Crazy Catholic Question #160 - Fire and Incarnation

I know that we celebrate “the incarnation” each year at Christmas, but what does that mean?

From time to time, we all experience BIG events in our lives that change things - that change everything. We might call them “Before-and-After” moments, such as: before the illness, after graduation, after Mom died or before we had children. These moments are game changers that make us reevaluate everything we have known up to this point through the lens of this one, new, big life event.

One of my own most significant Before/After life events is what my family simply calls “the fire.” We had a defective dryer that sparked a fire in our home and in the blink of an eye we found ourselves in a hotel room at 3AM, two days before Christmas, smelling of smoke without a change of clothes, a toothbrush or a single wrapped gift for our girls - at the time ages 8, 5, & 1 years old. We left our soot-covered, flooded house in such haste that our eldest daughter had only one boot on her feet.

Like a mighty rushing wind our church family blew in at this time of crisis and gave us hope. The Christmas gifts for the kids poured in. Endless bags of clothes. All the cards, emails, prayers and kind words were an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that genuinely healed us. Within 24 hours we had a decorated tree and a hotel room full of wrapped presents for the girls to open on Christmas morning.

Our church community (made up of many people I didn’t even know personally) did for us what no one person, no one family, could have ever done. What no insurance company could ever provide. Every word, every gift, every hug embodied God for us. Embodied love for us. For me, this experience is not only Before/After “the fire” but also Before/After I realized the significance of “being church” - a great moment of clarity of the tremendous power that we – as a collective – hold and wield as the body of Christ incarnate; the generous, restorative presence of God (as the song goes, ♫ Christ has no body now but yours ♫). My kids may not know the creed quite yet, but they will never forget that experience of church, and for that I am deeply grateful.

My Dad always used to say “Hang your hat somewhere, daughter!” And I think it’s because, through his own experience of church, he had learned that our togetherness is the greatest remedy for our suffering. The early church did as a collective what no one person or one family could do. They understood that a non-negotiable, essential aspect of the gospel was insuring that everyone had their most basic needs met, that church wasn’t a building or the magisterium (leaders, bishops, etc.) or even a set of beliefs that you talked AT people - but rather church is a community of believers who share a way of life rooted in the hope and vision of Jesus. The church is simply people who believe that compassion can change the world and who know that our togetherness, our kinship, is the best medicine for all that fills us with fear.

So when Jesus said that he would be present when 2 or 3 gathered, it was not because he was some kind of diva who needed a minimum audience to show up (Bolz-Weber) Rather when 2 or 3 are gathered together in genuine care for one another, Jesus is discovered in what happens among us. Jesus said others will know we are his disciples not by how we love God but rather by the way we love one another. God is not the object of love. God IS the love that exists among us; “the stuff” that holds us together. Emmanuel. God with us. Incarnate.

Send your Crazy Catholic Question to Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at www.crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.

Crazy Catholic Question #159 - One week

AHHHHHHHH! One week until Christmas! AHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay, I’m not sure this qualifies as a “question” per se, but it’s all I’ve been hearing, so I’m going to answer it like a question anyway. Deep breath gang. Christmas is indeed a week away.

Repeat after me: “I am God’s beloved. God’s favor rests on me…I am God’s beloved. God’s favor (i.e. approval) rests on me.” There is nothing I can do to earn this love and absolutely nothing I can do to lose it. God’s love and delight in me does not change if I don’t find the perfect gift for every person on my list, if my tree looks wonky because a string of lights decided to short out, if I can’t find the baby Jesus for our nativity set, or if I just don’t have the energy or desire to make those Christmas cookies this year. In the words of St. Julian of Norwich “All shall be well, all shall be well…For there is a Force of love moving through the universe That holds us fast and will never let us go.”

This is what we invite our kids to ponder in Faith Formation, and I would invite you to do the same: There has never been another person exactly like you in all of history…and there will never, EVER be another. You are a unique, one-of-a-kind work of art of our loving creator. Think of all the billions and billions of years it took for all the elements in the universe to come together, to create all the atoms that joined in perfect harmony to create your eyes, your smile, your laugh, your heart – the utter miracle that is your mind and body. God has been preparing and preparing, slowly, working and forming and shaping you to be a gift to the world at this very moment in time. You are the greatest gift you have to offer your family. Your presence is THE present your family wants most for Christmas. You might say “But, I’m such a mess right now.” Well, St. Paul tells us that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness – in other words, it’s our messy, broken bits that take us from a work-of-art to a masterpiece! Jesus invites us to take the leap and embrace this as truth.

If you enjoy the holiday hustle and bustle, then by all means, enjoy it! If you don’t, or maybe just aren’t “into it” this year, Jesus says “My peace I give you – MY peace, which transcends all understanding, is MY gift to YOU.” May I suggest we grab it with both hands! Maybe this little piece from Claire Jordan will ring true to you…

FIRST CORINTHIANS 13, CHRISTMAS VERSION

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another decorator. If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook. If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing. If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens. Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way. Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love NEVER fails.

Send your Crazy Catholic Question to Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at www.crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.

Crazy Catholic Question #158: Radical Hospitality this Advent II

How can we, as a community, “ready our home” here at CTR during Advent and be intentional about reaching out to our visitors on Christmas Eve?

On Christmas Eve we get a massive amount of visitors to our parish – many who only come once a year to pray with us. So in last week’s bulletin I invited our community to think about how we might we concretely “welcome the stranger” to our Church home in much the same way we greet guests visiting our own homes for the first time over the holidays; such as taking extra care to make sure they know where to park; turning on the porch light and greeting them at the door, etc.

Here is a list of some of the really great responses and ideas I received from YOU on how we might “roll out the red carpet” for our visitors. If you would like to help make some of these ideas happen, please let me know (Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org):

• Set up a “porch light” of sorts with Luminarias; sand & tea light candles in a series of paper bags that guide first time visitors up to the main entrance. 
• Make a sandwich board type “WELCOME” sign with Mass times to place out at our Waldon Rd entrance a few days before Christmas. 
• Be sure our best greeters wearing their biggest smiles are at every door. 
• Remember to wear our nametags and be intentional about introducing ourselves and our family members to the new faces among us. 
• Let visitors know where they can hang their coats and where the bathrooms are located. 
• Personally invite friends and family to celebrate with us at Mass: Christmas Eve at 4PM, 6PM or 10PM (with musical preludes beginning at 9:30PM) or Christmas Day at 10AM. 
• Let visitors know when they are welcome to return by highlighting our regular weekend Mass times in a special way (I’m not sure what this might look like, but it’s a good idea!) 

BUT THIS was my FAVORITE idea by FAR! We would never dream of seating first time visitors to our home at the “kiddie table” so to speak. Rather, we would be sure they were seated in the most comfortable seat at the table; the seat with the very best view of the food, house and decorations, right? Well, our 4:00PM Mass on Christmas Eve is SUCH a heavily attended Mass that we have not one, but TWO overflows set up in both the Chapel and the Bethany Room. What if we filled the overflows with “our regulars” and let our guests enjoy the best seats in the main church? How about that for hospitality!?!?! I love it! AND think of the wonderful spirit that would take over the overflow spaces among our “regulars” if we did this nice thing for our guests! Please consider talking over this striking gesture of hospitality with your family.

One person wrote that we need to communicate through our gestures, words and actions to everyone who walks through the door – visitors and regulars alike - that “without you we are just a beautiful empty house…with you its home.” How lovely…how very lovely.

Send your Crazy Catholic Questions to Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at www.crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.

Crazy Catholic Question #157: Radical Hospitality this Advent I

How do we ready our homes this holy season of Advent?

With the Thanksgiving holiday now behind us, most of us start our preparations for Christmas. It is also the time of year we usually see more guests and fresh faces among us at Mass – during our short 22-28 day (depending on the year) season of preparation called “Advent.” The word “Advent” stems from the Latin word meaning “coming” or “arrival.”  We commonly understand this to mean preparing for the coming of Jesus; the great feast of the Incarnation that we celebrate on Christmas day in which we recognize “God with us” breaking into our very own history as a vulnerable infant to show us the way, the truth and the light – and to reveal to us our OWN light as God’s beloved.

Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ writes in his book Tattoos on the Heart: “Jesus said ‘You are the light of the world.’ I like even more what Jesus doesn’t say. He does NOT say ‘one day, if you are more perfect and try really hard, you’ll be light.’ He doesn’t say ‘if you play by the rules, cross your T’s and dot your I’s, then maybe you’ll become light.’ No. He says straight out “YOU. ARE. LIGHT. It is the truth of who you are, waiting only for you to discover it.” Opening ourselves to this, the vital nucleus of the gospel that Jesus was sent to tell us, is truly the preparation most needed in our hearts and homes this holy season.

But, alas, each one of us a mix of Mary and Martha, right? So yes, of course, we need to prepare by spending time in prayer, sitting at Jesus’ feet like Mary so we may hear afresh how much we are loved and cherished by our maker – because the gift we don’t receive we certainly don’t have to give. However, the Martha in us asks “But what do we ‘DO’ to prepare for our guests; those who are also coming to hear this good news?” And this is an important question, because for many, Christmas is the only day of the year that they come to pray with us and to hear this good news proclaimed to them – and this proclamation starts with us! In the parking lot!

Think about it.  When someone comes to your home for the first time you take extra care to make sure they have good directions, know where to park; you turn the porch light on and greet them at the door, right? How might we do the equivalent here at our CTR home? How might we “roll out the red carpet” so to speak for our guests? To help each person who walks through our doors feel SO welcome that they can’t help but recognize the love of God through our gestures, words and actions?

As St. Teresa of Avila says “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world…Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world…you are his body.”

So, let’s ponder and pray together about how we, as a community, as the body of Christ, can ready our home here at CTR and be intentional about reaching out to our visitors; to concretely “welcome the stranger” and let our “light shine” as Jesus would encourage us to do.

Have an idea? let us know! Send your suggestions (or your Crazy Catholic Questions) to Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at www.crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.