With the Measure You Use

Today we covered lots of old ground in our sessions and the section on "Generosity" was definitely old ground - or at least it should have been - but it moved me in a new way. Which all goes to show, its sometimes worth recovering old ground!

The textbook notes were brief:

One expecially relevant principle to study is that of generosity. Generosity is a key indicator of our trust in God. Generosity is an expression of faith that is uniquely blessed by God.

• Luke 6:38 "For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
• Proverbs 11:25 "... he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."
• Proverbs 22:9 "A generous man will himself be blessed..."
• Proverbs 19:17 "He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and He will reward him..."
• Malachi 3:8-12 "Test me in this... and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven..."

CONCLUSION:

Philippians 4:12 - We are to be content.

Philippians 4:17 - Our focus should not be on getting support as much as giving partners an opportunity for blessing.

Philippians 4:19 - Ultimately God is our Source - not our methods, not our partners, not our own hands.

Luke 6:38 We should be generous.

I'm still thinking about the questions, especially that last one: What are attitudes and actions that need changing if any? It's old ground and I do aim at generosity... but I wonder how often I hit it?! I think I need to start using a larger measure.

Just a Little Snow!

We had a brief respite from the snow last week. John did a lot of shoveling right up until we flew out on Monday morning for a workshop down in Chiba. (We usually say "Tokyo" - that appellation encompasses for us the entire black hole of Tokyo's long reach.)

John on the roof at home

When we arrived it felt like spring! But yesterday it actually snowed. Just a little skiff and even that half melted over night.

Imagine our surprise today at Chapel of the Adoration when the unusually low attendence today was attributed to the snow. In Aomori most of us attend church even if we have to brave a raging blizzard. I guess my sister's right. It's all a question of perspective!

Tokyo's Show Stopping Snow

It was kind of hard to sympathize!

We're now half way through OMF's 10 day Pre-Home Assignment Workshop. (Also known as PHAW.) I attended the first work shop 6 years ago and dragged John a long to this one. So many of our favorite colleagues are here that I think he's forgotten that he didn't want to go when I first suggested it. However, it's a little more work than I remembered!

Lecture with facilitator Bryan Thompson

I had thought I would catch up on the mail - at long last! And maybe hunt up a few friends and my Russian teacher (who just moved down at Christmas.) But I'm finding the homework assignments a bit stiff - lots of writing which should be fun for me but somehow isn't ...

Workshop facilitators Wendy Gerster and Barry Potter

But its still a refreshing break - an opportunity to rethink ministry on both sides of world. Its a time to regain perspective.

Be Thinkers

I'm in the middle of reading Wild Swans - yet again! - and I'm definitely a one track reader, but tonight I'm tempted to take up my husband's habit of reading several books at the same time. I want to start in on another round of Jane Austen.

Tonight was the opening night for "Pride and Prejudice and we just came back from the Late Show. (The only show we can afford.) It was rather late for analyzation and deep discussion, although Sarah Anne certainly tried. It was such a very different presentation of our favorite book... GORGEOUS scenery, beautiful music, some fairly well done characterizations. But I think they kind of skimped on the dialogue - I missed that Jane Austen wit.

It was particularly interesting after listening to Jerram Barrs lecture on Jane Austen just last night. We logged onto www.bethinking.org for the first time this week. Among the many interesting offerings our favorites were four lectures of Jerram Barr's on: Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Tolkien and Harry Potter.

Its much too late at night for blogging...

Why I still prefer Candle Services

I've had the photo for this entry in draft for nearly a month now. I finally wrote up the story of the photo for PHAW (Pre-Home Assignment Workshop) this week and though its not quite what I meant to write for my blog, it will do.

1981, 1982…, by 1983 I had begun to wonder if God would take my worthless life to free my husband for more fruitful service. Such strange thoughts are long behind me now. But as I flip through our photo albums the old snapshots bring it all back.

The Christmas I got left at home

I had planned to be a female Hudson Taylor, another Isabel Kuhn, but within months of leaving language school I was harboring the heretical thought: Does God really mean for a Christian’s life to be a round of endless meetings and busy-ness?

When we moved to Aomori I had thought, “At last, the real thing!” But with two toddlers in tow it looked a little different than I had imagined. The Sunday morning church service was one long struggle with 3 noisy, wiggly children. A really full church schedule no longer seemed desirable. In fact, I began to see the frantic side of church life and our third Christmas in Japan epitomized it all.

With a view to evangelizing as many people as possible the church had planned a large meeting with a buffet to which every possible contact was invited. I don’t remember the program but the numbers were truly impressive - so impressive that my friend and I didn’t get any dinner! I supposed it was all for the cause of Christ, but somehow it didn’t feel like it. I looked forward to the quiet Christmas Eve dinner for Church Family. When my senior colleagues announced that I should stay home to make room for seekers my despair deepened. It seemed I was definitely of marginal worth. Were the only people of value seekers and busy harvesters?

I suppose the light dawned more slowly, but I still remember the flash of insight that came a few Christmases later as I watched some missionary children perform an impromptu Christmas pageant and I saw my little daughters eyes sparkle as she gazed rapturously into the candlelight. There is definitely more to the Christian life than endless meetings and busyness. Christmas isn’t about what we do (even for Christ), but about what He does for us.

Carnations in Winter

I read old Reader's Digests in the tub. Of course, now that they've bought into the present trend in media geared for people with the attention span of an ant I don't find it nearly as satisfying as it used to be. I don't even really read it any more - I just glance through. Sad, but this way I'm rarely tempted to stay in the bath too long!

So I was glancing through an old issue last night when my eyes lit on these words:

"Smell is a potent wizard

that transports us across a thousand miles

and all the years we have lived."

- Helen Keller

Somehow I thought immediately of carnations in winter... and I was indeed transported across the miles and down the years. I saw our wedding cake - that must have been the first time I ever really SAW a carnation. Then in another split second I found I'd traveled down the years, through all our anniversaries, to the almost tropical smell of the florist shop, the fragrance of carnations in a cold car - we foolishly married during the Christmas vacation - and memories of licking cream cheese frosting off the carnations... so many, many memories bound up in just that one fragrance!

December 27, 1975

(Notice the influence of Zefferelli's "Romeo & Juliet")

It's now 30 years since my first experience of carnations. I could be Churchillish and say thirty years of "blood, sweat and tears". That might be a bit melodramatic, but I would like to point out that if I'd held to the current views of my generation we would have called it quits rather early on. And that would be sad because it's definitely been worth it all!

For our anniversary this year I put together a slide show - threw together might be more acurate(!) since my energies were directed toward the 9 Lessons and Carols - of the highlights of those 30 years which we presented on Christmas day after the English worship service in Itayanagi. (If you want to see the slides click HERE.)

Abby sang, Sarah made a cake which wasn't quite on the scale of my sister's masterpieces but still quite delicious, and Yuko bought flowers (including carnations) to publicly mark God's gracious preservation of our union so far.

Mary, Yuko, Luke & Sarah wishing us a "Happy Anniversary"

(On the 27th John and I celebrated privately at Sendai Korona World with an Onsen and Kaiten Sushi.)

Moving Tradition

Other Elliot Christmas Traditions include... sushi and presents on Christmas Eve and breakfast in our stockings on Christmas morning. But traditions move and change with time and circumstance and with Christmas falling on a Sunday there obviously wasn't going to be any time for a leisurely breakfast on Sunday. (My husband had to preach at the 8 AM service in Goshogawara as well as the 10:30 AM service in Ajigasawa and the 6:30 PM service in Itayanagi.) So we moved it all forward and had our sushi - temaki sushi this year - afterwe got home from the Christmas Party at Goshogawara Church on the 3rd.

Sarah, Yuko & Luke, Shirley, Huan Huan, Abby, John, Mary, me and John

I think we originally started eating sushi because it was fast. We had to get to church and our kids were hungry, so I ran next door to the 24 hour convenience store and grabbed what looked the tastiest and easiest. (Instant noodles were out of the question.) Then we ate and ran.

The Christmas Eve we ate sushi (1980)

After the kids started leaving

but before we started having "extras".

Somewhere along the line it started having very little to do with convenience and everything to do with feeling like Christmas.

As for breakfast in our Christmas stockings... John's little sister gave Luke and Anna Christmas stockings but with no Santa Claus tradition I was a bit flummoxed. We didn't want to ignore her gift but we weren't about to introduce Santa just to use the stockings. I don't know what made me think of breakfast... maybe because morning is the traditional time for stockings. But its been breakfast ever since. But Sarah fills the stockings now.