Back at the Vine

Dorothy was the first person this morning at the Vine Church other than staff that I recognized. I walked up and said, "You're still here!" I actually meant that she was still attending....but in her mid-eighties she said, "Yep, I'm still kicking"..... :o) It's been 4 and a half years since I left The Vine Church to head off for the school of worship in Colorado. With Restoration launching NEXT SUNDAY, I took a morning to visit the old turf, to lead worship and catch up with some old friends.  Little ones are much taller, hair styles are different, and there are a few more babies thrown in the mix....but oh so good to see familiar faces! I love seeing how God is moving through that community on Gallows Rd....

I started blogging back in the early days of The Vine's launch, it's been fun to read back through them, see what I chose to share about our telephone campaigns, learning tech, working on the parking lot.  I wish that blog was still active, but alas....

The mantra of these days: When everything's the same and everything is different. While so much of life is familiar, there is much that has evolved and shifted and my own perspective has grown in the absence.  It is a beautiful and sometimes heart pulling season. It is transition, resettling, charging forward....things get real starting Sunday.....!!!!

too many ellipses and no pictures...classic......

Mitch's 1st Christmas

Merry Christmas Friends!!! It was a strange holiday for me, the past few years have been consumed with marathon days of worship services and traveling and getting sick somewhere in the midst of it all. But this year, it was restful, full of family and thankfulness for time spent here and now. AND Mitch's present was the experience of an honest to goodness Christmas for the first time! While he's slept under Christmas trees and watched me wrap presents, he's spent the last eight years living in basements or apartments or somewhere that the joyous present exchange and meal eating and family gathering wasn't happening.

So we broke him out of the shed for an evening of revelry last night. He didn't know what to make of all the paper and bows and excitement. He spent time under the tree, running around the house, and had to take a couple of breaks on the porch.

He unwrapped his own present of some catnip mice which kept him entertained for awhile.

And later passed out next to me on the couch.... it was all just. too. much.

He may be my middle aged, chubby cat. But oh, I die of his cuteness.

Merry Christmas!

Celebrate Christmas 2014

There is something magical about bundling up, gathering together, and singing Christmas carols in the open and in Saturday night's case: quite chilly air. Restoration Church held it's first Celebrate Christmas, a singalong at the Reston Town Center.We set up shop next to the Christmas tree and directly across from the ice skating rink. Horse carriage rides departed from our left, and the town center was full of holiday shoppers. I stood on a small platform and we ran the speaker and microphone off of a car battery.....brilliant! Tim jumped up a couple of times to welcome people and invite everyone to our upcoming first service. We handed out songbooks and hot chocolate and even had a visit from Santa to take pictures and give out candy canes.

It was a bit.....cold. :o) My fingers alternated between feeling numb and burning as I played the chords I had spent the past couple of weeks memorizing. Sidenote: There are so many chords in christmas songs!!! We sang for the better part of an hour, many of the classics: Let it Snow, Rudolph, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen...the list goes on. I threw in a little Let It Go, first apologizing to the all the parents, but to the absolute delight of every girl in the crowd who boldly and confidently sang out!

We are only a week and a half away from our first launch service!!!!!!! Ahh! This is happening, for reals. Let there be much celebrating and rejoicing this Christmas cause afterwards, it's time to get to work! Merry Christmas Friends!!!

Desert Bones- New Song

Today I share a song I've been working on since my time spent in Arizona, it feels far from finished, but it also feels important to share, to say, I'm working on this, I'm processing and praying.....and singing. I remain continually bothered by the stories and images of undocumented border crosser deaths. In Pima County where we spent our week back in October, there is on average around 175 bodies found in the desert per year. And that's just the bones and remains that are found....how many more are up on the mountain ridges or buried and scattered by animals and weather? How many families are left wondering where their sons and daughters and fathers and sisters are?

I have so many questions....what leads a person to view their only viable option as a dangerous journey across the sand in the heat of an Arizona summer? What can we do? How do we learn to live with the ache that this happens, that people die. alone. 

So here goes nothing. On today, which the UN recognizes as International Migrant Day, I offer up this fledgling new song.....Desert Bones

Also, the "map of the desert" is an online interactive map through Humane Borders.... You can find it here.

When Arizona Comes to You

Arizona sat across the table from me at Union Station last night. More specifically, Jim Wiltbank, pastor of St Francis in the Foothills UMC, here in DC for a couple of days for meetings on behalf of those currently in sanctuary within churches...I wrote about meeting Francisco during my time in Tucson a couple of months ago, a gentle and humble man seeking to have his final deportation orders removed so that he can safely remain with his family. In Francisco's case, he clearly falls under eligibility of the President's recent executive order: He has been in the United States for 18 years, has five children who are US citizens and has held the same job for over a decade. The challenge is that the executive order won't come into play for another six months and without some sort of documentation that protects Francisco from being deported...well, it is much safer for Francisco in Arizona to remain inside St Francis in the Foothills. So last night over double chocolate chip cookies and bottled water, Jim and I caught up on the past couple of months. He shared about the meetings that had happened, the upcoming meetings of today with DHS, and how Francisco is doing. I talked about my recent move to Reston (only a week and a half ago!) and I confessed I found it hard to share about my time in Arizona; that it felt risky, that I was wrestling with the songs to write, what to say, when to say it. 

The strength of Jim Wiltbank is most profoundly felt through his encouragement. Mormon missions turned elementary school teacher turned Methodist pastor, this man understands the power of relationship, listening and good stories. He told me the best adventures are ones where we jump and build our wings as we fall....so SCARY! 

I'm not sure why I've been holding so tightly to the story of my time in Arizona. Maybe I don't like how vulnerable it makes me feel? How broken I still am that people die in the desert? I tucked it away under the guise of life and moving and taking on a new job. But the past month and a half peeled away as I sat with Jim last night. It didn't matter that we were in the nation's capital, thousands of miles away, sixty degrees colder....my heart was flooded with the moments of the desert.

Friends, may we not shy away from the risky things God calls us to, may we lean in and press on.

Read More in the Arizona Series

Communion at the Border

Day 1: The Day We Probably Should Have Been Stopped By Border Patrol

Day 2: Settling in and Making Plans

Day 3: The Day of No Pictures

Day 4: Nogales, A Border Town

Day 5: The Reality of the Desert

Day 6: Water is Life

Day 7: Sanctuary at St Francis in the Foothills UMC

A Kind of Big Announcement

Well, here's some big news that is being announced today.....I've accepted a worship leading position with Restoration Church, a united methodist church plant launching in Reston, VA!!!!! I led for a couple of the preview services this fall and I'm really excited for what God is doing through this new community.Today is the third and final preview service, in our "permanent" worshipping location of Forest Edge Elementary School..... we are planning a Christmas concert at the Reston Town Center for December 20th and then we launch weekly services the first week of January!

As I've been sharing the news with friends, the first question I get asked is, "how far is that from your family?" :o) Reston is a little over two hours from Colonial Beach, more if there is heavy traffic....which is almost always. So Mitch and I will be moving from the Shed early next year and making our home back outside of Washington D.C. Until then, I'll be doing a bit of guest room/couch surfing and getting to know a new area of Northern Virginia.  I love that church planting is all about meeting people and making friends....sounds perfect! I also am excited to be working alongside Tim Ward.....a great pastor with a heart for reaching people.

You can learn more about Restoration Church here.  And to my friends who live outside of Virginia.... the D.C. metro line has just extended the silver line out to Reston, and Dulles Airport is super close. I promise to buy a comfy couch so you can come visit in style!!!

Arizona, Beyond Borders Tour

Darci and I talked on the phone today. The first question I asked, "Was it really only a week ago that I left you in Tucson to catch your plane while I met up with my dad?" If time can expand, implode on itself and expand again....well, it's been one of those weeks. I find myself back in the "normal"....if living in your parents backyard in a small river town can be called that. But it's my normal and I am thankful for these past few days of cuddling with Mitch, catching up on television episodes of the past five weeks, and hanging out with the family. There is much to process and unpack and I'm not sure how to start sharing about Arizona. I brought faces and names and stories home with me and left a piece of my heart among the desert cacti. To be so openly welcomed and cared for and shown....

I thought to compile the posts here, a table of contents of sorts, to keep this journey organized and growing as time goes on....here goes nothing.

Pre Trip

When You Have More Questions Than Answers

My First Immigration Vigil

The Road Trip

And So It Begins

The House Concert Leg (Va to IN to IL)

Driving the Countryside (IL to KS)

Colorado

Wyoming to Utah

Every Night a Different Home

The Pacific Ocean

Peace and Justice Studies Association Conference 2014

Arizona

Communion at the Border

Day 1: The Day We Probably Should Have Been Stopped By Border Patrol

Day 2: Settling in and Making Plans

Day 3: The Day of No Pictures

Day 4: Nogales, A Border Town

Day 5: The Reality of the Desert

Day 6: Water is Life

Day 7: Sanctuary at St Francis in the Foothills UMC

AZ Odds and Ends: San Xavier Mission

One afternoon, on our way from one adventure to another, Darci and I stopped off at San Xavier Mission, a still in use Roman Catholic Church which dates all the way back to 1692.

Well, that is when the mission was originally started, the building was built from 1783-1797.  It features beautiful paintings, statues, and icons.

The room holds such reverence. The old, dark pews invite one to sit and gaze at the walls, the ceiling, the altar. A moment spent in prayer and reflection even as a tourist sidles up the aisle to snap a quick photo. The smell of incense wafts through from the rows of candles lit off to one side. It is a step back in time, to Spain on North America. Beautiful.

The brief half hour we spent wandering the Mission in the hot, arid Arizona afternoon was a welcome break in the midst of our week long immigration immersion. There is a small museum, gift shop, and gorgeous courtyard that overlooks the mountains...... a beautiful breath.

Read More in the Arizona Series

Communion at the Border

Day 1: The Day We Probably Should Have Been Stopped By Border Patrol

Day 2: Settling in and Making Plans

Day 3: The Day of No Pictures

Day 4: Nogales, A Border Town

Day 5: The Reality of the Desert

Day 6: Water is Life

Day 7: Sanctuary at St Francis in the Foothills UMC