Love Came Down at Christmas

Jess: Wes and I have been working in two different churches for 15 weeks now. I know this because that's how many weeks of field education I have to complete each semester. It has definitely been an interesting time for us. We knew that we were going to have to do something like this during our tenure at seminary, but we were hoping to minimize the time we spent working separately. Instead, we seem to have maximized it. Oh well, life goes on. I work for 15 weeks each semester, so I'll have Christmas/New Year's and the summer off from field ed this year and next. We should be in the same church all of my senior year, and then we'll be apart again during my internship and Wes' residence in ministry.

So although we weren't anticipating or looking forward to spending all of this semester in separate churches, it has been a really interesting experience. I have loved every minute of my time at St. Mark. As you might know, I don't have to work too hard there. I'm only there 8-10 hours a week, and Sunday morning worship alone takes about 5 hours of that time. I have loved being back in a Lutheran church, and Pastor Linda has been a great mentor. I'm getting to work on some aspects of ministry in which I don't have much experience, like teaching the middle and high school students, doing visitation, and going to council meetings. I have a ton of experience in the different aspects of worship, I got to preach, and I'm getting better at meeting people and learning their names. The whole semester has been a wonderful, fruitful experience.

On the other side of things, however, I have missed out on a lot at Wes' churches. I haven't been to a service there since September. I'm going to be back for Christmas and New Year's, and then I'll be gone again through May. It's difficult to spend so much time away from the churches and people I've spent the last year and a half getting to know. I really like them and I definitely feel the void left by having to leave the churches for so long. On the other hand, it was too weird for me to be at St. Mark all semester and NOT be there for Christmas Eve, so Wes and I are going to attend their earliest service. I might not see everyone I normally see on Sundays, but at least I'll be with that community on one of the church's most important holidays.

In addition to the strange feeling of being torn between to churches, I am saddened by the fact that Wes and I are not worshiping together on Sunday mornings. There isn't a lot that goes on outside of Sunday morning worship at Wes' churches, so I have only seen his parishoners a couple of times since September. My class schedule interfered with Bible study at St. Mark this semester, so we couldn't go there together, either, and Wes doesn't know many people from the church. It's a weird place to be for both of us, and I'm sure it's not going to get a whole lot easier. Next year, I'll most likely be in a different church, so Wes will have to try to get to know another group of parishoners without attending Sunday morning services with them. It's an interesting dynamic, to be sure.

There is definitely good and bad involved in this situation. We have a great base of wonderful people who want to help us grow in our faith and leadership abilities. They want to know about our lives, give us advice, and watch us develop. Yet we do most of this separately, where we can't see as much of the other person learning and growing through ministry. I'm definitely learning a lot, but I'm also looking forward to the day when we can be in the same worshiping community again.

Wes: So I'm a big fan of Christmas. I like gifts--first I liked getting gifts, now I like giving and getting gifts. :)

And I love the Christmas season. It is the most wonderful time of the year, and I love how it really does make people treat others differently. People smile more, and even up here where the culture is one that everyone is supposed to act aloof toward each other, people actually make eye contact, smile, and nod in your direction. It's crazy. Also, the music is spectacular. There is nothing better than Christmas music. My favorite to listen to this season has been Bruce Springsteen's "Merry Christmas Baby." I've been having fun singing along with the jazz licks and pretending I know all of the words.

But I've also noticed something about myself this year. I've been looking under the Christmas tree a lot more than usual--and even more than that since Jess' mom and step-father got here--and I've realized that there are way too many gifts down there. I mean, I love getting fun stuff, but especially in a house without any kids, we sure have spent a lot of time and money on a lot of things that none of us need. I think that I could see us re-working how we do Christmas in the coming years and trying to do more with less as well as give more to others.

I don't know. I want to figure out a way to celebrate correctly while at the same time honestly evaluating how we are spending our money and using our time to determine if it truly is blessing God's Kingdom and honestly celebrating the birth of Christ. One of my pastor friends has a really cool tradition where they only give three presents to their kids each Christmas, and each of the gifts represents a different gift from the wise men: a spiritual gift for frankincense, a practical gift for myrrh, and a fun gift for gold. I think this would be kinda cool. Maybe for the adults, we make it so that throughout the year, we each get three gifts--a romantic gift on our anniversary, a fun gift for birthdays, and a practical or spiritual gift for Christmas. That might work.

What do you think? What are some of your Christmas traditions? Do you get a lot of presents, or just a couple? Are we celebrating Christmas in a way that honors God?

Let me know your answers. I'm excited and interested in hearing from each of you.

You stay Christmassy, World Wide Web!


-jess and wes

Advent

Jess: In keeping with the holiday theme, we're going to talk about the wonderful season of Advent this week. For those of you who don't know, Advent is the first season in the church year. It's the four weeks leading up to Christmas, when we prepare for Christ's coming, not just as the baby Jesus but also his future return. 

I'm a big fan of Advent. I love blue, so the colors in the sanctuary always make me happy. I love the songs we get to sing (particularly O Come, O Come Emmanuel). I enjoy lighting the Advent wreath. Yet Advent, despite all its glorious awesomeness, is a pretty tricky season. Advent is decidedly NOT Christmas. Each year, pastors of churches around the globe try to remind themselves and their churches that Advent is not Christmas. That's why our hymnals have both Advent and Christmas songs. That's why we have blue, not white. 
 
Yet the rest of the U.S. has been talking about Christmas since before Thanksgiving. How do we avoid falling into the Advent-as-Christmas trap? I'll admit that I start listening to my Christmas music on the first Sunday in Advent. That's my cue that it's okay. Sure, I could feel superior to other people *cough* Wes *cough* who had been listening to Christmas music for weeks already. But in a way, I'm doing the same thing. I'm ignoring Advent and skipping right to Christmas. Yes, some of the music on my iPod that's labeled "Christmas" is really for Advent, but that doesn't change it. How am I preparing for Christ's coming? What am I doing?
 
I preached a couple of weeks ago, and the main message of my sermon was that Advent isn't just about the decorations, the present buying, or the cookie baking. It isn't even about reflecting on Jesus' coming into the world so many years ago as a baby. We're also supposed to be preparing for his return. In this way, Advent is very much like the rest of our church seasons: we are simultaneously celebrating something that happened long ago AND celebrating/preparing for something that is happening or will happen. Lent is about remembering Jesus' death and reflecting on our part in that death. Easter is about celebrating Christ's resurrection and anticipating the day when death will be no more. Pentecost commemorates the Spirit's coming upon the disciples and its continued presence today. So Advent makes sense alongside these other seasons. Jesus came into the world as a tiny, helpless baby. But he's also going to return triumphantly. And that's a lot to celebrate.


Wes: I love Christmas songs. If I were allowed to, I would sing Christmas songs all year 'round. But my wife is sometimes mean and won't let me do fun things. I forgive her, though. I mean, it is in the Christmas spirit to forgive, right?


This Advent, I've tried to focus all of my sermons on the prepare idea. We are celebrating the birth of Jesus, but we are also preparing ourselves and the world for Christ's return. This is not always a nice lesson to hear, for as the rest of the world is singing about how it's the most wonderful time of the year, the church is recognizing that our world has not been wonderful for a long, long time and that we as the Body of Christ have our work cut out for us if we really are to join in on the task of seeing "Thy Kingdom come." 


I heard a really cool sermon on Advent by one of my fellow seminarians. She gave a brief history of Advent in it. I had no idea that Advent began as a "second Lent." People would give things up for Advent just like they would for Lent. They would fast. They would spend extra time in prayer. All in preparation and expectation for the coming of Christ. For us, it seems like it is completely the opposite, now. We pile things on, go off of our diets for that one extra Christmas cookie, cut back on tithing so we have enough for all the presents we need to buy... 


I think we've missed the point somewhere along the lines. 


Now, I don't think that Advent always has to be doom and gloom and darkness, but I do think that it should be a time of reflection, of intentionally working to right our hearts for the coming of Christ, so that we--and the world--are ready for when He does come back. 


I say this knowing full well that I am a culprit of culture as well. In the words of Relient K, "I'm part of the problem, I confess, but I gotta get this off my chest." And now that I've said it, I'm done. Soap box away. 


On a different note, it needs to snow up here. I moved up North for a winter wonderland (that seminary thing was a by-product), and we might as well be in Texas. Well... except for the fact that I'm not in flip-flops... But still! 


See you next time! You stay classy, World Wide Web!




-jess and wes

Thanksgiving

Jess: As some of you may know, last weekend was Thanksgiving. My mom and stepdad, Chris, came to spend the holiday week with us, and we had a wonderful time together. Most importantly, they helped us put our baseboards in. We could have lived without the company (just kidding, Mom!). But seriously, we really, really appreciated their help with that, and I think we’re done with home improvement for awhile. And our house looks soooo much better than when we moved in. I hope whoever is the pastor after it’s our time to leave likes color, wood floor, patios, fires, and a beautifully tiled floor!

The rest of Thanksgiving week was spent mostly just hanging out. Last year, we had Wes’ brother and sister, as well as our friends Tim and Brittany, over for Thanksgiving. Somewhere in there, Kevin came to visit us and Heather stopped by for the night. I think both of us really enjoyed having a large group at the house (for a short time), but that just wasn’t in the cards this year. I think it was wonderful in the whole mess of life right now to have a low-key hosting situation. I only had to cook for four people, I only had one guest room to prepare, and we got to spend a lot of time playing Wii.

I’m well enough off as far as school goes that I was able to just take the week off and hang out. I didn’t have to work at all for the Vesseys, and they even gave me Monday off, too. What a wonderful time to just relax. I spent most of fall break working on the house, my homework, and field education stuff. I had completely forgotten what it’s like to just spend time doing what I want to do. What a wonderful blessing for me to receive this week.

I think my favorite part of when Mom comes is having someone who can keep up with about 10 conversations at once with me. Don’t get me wrong, Wes and I can carry on quite a few conversations at once, too. But there’s just nothing like getting together and talking with Mom. We drove Chris completely crazy—he had to just tune us out. It’s like we haven’t talked in years, even though we talk at least once a week for at least an hour. That’s real mother-daughter bonding right there. Gilmore Girls style.

Perhaps most importantly, I got Chris addicted to Mario Kart Wii. He’s pretty good—I actually had to try to beat him. I’m excited to have us all get back together at Christmas, especially since Josiah will be here. Which reminds me, what the heck? Thanksgiving and Christmas are super close together. We’re going to see Mom and Chris again in just 3 weeks, and Josiah flies in next Saturday! I’m super excited, but it’s weird not to have anyone visit from the end of August to the end of November, and now we’re having visitors 5 out of 8 weeks. I love visitors!!!

Wes and I also got some much-needed time together this week. We do our best to hang out whenever we can, and we have great times together, but the time constraints between two school schedules, two work schedules, and working at two different churches is very limiting. Not having school and work for awhile was wonderful. I’m looking forward to our Christmas break and anniversary celebration. It’s nice to have time where we’re not talking about the next day, working out our schedules, etc. It’s nice to just…be.

Wes: So, my Thanksgiving was good, but my Thanksgiving break was not the most fun I've ever had. On Tuesday of break, I got a call from my mom telling me that my Aunt Florene had passed away. About six weeks ago, she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Now, I'm just knowledgeable enough about this kind of stuff to get myself in trouble. I don't know near as much as I should for someone who has lost a loved one to it. What I do know from what other people have told me, though, is that it is a quick killer, and that unless by sheer luck they manage to catch it early, there's not much that can be done to cure or combat it. 

So in about six weeks' time, Aunt Florene went from being seemingly healthy to breathing her last. It really, really sucks. 

So it's been pretty hard on me, not being able to be there for her and for the family. I went to Texas a month or so ago for the Young Adult Ministries Summit, and was hoping that I would be able to see her while I was there. Unfortunately, she was not doing too well the only day that I had free, and I was unable to see her. 

I had to give the sermon at the Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve service on Wednesday, and I almost broke down crying during it because I was talking about how even in the midst of heartache and loss we still have reasons to rejoice. I firmly believe this to be true, but man, it hurts sometimes. Like a lot. 

I've never felt more homesick while being up here in Jersey than I felt last week. I flew down Friday night for the funeral. I got in at midnight, got to the house at about 3 am, went to the funeral at 10 am, and was back at the airport by 3 pm. It was a whirlwind trip, and I wish I would have had more time to spend with my family. 

This Thanksgiving, I am extra thankful for my family that has supported me and loved me through everything I have done and strived to do. I am especially thankful for my Aunt Florene who was like another grandparent to me and always treated me with the utmost love and kindness. I miss her dearly and am waiting for the day that I will be reunited with her and all of the other saints who have gone before me. 

Sorry my part was a little depressing... Maybe next week's will be better. 

You stay classy, World Wide Web!

-wes and jess