As you are planning for Holy Week and for Good Friday, or even for an Easter Vigil, this PowerPoint presentation – which I posted last year – might be helpful.

• A silent presentation of the Passion of Christ Jesus (English and Spanish)

It’s bilingual, but should be easily edited if you have PowerPoint (and if you don’t, and would like it edited, let me know) to make it appropriate for your church situation.

In His Peace,
Tom

I will miss quite a few things when we move from Bolivia back to North Carolina in June – most of those “things” have something to do with the people who have impacted our lives for the past two years.  Some of these are fellow teachers (who have ruined other schools for me), some are missionaries from other agencies – SIM, International Justice Mission, Samaritan’s Purse, Word Made Flesh – some are locals (like the Peruvian guy who makes amazing croissants and looks like the world’s greatest grampa).

Many of these amazing people – not, unfortunately, the croissant man – are part of our little monthly “house church” we call Community Group.

This month (last night, to be exact), they blessed our socks off.

We had a Lenten prayer service, and I asked folks to come with scripture passages pertaining to prayer.  Also, instead of a linear list of prayers, I printed a number of diverse prayers (from prayers of pennance to ones of intercession, to praise and doxologies) from diverse sources, cut them out so folks could each take one to read as the Spirit led, and passed them out along with the service guide/songsheet.

What I expected to be kind of messy and disorganized (because of my own logistical failings) turned into a time of, not only prayer, but a spoken-word praise service.  A non-stop chorus of prayers and scriptures (many provided by our friends!) went up before the Throne of Grace for quite a while.

By the time that segment ended with the singing of John Michael Talbot’s “Only in God” (a song everyone should know), my spirit was soaring, and I was just so… thankful?… proud?… thrilled?… with the blessed community God has provided our family here in this faraway land.

Here’s a printout of the prayers, in case you’re curious.  These sheets were cut apart so each prayer was on a separate little sheet of paper. I found them collected in The Divine Hours by Phyllis Tickle, the Book of Common Prayer (especially Form V) and Listening Prayer by Leanne Payne.  I paraphrased or compressed a few of the prayers.

In His Peace,

Tom

Our little country has hit the big time, at least in terms of the anti-Christmas stance of their “Evangelical” Christians. Christianity Today had the following article today about how Bolivian Christians have pretty much rejected Christmas.  This is funny to us, since, at our school, we light the Advent candles, teach Christmas carols and have a huge Christmas program for the parents, and (as Anne has so astutely pointed out) not one parent has complained!  Anyway, here’s the article’s link; totally worth reading: “Always Summer, Never Christmas”.

When Christians don’t set aside a holy day for Christ’s birth, [South American Bishop, Frank] Lyons says, “I think the whole doctrine of the Incarnation is lost. We may refer to it every now and then, but the whole historical aspect of the faith that brings it into the present falls by the wayside.” – from the article

I was at a Christmas arts and crafts fair with my family today, and decided to get me a new instrument.  I’ve seen these around.  The ladies incorrectly told me it was called a quena-quena, which just is not so!  Turns out, with a little research, it’s called a moceño, and it’s got a nice sound.

For you music geeks, you can play a chromatic scale from F# to C#, and that seems to be it, so it’s a little limited as far as playing the usual repertoire.  But no matter.  It’s a lovely addition to my growing collection of stringed and wind instruments.

Well, now that the school-year is back up and running, the Fishers of La Paz (that’s me and my family) began inviting folks back for monthly English gatherings of good food and home-worship, what we’ve been calling Community Group.  Normally, CG consists of a good potluck meal, simple worship and small groups dispersing into various rooms of the house, sharing with one another about their walk with Christ and their lives in general.

But this week, to launch things a bit, we decided to simplify a bit.  We baked potatoes (a true feat here at 11,000-ft. La Paz!) for a potato bar; everybody brought something to put on the top, or drinks, salads and desserts.  Good stuff!  Then, instead of busting out the liturgy (which we are so excited to do next month!), we mingled, we met new people whom our friends had invited, and we played a couple goofy party games.

Very cool.  Had a great time.  Many carbs were enjoyed.

I think this kind of informal gathering, especially after lengthy vacations, is a great icebreaker.  Not only that, but it frees our “churched” friends to invite “unchurched” friends to have a great time with us!

If you don’t know me, I should start by saying that my wife, daughter and I have spent the past year (our first of two), in La Paz, Bolivia.  Anne and I both work at a Christian school here.

All things considered, the year was great.  I know I’ve grown closer to my girls (Anne and Avery) and to my Lord than ever before.  I’m so glad we responded to Christ’s (and our principal’s, an old friend) invitation to come.  Can’t wait till we start up again in August, quite frankly.

But tomorrow, while we pack for an early Tuesday morning flight, most of the rest of our dear friends with whom we have taught and labored these past 10 months will be heading out to Machu Pichu; having a 4-year old and major visa problems will discourage one from planning to take ridiculously long bus-rides across South America.

It’s so weird to have basically had nothing but these friends, these fellow laborers, these few dear faces day in and day out… just… leave.  There’s a gap, an emptiness.  As I told the one friend who is not coming back (Kristen, who served three years here and we don’t know what we’ll do without her), “This bites.”

My prayers have been pretty half-hearted today.  I love my Lord, and I so value my dear family (and I cannot wait for that plane ride and that first morning I wake up in Charlotte, NC!), but I just feel like part of me is not here with me anymore.

I told this one dude – a fellow first-year teacher – that I had not made a friendship like ours since I lived in Ohio a decade ago.  A decade.  And now I don’t get to see him for two months.  This bites.

God is good, all the time.  I know this.  And my troubles are small and comparatively trivial.  But, as the Joni Mitchell song goes, “I’m selfish and I’m sad…”.

And in this context, I will lift my eyes.  I will get up tomorrow and start my day as I normally do.  I will utter the words of the Psalmist: “For God alone, my soul in silence waits”.  And I will worship Him by washing the dishes and letting Him bring prayers to my mind.

And I will sit at His feet and do the service of Morning Prayer.  I will let the loneliness draw me into His presence and His arms.  And He will remind me of all the joys that fill my life:  Anne, Avery, friends, family, purpose and the cleansing of my sin.  Too many blessings to count in a lifetime.  He is worthy, so I will worship.  And He will minister to my spirit.

I just read a blog post by a guy who said it ain’t right to call God “Daddy”.  I gotta tell ya, I’ve never disagreed with any brother in Christ more than I do this guy, right now.  When I meet with God tomorrow, I’m not gonna just need a Father.  I’m gonna need a Daddy.

That’s all I got.  I’m spent.  Time to post.  Amen.

I told the folks at our monthly Community Group, “May’s meeting will be ‘bring your own worship’.” They were given an explanation, that it meant they could bring anything that they thought would build up our little body of believers. “… for the strengthening of the church” (1 Cor. 14:26 – NET)

I was given many responses, usually along the lines of, “I don’t know… I’m stuck… I’m not sure I have anything… that’s not my, um, thing, ya know?”

But, when the time came, they… well, they brought it. They really, really, brought worship!

Just a sampling: Abby (age 4) led us in “Hallelu, Hallelu”; songs of various types were shared both live and on mp3; Avery (age 4) did liturgical dance with Abby; quotes from Henri Nouwen were read; a 4th century prayer was read and reflected on (that was mine); Tim sang while his wife Whitney did a chalk-drawing of the Father carrying His weary child (see photo); testimonies were given.

In short, worship was brought and it built up Christ’s bride as she met in our living room. Amen.

Here’s how the night went:

As usual, we ate (this time, it was bring-an-appetizer-or-dessert). Eventually, the service started…

• Call to Worship: “Jesus Is King”

• Opening Prayer (Anne picked a prayer for unity from the Book of Common Prayer)

• 1 Cor. 14:26 was read corporately.

• We sang “How Firm a Foundation” and the “Sursum Corda” by Steve Hindalong and Terry Taylor, from the second City on a Hill CD (“Sing Alleluia”).

• A reader read John 17:20-26, and then 1 Peter 2:4-5 was read corporately.

• Special offerings of worship (mentioned above) were shared.

• We sang “The Lord Is Present Here” by Graham Kendrick and “At the Foot of the Cross” by Kathryn Scott.

• A reader read Psalm 133, and then Ephesians 5:18-20 was read corporately.

• More special offerings of worship (mentioned above) were shared.

• To involve the children more, we sang some kids’ songs: “Children, Jesus Loves You” and a song I wrote called “God of the Promise”.

• Avery led off the third portion of shared worship (mentioned above) with a liturgical dance to “A Little Talk with Jesus”. This last portion of shared worship was especially meaningful, involving some powerful music and testimonies.

• We had a time of prayer, which started by praying for one of the churches represented in our group which had lost a member to a long fight with cancer. What a sweet time of prayer!

• We ended with some more songs: “Lord, You’ve Been Good to Me” by Graham Kendrick and “We Are the Body of Christ” by Scott Wesley Brown.

• Dessert was had by all.