Moving on up

So tonight i had dinner with a friend and the couple i housesit for. It was obvious from the start that i was going to be the odd one out, being that they are all older than i. i have to admit i don't mind or feel bothered by hanging out listening to stories and conversations that i can honestly say i have no weight, although i thought i might be asked to move back to the metaphorical children's table when they found out that i was a Carter baby.
It made me think of the things we miss when we close ourselves to the world around us. It seems to becoming acceptable if it doesn't happen in our lifetime or to us directly it then does not matter. i hope i'm wrong. It just feels like in a culture saturated with poor role models have given us this dumbing down of who we are.
i think it goes beyond a matter of faith, but as a matter of humanity. If we don't step up to the plate to help those in need who then will?
i am always think of quote that Jim Wallis uses, "we are the change we are waiting for."

What do we want the Church to do? We don't ask for more cathedrals. We don't ask for bigger churches of fine gifts. We ask for its presence with us, beside us, as Christ among us. We ask the Church to sacrifice with the people for social change, for justice, and for love of brother. We don't ask for words. We ask for deeds. We don't ask for paternalism. We ask for servanthood.

- Cesar Chavez

Voice of the Day

It is in community that we come to see God in the other. It is in community that we see our own emptiness filled up. It is community that calls me beyond the pinched horizons of my own life, my own country, my own race, and gives me the gifts I do not have within me.

- Joan Chittister

Coming out of the dark

i used to find so much wonder during the season of Christmas. As i've gotten older i feel that i am in the middle of an avalanche trying just to stay near the surface. Between final exams, holiday shopping, or the mass exodus of those leaving to be near their family for the holidays there never seems to be time. i think that is truly the reason that i enjoy advent.

i am now realizing that i need to give over my lack of hope, because i truly have such a hard time hoping. The hardest thing for me is to verbalize the hope because when i do put it out there then there is an expectation, and when that expectation does not pan out then disappointment quells my hope. i was taught not to be disappointed with God, so it almost felt easier to not hope, and therefore not get disappointed then to deal with the disappointment.

After tonight i feel called out of that fear to hope. For me it's going to be a process, but i do want to hope.


Hope begins in the dark. you wait and watch and work. you don't give up.~~ Anne Lamott