Library Time

I know I am a cyclical person. Right now I am in a "reading" cycle. I have always been a reader, but at times I immerse myself, totally, in books. That is me, right now. It all started when I began preparations for our Sunday School Congress this weekend. Although I know people didn't even realize what post-modernism really is, that is actually our theme. I began to read and look into the whole subject. Of course these aren't exactly "page-turners", but as I have thumbed through them and read here and there, I have been fascinated by what post-modernism means for us as evangelicals. Post-modernism isn't just that we live in a "more than modern" era, but is a whole new philosophy of life. We really are at a crux in history. I know we have always heard that "the times are a-changing", but right now everything really is changing - from architecture, to music, to art, to movies, to worship services! It is a fundamental change in thinking and acting, and this change very much explains why so many 16-35 year olds have and will continue to fall away from traditional churches. Where does that leave us? In what direction should we be moving? So nearly every morning João and I have been discussing this and trying to grapple with these ideas. For me "ideas" have always been impractical, but what we believe determines what we do. So here I am up to my ears in theological and philosophical books, as you will note by the list of books in my "virtual" library to the left.
At the same time, I am reading a fascinating book, "Escape", by Carolyn Jessop. I can hardly stop, anxious to find out what will happen. It is the story of a woman who escaped from a fundamentalist polygamous cult. After I finish, I am trying to decide between "A Thousand Splendid Suns", or "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier", or "The Mayflower and Her Passengers". Anyone out there read any of these books? Do you have a recommendation? Do you have any other books I might enjoy reading?

It was fun

I don't know about everyone else, for it was kind of "my" day, but I had a great time at Thanksgiving yesterday. I had organized the meal so that most of the preparation was done the day before. I just had to control the time and put things in to roast at the right time. There were 8 of us for dinner this year, a smaller group than last year. Marilene and her family celebrated in São Paulo with their friends, carrying on the tradition started last year. I enjoyed the fellowship a lot. I really enjoyed our small worship service around the table (we read some verses, sang parts of some hymns and shared our gratitude. Although I made the food, I still enjoyed eating the somewhat traditional Thanksgiving meal, minus cranberries that cannot be found here. I will have to remember to bring back some cans with a long expiration date next year. I did remember stovetop stuffing and it was so good! I chose not to make sweet potatoes as I felt that was just too much sugar and starch, especially since I really really wanted some pumpkin pie!
Like last year, I had everyone fill their plates from a separate table so there would be more room - especially since my table really only fits 6 people, not 8. It was a great evening of sharing and visiting and I guess of our own tradition. The family from our church had never experienced Thanksgiving and want to start to do so in their own family. So maybe every year I can invite a different family for them to experience it and start it in their own family. We can certainly all do with more giving thanks in our lives. I'm off to do more thanks-living!

I am Thankful

I am thankful and on the day we earmark to give thanks, I would like to say thank you to God for his blessings in my life. I don't mean to express them in any particular order, but rather as a stream of consciousness kind of event. I am thankful for:

1. A family that always gave me attention and love. A family with a Mom and a Dad and two sisters who taught me to fear and love the Lord and be a part of a community of faith. I love my family so much it hurts to me far from them. They gave me so much, they give me so much that there really are no words.
   
2. Churches I have been a part of during my long life. The church of my infancy that taught me in the ways of God and nurtured me in my baby faith. For my other churches that called me out and encouraged me to engage the gifts God gave me. For the friends I made in church that held me together when loneliness and solitude closed in on me.
3. My husband who loved me and sought me out when I thought I was unlovable. My husband who patiently loves me and cares for me every single day. He really is my sunshine, my very special gift from God. There will never be enough time in this world to express how much I love him.
   
4. My friends who have listened to me over the years. My very special friend Marilene who has stuck with me over separations and time!
5. My two step-daughters who have given me acceptance and love and stepped up to fill the void left by my two children who I lost without ever getting know. I am grateful I carried life inside of me and will always miss my babies, but still I am grateful for life as it is now.
6. Being comfortable. Strange, I know. But I am thankful for living in a home that is comfortable; for living in a place where I recognize people and things and it's easy to get around; being able to do the things I like to do and doing them well (I think); living with people I like and love; being able to stay home and not having to drive or travel. I really have every"thing" I ever wanted or needed.
   
7. My aches and pains because it means I am aging, which is a good thing. It has always taught me more patience (just because I hurt I don't have to snap at everyone), empathy and a willingness to wait on the Lord.
8. My kitty cats. In the great scheme of life, they aren't all that important, and yet each pet I have had has brought something very special into my life. I am so grateful to each one who has let me dry my tears on their fur, spend my affection petting their neck, and express my childish impulses chasing them around the house.

Sometimes I really think I have it all. And I do, for Jesus Christ is my all. We sing a hymn in Portuguese that says "Tudo És Tu, Jesus" (You are everything Jesus). Even if I lost all the afore mentioned items, I would still have much for which to be grateful. I am not sure how to say thanks for all this and more. Today, at least, I wanted to write this out. Thank you, God for my life as it is right here and right now.

My newest decoration

I worked on my Christmas decorations some last week, so I would have the tree up and enjoyable for a while before Christmas and certainly have it ready for Thanksgiving this week. I put out all the snowmen my sister gave me in hopes it would inspire cooler weather. Worked! It's been in the 70's this weekend!
Thursday night we will celebrate an American Thanksgiving here. Right down to pumpkin pie, green bean casserole, turkey and dressing. The one missing item will be cranberries as I just can't find them here and forgot to bring them back. No way you can do cranberries homemade!
I wasn't sure how Mia would react to the tree. Sadik, for instance, ignored it entirely. Baby and Dolly destroyed every ornament I had climbing up and down the tree. Mia, fortunately, is more like Sadik. She was only interested when I was testing the lights by stretching them out on the ground. It looked like a game of catch to her, but once I told her no firmly (translated, I yelled), she never was a problem. Since, however, she is a cat that loves to be under things (she sleeps under the bed or under the table in the living room), she now has her new favorite place - under the Christmas tree. She is definitely my newest and prettiest decoration. If you look carefully in the photo to the right you'll see her sitting quietly. She never even offers to bother the ornaments. She is such a good baby! (See the inset to left, as well).
You just never know what will happen, right? Sunday, for example, was in the middle of a lo-o-o-o-o-ng holiday weekend (6 day holiday) and it seemed everyone was traveling. We figured the church would be empty. We were blessed by tons of visitors (who were also traveling) and the worship services were great. Sunday night the orchestra played and that is always wonderful. Before the service they gave a mini-concert and what a treat that was. I kept thanking God that for their talent. I am almost to the place where I no longer envy people who have that kind of talent (just a twinge now and then), as I learn to appreciate who God has made me (and them) to be.
My other surprise was a re-occurrence of my Achilles tendon problems from last spring. Friday I thought I was going to have to crawl home from the store. Lots of ice and aspirin and the swelling is down and the pain is minimal. This is, of course, a side effect of the antibiotic I was taking due to the sinus infection. I will have to do very little walking for a month or so and lots of stretches, but I think I have weathered the worse of the crisis (I hope!). I will stop on the aspirin too, so I don't have a re-occurrence of stomach problems. I do think the cure is often worse than the disease! My next stop is to a homeopathic doctor who doesn't give me poison to get me better (or make me worse). Good idea, right? I am thankful for so many things, for so much in my life, that I won't complain. "Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices!"

Outback

There is bad news for the pocketbook. A new Outback Restaurant opened here in Rio, within walking distance from our house! It's bad enough that the mall is walking distance. Now they open an Outback. That just happens to be our favourite restaurant! So today as we lazed around on the day of Proclamation of the Republic of Brazil (did you know it was a monarchy until 1889?), I decided to make a declaration of independence from cooking. Sissy was taking another college entrance exam, so we went off the mall. I wanted to check out the Outback and lo and behold it was open. I was sure the waiting line would be huge since we hit right at 1:30, pretty much rush hour for lunch here. Since there were just the two of us, we got seated right away. We avoided the temptation of the blooming onion (better shared with lots of people), but we did enjoy TWO loaves of their wonderful bread, since they were slow in serving us. We had ribs and chicken and as we were eating, Sissy arrived to join us. She wasn't too rattled, since this test was for a university she doesn't particularly care for. Still she said the test was really hard. She brought a copy of it and man she was right. I don't think I would have answered one single question... except maybe the English part on the "Alice in Wonderland". At any rate it was nice to celebrate with Sissy and have time to talk as a family. Now it's night and we have drug out all the Christmas decorations and have started that process. We hope to finish tomorrow. We also are taking time to read and I am now on a new book, about narrative preaching. I find I still have so much to learn about transmitting the gospel. It has been a really good holiday for our family. I hope you find time for your own version of "Outback" and enjoy yourself today.

Silver Wedding Anniversary

Tonight there was a 25th wedding anniversary celebration at the church. We, of course, have lots of weddings (10 since August!), and I don't even try to attend them all. I find, since they are on Saturdays and end very late, somewhat stressful. This, however, was different. Contrary to "normal" people, the middle of the week is actually better for me. Somehow there is something more charming and more moving seeing a couple who has weathered the good and bad times. Tonight was no exception. In the photo their son is singing to them. Isn't that sweet? They also sang a duet. The song is sung at a lot of weddings, but it made more sense to hear "God planned you for me" when the couple has lived that reality. We really do have it wrong spending so much on weddings and so little on the anniversaries. By the way on the floor what you are seeing are rose petals mixed with metallic streamers (you can actually see some of them floating down). As the son was singing, these came floating down from the ceiling, raining rose petals. We always do this at weddings, but the addition of the metallic streamers matching the colours of her dress, was so exceptionally beautiful. Wish I had filmed it. Inside the heart they projected pictures of their wedding and also of their marriage. We are coming up on our 15th anniversary and it made me think that João and I need to do something special to thank God for the blessing he gave us of each other. By the way, Mia has been my special helper while I've been doing this post. I have been trying to teach her to sit quietly at the computer. She tends to like to scratch at the screen (not exactly recommended behaviour for a LCD screen) and stand and stretch. She says good-night to all.

Fog in Sunny Rio

We awoke to quite rainy, foggy day that seems more appropriate to London than Rio. Yesterday was hot and humid and stifling and usually than means that a "cold front" (remember, all things are relative) is pushing its way in and trapping the warm hot air. So we canceled our visitation plans in Teresópolis and decided to stay home and "enjoy" the cool, rainy day. That means not sticking our head out the door. After an extra busy weekend, we needed time to read and reflect and talk and pray.
João is currently reading a book about "neo-pentecostals" (in Portuguese - "Decepcionados com a Graça") that I also took a look at, so part of our discussion was on gnosticism and other heresies that are the fundamental philosophy of this movement. It helped me concretize why we must NOT adopt the liturgy and worship patterns that are based on experiences and not on the living Word.
On the other end of the spectrum, we also spent time talking about a very interesting book I am reading:"The Great Giveaway: Reclaiming the Mission of the Church from Big Business, Parachurch Organizations, Psychotherapy, Consumer Capitalism, and Other Modern Maladies", which I thought I was going to hate, but which has provoked some serious thought and a re-avaliation of my own religion and philosophy, which I tend to be smug about. I realized how quick we all are to just defend what we have always done, without questioning the validity of it all. That lead us both down the road of speculation of where we need to be heading has a large church in the post-modern era, where the search is for TRUTH that can be seen in lives. There was lots to be said about preaching and teaching styles and even church liturgy that needs to be modified. It's been a while since we have had time to sit down and really discuss ideas like this. Certainly led us to think we need to have some kind of forum or seminar in the church to seriously talk about what all this means for us at First Baptist. We cannot get stuck in a rut or adopt "trends". We need to seek an honest direction that leads people to be both justified and sanctified.
Oh dear. You see where a rainy day leaves us? But isn't it wonderful God gives us these days to think and reflect and yes to rest? And I am so grateful to have a husband who is a soul mate and partner in thought and spiritual growth. I have so many blessings!

Excitement

Last night we had a great meeting at our church with the music department. It was historic, as we had a potential minister of music speaking to the group. He shared who he is and his philosophy of music and the group had a chance to ask questions. The process at our church is a little different, in that the pastor "appoints" the minister of music, since it is understood they will be working side by side and must be in accord in terms of philosophy and theology. Still João wanted him to meet the musicians and vice-versa to see how the "fit" is.
I felt the meeting went very well. So after a year long search and many heart felt prayers, we feel we may be at the end of the journey. It will be so wonderful to have someone working the "harmonize" the music department. We have so many wonderful talents, but what we lack is a minister to "shepherd" and unite and organize the whole concept of "music ministry". I am so pleased at what this could mean for our church in terms of spiritual growth and outreach.
If this all works out, then the process will begin again for a minister of youth. This Sunday we will be meeting with the youth to hear what they expect from a youth minister. That is the first step. Then we meet with the parents to hear from them. Youth minister will be for ages 13-25 or so I guess - at least through university age. This is kind of a new field here in Brazil, so we are anxious to work through this. Then we can move on to a children's minister. I see so much potential in having more ministries to really seeing people discipled and developing a real Christian "cosmo-vision" of the world, instead of just coming to church on Sunday and living the rest of the week however they wish. I so desire to see our church break out of the molds of people who are just "members" into people who live as Christ as called, transforming our society! I want to see honest politicians, dedicated teachers, inspired musicians, non-violent law keepers, who can share about the difference Christ has made in their lives. I am getting old, but my dream of seeing the world transformed by Christ never grows old.

If you blink

If you blinked, you missed the fact that I changed the background of my blog 5 times today! I love the sunflower design, but I would love to have a larger column for writing - which is after all the whole purpose of a blog! But it is incredibly complicated (to me at least) to create your own background. Even when I started messing with using a a non-blogspot template, it started getting complicated for me to keep my side messages in line. Since sunflowers are my favourite (for now at least), I may leave this in for a few days. (By the way, don't you just love Van Gogh's Sunflower? If I could own any original painting in the world, it would be a Van Gogh.) It is my first attempt at using a design that is not from blogspot. Since I like change and a challenge, it was good to try something different.
I was inspired to change today as I looked at my new passport. It is so beautiful. Every page has a new design and famous quote about the US. Makes you want to sit down and read it. If you haven't seen one, ask someone who has one to take a look-see.
I had to go downtown to pick up the passport at the embassy and since I was there, I hit the shopping district. After all these years, it still seems strange to see Santa Claus and see all the Christmas lights, while I am sporting sunglasses, drinking coconut water and sweating buckets. All in all, however, the decorations, did make me want to come home and put up my decorations. I have never gotten why I have to wait until December, when I would like to enjoy the decorations, which take so much work, for a little longer than a week or two. I am restraining myself, but probably next week I will get started. This year Christmas is at our house and I am looking forward to that. The girls and I have been working on our menu!
First, however, we have to get through something called "vestibular". That is the entrance exams to the university. I don't know how Sissy is surviving the stress. If I could do something for her, I would. But it's all up to her. After a year of studying 12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week, she certainly deserves to pass. Every year the exams gets more and more competitive. I know she knows her stuff. The problem is the limited number of slots. Only the top few get into journalism. There are 19 applicants for each opening. Her main exam is this coming Sunday. Please pray for her to have confidence and remember what she knows. This is a life-altering day for her and since she has all her eggs in this basket, we would like not to see them scrambled. I'll keep you posted on how she comes out (although the results are not posted until January).

Church Picnic

Today we went with a group from the church for a little outing. It was on an island in the bay. We went downtown where we caught a huge ferry (2000 people) that took about an hour. The boat ride was one of the best parts of the day. It was very comfortable and there was a nice breeze the whole time and great scenery along the way. This first photo shows the Fiscal Island castle where the very last Imperial Ball was held in 1889. Isn't it gorgeous? All during the trip they sold food and we managed to eat and talk the whole time.
Upon arriving at the island (Paquetá), I was faced with a wave of heat. I hoped it was just the diesel from the engines, but no. It was desperately hot. I mean miserably hot. I mean intolerably hot. I mean HOT. As Sissy said the other day, this kind of heat is a definite object lesson for encouraging anyone not to want to go to hell. I had brought lots of cold water and my cold water mist and was glad for that.
Lunch had been prepared for us and it was delicious, although the little church where we met was like a little oven! João ended up suggesting we eat outside on the curb under a tree. Much better idea.
The island really is a paradise and quite beautiful, safe and quiet (cars are banned). We ended up taking a buggy ride around the island and found that to be a wonderful idea. It was cool in the buggy, with a nice breeze and the driver gave us a great tour of everything. I am randomly posting some of the great pictures we got. The view of the city of Rio is really great from the Island.
Because so many people from the church were there we had a great time yelling at everyone as we passed them by on our horse and buggy ride. We went with three women. When the ride finally ended we were all so hot, we asked him to take us back to the boat dock to catch the next boat home. Although we were to stay until evening and watch the sunset, a lot of us just couldn't take the heat. As we sat under a tree cooling down with our popsicles, what was our surprise but to see a ton of folks leaving early like we were.
On the boat ride back to town, most people just slept. I walked around and got some more great photos. Wish I had space for all the great shots. I particularly loved the photo to the left that shows the skyline of the city, plus Corcovado (Christ the Redeemer) on the mountain center-left and the television towers on the mountain to the right. We live just under the television towers! We passed the yachts that were out in great numbers. If you really look I think you can see how hot it was by the haze. Those were heat waves...
Perhaps my favorite sight of the day was Baobab tree on the island. It is one of the few of these African trees planted here in Brazil. It's affectionately called Fat Mary, since it is huge. Don't ask my why there is a Baobab tree there. But I loved seeing it, since they are so famous and I had never seen one. This one is only about 100 years old, but they say they live for about 300 years. So Mary will get bigger! Read up on the tree. It's a wonderful part of God's creation. I was reminded, again, today of how marvelous are the works of our Creator's hand.
Hope you enjoyed our little trip together. Come back again and visit with me again some time. You never know what you might see!