Kicking Grandma Out of Christmas

Finals are finally over, and I’m found in that awkward Britney Spears “I’m not a girl, not yet a woman” phase called Christmas break.  I’m a full-grown adult with opinions and thoughts, but I’m also a guest and child in my parents’ home and I have to respect that.  Being in this phase puts me in a place where I can contribute to important family decisions - the first being “How do we incorporate your grandmother into our family Christmas.”

My first thought: “This is ridiculous. She is family. We just do family Christmas like we always have and let her come along for the ride.”

My grandmother, having suffered a stroke directly after the May 2010 floods, cannot sit in her wheelchair for long amounts of time, needs a fair amount of attention, and does not get out of her room much.  My parents and brother and I have the privilege and responsibility of sharing Christmas Day with her this year.  From mass, to opening presents, to Christmas dinner – we have to figure out how to best accommodate her needs while still sharing Christmas with each other.  We can set her up in a cozy recliner chair and let her doze off, or we can kick her out when she gets in the way and take her back to her bed.  These are both real options. 

This is a real problem.  Grandmothers everywhere are being kicked out of their family’s Christmas.  Grandmothers everywhere are being kicked out of their families.

Recently, I spoke with a pastor about bringing in younger families to his church.  The congregation is literally dying off from old age, and the new mission of the church is to reach some younger folks.  How do we do that? 

We kick Grandma out.

The first option given to me at this church was to throw out all the traditional music that these grandmas were used to, ignore these strong willed, southern women, and only play for the younger members.  Chris Tomlin.  Matt Redman.  Whatever you might hear on this Christian radio station.  Just kick grandma out.

Surprised and caught off guard, my first thought was, “Yeah, I can do that. Who likes grandmas anyways.”  But then I realized – The Church is a body with many parts.  The Church is a community of believers of all ages.  The Church is a family.  We can’t kick grandma out, but we can’t throw out the babies either.  

How do babies learn to speak?  They’re surrounded by family members who are speaking all the time – saying words that they’ve never heard, and eventually associating meaning with these words.  This is how we learn to worship.  We get our tradition from grandma.  Heck, we wouldn’t be alive if we didn’t have a grandma somewhere down the line. 

There is a time and a place for us to cater to only the young and old, but this place is not found in the times when we come together as an entire community and family.  We sing old songs because that’s what we were given by our grandmas, by the tradition of the church, by the history of our faith.  We bring our own new, young, hip, whatever songs to the table because what good is a family reunion without your aunt’s sweet potatoes and your cousin’s pecan pie. 

We can’t kick my grandmother out of Christmas because it is as much hers as it is ours, and just the same we can’t kick the strong willed southern women out of this church.  We won’t learn how to speak without being surrounded by it, and we can’t learn to truly worship without being surrounded by a community that worships together.

@Pontifex

As I've been buried under piles of books, notes, and essay prompts in the college tradition known as finals, I've only come up for air once to check out what is happening in the real world.  The biggest news story I could find was the story of Pope Benedict XVI joining us in the 21st century on twitter.

The Pope chose the twitter handle @Pontifex, and has acquired over 500,000 twitter followers without even publishing his first 130 character tweet.

The latin word "pontifex" is translated to the english phrase "bridge-builder."  Appropriately, Benedict is acknowledging his role in building a bridge between the people of the church and the divine nature of God.  Not only is he continuing the construction of this 2,000 year old bridge, but this move into the technology of the 21st century is building a whole new bridge reaching the younger generations in the church.  Now, Benedict does not have to publish an encyclical or wordy document that many members of the church might overlook.  He can merely hop on the web and tweet a 130 character nugget of wisdom to his 500,000+ followers, who will then immediately be reached on their computers and mobile devices.

Enough about technology and the Pope, let's move on to us.  Remember, pontifex=bridge builder.  The Pope isn't the only one responsible for building bridges.  All those called to ministry, and all who call themselves Christians can also identify themselves architects, building the bridge that brings the characteristics of God's kingdom closer to the earth.

As I continue pursuing this life as a worship leader, I'm going to keep reminding myself that it's my job to build the time of worship as bridge.  In planning and leading worship, leaders step into the role of an architect, creating a bridge connecting God's people on Earth to his divine nature.  This bridge where Heaven meets with the earth is where we come together and lift our hearts in worship.

From Dawn to Dusk

Today, I was blessed with a day off of work.  For the first time in months, I was free to attend any mass at any parish that I wanted.  I took a trip down memory lane and decided to go to the 5:00 pm mass at Prince of Peace in Birmingham, AL. 

 

Lucky for me, the sun sets just before 5:00 pm mass - thank you daylight savings time - and the drive to Prince of Peace is right on the side of a mountain.  As I drove to mass I noticed that the sky looked especially beautiful, so I decided to pull over at the next parking lot or driveway to take a picture for a friend of mine who loves pictures of the sky.  When I rounded the curve and found my parking lot I snapped a shot that didn't only capture the beauty of the sunset, but caught what I thought was even more beautiful... (This isn't to show off photography skills. Don't judge the grainy camera-phone image).

The only thing that I find more beautiful than this sunset was the community that gathered together in awe of this outpouring of love from our creative god.

Aside from the poetic connotations of the sunset, the new beginnings that come the next morning, and the song lyrics associated with this most ordinary and daily occurrence (for some reason, the first lyrics I think of are "Tomorrow's freedom is today's surrender") this sunset held great meaning.

As I finished out the drive to mass I was thinking about the conversations I had just heard among the folks that shared this sunset experience with me.  Dads explaining the concept of day and night to younger kids. Couples standing in the comfort of silence.  Other kids just chattering away, overwhelmed by this first sight of true beauty.  Diversity and unity all in one.  This community of strangers came together to worship the sun, and that's what I found most beautiful.

When we come together in worship it isn't the songs we sing, the images we create, the words we preach, or the raising of our hands that makes for a beautiful moment.  Beauty is already present in the love of our God and the gathering community of His people.

Beginning: The Journey

Eighth grade confirmation. Passing the driving exam on your sixteenth birthday.  Filling out the voter registration form on your eighteenth birthday.  Packing up your childhood and moving to college.  These are all rites of passage that may be the moment one begins their journey to adulthood.

I think that mine starts here.

He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them." Luke 9: 3-5

This week, after years of planning and dreaming, I launched a website, drafted a cover letter, and publicly proclaimed that I wanted to lead worship for the rest of my days.  Throwing out the meaning of the business degree that I am currently pursuing, and pursuing the dream and the calling to ministry that I’ve shoved to the back of my mind every time I check my bank balance.  Every day I'm having to remind myself of this call to leave everything behind.  As my car falls apart, my family disproves of my lack of paycheck, and my high school self scoffs at my idea of a "future" I must remind myself to shake this dust off my feet, and live my life as the testimony of faith that life itself is.

So today I’m snapping my walking stick, ripping my second tunic (okay, I've never actually owned a tunic), and shaking the dust from my feet to begin this journey. I’m inviting anyone and everyone to join me, pray for me, advise me, and to let me know how I can pray for them throughout this time.  I’ll be updating this blog regularly with the growth that I’m sure to experience in these next few months of ministry, and with the stories and reflections that come up along the way. 

Until then,

Laura Lynn