Welcome to the time of great expectation,
the days of counting,
the time of quiet preparedness,
the time to sit with God and wonder,
the most exciting time of the year!

For He is coming!
The One I am waiting for,
the One who gathers me up and carries me,
the One on whom I rest my hopes and dreams,
the One who created me for His purposes,
the One who is always there.

He is coming as a little baby,
sent to a world who doesn’t see Him,
to remind me again that my life is nothing without Him.
And my heart leaps with joy and excitement
as the days count down.

And I expect that
I will see Him in the faces that I meet,
I will hear Him in the hymns and carols,
I will feel Him in the hugs and greetings,
I will serve Him by helping more of His children.
I know that He desires these things for me
and that it will be very good to celebrate His birth.
And I am glad!

What are you expecting this season?

When I began internship I wondered in a blog post what God would bring to birth in the days and months ahead.  To be sure there were many things brought to birth during internship: new relationships, new ventures, and new understandings of what our life together means as “In Mission for Others”.  Over the course of the 9 months of internship there were birthings within myself; the birthing of my voice and God-given creativity that had laid quietly deep inside me, the birthing of my understanding of who I am in ministry – most specifically that I am a midwife, and the concrete affirmation that I do indeed have the gifts for ministry.

Well, on August 6th, 2010 I was officially my birthed into “pastorhood” through the laying on of hands by the other midwives – the bishop and my fellow coworkers.  Yes it was my ordination day and a spectacular day it was.  Surrounded by family, friends (old and new), and many coworkers I was brought into the ministry of pastor by the Holy Spirit.  No words can effectively convey the experience except to say… it was Awe-some.

The groanings and labour pains of seminary are now a distant memory replaced with the joy of beginning ministry with the people of Gloria Dei Lutheran.  Thanks be to God!

I was looking at my dashboard for gracehappens and realized that during the past year I had tried several times to write and actually did have drafts of things.  Unfortunatley they didn’t get published for one reason or another.  One of the most significant events that happened this past year was my doctor diagnosing me with depression.  I cannot begin to tell you how clear everything became once we talked about what was going on and had been going on.  I have probably dealt with this for years, mind you, not very successfully.  But it is good to have a diagnosis and treatment.  I feel alive and able to concentrate.  I am very thankful for my doctor who listens to me and doesn’t give pat answers to things.

In June Alan and I left for a three week holiday in BC.  It was just what we needed to reconnect and be quiet with no distractions of the city to get in the way of our day.  We spent some time on the west coast in Victoria and then to see my god mum in Vancouver.  We then spent the remainder of our time in the interior.  We had to make some adjustments to our holiday because we needed more down time.  We were utterly exhausted from our work this past year and needed to be healthy and refreshed for the return.  We both felt like we could face the city and civilization again when we were leaving the interior.

Alan is now beginning his new job at 17 Wing and I am beginning to get prepared to go back to Saskatoon for my final year.  Thank you to all who have kept me in your prayers and drop by every now and then.  I ask for your continued prayers for Alan and me as we begin to face another year apart.  We trust that God will keep us safe and will direct our lives in ministry.

Till tomorrow – peace

Jenn

Thank You Dick!

Sometimes life seems hard to bear, Full of sorrow, trouble and woe,                                                                                                                 It’s then I have to remember That it’s in the valleys I grow.

If I always stayed on the mountain top And never experienced pain,                                                                                                                I would never appreciate God’s love, and would be living in vain.

I have so much to learn And my growth is very slow,                                                                                                                              Sometimes I need the mountain tops, But it’s in the valleys I grow.

I do not always understand Why things happen as they do,                                                                                                                             But I am very sure of one thing. My Lord will see me through.

My little valleys are nothing When I picture Christ on the cross                                                                                                                    He went through the valley of death; His victory was Satan’s loss.

Forgive me Lord, for complaining When I’m feeling so very low.                                                                                                                Just give me a gentle reminder That it’s in the valleys I grow.

Continue to strengthen me, Lord And use my life each day                                                                                                                             To share your love with others And help them find their way.

Thank you for valleys, Lord For this one thing I know                                                                                                                                         The mountain tops are glorious                                                                                                                                                                            But it’s in the valleys I grow!

written by Jane Eggleston, Virginia, USA.

I think this prayer is just the thing for me.

A Blessing for the Journey into Emptiness
May the days that beckon the journey open a space
between what is and what will be,
a space of emptiness waiting to be filled.
May the things that sit at the edge of revelation
move silently into that emptiness.
May they be noticed with attention and claimed as gifts
given from the holy hand of heaven.
When the gifts have been offered and received,
may your soul be filled with gratitude
to God who initiated the journey and provided the blessing.

explorefaith.org

NUNC LENTO SONITU DICUNT, MORIERIS.

Now this bell tolling softly for another,
says to me, Thou must die.

PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill as that he knows not it tolls for him.  And perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.  The church is catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does, belongs to all.  When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that head which is my head too, and ingraffed into that body, whereof I am a member.  And when she buries a man, that action concerns me; all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God’s hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again, for that library where every book shall lie open to one another; as therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come; so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness.

There was a contention as far as a suit (in which, piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled) which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest.  If we understand aright the dignity of this bell, that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours, by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is.  The bell doth toll for him, that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute, that that occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God.  Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises?  But who takes off his eye from a comet, when that breaks out? who bends not his ear to any bell, which upon any occasion rings?  But who can remove it from that bell, which is passing a piece of himself out of this world?

No man is an island.  Entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were;  any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbors.  Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it.  No man hath afflicion enough, that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction.  If a man carry treasure in bullion or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current moneys, his treasure will not defray him as he travels.  Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it.  Another may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell that tells me of his affliction, digs out, and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another’s danger, I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.

Source:
Donne, John. The Works of John Donne. vol III.
Henry Alford, ed.
London: John W. Parker, 1839. 574-5.