[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC4TP_KBEvM]
Invitacion Fountain
Michael J. Pritzl
Let all who are weak
All who are weary
Come to the Rock
Come to the Fountain
All who have sailed
On the rivers of heartache
Come to the sea
Come on, and be set free
If you lead me Lord, I will follow
Where you lead me Lord, I will go
Come and heal me Lord, I will follow
Where you lead me Lord, I will go
I will go, I will go,
Thanks to grandpa and grandma being quick on their feet I’m a professional wii bowler dude. It’s pretty cool. It’s a family event. I now get why people are freaking out over the WIIWIIWII.
I served with a pastor who really enjoyed the poetry of Ann Weems. I came across this poem and read it last night in our Christmas Eve candle light service.
Into the wild and painful cold of the starless winter night
came the refugees, slowly making their way to the border.
The man, stooped from age or anxiety,
hurried his small family through the wind.
Bearded and dark, his skin rough and cracked from the cold,
his frame looming large in spite of the slumped shoulders;
He looked like a man who could take care of whatever
came at them. . .
from the dark.
Unless of course there were too many of them,
One man he could handle, two, even. . . .but a border patrol, . . .
they wouldn’t have a chance.
His eyes, black and alert,
darted from side to side, then over his shoulder,
then back again forward.
Had they been seen?
Had they been heard?
Every rustle of the wind, every sigh from the child,
sent terror though his chest.
Was this the way?
Even the stars had been unkind—
had hidden themselves in the ink of night
so that the man could not read their way,
Only the wind. . . . was it enough?
Only the wind and his innate sense of direction. . .
What kind of cruel judgement that would be,
to wander in circles through the night?
Or to safely make their way to the border,
only to find the authorities waiting for them?
He glanced at the young woman, his bride.
No more than a child herself,
she nuzzled the newborn, kissing his neck.
she looked up caught his eye and smiled.
Oh how the homelessness had taken its toll on her!
Her eyes were red, Her young face was lined,
her lovely hair matted from inattention.
her clothes stained from milk and baby,
her hands chapped from the raw wind of winter.
She’d hardly had time to recover from childbirth
when word had come that they were hunted,
and they fled with only a little bread,
and the remaining wine,
and a very small portion of cheese.
Suddenly, the child began to make small noises,
the man drew his bread in sharply:
the woman quietly put the child to breast.
Fear . . . .long dread-filled moments . . . .
Huddled the family stood still in the long silence.
At last the man breathed deeply again,
reassured they had not been heard.
and into the night continued
Mary, Joseph and the Babe.
Please Santa…can I have this…
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=WetVXbYRfWk]
Thank you Santa!
Friends, one of my No. CAL pastor buds is celebrating with his wife the gift of a third child. Send Steve and his wife a special greeting.
Last Tuesday our food bank served 78 families. The Sunday prior to the food bank I shared with the church we needed over 60 turkeys. I’m blown away that when you put a call out for a need people respond.
A couple of things happened since last week. One of our members was in the post office and found a one hundred dollar bill. He says, “did anyone loose a hundred dollar bill?” A little old lady came up to him and said, “it’s your lucky day.” The member comes to the church office and hands me a hundred dollar bill and says, “use this for the turkeys.”
Another member calls last week and says, “my son knows where to get some turkeys and hams wholesale.” She finds out she can’t get the turkeys, but can get the hams. We needed approximately sixty hams at around 600.00 dollars. The same member says this past Sunday morning that we raised almost enough money from donations from people in the church and living in the community.
Two of the donations were from the chamber of commerce and a hardware store.
This Tuesday we have another food bank. I think things are going to be okay.
Its a special moment when community “literally” comes together to help do God’s ministry.
And people are still bringing turkeys.
nice.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xu8lf7kUxMk]
Our little community church got some free advertising in the community at a recent Christmas parade in Lancaster CA. One of the neat things about the Antelope Valley is that there is a small town feel although the valley is supposed to grow to something like a half million folks by 2025. Thanks to Jeff for entering his 64 1/2 mustang as a participant in the parade.
What a year! I am blown away that this year has gone so fast. It was just yesterday that I was flying back and forth from Sacramento. We’re in a really cool church. The Lord is definitely at work in our church. I can’t help but think that it was just yesterday that my family and I moved into our new home that God indeed made happen. Our kids are slowly enjoying the change from Sacramento. We do miss Sacto lots, but its nice to be near family and friends. The kids have actually made some friends in our neighborhood. Friends they go to school with. The neighborhood we were living in Sacramento had no kids which the kids still comment about often. As a solo pastor I’ve learned more about what it means to serve Christ and the church than I ever did as a youth pastor. It’s a roller coaster of emotions. The day to day stuff and the joy I have in being the one in the pulpit is kind of cool. I’ve learned a whole about pastoral care. Something neat possibly in the new year is that the church is currently pondering a first phase of building a new church. Between learning about conditional use permits and county bureaucracy its been fun learning and listening to what God might be doing. The leaders I serve with have a heart for Christ and care about the community. Just recently we talked about all ministry being God’s ministry. The leaders have been very supportive of the new possibilities for ministry. We are doing some cool things and have some cool ideas for ministry in the near future. We saw one Hispanic ministry move on to another church and we welcomed a new Hispanic ministry from the Covenant Church to use our worship space. They are a neat group of spirit filled followers of Jesus. We just recently welcomed a Korean fellowship to use our worship space on a weekly basis. Again, two groups listening to God’s call to go out into the world. What’s neat is that we’ve talked about doing a joint worship service on Christmas Eve. The Hispanic church every Sunday evening has a feast and yours truly walked into the office on Monday and was blessed with a gift of a plate of “pupusas.” YUMMY! I can’t help but think that my role as a pastor is to help folks look down, look up, and look forward. Isn’t this what advent is about? Looking down at God’s Word, looking up to God, and looking forward to what God has planned for us as his children? Now the question is how to do this when all of us get caught in the busyness of the season?