the advent season started out tough for club vision....... i did my first funeral ever....it was for baby bethany. the ngs, a young family at vision church lost their baby girl the same day she was born. they waited a month before they were maybe ready for a memorial service. not sure if they or anyone will ever be ready. and it will be a long, long time before they will feel anything but fogginess.
i tried to lead them and their friends in mourning.....but mourning with hope because as believers, death is not the end of the story. death is only part of the story. because of the love of god, he has provided us the gift of eternal life. when we think of faith, we think of having to earn our way but as followers of jesus, we have been taught that god has paid the way for us. our part is to live in response to his love for us and to follow him in that love. the gift of life forever is for anyone who calls out to this god and who put their lives in his hands.
we have seen god's love and goodness even in these days. we trust that there will be better days. we will see bethany again. this is not the end of the story.
there was also another level of bittersweetness as this was the last time i would lead services with my boy leonard chen. more next time.
some better days came later that night: club vision gathered for our annual fake christmas traditions. tree, christmas music, decorations and u2 concert video. this year, jeremy cooked a yummy pasta for us to feast on. also some crack rice pudding from rice to riches. weiling joined us later for the concert.....we watched a show from the joshua tree deluxe box set: a 1987 show from paris. we treat these shows like wine.....last year was 2005 show from barcelona. and of course, we are excited about u2 3d, a show from latin america and austrailia to be released on jan 25. i am grateful for this version of club vision.....a little something from the parts of my life from the past two decades.....weiling from the efcon party machine, jeremy from my maryland days and steph from nearby columbia. they decorated the tree and i topped it off in my spongebob squarepants pajamas. theresa is playing guitar hero on our wii.
hoping to grow club vision, but its about receiving who god has for us and not about making it happen. the best things in life are received as gifts and not earned. the next morning, it snowed in nyc. it has snowed on some very memorable days for us on the upper, upper west side. the day we moved in! the day our furniture from maryland was delivered! and now the day after our 2007 tree. when we move stuff in, it snows.
our ugly dolls were witnesses.
but enough fake christmas. here are some real christmas advent videos we've been playing at vision....i am behind in my blogging: week 1:
week 2:
week 3:
finally.....still watching a lot of movies a few more movie reviews for the holiday viewing period:
michael clayton is a smart thriller with some good performances. good
lawyers vs bad lawyers. the little guy verses the evil corporation.
george clooney is in the middle and has to decide who he is. and he's great though hard to watch him seriously post ocean's 11-13. and the
payoff of the movie is only ok. definitely a rental.
before the devil knows
you're dead is a case study in evil and sin and what the fruits of
greed, stealing, adultery, drugs and bad parenting are. that sounds too
academic. two brothers decide to rob a mom and pop shop and things go
wrong in the worst way. it becomes one of the most depressing movies
ever. but very real. moviemakers craft their version of the world; they are telling you what the world is like.....and this is what the world is like for some one out there. luckily, i've only come into contact with this world tangentally. don't bring your daughters to this one either.
into the wild is one of my favorite fall movies. see it in the theatre for the scenary and road tripping. head west, then south to mexico and trek up north to alaska. meet new folks that you'd actually want to meet(and a few you'd avoid). directed by sean penn, it tells the story of the fakeness of society('careers are a 20th century invention'), freedom, happiness....and god? a young man abandons his live of priviledge and disapears into the wild to discover freedom, happiness.....and you know who. not all happy, happy. but moments of joy throughout. beautiful.
