Twelve of us shared Thanksgiving dinner – we call it grazing. There is the initial sit down meal around the table and then we tend to eat our way through the rest of the day while we play table games, watch a little football and share stories of the past year.
The first four of the twelve left Thursday evening. Two more left last evening and the other four will leave tomorrow morning. It is a sort of weaning from the chaos of Thursday. We usually experience a bit of withdrawal when family leaves. If they all left at once I think the withdrawal would be much greater.
Thursday evening was our Christmas – we read the Christmas story from Luke 2, exchanged presents, and laughed a lot. The living room was strewn with paper and boxes and opened presents. When I looked at the mess I wondered, “who’s going to clean up this mess?” I was also reminded how fortunate we are to be able to have family together and to be able to exchange gifts.
The grazing from Thursday hasn’t really ended. We have had turkey sandwiches and warmed-up plates that resembled Thursday’s meal. There is still some turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, and pie left.
I will need to hit the running trails hard over the next few weeks to rid myself of the extra pounds. I ran three miles Thursday morning after I put the Turkey on. It felt good to be out. There wasn’t time to run yesterday, My granddaughter who is 10 is wanting to begin running so this afternoon we ran a mile together (she is taking a nap now). It was good to have a running companion and it will be nice in the future if she develops and interest in running.
It is Saturday evening. It was quiet when I started this post – I was the only one in the room. The room is filling again with people and conversation. It’s a good thing. It is good to have family around. Tomorrow the house will seem so empty – there will only be two of us.
I am already looking ahead to the week between Christmas and New Years Day. Our grandchildren will come to spend a few days.
For us Thanksgiving is not just a day. It is an event that can span several days. It always involves food but mostly it involves family. Whenever family is together, I am thankful.
The turkey is on the grill. That’s my job – prepare the bird for grilling, light the grill, put it on, check it’s progress from time to time and carve it when it is finished. It means getting up before anyone else in the house.
In a couple of hours the house will be a buzz of activity. Some will be watching parades on TV. Some will be working on the rest of dinner preparations – making salads and desserts, cooking potatoes and vegetables – setting the table just right. Some (the younger ones in particular) will be regularly asking if dinner is ready.
Since we have our Christmas celebration at Thanksgiving (that’s another story) with presents and tree and decorations, the past few days have been busy making last minute purchases and wrapping presents. The tree went up last night. The lights are on but it still needs the ornaments.
It’s quiet in the house right now – it won’t last long so I am enjoying these moments. It will be a long day. Food preparation, eating, a nap for some, more eating and then later this evening reading the Christmas story together from Luke’s Gospel account and exchanging Christmas presents. Then there will be the mess to clean and finally collapse into bed.
It’s a long day – a lot of work but it’s a great family and worth the investment. I am thankful.
An elderly man was recently asked if he was afraid of dying (he had been in the hospital) and if he thought much about heaven or… His response was a bit of a shock to his questioner (a friend of mine). Rather frustrated, he declared that he didn’t believe in that stuff and derided my friend a bit for only wanting heaven for the streets of gold and gates of pearl. When she tried to tell him that her desire for heaven was not about streets or gates but because she loved Jesus, he dismissed her.
What is the message for today? What is the appeal of the Gospel? There was a time when the “hell fire and damnation” message seemed effective. It was a way of scaring people into a decision to choose heaven. Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” supposedly brought many to repentance.
Is the appeal – wealth and prosperity here if we trust Jesus?
Does the message of forgiveness have appeal in this culture?
Is it the fear of punishment? Eternal torment?
I remember a sermon many years ago when a pastor talked about an eternity separated from God. Is that the attractive to our culture or would some find separation from God appealing – allowing them freedom from any personal restraint?
Does the culture respond to the message that God loves us and wants to have a relationship with us? Does our culture (if they believe in God) want a personal relationship with Him or do they prefer to keep Him at arms length?
Rather than start an argument, my friend simply shared her personal testimony of faith – which raises another question. Is my personal experience of faith valid for someone else? Is my experience appealing and what of my experience can another person expect?
Is the power in the message – the proclamation of the Gospel or is the power in the work of the Holy Spirit to open a person’s heart?
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I wrote a couple of posts ago about a man I met at a train station in Montevideo. I have e-mailed him twice and have received responses each time. My time with him was so short and yet I care about him and his family – three daughters and wife – that I never met.
When I e-mail him, I find myself looking through my in-box each day to see if he has responded. I have also been able to connect him with another friend in Montevideo and they are making plans to meet.
I am anxious to see how and if this relationship can develop across the continents. I don’t yet know if I will have opportunity to return to Uruguay but I hope to return. If I do, I want to make contact with this long distance friend.
Mate is described as an herbal tea. It is usually sipped through a bombilla (metal straw) from a guard (the mate) which is often covered with leather. It is popular in Uruguay (and Argentina, Paraguay, and southern Brazil) as coffee is in the U.S.
It is common to see people walking down the street holding the mate in one hand, sipping from the bombilla, and carrying a thermos of hot water under their arm. As they drink a bit of the tea, they add more hot water.
I had my first taste of mate yesterday. I think it must be an acquired taste – a taste I have not yet acquired. It seemed at first like a super strong black tea and then it reminded me a bit of the aroma of a stale pipe tobacco. My description is not intended to offend anyone who happens to like their mate.
There is another part of the mate culture that is important. It is a social beverage. It is not uncommon to see friends passing their mate around to each other. Friends could be sitting in a city park sharing their mate or walking down the street together.
Perhaps my mate tasted a bit bitter because I was sipping it alone – as an experiment rather than sharing with someone else as part of a gesture of friendship. It is interesting that many things that seem bitter alone are actually sweetened by the presence of a friend. Perhaps that is why God intended for us to develop deep friendships through Him.
It was a beautiful Saturday. We had lunch at the old train station turned restaurant and shops. The asado Uruguayan barbecue) was wonderful. After lunch we all went in different directions around the market place.
As I walked between shops a man approached me (in English) offering to give me a tour of a nearby museum. He was a free-lance tour-guide in need of employment and I looked like a potential employer
After convincing him that I had neither money nor the time to tour a museum, I asked him how he had learned to speak English. He told me he had been a cab driver in New York for five years. He had learned to speak the rather color language of New York cabby’s.
He asked me what I was doing in Montevideo. When I told him I was with a group of ministers visiting friends in Montevideo he immediately expressed embarrassment for the language he had used a few sentences previous. He then wanted to know if I had heard of Nicky Cruz (which I had) and if I knew of the Brooklyn Tabernacle (I have been there). He told me he had met Nicky Cruz and had attended the Brooklyn Tabernacle.
I then asked him about his faith journey and where he was in his faith. He told me that it seemed much easier to be a person of faith in New York (imagine that). He said it was much more difficult in Uruguay. I asked if I could pray for Him. He immediately put his hand on my should and said, “that would be wonderful.” There on the street, between markets, I prayed for him. He thanked me and I went to the van to meet the rest of my team
I shared with them what had just occurred and they asked if I had his contact information. DUH! I hadn’t even thought about it. As I was lamenting my lapse in thinking, I looked up and my new friend came running across the street with – what else – his contact information. We have exchanged e-mail communication since I have been home.
I have had so many thoughts running through my mind since that encounter:
- It seemed like such a divine appointment. How can I follow it up from a distance? Is this mine to follow up or was it just a time to bless another person? Will our paths cross again? I hope so!
- Why did he find it easier to be a person of faith in New York? We think it is tough to be a believer in the U.S. Are there advantages in the U.S. that we take for granted as believers? Was it the number of churches or number of believers around him in America that made it easier? Are there faith destoyers in Uruguay that we don’t yet see or understand?
- Could the believers in my circle of faith remain spiritually strong in Uruguay? Am I preparing the people in my circles to remain faithful in spite of their surroundings?
Every time I think about this man on the street, I pray for him that his faith will grow and that he will find a family of faith who will help him grow as a Christ-follower.
My host in Montevideo was married on Thursday – the day before we left to return to the U.S. Thursday seems like an odd day to be married for most of us in the U.S. In Uruguay the only wedding that really counts is the civil wedding and those have to be arranged when the officials are available. Christian couples will generally follow the civil wedding with a religious ceremony at the home church of the bride. So my host and his bride were planning a wedding for the Saturday after we left.
At a church in San Jose, we met another engaged couple. They were not planning to be married until sometime in 2009. I have thought about those couples several times since I have been home. I wonder about the chances of their marriage surviving “til death do us part.” Some estimate that the divorce rate in Uruguay is around 70%.
I know of several couples in the U.S. whose marriages are at risk and I wonder if they will become another statistic. I keep asking myself, “how do we stop this break-up of the family?”
I participated in two discussion groups in Montevideo. One was a group of post-retirement age Jewish ladies. It was a delightful time. One of the concerns they expressed was the high divorce rate in Uruguay. We asked, “What is the answer? How can the trend be changed?” They had no answer.
I know that the causes of divorce are often complicated. Sometimes it is a simple matter of infidelity and one partner leaves. Other times the issues are much more complicated. I know that marriage takes work and it requires the effort of two people. Which raises the question again: how do we raise the value of a life-long commitment in marriage so that people are willing to be faithful, to honor each other and strive to build the relationship?
We have been inundated with political ads, rhetoric, cartoons and debates for nearly two years (it just seems longer). This presidential election may yield the highest turn-out in history. In spite of the fact that early in the process most people I talked to lamented that we did not have any really good candidates; the candidates (with the help of media) have succeeded in polarizing the nation. There are strong opinions on both sides of the political aisle. It seems that the bottom line is, “who do you trust?” Who do you believe? Who do you trust to have the best interest of the country or the best interest of your particular point of view. I have been thinking a lot about it lately and I have my opinions, concerns and biases but…
Some trust in Democrats and some trust in Republicans
Some trust in Obama and some trust in McCain
Some trust in givernment and some trust in personal effort
Some trust in corporations and some trust in family
Some trust in their bank account and some trust in intelligence
Some trust in a boss and some trust in their independence
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. - Ps. 20:7
Sunday morning, we traveled to San Jose for a church service. Many of the worship tunes were familiar even though the words were in Spanish. Within a matter of a few lines, we could identify Spanish words and knew that we were singing about things like faith, love, salvation, a Savior, clean heart, and the faithfulness of God. Then when there were tunes that were unfamiliar, there were words that we could recognize and we could join in the worship.
One thing that was unmistakable was the sense of worship. Whether in Spanish or in English we could join with people of faith and worship together.
If my memory is clear, worship began around 10:00 AM and concluded around 1:00 PM – a little longer than the typical North American Anglo Protestant Church. Like most things we do, we want to get in and get out as soon as possible. In Uruguay, there seems to be a greater desire to simply be together. After the service, we were served lunch. It wasn’t just set out for us. We were served very graciously and generously.
We felt like we were part of the family – not because we were served but because we were welcomed and included so warmly. It was good to meet fellow members of the body of Christ who happen to live on another continent.
Language differences are called barriers but those barriers are minimized when there is a common relationship with Christ. It was great to worship with these new friends.
