Around the Table

Seems a fitting end to our Thanks Giving Study and to Give Thanks Give Hope.  My wife has always been a better writer than I... or is it me...  anyway... 

As I write this, I’m at our dining room table, the fire flickering, the children playing a board game, and my tea mug almost empty.  Tim has just left the table, but what a joy to sit this morning as we both lingered, talking, giving thanks on this Thanksgiving morn.

As the table is central to the Thanksgiving feast, the table has been a central place for us during Gifts of Hope.  We sat one evening with Bishop Andrea DeGroot, Dr. Ed Maliski, and a table full of others.  We all talked about malaria.  The energy and the ideas and the means to truly save hundreds – thousands – of lives was coming out of this conversation.  All of the sudden I had this sense that I was on the sidelines, gazing at this lively table of possibility, and my eyes swelled with tears.  I knew the Spirit was there.

A week later, we sat with Pastor Benyam Kassahun at the table where I now type.  A small group of six of us broke bread together and prayed and talked and dreamed about an Africa where children weren’t dying each minute from preventable and treatable diseases.

The table is a powerful place.  This Thanksgiving weekend, we pray that you feel the power of Spirit upon you.  We pray that you are blessed with good conversation and good food.  We pray that you say a word of prayer for those who have no feast today.  And we pray that the many table-conversations surrounding Gifts of Hope will bear much fruit.

Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest,

and let these gift to us be blessed.

Blessed by God, who is our Bread;

may all the world be clothed and fed.

Chamie

By the way there is still plenty of time to take part in the Gifts of Hope campaign.  You can pick up order forms at Ascension and turn them in (through December) at the church office or at church on Saturday nights or Sunday mornings.  God's abundant blessings to you. 

Pastor Tim

Is there a Malariaologist in the House?

A malariologist? Is there really such a thing? Yes indeed there is. His name is Ed Maliski and he is coming to speak here at Ascension on Sunday (11/21) in the Library at 9:30 and 11am. He has a wonderful, Christian perspective on how it really is possible to contain malaria.



Be sure to ask him what this is.

 Come hear him speak, bring your questions and your imagination. Come also, and check our gifts of hope fair. It is the last chance to be a part of and there are a lot of great products for great causes.

Creating a Legacy of Hope

Amanda Miner is a member of the Gifts of Hope team and a parent of a 1st grader...

Joan

Since I was asked to give a parent's perspective on buying gifts through Gifts of Hope, I really wanted to explore exactly why it is I choose to do this with Kate each year. Simply because it helps somebody and is a 'good' thing to do just doesn't cut to the heart of my motivation - although it may have started out that way. We've done several things over the last three or four years - including buying chickens and rabbits and maybe a goat or two at prior Gifts of Hope fairs. Kate's first response at opening a Christmas card at age 4, and learning that part of her gift was a pair of rabbits (for someone else, no less), was one of puzzlement - but what it did do was initiate a conversation that has been going on in various forms and activities for the following three years. Shortly after, we learned (together) about exactly how rabbits are used in Ghana, and how children are involved in the family livelihood-- so that parents might pass a legacy of hope down to them. We've written to Joan in Uganda, and now Jithendra in India. Kate's curiosity has been contagious - and in very specific ways. She wants to know names, ages, where they sleep, what they eat, what they like. Go figure - she wants to know them as a person. The realization that we have distanced ourselves as adults was quite profound to me. Yes, we have outreach and ministries and offerings, which are extremely valuable - but let's come out from behind those safe little boxes for a moment and remember that it is people's lives we are getting involved in.

Jithendra

Many hands have made the things you will see at the Gifts of Hope Fair, and many hands will use the goats, rabbits, chickens, pigs (and maybe even a water buffalo) that you may generously provide. Those hands each belong to to a unique individual, with a name, a family, a talent or skill, and a million other attributes. Imagine that in your mind, as a child does---or better yet, with your child - and give thanks for the opportunity to help someone else's family legacy. This can sometimes feel awkward for us adults (and by us, I mean me) - but I am suggesting that we need to more purposely present our children with things like these that make us uncomfortable, lest we squander their curiosity to learn about all God's children, in all places. Let's build their courage and excitement in doing that, and ours is sure to follow. It's a legacy worth passing on.

"If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."  1 Corinthians 13:3



Abundance vs. Scarcity

Ephesians 1: 17: I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.


Abundance vs. Scarcity. What is your mindset? Do you think about your possessions in terms of abundance or scarcity? In other words, do feel like you have got to hold on and protect what you have because there is precious very little of it? Or do you feel like you can be free and generous with what you have because there is always plenty of it? I guess it might depend on what it is. Nonetheless, it is a good question to ask because the answer to it reveals a mindset. Knowing our mindset might help us to figure out what we need to ask God for in prayer.

I tend to have a scarcity mindset. One of my kids doesn’t and he amazes me. He teaches me much about being generous. When he gets something that he really likes (a treat, a toy) his first impulse seems to be to try and figure out how to share it, give it away or at least to make sure that others have gotten some sort of treat too.

Sometimes I worry that he is going to regret giving his stuff away. Sometimes part of me even wants to discourage him from being so generous. Is that crazy?

But then I realize he does is because as he has told me, “It makes me feel good.” There is a difference between the two of us. He is naturally generous. He enjoys giving to others without having to think about it. He believe that the world is an abundant place and that the most important things, the things that he really needs are readily available all the time so he does not have to worry about keeping a tight grip on his stuff.

He is right.

I suspect the more we get to know “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,” the more we will realize this.

From Generation to Generation

Marcia Koenig is a member of our Gifts of Hope team here at Ascension.  In this article she tells the story of how she made a joyful connection with the idea of giving alternative gifts for Christmas and how that idea has caught on.  By the way, our Gifts of Hope fair beging at Ascension this weekend and will be open in Founders Hall after each service. 

As we dried dishes after our family Thanksgiving dinner a few years ago, my sister-in-law and I jested about the unpleasantness of holiday shopping in crowded malls and about what we did NOT want for Christmas: more sweaters, more gadgets, more casserole dishes, more etc.

From our playful banter emerged some thoughts: Our gracious God gives to us abundantly. We give Him thanks! He also raises before us brothers and sisters who suffer poverty and the diseases of poverty. How can we not "be openhanded" (Deut. 15:11)? How can we not provide others justice and hope?

I told my sister-in-law about Ascension's alternative giving project: Gifts of Hope. And we made a pact for Christmas future: instead of exchanging the usual presents, we would give thanks by giving hope to others.

The two of us initiated this tradition, sometimes adding a book, like The Fever to share information about malaria, or a fairly traded coffee product or craft item from the Gifts of Hope Fair, for members of our family. In the last two years, several of our nieces and nephews, the "younger generation" families, have embraced the idea and joined our pact -- heartwarming indeed! Give thanks. . . .

Marcia Koenig

The Body of Christ

Pastor Benyam Kassahun works at ELCA Churchwide office Global Mission Unit as Program Director for Southern & Eastern Africa Regions. We are honored to have him come to Ascension all the way from Chicago and share his extensive experiences in Africa. He is passionate and articulate. I encourage you to come and check him out at either 9:30 or 11am in the library. Here are some thoughts that he wrote down for the blog:


“So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Rom. 12:5)


What does this mean for Christians, in particular, for those of us who claim to be Lutheran in a world stricken by disease, conflict and hunger? What does God call us to do?

Over the past several years, I traveled through West, East, and Southern Africa region to do my work as assigned to me by the Global Mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I had several conversations with women, men, and children who were severely impacted by diseases such as malaria, HIV & AIDS, T.B. and hunger (malnutrition). I knew some of them would not be alive during my next trip to their villages. Deep down in my heart, however, I knew that with some intervention many of those women and children could have lived.

I remember a woman I once met in Mozambique. I arrived at her place at about 6:30 P.M. She was lying on a small mat outside of her hut. She was approximately somewhere between 23-25 years old. But she looked like a 13 year old child. Someone from her family came and helped her to sit up. She had difficulty talking because of her severe cough. She was HIV positive (she had no choice there), she has T.B. and malaria. To make matters worse, she only ate a small bowl of porridge that morning. That was her meal for the day. She was so frail she couldn’t continue our conversation—she kept quiet for a few minutes—finally, she lay down on her mat.

If we are the body if Christ, and individually members one of another, therefore, the body of Christ is HIV+, inflicted by malaria, T.B., and poverty in general. The question is what does this mean? What does it mean to be Lutheran Christians?

Benyam Kassahun

Preventable and Treatable

Amanda Berg and Chamie Delkeskamp are two women who are passionate about helping God develop the faith of children.  As the co-directors of Childrens Ministry at Ascesnion Lutheran Church they are using Gifts of Hope as a faith nurturing opportunity.  These words are from Chamie: 

Every 45 seconds, a child dies from malaria. This may seem like a scary or difficult number to say to our own children. But if we want to raise a generation who will be compassionate, who will be wise, and who will make the world a better place, then we have an incredibly important role as parents, grandparents, and teachers, adult role models.


During the next few weeks, children and youth at Ascension Lutheran Church and School will be learning about malaria and our response to this disease. We are focusing on two words: preventable and treatable. On November 14, during Sunday School opening, we will be presenting a skit with a mosquito net as we talk about prevention. On November 21, we will do a skit that is set up as a clinic as we focus on the word treatable. In addition, the junior and senior high Sunday School classes will be doing Bible studies around this theme and upper division students at the school will be playing “Malaria Dodgeball” as they grow in their understanding. The Sunday School offering and the school chapel offering from now through December will go to Gifts of Hope.

There are two wonderful books you can purchase at Ascension for your children. For younger children, we recommend Little Things Make a Big Difference: A Story About Malaria by Rev. John Nunes. For preteens and teens, we recommend Generation Change by Zach Hunter.

We are passionate about raising kids who do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God (just like the Old Testament prophet said in Micah 6:8). You can learn more at “Raising Micah,” www.raisingmicah.org. If you click on “Monthly Essay” you can read another story about malaria. And if you want to be in conversation with other adults about how to raise children to be thankful for what they have while also being compassionate to others, join us at our home on Sunday afternoon, November 21, 3:30 to 5:00 PM. The kids can play in the backyard while the grown-ups sip some apple cider and talk about raising “Micahs.” Please RSVP to revchamie@mac.com.

Love Struggles With

“I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.”

Wow.   This sentence from by Paul (Romans 15:30) from our reading in the Giving Thanks curriculum rocked my world.  I have never really thought of prayer as a way to join somebody in their struggle.   Yes, I pray for people who struggle.  I pray for them a lot.  I pray for them because they are struggling and I don’t want them to struggle.  So why would I want to join their struggle?  Why would I want to struggle?

But then I think of the times that I have struggled.  The people who helped me were not the people who merely offered advice or felt sorry for me, the people that helped me were the ones who were present with me in the midst of it- struggling along with me because they loved me.

Love struggles with. 

By the way praying for other people is one of the ways that we can give hope.  This video helps us to understand what ELCA is doing for people who are struggling in places where Malaria is endemic.  As you watch it, perhaps you can join in their struggle by praying for them. To watch it, click on this link: ELCA Malaria Film 

Pastor Tim

Conejo Valley Cares

J.P. Gorham is the director of Conejo Valley Cares. Conejo Valley Cares’ primary purpose is to “assess the needs of the Conejo Valley community and work in partnership with local churches and organizations to help reorganize and repair the lives of clients.” I have personally witnessed CVC do a wonderful job at working to help re-establish people who have been hit hard by the economy. For this reason we are so excited to have Conejo Valley Cares be the focus or our local Gifts of Hope project this year. Below is a note from J.P.:

As we at Conejo Valley CARES start to prepare for the holiday season, we're very much aware of the fact that we've never seen needs like this before and certainly have our hands full. So many of the families who come to us now have never been in this critical position and as we work on improving their situations, our thoughts and prayers also turn to making sure every family has a wonderful, spiritual Christmas this year!

Depression is unfortunately a large element in the process of crisis intervention and to help these families enjoy the holidays will help provide an anchor they desperately need as they feel they are drifting on the ocean of life. As we provide the basics to these families, something else inevitably happens. They can stop worrying so much about the simple details that suddenly seem so overwhelming, turn their attention back to God, and then have a freer ability to allow the holidays to be a time of worship and family bonding as it should be. To see the blessings provided by the community to make all of this possible is to look into the heart of the Lord and fully understand how much He truly loves us.

God Bless!!!!

J.P.

For more info on Conejo Valley Cares you can go to: http://www.conejovalleycares.org/

Give Thanks: Week #1: Study Reflection

2 Corinthians 9:15: “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
I read these words of the apostle Paul and I have to admit that I am convicted. Part of me really doesn’t believe that he was so thankful all the time. That perhaps he was just trying to convice himself. Nobody is that thankful, right? He would say things like “give thanks in all circumstances” and talk about how he had learned to be content no matter what his situation was whether he just baptized a new believer or being beaten in jail. And here I am complaining because my computer is running a bit slow today.

This quote from Professor Alan Culpepper gets to the root of my conviction:

“Gratitude may be the purest measure of one's character and spiritual condition. The absence of the ability to be grateful reveals self-centeredness or the attitude that I deserve more than I ever get, so I do not need to be grateful.”

I forget that deep down I truly believe that I don’t deserve as much as I have. And I struggle to remember that all that I have, I mean the things that are really important to me, are a gift given to me by the grace of God.

But then I think about those things. My family, my friends, my faith and I realize that I could never have put these things together myself. I think of them and I don’t even have to force myself… it just happens- my heart starts to beat again with love and joy and well… gratitude.

Maybe Paul has something there.

Pastor Tim
P.S. For those of you who are doing the Give Thanks study and are doing some Malaria research… here is a great place to test your knowledge: http://solidfoodnews.blogspot.com/p/take-malaria-challenge.html