First Sunday in Advent

Today Advent begins. I preached an Advent sermon today at the Iringa Christian Fellowship.
This is a group of English speakers that live in Iringa (from all over the world) who gather twice a month to worship together in English. I was asked to preach at the service, which was a lot of fun! It made me realize that I am missing that role in my life and will be ready and refreshed to return to ministry.

Today I preached about the Vine and the Branches from John. Not your typical Advent scripture, I know. But, since I got to pick what I wanted : ) It was fun to preach to a whole new group of people, especially focusing on the idea of “Abide in me and my words abide in you.” As we begin a new cycle of the church year, I reflect on how important it is to take this time, to be still and listen to how God calls us to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Christ child. The cycle of life and death, growth and dormancy have come to me in a new way this season.

Each year in Minnesota this cycle has been characterized by fall. The cooling temperature, trees dropping leaves, birds migrating south. Then winter, where the plants are buried in snow (hopefully) and we humans hibernate in our own way. Yet here, 7 degrees south of the equator, the same cycle rings true but in can be seen in a very different way. When we arrived here the dry season was at the end. When we went on Safari there was very little green in the bush, animals were digging and scrounging for water, and a few hardy flowers were all that was to be found.  Although when we arrived in September the Jacaranda Trees were in full bloom-look up the images on Google and you can see why they have planted so many of these trees that bloom at the end of the dry season to usher in the coming of spring. It is now Tanzania’s spring-the coming of the rains and with rains comes green. The mountains have changed color overnight and it has been amazing to watch the transformation.


Gathering for worship at the Iringa Christian Fellowship



As we begin the new church year and begin to prepare our hearts and minds for Christmas it is odd and yet a bit refreshing to try to do it in a country that does not have the shopping malls, endless adds on the TV (remember we don’t even have a TV), and corny songs on the radio (sorry if you are a fan of “Grandma got run over by a Reindeer”). Yet, at the same time we are missing some of our regular Christmas traditions with our family and friends. It will be strange not to worship with our church family on the Wednesday nights in Advent. It was sad to miss the annual Lefsa making with my family after Thanksgiving (hope Stacy didn’t train in her new recruits too well. We all want our rolling, flipping and eating spots back next year).

We have managed to bring a few of our traditions from back home to here in Iringa. One of the traditions that Dale and I started when Caleb was just a toddler was moving the characters from a small nativity set around the house each night before we went to bed. We would talk about how they were journeying to Bethlehem. As the kids grew older we would talk about how they were waiting to get to Bethlehem to see the miracle that happened there…just like we were waiting for the birth of Jesus on Christmas. Last week, when we were talking about Advent-the kids were surprised that I had not thought ahead to bring the nativity with us when I was packing back in September (what was I thinking???). So being the creative group that they are Annica and Tobie created all the characters from the Nativity out of Toilet Paper Tubes, paper, and markers. Caleb used his duct tape expertise to construct a stable out of tubes and a cardboard box. So tonight at our dinner table, we lit the first candle of the advent candles we collected and the kids found places for the different characters to begin their journey to Bethlehem. They even made Noel and Sharon each a sheep to join in the journey.



Mary, Joseph and the donkey on top of a picture frame

 

The Shepherd and the Angel at Target Field



The Three Kings on a very tall giraffe

The Stable in Bethlehem awaiting the arrival of the Savior

We have found these last few weeks to be a strange time. Caleb and I were talking at the end of last week about how normal our life is feeling here.  We have created space in our apartment. We have gotten used to life without things like radio and TV and don’t think about it. We have a routine of school, teaching, market, sports-that brings a certain rhythm to our lives. The rhythm of Minnesota feels very far away. Yet, we talk often about going home. Who we are going to see, what we are going to do, what food we look forward to eating. It is a strange back and forth-knowing we are going to miss so much of what we have discovered about life in Iringa. But also being ready to rediscover through new eyes, our life in Minnesota. It will take a while to process what we have learned.

Part of the reason I haven’t blogged for a while is that I have been trying to put into words some of my thoughts about Tanzania and the amazing people here. I have decided that some of these thoughts will have to wait until I get home. Until I have had time to process and pray. So maybe the blogging won’t end right after we get home. I still feel God has much to teach me.

Blessing to all back home on your Advent journey. May you find a way to "Be Still" and listen. Listen for the sighs of the mother-heavy with child. Listen for the wings of the angels-come to tell the amazing news. Look for the twinkling of star-light glowing brighter to give glory to a baby that will change our world forever.

Carrie