Flying High

After Christmas, we took a road trip to northern California to visit family and friends. On the way, we ate at Aerodogs, "home of the famous flying wiener," where we ate inside a vintage aircraft.

We also spent some time visiting historic sites in Sacramento, including the old schoolhouse.

Christmas Cookie Tragedy

A few days before Christmas, the neighborhood kids joined us for a cookie decorating party. Alas, sometimes these things end in tragedy.

Scarcity vs. Abundance

Do you know what tomorrow is? It's the 5-year anniversary of Field of Dandelions! Hopefully tomorrow will be as relaxing a day as that Christmas five years ago. Today, however, there is much to do. So instead of writing something new, I thought I'd share what I wrote this month for my church's newsletter. A number of people have found it meaningful, and I hope you do too.

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There are many frameworks through which the world is viewed; many paradigms that color how people see things. One is a paradigm of scarcity. People who see the world this way see a world of limitations and roadblocks. It’s a “glass half-empty” way of viewing the world.

Then there is the paradigm of abundance. Viewed this way, the world is boundless, the possibilities limitless. This is a “glass half-full” way of viewing the world.

The disciples had a hard time seeing the world as a world of abundance. “There’s only five loaves and two fish, what is that among so many?” But as the gospels show over and over again, the work of Jesus involved opening people’s eyes to a new world, a world of abundance and new possibilities—and baskets full of leftovers!

Perhaps that’s not what we might expect from one who was born with practically nothing, to parents of limited means, in a stable among animals. One who came from a background like that, it would seem, would have little to offer the world. How easy it would have been for a young Jesus to lament his low position in life, his lack of resources with which he could make his mark in the world. And yet, where others might see scarcity, limitations, and roadblocks, Jesus saw abundance and limitless possibilities.

When you look at your life, do you see only the limitations and the scarcity, or do you see the abundance with which you have been blessed? When you look at your church, do you lament a lack of resources, or do you consider with joy all that is possible?

All of us, including yours truly, fall into the old paradigm from time to time. We see only the limitations caused by finances and lack of resources. We are tempted to downsize our work and our ministry to fall in line with the scarcity we see.

May Jesus—who started out with so little in life and yet did so much—open our eyes to the abundance that is around us and within us.

Merry Christmas!

Mostly Sunny

Photograph taken last month in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Highway in the Sky

I was sitting in the chair by the window, reading, when a movement outside caught my eye. I turned my head and looked out, and up. The movement came from within the large Chinese elm that grows next to the street.

I followed the large, twisting branches with my eyes. They were easy to follow. Last year, the city pruned the trees on our street, which opened them up considerably. In addition, this particular tree has shed about half its leaves, as Chinese elms often do in areas where winters are relatively mild. Half the leaves remain, as if in expectation of the warm sunny days southern California is known for, even in winter; days like today, in fact, although I must admit that last week, it was cold and rainy.

It took only a moment to find the source of the movement: a squirrel. Scampering about, it seemed to be trying to decide (like the tree) whether or not winter preparations were necessary.

Watching the squirrel, I became entranced. Where did it sleep at night? I wondered. Was its life disrupted much when the trees were cut back? Was there a whole community of squirrels living in the branches, mostly unseen by we who dwell just thirty feet below? Or perhaps an entire world of different yet interrelated species, a world that is both foreign to and at home in the city?

The squirrel ran toward the end of one of the larger branches. I held my breath as it jumped a distance of about three body lengths, landing perfectly on a cable that ran across the street. The squirrel ran along the cable, and disappeared from sight.

I've always hated the sight of cables and electric lines strung across urban and rural landscapes. They've always seemed ugly to me. Today, however, I didn't really see cables. I saw something else. I saw a system of roads and highways for squirrels and other animals.

Jellyfish

Photograph taken last month at the Cabrillo Aquarium in San Pedro.

Keeping the Christmas Spirit

With two weeks left until Christmas, I'm noticing an increase in my anxiety level. The calendar is filling up, the to-do list is maxed out, and moments of peace are becoming increasingly few and far between. In addition, there is the usual end-of-the-year stress at church, as we struggle to put together a budget and a slate of officers for 2010.

It is therefore time to remind myself of some important--essential, even--practices to get me through the season. If you are also worried about losing the spirit and joy of Christmas amidst the holiday madness, you might want to consider adapting these practices for yourself.

Don't do everything: The office party. The neighbor's open house. The "one-day" sale at the store. All the items on your "to-do" list.

You haven't put all the decorations up yet, even though Christmas is in two weeks? I'm telling you: it's okay. In my house, we've had the tree up for almost a week, but many of the ornaments have yet to be hung. Each day we add a few as we have time. Maybe we'll get them all on by Christmas, maybe we won't.

If you still have boxes of decorations still to put up, or if you wore yourself out getting all the decorations up, perhaps you need to reconsider the importance of it all. You may want to get rid of many of your decorations; having the perfect Christmas house isn't worth the stress. You don't need a perfect house to have a perfect Christmas.

Do nothing. Spend one hour a day and one day a week doing nothing ... and by "nothing," I mean don't do anything that requires you to "get ready" or "prepare," or that appears on your "to-do" list. Instead, grab a book and spend a couple hours reading it while enjoying a cup of coffee or tea. Go for a walk, and enjoy the Christmas decorations in your neighborhood. Meet a friend for lunch, if you can do it without stressing about the details or finding time for it.

Ancient Jewish and Christian wisdom teaches us to observe one day each week as a "sabbath," a day of rest. Most of us don't do this, because a day of rest or prayer seems to us to be a day of doing "nothing," and few of us can afford to do "nothing" with all that needs to be done to "get ready" for Christmas. However, the truth is that, with all the stress and anxiety we experience this time of year, we can't afford to not spend some time doing nothing. We need that time to restore our soul. Without it, we lose the joy and peace of the season.

Don't worry about what "they" say or what "they" are doing. "They" say you need to spend so much on Christmas gifts. "They" say that it isn't Christmas without having loads of gifts wrapped in brightly colored paper under the tree. "They" say that if everyone else is doing it, then you should be, too.

This year, it's been particularly hard for me to resist the "they" mentality. My wife and kids are asking for things that they want, simply because "everyone else has them." They're right, but is that a reason for us to have them, too? I feel the pressure myself, and yet I'm also aware that just because something makes someone else happy, that doesn't necessarily mean it will make me happy. I know myself well enough to know that if something complicates my life in any way, the happiness it brings probably won't compensate for the added stress and anxiety.

Think of all the "essential" things we have in our homes today that weren't even available fifty years ago. With all the wonderful things we have now, one would think we'd be a lot happier. However, study after study shows that Americans are not any happier today than they were fifty years ago.

Knowing this makes it easier to resist the message that I need to do what "they" do and have what "they" have in order to be happy.

Look for God even in the chaos. Even when I get caught up in the madness, I am often able to experience God and Christmas. The other day, in a crowded store, buying something that "they" said I had to have (it was on sale, after all), I saw a small child riding in a shopping cart, delighted at his newly-discovered talent of making raspberry sounds with his mouth. Joy like that is contagious, and that moment gave me more happiness than the item I walked out of the store with.

A similar moment came during a church board meeting. In the midst of discussions that often alternate between bland and challenging, one board member expressed gratitude toward another member, affirming her work and ministry. The special-ness of such moments is easy to miss, unless one is paying close attention.

The truth is, it's not the store-bought presents that make Christmas special. It's not filling up one's calendar with events, or completing every task on a to-do list. What makes Christmas special is pausing, even in the midst of the madness, to notice the joy that is all around us. It really is there, and it can be experienced by anyone who is able to stop for a moment and notice it.

A Quiet Place

Sometimes, a quiet place is hard to find. The other day, Ethan went in search of a quiet place to do his homework ... and send messages with his new cell phone. He's had a busy schedule lately; he's currently in the midst of participating in twelve performances of "A Christmas Carol" over the course of three weekends. That, along with school and other activities, makes finding a quiet moment a rare thing.

Khmer Worship

Last Sunday, we began what may be a first for Disciples in North America: a worship service in Khmer, the language of Cambodia.

Long Beach, California, is one of the most diverse cities in the world. Included in that diversity is the largest population of Cambodians outside of Asia. Many Cambodians came to the United States in the early 1980s, fleeing violence and oppression in their homeland. Today, Long Beach has the only official "Cambodia Town" in the United States, and it is not uncommon to see signs in public places printed in three languages: English, Spanish, and Khmer.

The idea to have a Khmer worship came from a group of Cambodians who joined Bixby Knolls Christian Church in early 2009. They liked what they found here at BKCC, and wanted to share that with family and friends who were not fluent in English. With help and guidance from Jinsuk Chun, the director of Asian Ministries for Disciples in the Pacific Southwest Region, we began making plans for the worship service.

Having no idea what to expect or how to proceed, my advice was to start slowly, perhaps with a Bible study, and to allow at least several months for planning. However, the Cambodians were eager to begin formal worship services, and months were reduced to weeks. I realized that there was a greater force behind all this, and when the Spirit flows, attempts to hold it back are futile.

For Sunday's first worship service, I was asked to preach, which I did. It was exciting to have my words translated into a tongue that is completely foreign to my ears! Traditional Cambodian scarves were also presented to me, my wife, and Bobbie Smith, our board chair. On behalf of the rest of the church, we acepted their thanks for allowing them to find a home here.

In many ways, starting this worship service is a blessing to everyone involved. One thing I realized last Sunday is that, for our Cambodian members, a printed order of worship is more of a "suggestion" than it is a strict ordering of what is to happen. At several points in the worship service, things happened out of order, and several members sang solos, presumably at the urging of the Spirit, since there were no solos listed in the program.

It reminded me of the time when I felt so constrained in worship by what was printed in the program that, for one Sunday, I did away with the printed order of worship altogether. You can read about that here.

We still have much to learn, but we're moving forward anyway. "Learning as we go" is certainly a lot better than sitting around, doing nothing. Besides, when the Spirit of God inspires us to start something, there's no stopping it.

Hike: Sycamore Canyon

On Saturday, after a long time without hitting the trail, David and I headed to Sycamore Canyon. Our original idea was to go to Santa Anita Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains, but the chance of lingering rain in the San Gabriels persuaded us to switch to a location where we had a better chance of favorable weather. Many areas of southern California received light rain and/or snow in the pre-dawn hours, but as it turned out, where we went hiking, not a drop fell.

Which is unfortunate, really. The land is bone-dry after several years of below-normal rainfall. Brown grass and hills are normal for southern California in the dry season (which, technically, should have ended by now), but when brown turns to grey, you know things are really dry.

Our hike took us through the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and Point Mugu State Park. We began at Sierra Vista/Satwiwa, and started down Sycamore Canyon before taking a trail to the east that passes by "Hidden Pond" (which was dried up). Then the trail followed a ridge from which we could see the Pacific Ocean and Santa Cruz Island.

Eventually we followed Coyote Trail back down to the canyon, through which we returned to the trailhead. The grass here was brown, and the trees were colorful.