"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth...And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given thruogh Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known."
- John 1:14,16-18
Merry Christmas and happy new year to you all! We hope you are having a joyous, restful holiday season!
As 2011 draws to a close, Stephen and I want to thank you all deeply for your prayers and support this past year. With Stephen entering Teach for America and beginning the most intense year of his life thus far teaching 5th grade at an inner-city DC school,, and with me beginning my job with our church, it has been a year in which we have needed you all more than ever. Thank you for being there for us - your prayers and support have done more than you could ever know, and this has been especially evident this Christmas season:
"Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we…
Let all within us praise His holy Name!
Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born"
"O Holy Night" has long been my favorite Christmas song - and one of my favorite songs of all time - but this stanza has resonated with me especially loudly this year. As I've seen so much heartache, pain, and oppression around me every day, I get tears in my eyes as I sing these words, believing that His love really does break chains, bring peace, and will one day cause all oppression to cease. And, praise God, I have seen evidence of the truth of these words, especially this Christmas season - so much so that it has truly caused me to "fall on my knees."
Along with my pastor, I helped organize an Advent Conspiracy campaign for our church this Christmas. If you're not familiar with Advent Conspiracy, it is an amazing nation-wide campaign started a few years ago that focuses on helping the Church truly love like Christ during the holiday season. The campaign encourages the Church to focus less on the materialistic aspects that our culture has brought to Christmas, but instead encourages us to spend less and give more where people really need it - and in the process help bring the focus back to what Christmas is truly about: loving others and worshiping Christ more fully. So we took the basics of this campaign and adapted it to fit our church and the needs of our community: we asked members of our church to commit to buying one less present for a family member of friend who doesn’t really need it, and instead spend that money on a gift for someone in one of nine local organizations or schools that our church supports.
In addition, our church partnered with Living Water International to raise money to help repair a well in Bomi County, Liberia, where many people are without access to clean drinking water because of a long civil war. We asked people to give to both aspects of the campaign not out of guilt or out of excess, but to truly change something about how they spend their money and give a more relational gift this Christmas. Instead of buying a gift that is not really needed, we asked them to get a gift for someone in need in DC or donate money to repair a well in honor of their loved one, and then write a letter to that person to share how they have inspired this gift. My pastor, Aaron, has spent the past four weeks of Advent preaching on the four main aspects of the Advent Conspiracy Campaign - spending less, giving more, loving all, and worshiping fully - and I highly recommend listening to his messages on our church website. They are encouraging, convicting, and incredibly insightful, and shed more light on this campaign and why we believe the Conspiracy is world-changing. Aaron was asked to write an article for the Washington Post on our campaign, in which he said, "We are crazy enough to believe that the story of Christmas can change our neighborhoods and nations. Therefore we are conspiring to spend less so we can give more and thus fully worship Christ this Christmas." And it fills me with such a feeling of overwhelming joy to say that we really did see our church conspire together to affect nations and fully worship Christ through this campaign!
As "O Holy Night" says so beautifully, I've seen Christ's powerful love - lived out through His people - break chains and cause oppression to cease this Christmas. After such a busy past few months filled with a good amount of doubt about God's goodness, I feel so blessed to be able to say that God has revealed the reality of His love to me in deeper ways this Christmas. I was able to see His redemption actively at work in the world through those around me: I saw a member of our church, who started coming after we met him at a rehab center when he was a resident there, selflessly give some of the few possessions he had to the people currently enrolled in the program he had just successfully completed. I saw Stephen's 5th graders overjoyed at receiving a few simple gifts from members of our church, and heard one of his boys yell "This is the best day ever!" I saw how loved they felt by receiving their own special, individual present. In total, I saw close to 200 gifts donated to people in the nine different local organizations we partnered with! In addition, over $15,000 was raised to repair a well in Liberia - which was not only enough to repair a well, but build an entire new well and repair two others! As we celebrated Christ coming to earth on Christmas Day, I was also able to celebrate seeing His redeeming love through the members of our church community as they actively spread His “law of love” and His “Gospel of peace.”
And I've seen this through YOU as well. I could not have organized this campaign and served my church in this way - and I truly don’t believe our church would have responded to the Spirit's leading so clearly - if it hadn't been for your prayers. So thank you - thank you for your prayers for me, for my job at church, and for the ministry we are doing in our city.
That is why I need you this coming year as well! Stephen and I continue to grow more and more excited as we see more of God’s vision for us, but it does seem daunting at times - so we continue to covet your prayers and support! One of my biggest passions is for the Church to continue living out the Advent Conspiracy model throughout the year – so through my work at church this coming year a big focus is going to be how we can truly live differently than the culture around us - spending less, giving more, loving all, and worshiping more fully - so that Christ is seen and known more and more in our city.
One of the main ways I want to help our church do this is through continuing to deepen our relationships with the organizations we partnered with this Christmas – like Stephen’s 5th grade class. We’ve already shared with many of you about the immense need in his classroom – almost all of his students are incredibly far behind academically, and each one deals with their own set of intense emotional issues – and although Stpehen is amazing and is working so hard to bring true change to the lives of each of his students, he needs support – more support than our public education system provides. There is much room for the Church to step in. At our church we want to begin outreach to areas of need by supporting those in our own church community who are already doing awesome work addressing these issues, so I’ve begun to form partnerships with Stephen’s school and a few others, to reach youth in our city and begin to address the flaws in our education system. In the new year myself and some other girls from church are starting a Girls Club for the girls in Stephen’s class, as well as a couple other initiatives in his class and a few others. It’s exciting, but scary at the same time! There are so many youth in DC with such need - I know it will be hard not to get overwhelmed, as well as to not lose focus and try to reform our whole public education system this next year! So I needyour prayers! Pray for discernment and wisdom, so that I do not lose sight of the specific calling God has for me and our church in the classrooms and organizations He is leading us to invest in this year.
In addition to deepening relationships with these certain organizations, God has also opened the door for our church to help spearhead a faith-based foster care/adoption initiative here in DC. While daunting, things have fallen into place with this initiative so far in such a way that it is clear God’s powerfully hand is working! But I need your prayers for the Spirit’s guidance as I explore what it would look like for our church to bring the love of Christ to the youth of our city in this way.
As I said at the beginning of this letter, not only has God reminded me of His glorious reality through the celebration of the birth of His Son, but He has also shown me more of Himself as I’ve seen Him work through the community around me to bring His redeeming love to earth now. I pray that you also have experienced this love in even deeper ways this Christmas, and have seen his glory in new ways all around you as you’ve celebrated His birth. And I thank you again for all you’ve done to show me His love, and to help me show His love to others. As I’ve said many times before, the most essential way you can support Stephen and me is through prayer, and through relationally being here for us. I know many of you are already involved with many other wonderful organizations and are already supporting some of them financially, and I in no way want to take you away from that! But if you also want to support my ministry financially, you are welcome to do that - you can donate online on our church website; Please make sure to select "Leadership Residency 2” when it asks you to “Choose a Fund," Or you can write a check to: "The District Church," with "Leadership Residency 2" in the memo and send to: The District Church, PO Box 3116, Washington, DC 20010. (All gifts are fully tax-deductible)
Please pray for:
*Discernment for Stephen and myself as we enter this new year. Pray that we would have God's vision for the jobs He has called us to, and daily learn to listen to His leading. Pray that we would believe every day in His power to do more than we could ever ask or imagine on our own, and that we would learn to exist in His Spirit and live in His power, not our own.
*The many things God has put on my heart to lead our church in pursuing in the new year, particularly: increased involvement in the lives of the youth in our city through starting a Girls Club for the girls in his class, partnering with other DC Public School classrooms, and leading a faith-based foster care/adoption initiative.
*Stephen's 5th grade class. As we've already shared with many of you, Stephen teaches an incredibly difficult group of 5th graders. At 10 years old, most of them are already emotionally disturbed, as well as being severely below grade level. Stephen is an incredibly dedicated, passionate teacher, and is doing as much as he can to help his kids - after school tutoring, starting a Boys Club for the boys in his class, creative and interactive lessons - but God has been teaching both of us this year what it looks like to truly believe in the reality of His power in this world, and Stephen is learning more than ever that it is only God's power that can truly save His students. We truly believe it is your prayers that have enabled Stephen to make the progress he has thus far, and so ask that you all committ to continue to join us in fervently praying for his students by name, believing that God is and will continue to work in their lives in miraculous ways, beyond anything Stephen could do on his own! So please pray for:
- Christian
- Jerome
- Samari
- Tazzell
- Da'Nino
- Lonaile
- Shawn
- Markell
- Michael
- James
- Aynia
- Lavondae
- Tracey
- Andrea
- Jasmine
- Dynasty
- Darealle
- Tierra
*And as always, please pray for Stephen: that God would bless him for his selfless heart and would bless the work of his hands. Please pray for our marriage - pray that we would daily learn how to serve God the way He has called us to in our jobs, while still putting each other and our marriage first. Pray that He would continue to show us how to seek Him and His vision for this world together, amidst the busyness of life! Pray that we would learn better and better everyday how to love each other selflessly and love God with our whole hearts.
No comments:
Post a Comment