Christ’s love sees us with terrible clarity
Romantic love is blind to everything except what is lovable and lovely, but Christ’s love sees us with terrible clarity and sees us whole. Christ’s love so wishes our joy that it is ruthless against everything in us that diminishes our joy. The worst sentence Love can pass is that we behold the suffering which Love has endured for our sake, and that is also our acquittal. The justice and mercy of the judge are ultimately one.
- Frederick Buechner
Photo Friday
*Saturday and Sunday
*Staff Christmas Party/BCC Foyer
*Children’s Program/Rehearsal
*My Tree @ home (It Spins!!)
Winter Snow
(Chris Tomlin-feat. Audrey Assad)
Could’ve come like a mighty storm
With all the strength of a hurricane
You could’ve come like a forest fire
With the power of heaven in Your flame
But You came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below
You could’ve swept in like a tidal wave
Or an ocean to ravish our hearts
You could have come through like a roaring flood
To wipe away the things we’ve scarred
But You came like a winter snow
You were quiet
You were soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below
Oh, no, Your voice wasn’t in a bush burning
No, Your voice wasn’t in a rushing wind
It was still
It was small
It was hidden
You came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below
Falling
To the earth below
You came falling
From the sky in the night
To the earth below
Break the Chains
“Deeply ingrained in the collective psyche of Western culture is the notion that slavery ended in the nineteenth century. In our own day, however, a thriving underground market in human beings has emerged once again. More people are in slavery today than at any other time in human history, including all those seized from Africa during the four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave-trade. Modern-day slavery respects no borders. Therefore, it will take a sustained concerted abolition movement to end slavery once again. You may not have known this before, but now you do. You can be part of this movement. (taken directly from the Covenant Website)
On October 22nd, our students in 8th-12th grade focused their attention on the Biblical principals of Compassion, Mercy, and Justice. We did this because we want to make sure that we are giving them plenty of opportunities to put feet to their faith—in very practical and hands-on ways. Our focus that night was on Modern Day Slavery—specifically Human Trafficking. We chose this topic because our denomination is working hard to put an end to it. The Human Trafficking project has been initiated by Women Ministries and is a partnership between all Covenant Churches in an effort to develop awareness of and put a stop to human trafficking—this initiative is called Break the Chains. We spent a good amount of time reading the many Old Testament passages that deal with God’s view of injustice in our world. Together, we discussed what our response might be to this horrific reality and it was decided that we should raise $1000.00 to free one slave! If you are interested in learning more about Human Trafficking, please visit the Covenant website. If you are interested in donating money toward this cause, please contact me. Thanks for your interest and support.
New Office
I’m a visual/spacial kind of person. I like it when a room looks good, feels good, and sparks creativity. I’ve been working on redecorating my office for the past month so that it reflects more of who I am. Lately, I’ve been into “simple” things and natural things (I like finding ways to bring the outdoors in.) So I painted my walls a deep brown (formerly a buttery-beige.) I put up some cool window panels that look like tree trunks and I installed some doors on my bookshelves to hide the clutter (my favorite thing about my office!) I painted the bookshelves black and hung some of my favorite pictures from this past year. I also found a brass chandelier and spray painted it white (I’m not too sure if I like it yet…) Anyway, here are some pics I took today. Enjoy!
Feet to Faith 2008
bcc|youth took two trips this summer…the first one was an upperclassmen trip to Malaga Spain. Our second destination took our freshman right down the road to Seattle for an event called Feet To Faith. This week-long trip was designed to introduce our students to some of the Social Injustices in our neck of the woods. The day was split into four parts:
1] Early morning worship and topical seminar.
2] Afternoon experience related to the seminar.
3] Evening worship
4] Sleep!!
The topics we covered were International Justice Issues (clean water, food, lowering debt, etc.), immigration/refugee issues, creation-care, racism, and homelessness.
This trip put a spotlight on these issues, showed a Biblical perspective on each one, and more importantly-showed us what we can do as Christ Followers to be a part of the solution.
