Worldly Holiness

United Nations Cell Group w/ Andy, originally uploaded by prayformosaics.

Wow, tonight was a special blessing! I just got home, around midnight from a gathering with this group pictured above. They are an emerging cell group with people from Brazil, Colombia, Germany, France, Sweden and me from the US. We have been invited to participate with them as we are able. Tonight we shared a time of fellowship, worship, some teaching, prayer and then tapas (literally ¨snacks¨). The tapas part is a Spanish tradition of having snacks late at night. The city is dotted with tapas bars that specialize in an entire array of things you might want to eat at this hour! Anyway, enough about food. I met our host for tonight´s meeting last September but for reasons of travel and other distractions have not been able to attend this group with any regularity. They are part of a Covenant project (esparcidos) seeking to reach the Latin American immigrants in Spain but also have a vision to serve the native underpriveleged of Barcelona. God works things in amazing ways because I also discovered tonight that our host has been developing friendships with our Mosaics project focus people who have businesses under his apartment. These people happen to be from Pakistan. They all want to meet me and begin to get to know each other. God has been putting things like this in my path weekly where I am begining to see he has gone before us, preparing the way for the Gospel to take root in new places that do not normally have much opportunity. What a privelege to be called and to step into something much, much bigger and more exciting than anything I could have planned or anticipated. Keep posted for new chapters to this one. For now there are plans to distribute hot chocolate and coffee to the homeless over the holidays and to visit the forgotten elderly in institutions. One of the members of the group is a doctor and has tapped into the social services that care for the elderly. I also hope to share over a cup of cafe con leche with our focus people as well. As I say, stay tuned.

My creation, originally uploaded by prayformosaics.

This little photo mosiac was inspired by recent trips to both Rome and Istanbul.

We were in Rome for Thanksgiving last week? My family and I thought instead of feeling sorry for ourselves being far away from extended family and our two older children, we would do something that we have wanted to do for years-visit this historic and fascinating city. We were not disappointed at all. By the way, as always, check out the photos from our trip on the right in my flickr link. Click the Rome set when you get to the page. With cheap airfares and a very basic place to sleep we took the plunge and instead of eating Turkey last Thursday, we had pasta in Italy. Last Sunday while it was snowing back in Seattle it was a comfortable, sunny 60+ in Rome. During the four days of our visit I was torn bewteen wanting to see Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (maybe still hanging around for pizza somewhere) and the Pope.

I guess the Pope was in hiding preparing for his trip to Turkey and perhaps carrying the burden of his current high profile in the world and his misunderstood words about Islam. Or were they? I´m tracking the stories of the Pope´s visit to Turkey this week with all the background static from his talk in Germany last September, viewed by the entire Muslim world as offending their religion and prophet. We live in tense times and need to pray for cool heads and warm hearts on all sides. Word on the street in Turkey is that they will watch the Pope when he visits the Blue Mosque tomorrow to see if he seems to engage in any act of worship. Whatever your opinion on the matter, it behooves us as Christians to seek to build bridges of understanding in a day when steortypes abound on all sides, and to find ways to build common ground on issues that concern us all.

I´ll close with one more thought. As we walked the cobblestone streets of Rome a favorite song of the last few years was also running through my head. The song is by the popular artist, Joan Osbourne, and was a hit for several years. I still occassionaly hear it on the radio. Here is one verse from her song, If God Was One of Us. Somehow it seems apropos for the times we are living, asking unvarnished questions about who God is, from the heart of a postmodern person in a quandry. This clearly characterizes the Europe we now live in. The Pope´s visit to Istanbul shows the other face, the flashpoint between the world of Islam and the west. Europe is right in the middle of this intersection.

What if God Was One of us /Just a slob like one us / Just a stranger on the bus / Trying to make his way home / He´s trying to make his way home / back up to heaven all alone / Nobody calling on the phone / Except for the Pope maybe in Rome.

Chucho, originally uploaded by prayformosaics.

This one is dedicated to our cat, Chucho, who ran away just before we moved from Newcastle to Barcelona. We miss him a lot. He was a most wonderful and interesting cat. One night he brought home a crow and left it at our doorstep. Other animal parts were deposted at least weekly. He was so macho some of us in the family thought this would have been a better name. I still have a scar on my hand from a playful moment with Chucho. Anyway, we hope we meet Chucho in heaven. With all his personality this little exercise in giving animals medication reminded us of our dear cat! Laugh with us in memory of Chucho.

Giving Pets Pills

CATS:

1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm, as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side of cat's mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to close mouth and swallow.

2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle cat in left arm and repeat process.

3. Retrieve cat from bedroom and throw soggy pill away.

4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a count of ten.

5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of wardrobe. Call partner from garden.

6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees. Hold front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get partner to hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth. Drop pill down ruler and rub cat's throat vigorously.

7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for gluing later.

8. Wrap cat in large towel and get partner to lie on cat with head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw.

9. Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink one beer to take taste away. Apply band-aid to partner's forearm and immediately remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.

10. Retrieve cat from neighbor's shed. Get another pill. Open another beer. Place cat in cupboard and close door onto neck to leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill down throat with elastic band.

11. Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of scotch. Pour shot and drink. Apply cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus shot. Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another shot. Throw tee-shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.

12. Call fire department to retrieve the friggin' cat from tree across the road. Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil wrap.

13. Tie front paws to rear paws with garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining room table. Find heavy-duty pruning loves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large piece of fillet steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and pour 2 pints of water down throat to wash pill down.

14. Consume remainder of scotch. Get partner to drive you to emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm and removes pill remnants from right eye. Stop at furniture shop on way home to pick out new table.

15. Arrange for Humane Society to collect mutant cat. Call local pet shop to see if they have hamsters.

DOGS:
1. Wrap pill in bacon.

Istanbul Composite, originally uploaded by prayformosaics.

This city is close to the top of my list in terms of fascinating history, culture, things to see, experience and understand. It happened to be the location for the conference I attended this last week as well. Hearing the call to prayer blasting across the city as we rolled into our hotel was an amazing experience.  I can think of no parallel in my western culture where an entire culture is called to consider God and to prayer. You may be aware that Turkey is one of the countries trying to become a member of the Eurpean Union. Opinions vary on both sides of the debate as to whether this is good or not. I asked my new friends over dinner what they thought. By the way, our meal began around 10:00 and lasted past midnite (that is why maybe they have good strong coffee)! Anyway, they had mixed feelings about the prospect. There would be some things to gain, others lost.

The question of inclusion, whether to join a group and at what cost, also factored big in our conference with an all important idea underlying the week´s discussions–what does it take to be included in the Kingdom of God? In my ministry the question is often put a different way. How does one become saved? What does it take to become a Christian? What is prescribed for a new church member? Sadly, our practice in Christian circles often looks more to certain traditions, cliches, or subscription to a particular party line instead of the teaching of scripture. Getting this wrong seems to present an encumbered gospel, adding things that God would not add if it were up to him. This is the story of Cornelius in the book of Acts (see chapter 10), and the discussion surrounding the work of God outside the normal confines of the existing people of God. This parallels my thinking when it comes to ministry with our focus groups here in Europe, forcing me to rethink constantly, what does God want, or require, of those who follow him. If you would like more of my thoughts on this topic with specific reference to our focus group, drop me a note at PrayforMosaics@yahoo.com. I have a detailed report from the conference I just attended and some reflection on the guiding issues we are considering in our emerging ministry.

Before I share my prayer requests with you, let me report on my blog entries for this last month to entice you. This will be a place to get regular news, stories and pictures of our life and ministry here in Spain. So, this month, I’ve included a story about a significant, kind of historical event for the Covenant in Spain—our first ordination service. The pictures in my Flickr file feature Montserrat, a monastery in the hills above Barça (that is short for Barcelona in Catalan), the Boqueria market downtown, my trip to La Coruña, a few reminders from back home, and an assortment of other pics. Please, feel free to leave comments or begin a discussion along the lines of one of my posts. I’d like to generate some discussion. Give me feedback too. Tell others about it.

Now for the prayer and praise requests:

• We praise God for being almost totally settled now in our new digs. We still need to get some pictures up and find the post office but we are getting there. Pray as we begin to establish our weekly rhythm of life & ministry. It can be lonely starting fresh. We’d like to establish some regular ministry contacts as we continue to discern long-term strategy and make some good friendships.

• Andy found a place to begin language study with someone from Syria. Pray for good learning and ability to build relationships of trust. I hope to start this after returning from travels in November.

• Pray for attendance at an important conference this month, for good networking, personal refreshment and inspiration. We are trying to figure out how to best contextualize our ministry goals for our focus groups in Europe.

• Pray for Carol’s role in ministry. She is trying to find the best place to serve with her gifts and capacities as therapist, counselor and friend of the needy besides being a mother, wife, study partner for Erick and travel agent for the entire family.

• Continue to pray for our visas. There is still no word from the consulate in San Francisco and we’d like to establish a more permanent status here in Spain.

• We look forward to being together as a family for Christmas. Continue to pray for Nicki in Ecuador and Kjel in Chicago, for health, their studies, work and future. They both are coming to a big crossroads in their lives and need to make some decisions.

• Lastly, pray for successful fundraising as we approach the holidays. We left the country at around 80% supported for the entire 3 year project. It would be nice to get to 100% so we can sustain our ministry and focus without distraction. Pray for our holiday newsletter, that God would touch hearts as we communicate the vision.

Bless you all for praying!