Advent

The Work of Christmas Begins

Advent -

I know that I have posted this in the past, but it’s still just as good. Let us begin the work that we are called to. The Work of Christmas by Howard Thurman When the song of angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock, The work of Christmas begins; To find the lost, To heal the broken, To feed the hungry, To release the prisoner, To rebuild the nations, To bring peace among brothers, To make music in the heart.

Advent Light

Advent, Thinking About God -

Something deep in our souls longs for a light in the dark. At Christmas it spills out on Christmas trees, and advent wreaths. We  desperately want to believe the words that angels proclaim in the night. This Christmas I feel like the night is dark. I am carrying burdens. My heart aches for the girl with no safe home, and for the man who has fallen again into the addiction he hates.  My stomach turns at the poverty and desperation. The world groans under the weight of the darkness. Is this the groan that God heard from heaven on high? The cries of humanity thrown out into the night? He would not stand by. Divinity would step down, down into the groaning darkness and be born as a mortal child. God born like us. […]

Christmas Sponsors Needed!

Advent, Fundraising, Holidays -

Many of the children and adults that we work with each week have nowhere to go for Christmas, and no family to celebrate with. Would you consider helping us to celebrate the season with them in El Salvador by donating or sponsoring some of the items on our list? All donations are tax-deductible. Simply indicate that your gift is for “Christmas 2013.” For info on how to donate, click here. Email us at info@missiontoelsalvador.com  if you have questions or want more information. We need sponsors for the following items: -Christmas dinner for trafficking survivors that we work with (approximately 30 people), and gifts for 20 girls included in that ministry -Christmas dinner for homeless men, women, and teenagers (approximately 40 people) -Christmas dinner and fireworks for CISNA boys’ center -boxers and socks men’s […]

24 Hours of Christmas

Advent, Crossing Cultures, Family, Holidays, Third Culture Kids -

We hope that all of our friends and family around the world had a very Merry Christmas! We began celebrating on the evening of the 24th, as is the tradition in El Salvador. We started out by going to a party in our neighborhood, then on to another friends’ home for dinner around 10:00, and then visited more friends close to midnight. We arrived home in time to watch fireworks all over the city from our terrace, and then we slept for a few hours before waking up  early to celebrate “American” Christmas by opening presents, swimming with friends, and eating Christmas dinner. We were also blessed to have our friend Roberto celebrating with us on the 24th and 25th.  By around 8pm on Christmas we were wiped out! Here are […]

Peace Without End – Advent Week Four

Advent, Holidays, Justice, Thinking About God -

  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” ISAIAH 9: 6-7 From our family to yours- We wish you a Merry Christmas filled with the Hope, Love, and Joy that can only be found through God’s Peace…a peace that lasts forever, a peace that knows no end.

Choosing Joy – Advent Week Three

Advent, Thinking About God -

“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices…” Our world is weary. Turn on the television, or scan the internet headlines. Schoolchildren gunned down in the U.S., refugees suffering in Syria, rapes, murders, torture…the list grows long and we are weary. Or look around your family, your friends. Divorce, cancer, distances growing ever farther between parent and child, brother and sister, friend. A still ultrasound, a diagnosis, a loss. A world, so weary. Our world needs a thrill of hope, a reason to rejoice. How can joy be found in the weariness and through the pain? How can joy be found when the night is long, and the light is dim, and the hope is lost? When joy is lost, it can still be chosen. That is the miracle of Christmas. That God came […]

A Scandalous Love – Advent Week Two

Advent, Holidays, Thinking About God -

By all accounts, it’s a scandal. The son of a king surrounded by animals, in a feeding trough. His royal bed slimed with slobber and moldy bits of hay. Not in a cradle, not with a royal choir. But humble and poor, born with a cry into a lonely night far from home. He was not welcomed by the best doctor in the land, but by a scared, in-over-their-heads young couple. It makes no sense…how could the king allow it? For Love. A God born as a man, walking around with human feet that have toes that can be stubbed. A man who gets colds, and headaches. God looking through human eyes at a human world with all of its smells, and sadness, and less-than-Godness. For Love. He came, he put […]

Dare to Hope – Advent Week One

Advent, Holidays, Justice, Thinking About God, Urban Ministry -

“..the world in silent stillness lay…” A dark world, a hopeless world, a world that had just about given up. Just about given up on a Savior, on a change, on something to believe in. A world that wondered what happened to God, and why He seemed to have left them. A world trampled by an occupying army, heavy with injustice, thick with unmet longings, and unrealized dreams. A world where hope seemed to have failed. This was the dark still world where Christ was born. A world where justice seemed to lose, and hearts were always broken. A world not so different from ours. But there were those who dared to hope, to dream, to take God at His Word. The Prophets, the widows, the beaten down, and the […]

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