"Someday AND Today at Christmas!"

Singing Christmas songs around the Christmas tree before we head off to bed has long been a tradition at the Northrup household. I remember ever since I was a little girl how excited I would get singing “Children go where I send thee” or “Sleigh ride”at the top of my lungs with my family. I’m pretty sure my voice alone could have broken some glass with the high octaves I was hitting with my singing... or screaming! :) After singing some songs this Christmas Eve around the tree with my family, I was reminded of a song that I just could not get out of my head no matter how hard I tried. It was Stevie Wonder’s song “Someday at Christmas”. I had heard it before this year, but for some reason this year the lyrics hit me a little harder and left me thinking a little longer than they had before. For those of you unfamiliar with this song it starts of like this:

“Someday at Christmas men won't be boys
Playing with bombs like kids play with toys
One warm December our hearts will see
A world where men are free…”

The song continues to repeat the phrase “someday at Christmas…” replacing the lyrics above with other hopes and dreams of an end to world hunger, violence and poverty. It is a beautiful song that cries out to see justice done in the name of oppression, freedom proclaimed for the captives and most of all for love to transform our hearts and our minds. I think this song struck me so much this Christmas because of two reasons. The first reason being that in this song we can see a glimpse of God’s redemptive dream for the world as well. We can see the deepest desires of men and women colliding with the desires that lie at the very heart of who God is. God wants to see the earth and everyone in it restored in a right relationship with him and others. However, he tells us there will be troubles on this earth until Christ returns, but part of helping that “someday at Christmas…” dreams become a reality is waiting in patient expectation. Just as Mary waited patiently in faith and hope for the savior of the world to be born, part of this calling to help bring forth a new world is waiting in faith and expectancy for a God who can do immeasurably more than we can hope or imagine. These verses from Romans 8: 22-25 in The Message translation reminded me of this idea of “waiting in hopeful expectation”,

“All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”

The second reason this song struck a chord with me was because of the great paradoxical dilemma I saw that was not addressed in it. While we are called as believers of Christ to wait in hopeful expectation, we are also called to work to change the current situations of despair into situations of hope and redemption. Of course this work can only be done through the power of God’s holy spirit, but the beauty of it is that he uses us to be HIS HANDS AND FEET!!

As Shane Claiborne says, “When we pray to God asking, ‘why don’t you do something?’ we hear a gentle whisper respond, “I did do something. I made you.” In the midst of injustice, pain and sorrow in our world it is good to know that God has a plan admist all of the broken messes we may see and this plan involves us actively being a part of it!

I would love to ask Stevie Wonder about the song he wrote: “is it really only ‘someday’ that we may see people freed from captivity, extreme poverty coming to an end and wars ceasing or could that ‘someday’ be ‘today’ too?” As followers of Christ we must struggle with this paradox of being a part of a Kingdom that is already coming down and present on earth, while at the same time waiting in hopeful expectation for a full redemption of God’s kingdom where there is no more war, violence or poverty. According to Jesus in Luke 17:20-21, determining when God’s kingdom will come is not the important part, but rather knowing that through Jesus we can have a hand in creating that kingdom and actually being a part of that is what is important.

“Once,having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The kingdom of God does NOT come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU!” (NIV, Luke 17:20-21)

So, why am I sharing this on Christmas Eve you may ask? Well, I know my timing is a little bit late for getting gifts for others that can bring down God’s kingdom here on earth, but I want to encourage for the future to consider giving or actively being a part of these organizations I list below. I chose to write about particular organizations because I have either seen or been a part of that organizations redemptive work.

So, what might this look like?

Giving to organizations that are working to bring God’s kingdom down to earth. Organizations such as Urban Homeworks http://urbanhomeworks.com/ (the organization which Mindy and I are living through) which work to bring hope and healing to families looking for affordable housing and restoring broken relationships through healthy partnerships and a network of “good neighbors”. Other organizations such as Peace and Hope International/Paz y Esperanza http://www.peaceandhopeinternational.org/ do work both in the twin cities providing free legal counseling services for migrant workers who have been victims of human trafficking and/or need legal advice as well as provide rehabilitation, counseling and training seminars in various locations in South America to indigenous communities that have been marginalized. IJM (International Justice Mission) http://www.ijm.org/ is a Christian human rights agency that works to release people from the bondage of human trafficking by working with local officials (locations range from malaysia to latin america) to perform rescue missions from brothels and provide extensive rehabilitation programs after the people are rescued. Their core mission is to (Isaiah 1:17): Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Lastly, an organization that is close to my heart called Student’s International http://siguatemala.com/ was the organization I spent a lot of my time with during my semester last spring in Guatemala. The mission of their organization is to help meet the holistic needs of different communities by bringing indigenous leaders and North American students together to work side by side in creating sustainable change in their communities that leaves all parties transformed by the work of Christ.

Donating to any of these organizations would be a step towards bringing part of God’s redemptive kingdom. But, we must move past a state of only contributing monetarily to organizations that are furthering God’s kingdom and we must learn how to join in the suffering of those in our own communities and abroad by living, listening and loving alongside those who are marginalized. This looks different for each person because God gives each of us different gifts and different ways in which he wants us to use those gifts. So, be prayerful!

I pray that even if though it is too late to donate in someone’s honor to any of these wonderful organizations as a Christmas gift,that you would still consider giving to these organizations or those that you know of working to bring God’s kingdom down to earth throughout the year. Too often I feel we get stuck in the “only give during Christmas time” mode.

Rest in the struggle of knowing that we are called to be the hands and feet of Christ in a way that comes alongside those who are marginalized in our own communities and abroad, while keeping in mind that we are also called to wait in hopeful expectation of the One who can bring FULL deliverance, peace and joy when he returns!

May we rest in the peace of knowing God’s kingdom exists both “someday” AND “today” !

So, Stevie Wonder to you I say, “someday at Christmas…” may be sooner than you think because we have a God is doing INCREDIBLE things TODAY on this joyous day of Christmas! After all, who knew a small, baby born in a lowly, smelly stable would become the Savior of the world! How cool is that?!?

Peace, Love & Joy to you as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!!!
~Sarah

Community

I just want to take a moment to praise the Lord for all He's done in our house.  Hallelujah!  God is good!  I have come to realize that the five of us women who are living together are a church.  We are a body of Christians, living life together, loving one another, praying for one another on a regular basis, and holding one another accountable.  It is absolutely unbelievable.  I never thought I would be able to be in a place where no one feels excluded and everyone is loved and valued.  Also, the accounability is so extremely crucial in my development as I strive be more like Christ, more loving, more giving.  I've never had steady accountability like this before.  There is an Irish proverb that says "A friend's eye is a good mirror."  It is true, and biblical- we need our brothers and sisters to help us see the things we cannot see, and help us follow through with what we say.  I love our community, and now I realize, this is how we as humans are created to be!  To be in close relationship with one another, learning, loving, growing, serving, crying, suffering, rejoicing all together as we live life with one another.  It's messy, it's time-consuming, it's difficult in our individualistic culture, and it's beautiful.  Praise God that He provides what we need when we need it.  Thank you Lord!!!