
And when the oceans rage
I don't have to be afraid
Because I know that You love me
Your love never fails

Verse 2:
The wind is strong and the water's deep
But I'm not alone here in these open seas
Cause Your love never fails

The chasm is far too wide
I never thought I'd reach the other side
But Your love never fails

Bridge:
You make all things work together for my good

This is my hope.  All things are possible through God, and He is what makes us who we are.  He offers forgiveness love, and He doesn't make mistakes. 

Intentional and Unconditional Love

Intentional love.  At first thought, it doesn’t sound too tricky does it?  Love (something we’re all supposed to be particularly good at because we’re nice Christian people right?) and intention.  Intentional is defined as “done with intention or purpose.  Some synonyms are deliberate, willful, intended, and purposeful.  I think what I’m going to be getting at here also has to do with unconditional love- unconditional is officially defined as “not subject to any conditions” or unqualified, absolute, or implicit, no matter what.  I’m going to make a statement that you will probably all agree with here and say that as Christians we are supposed to be unconditionally, unselfishly, intentionally loving towards one another.  “That’s right” you all agree.  Well lets unpack it.  I’m not trying to sound at all hypocritical in this, I’m pointing something out that I need to work on as much as anyone else, because I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently.  Loving unconditionally and intentionally.  Not always as much fun as we’d like to think.

I’m speaking of love as purely a choice of actions right now- the effort that a person makes to cherish and care for the people around them.  We are not talking about emotional love right now, of happiness and joy.  Love on bad days when the person could care less about your existence, doing what is best for them.  Sometimes that means giving them a small gift that you know they will enjoy or listening to them dump their life on you even when you have your own things to worry about.  Sometimes that means giving them space even if that feels counterintuitive to your need to be needed.  Again, I struggle with this as much as the next person, definitely with that last one.

Writing helps me process.  Here’s my real thesis statement.  Christians are called to be and should be intentionally unconditionally loving.  One or the other doesn’t cut it.  Purely intentional love conveys a sense of obligation and duty, “I’m going to love this person because it is my duty and I am a loving person.”  Where does the focus end up… back on you, where it should not be.  Intention in itself has no substance, just pure determination, which is great but will ultimately fail.  Unconditional love fills the gap.  It is loving in spite of all else, no matter what.  Loving someone no matter what is great, yet not showing it takes a toll on the relationship.  Hopefully you will have or are in relationships where unconditional love does not need to be spoken.  I will never doubt that my parents love me.  That’s what I’m talking about.  However, this has been built on nineteen years of proof.  Besides, most relationships don’t have this depth of understanding.  That’s where intention comes in.  It would have been easy for my parents to go through their lives without really showing me love- hours driving to far away pools, staying up all night with a sick child, allowing me to attend the college of my choice.  They could have told me to pick a sport with less travel or a college that was not my dream school, but they intentionally let me do these things.  Why… because they love me and wanted only the best for me at whatever cost to them.  This is both unconditional and intentional love- what love should be. 

So this is what I think love should look like.  It should be unconditional, no question about that.  But it can be more- more intentional.  It means loving deliberately, especially when that person doesn’t ‘deserve’ it.  It means going out of your way consistently to show love to those around you, especially when you don’t have time.  A saying that I kind of made up myself is “When you start feeling bad about yourself, do something nice for someone else.”  Or to quote a dear friend’s senior yearbook quote, “if you are too busy to help someone, you are too busy.”  Of course these can be misconstrued- you have to do what you have to do ie schoolwork, but showing friends that you value them is important.  Jesus said, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:12-13).  This could be taken to mean literally dying, or more realistically, serve others without regard to all of your own needs.  Lets love each other, intentionally and unconditionally.