Sabbath Practice

In Memphis at Second Presbyterian Church, I was asked to speak on my book Making Sunday Special, which deals with the topic of restoring a Jewish Sabbath-understanding to our Christian Sunday practice. I realized as I prepared that David and I have let this slip. As I re-read the chapters to remind myself of what I had written, and as I went over my speaking notes, which I haven’t used for several years, an intense longing for Shabbat, that 26-hour weekly ritual, which is both a metaphor of a divine romance—our love relationship with God—and a way to step out of purely secular time and into sacred time, began swelling in my soul.

Sometimes, those of us teach, forget that we teach as much to learn and put into practical activity the scriptural truths we are sharing, as to lead those who listen into biblical information that becomes transformative. I am often stunned when I “get” what any passage in the Bible means—this meaning hits me with force.

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Sabbath Practice

In Memphis at Second Presbyterian Church, I was asked to speak on my book Making Sunday Special, which deals with the topic of restoring a Jewish Sabbath-understanding to our Christian Sunday practice. I realized as I prepared that David and I have let this slip. As I re-read the chapters to remind myself of what I had written, and as I went over my speaking notes, which I haven’t used for several years, an intense longing for Shabbat, that 26-hour weekly ritual, which is both a metaphor of a divine romance—our love relationship with God—and a way to step out of purely secular time and into sacred time, began swelling in my soul.

Sometimes, those of us teach, forget that we teach as much to learn and put into practical activity the scriptural truths we are sharing, as to lead those who listen into biblical information that becomes transformative. I am often stunned when I “get” what any passage in the Bible means—this meaning hits me with force.

To read more, click here.

The Mellow Age

“For some reason, at this biological stage of what I am calling ‘The Mellow Age,’ I am having more and more of these close encounters of the casual kind. Perhaps it is because I have finally outgrown my innate shyness. Perhaps it is because I’m finding there really is some power in being a white-haired lady—it gives me an edge no one else writes much about. I discovered I can leverage this scandalously. In crowded airplane aisles, for instance, I turn to the young men behind me and plead, ‘Do you think you could help a little white-haired old lady get this suitcase up in the bin?’ I remind them of their own grandmothers; they gladly rush to assist. It is just great. I am becoming more and more like my extraverted friends—sort of a general hostess to any passing strangers...anywhere.”

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A Hospitality Emphasis

Sometime this last year, I found myself praying, “Oh, Lord, give me a chance with what life is left to me to take a shot at helping to create truly hospitable churches!” I wasn’t surprised (but I was thrilled) when a large church nearby asked me to come teach on “the theology of hospitality.” I counter-offered (embarrassed myself by begging, really) and asked them to take up the challenge of determining what a hospitable church would do and look like, and to let me work alongside the staff and their lay teams for as long as it took to determine the answer to this. They were thrilled. I was thrilled. And we’ll see what God does. This focus, consequently, will be part of the “growing season” for Hungry Souls.

I am passionate about this spiritual gift and extremely concerned by the fact that the church is apparently losing its edge with this powerful tool.

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Ordering is Such a Soothing Occupation

I don’t have many days when I have a compulsion to spend a whole morning ordering, but yesterday I was waiting for a new refrigerator to be delivered (unplanned expense). Plus, it was the fourth day of a head cold, and in between draughts of Nyquil and Dayquil, I began to suspect that I was dragging.

My writing study at home is across the hall from our bedroom. The computer desk faces the window, where the warm southern sunshine fills the room on cold winter days. I bought an opaque shade that screens out the sun, blocks out most of the view, and when I am actually writing, cuts the glare on the computer screen.

Yesterday, however, a gorgeous but appropriately cool day for October, the sun felt comforting, so I sat at my desk and ordered my financial records. Business expenses were filed, I wrote out a check to pay down the SEARS credit card. I tossed old bank-deposit notices. Reminder notes were re-read and some discarded. I straightened books, added to the writing pile of the most recent project, worked on my desk calendar, called tradesmen who are still making repairs after the derecho that hit our area on June 29.

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Show, Tell and Sell

We wheeled the display shelves to the ‘soko’ (market spot) to take part in the sales organized by AIU women’s fellowship. On the shelves were bags of all kinds made by global bag project ladies. We had two goals to accomplish today, to create awareness about our ministry to women and to sell bags.

At GBP Kenya, we believe that vulnerable women are resourceful and can learn and produce high quality products. So we no only use statistics and women stories but we also offer highly competitive quality products. We want the buyers to buy our products because of the quality workmanship and usefulness. Two things happen  when you buy a bag from us; you will be pleased to be part of a solution to poverty realities in our context  by providing income to women who make bags as well as walk away with a well-made-bag. Our visit to the ‘soko’ expose us to AIU community that is composed of young business studies students, seminary students, faculty and staff of the university as well as owners of small craft businesses.

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Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide - A Book Review By Karen Mains

Half the Sky is not recreational reading material. It is, however, a book that raises consciousness as to the condition of women the world over and asks for specific commitments to turn their oppression into opportunity.

"We became slave owners in the twenty-first century the old fashioned way: We paid cash in exchange for two slave girls and a couple of receipts," write Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the first married couple to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize in journalism. "The girls were then ours to do with as we liked."

So begins the chapter on child-sex trafficking titled "Rescuing Girls Is the Easy Part." The writers, along with an international agency, returned the young women to their families and discovered that the journey toward rehabilitation is a long, hard road.

Traveling around the world, from Thai brothels or to China, Asia, and the Middle East, Kristoff and WuDunn accumulated information on the causes of maternal mortality (some 536,000 women perish in pregnancy or childbirth per year—although the data collection is so shoddy, this a rough estimate), on the lack of medical care, on non-existing systems of education and on the constant presence of grinding poverty and malnutrition particularly assigned to the female half of the planet. The statistics themselves build a savage indictment against the brutal treatment of women worldwide.

Read More, Click HERE.