christmas eve

It's Christmas eve and I'm missing Christmas in Seattle. In about an hour there will be candlelight service at presby and I miss old friends. I miss the post-candlelight dinner with family and the peace of driving in the quiet streets to family houses.
However in missing Christmas in seattle I have to remember not to overlook the new friendships and traditions started here. We had a wonderful time with our candlelight celebrations and plenty of new friends to celebrate with. And Christmas is beautiful with fresh snow, crisp air and bright lights. I do miss family. It's our first Christmas away from everyone. But I am happy to be a part of the lives of the people here and to celebrate with them as well. With the wonders of technology,
the distance doesn't seem as far. Needless to say I think we'll be spending a lot of time on Skype tomorrow. Better fire up that webcam. Merry Christmas!

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digging out

we had about 5-6 inches of snow last night. This was the second snow storm with significant accumulations this season. So I spent some time this afternoon clearing the walkways in front of the house and clearing the path to the mailbox.
internships are suppose to prepare you for the work you will be doing once you start your vocation for real. Who knew that shoveling snow during my internship at presby was in preparation for me to be a pastor in here... it was rather prophetic preparation to say the least!

advent

For the four Sundays in advent I am doing a sermon series focusing on the person of Jesus, entitled "What Child is This?" that coincides with the advent candles (prophet, Bethlehem, shepherds and angels). The first week I dealt with Jesus as more than just a prophet, asking the question Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say I am?" This past Sunday I spoke on why Jesus came to us a king in a manger, and the intimacy of God knowing who we are and identifying with us by coming to us in such a lowly manner. Next week is Jesus as the good shepherd. For the fourth week I'm focusing on Jesus as the good news the angels proclaimed.
I know there is a lot more theological depth to plunge into when you're talking about the person of Jesus and christology, but I have found it refreshing to try to keep things simple... not throwing a lot of theological baggage around. And that is refreshing, not worrying about who said what about this or that, but simply letting Jesus be Jesus. It is probably easier said than done - we always bring something from ourselves when we think about Jesus - but if we let the text speak, I think we can come to some fresh perspectives on Jesus, especially during this advent season.

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whether weather

Sorry for not being so diligent in updating my blog. It's almost a given. if you have a blog you don't update it... i've been busy with Thanksgiving and now were in full swing with Advent.
Anyway, for the past week or so i've been rather obsessed with the weather. The temperature has dropped and it has barely broken over freezing once or twice over the past couple of weeks. i've been going to NOAA a lot to check the forecasts and to watch the doppler radar to see if there's snow coming. Last week we were suppose to get some snow, but the storm pretty much missed us. However, today we got our first significant snow of the season. It's been snowing all day. there must be about 3 inches on the ground now. Unfortunately, i think it's too cold for the kids to go out and play. Plus, it's powder snow, so it's not really good snowball snow :{