A new round of Stay Strong, Stay Healthy classes is kicking off through the Sedgwick County Extension Office. This 8-week course is for ages 60+ and meets twice a week. Register here.

We have one more chance to join Winter Art Mania today at the Wichita Art Museum. Enjoy a fun movie, create a family masterpiece, and take a tour. Free from 11-3.

Did you know you can drop off your Christmas tree in the recycling area of Great Plains Nature Center’s parking lot? Your tree will be turned into garden mulch, free for the taking.

Kid at Heart admission is still going strong at Botanica. Come to Illuminations through tomorrow the 30th, and adults receive kids’ admission price with 2 canned good donations for the Kansas Food Bank. Last chance for Christmas Lights!

Marty Spence (of Songbird Juice Company fame) is hosting a Finding Real Foods Store Tour at Whole Foods Tuesday the 3rd from 5:30-6:00.

Final Friday at Reverie will feature local artist Rhonda Bunch-Davis. Come tomorrow, the 30th, from 6-8 pm for art & conversation.

Just so you know: The Donut Whole was listed in USA Today as most Instagrammed restaurants in Kansas. Not too shabby.

 

Library:

Read More Live More Adult Reading Program 2017. Their goal is fabulous: reading from authors or settings very different from you. Great way to learn and expand our horizons.

And don’t miss Ring in the Noon Day for those of us unable to stay up until midnight (ages 3-11). Register here for that party.

 

Happy, Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve cookies

Round One

Helping Grandma

Carols for the shut-ins

Peace

Great Grandma Love

Table setting

Round Two

Selfie Love

Round Three

It is well (via Six Clever Sisters)

New Game: “opening” a gift with pot holders.

It’s hard

Rudolph!

 

Your 7 Days? (I hope your Christmas was beautiful.)

 

“They said to me, ‘Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.'”

Nehemiah 1:3

Last time we looked in on the arrival of Nehemiah’s brothers coming from Judah. Nehemiah questions how the exiles in Jerusalem are and the state of the City.

The report is not good. The people are cherpah – a source of disgrace, scorn and shame. The wall is broken down – parats. Breached, dispersed. Not there. And the city gates? Yatsath – set aflame, burned.

There is a possibility the brothers from Judah are simply referring to the destruction King Neb wreaked way back during the Babylonian invasion. However, most scholars think it is referring to a different, much more recent incident when the exiles decided to begin work on rebuilding the walls.

Either way, the city is defenseless against enemies, the people feel disgraced, and there is no work being done to repair the damage.

How grateful are you that our God does not leave us here? He has done all the work to repair all the damage, starting with Christmas.

He takes away shame. He gathers His lambs in His arms; they will not be dispersed. He takes the ashes in our lives and redeems them for beauty and praise and purpose. He gives us work for our hands – work that brings dignity and restoration to our lives for the sake of others.

And He can set our hearts aflame for Him, His Word, and His glory.

Make it true of Your people this Christmas, LORD.

Tree Top has 50% off all things Christmas right now.

Have you been to Winter Wednesdays at the Zoo? Entrance is only $3 per person through February.

You can stop by now until January 3rd at Great Plains Nature Center for craft projects and animal programs. Next week, the 27th through 30th, you can see some favorite critters presented by a Naturalist at 1 pm. Free!

We have 3 more days left in 12 Days of Cheese at Whole Foods. Each day save 50% on a select cheese. Great way to try something new.

Tonight, December 22nd, from 5:30-8:30, come to Botanica for a Pony Tales Book Signing. All proceeds of the book go toward the restoration of the Joyland Merry-Go-Round into the Botanica Carousel (projected completion 2018). Great Christmas gift!

Have you been around to look at Christmas lights yet? Carolyn at Wichita on the Cheap has compiled a list of areas of note.

Food Truck schedule is up for ICT Pop-Up Urban Park for this week.
Library:

Paint a Present at Alford and make a New Years Hat at Comotara Branch

And don’t forget all locations will be closed December 24-26.

 

Have a wonderful Christmas!

The pull toward hibernation is real right now. With wintry blasts and less light, I want to huddle up with my family and only those within a several block radius and wait it out until spring. But I know that’s not what Christmas is about.

So the other part of me will stay diligent: preparing and praying for those we see on the streets in this cold. Deliberately seeking out those unlike our family. Reaching out to neighbors and strangers in stores and praying for those of other faiths living across the ocean.

I will stay connected to at least a majority of the news. Because what’s happening out there should affect our family in here.

And with every present we wrap and cozy blanket we snuggle, I will remember those without. Not because it will ruin our Christmas, but precisely because it will flesh it out. He came. He chose to come. He left everything and came down to little, to limitations, to temptation and hunger and famine and war. He made His bed in our mess and stayed until it was finished.

Merry Christmas Week from our family to yours. Let Earth receive her King.

He is worthy.

“…while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.”

Nehemiah 1:2

We join back up with our new leader, Nehemiah, in verse 2 today. We know he’s in Susa, the capitol of the Persian Empire. Now we get to peek in on some of his visitors: Hanani and other men from Judah.

Nehemiah introduces Hanani as his brother – ach. The word can mean an actual blood brother. It is also “used in the widest sense of…metaphorical affinity…kindred.” Basically, this could easily be a friend and fellow Judah-ite (Jew).

I’m curious about Nehemiah’s inquiry. Surely he had heard of the first wave of exiles and the completed temple. And it would be hard to imagine he didn’t know about the current wave of exiles who had returned and the marriage reform Ezra led. Perhaps he is like us and there are 12 years of silence we don’t know about. He wants to know about the remnant – shaar – and the matter hovering over Jerusalem.

So he asks his brother.

I’ve been thinking about the Church lately. In our harsh and divided national climate, yes, but also on the world scene. Believers – those of affinity to one another because of His blood – all over the planet showing up to wage a peaceful war against hate and injustice and oppression. May we be of a kindred heart right now. Not because we are all blood related or politically similar, but because we are allies crowded in a stable this winter, longing to know the Christ child better.

Surely a God born closer to hay and manure than comfort and opulence can handle our mess. And He can unite those starkly unlike us until we start to resemble each other. Because we are starting to resemble Him. The One who promised the whole world will know we belong to this God-Man when we love each other.

Each of us exiles in a world that’s not our Home.

 

Wichita Art Museum’s Winter WAM-za at 10:00 and 1:30 today, December 15th. This is a free program, but you do need to register here.

Are you remembering free horse-drawn carriage rides at Bradley Fair? Every Friday and Saturday night up to Christmas.

How about Illuminations at Botanica? Some helpful tips here.

RSVP here for the free Seafood Seminar at Whole Foods this Saturday the 17th from 3-4. Learn how to prepare tasty seafood chowder.

This Saturday the 17th, get some shopping done while your kids get crafting at the Parents Shop/Kids Create workshop at City Arts. Kids can enjoy a full or half day of crafting fun. (And get a Gift Certificate for the art lover in your life.)

The Franklin Falconettes Honor Choir will be at Mead’s Corner tonight from 7-8.

Santa Stu visits Reverie this Saturday. Come from 4-5 for photos and storytime (and coffeee). Also next Wednesday the 21st enjoy Cookie Decorating for Kids.

Our Kansas Grown Farmers Market is making an appearance this Saturday the 17th.  Enjoy their Indoor Holiday Market with over 50 vendors from 8-noon.

 

Library:

The Library has your back during Winter Break, friends. See all upcoming events here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Setting up the tree and playing in the box

Picturesque

My sissy’s birthday celebration

Alma Mater

They were thrilled

Santa sighting

This morning’s glory

 

Your 7 Days?

 

 

I am often more in tune with how individuals and their stories are impacted during trying times than I am with systems that can cause and/or perpetuate such trying times. So I am learning. Particularly about the housing market and its effect on eviction and homelessness. And now the criminal justice system and its effect on poor communities/communities of color.

I have started The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, but keep putting it down. Trying to digest and think versus react and attack. Then I heard from several sources I needed to watch 13th on Netflix. For someone like me, the documentary was a great way to hit what I can only assume are some highlights of Alexander’s book. The author herself is interviewed along with Bryan Stevenson of whom I am a fan.

The basic premise is how the 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery – as long as you are not a criminal. As you can imagine, in a fallen world, imperfect government, and with leaders prone to sin (like all of us) this clause can quickly be turned into a way to control and oppress. After slavery was abolished, and the Southern economy ravaged, the clause allowed for newly-freed slaves to – legally – be charged with petty crimes such as loitering, be labeled a criminal, and continue to be used for cheap or free labor. And public lynchings and terror of blacks were condoned.

When such outright violence became too much, Jim Crow laws/segregation were put into effect. Now there were legal ways to relegate blacks to second class citizens. When the Civil Rights movement showed the world the injustice of such laws, the Freedom to Vote act was an admission to the black community their rights had been stripped and was a move toward reparations.

As the Baby Boomer generation grew into adulthood, so came a boom in crime rates based on the sheer volume of the population. The “War on Crime” and “Law and Order” were an easy way for politicians to receive the public’s vote. As such, tougher sentencing, the introduction of crack cocaine (into predominantly urban, poor communities), treating drug addiction as a crime instead of a health issue, and media/pop culture educating the public against people of color became the norm.

Then came the 1994 $30 billion crime bill which helped morph law enforcement into an “infrastructure of militarization.” In short, it took the “serve” out of “To Protect and Serve.” In a free market economy, this quickly turns into a private industry profit-making situation. Businesses and individuals making money on people being punished in the prison system. Instead of helping educate, heal, or otherwise reform those who need it.

I know two things as I move into this conversation. The first is, this is a very simplified review of an extremely well-documented book and documentary. But if you are like me – are of the powerful majority or are middle class or of some other inherent privilege – sometimes you don’t understand the issues because they don’t negatively affect you. Sometimes a big picture fly-over helps at least begin a discussion.

The other thing I know is that because The New Jim Crow book is 4 years old, there have been solid arguments raised against its premise. I have heard some of those arguments and, just yesterday, explored an article on The Gospel Coalition’s website in which a great discussion began in the comments section. My favorite response in the comments was by the article’s author, Rasool Berry:

“The ‘New Jim Crow’ analogy is helpful precisely because it still gives us a framework for understanding the pattern of these cultural forces even as they evolve. How did former slave owners respond to the new social order created by abolition? History tells us they did by creating black codes to control and exploit. What did they do once the black codes were illegal? History tells us intimidation, violence and Jim Crow laws to still maintain superiority and control of former slaves and their descendants. How did whites respond to the social revolution of the ’60’s marked by the end of Jim Crow laws which still maintained a racial hierarchy? … Did all of that racial animus simply evaporate? How do we discuss what happened next and how we ended up here? Is there anyway that the tragic circumstances and outcomes today are related to that history? I think the answer is obvious but perhaps how to discuss it is less so.”

Yes. The answer is obvious but perhaps how to discuss it is less so. Especially in our current climate in which we are so divided and fuses are short.

As usual, I do not have a clear-cut call to action. I simply ask you to care. To think about all this and its implications, especially if you have never done so. Advent has so been on my heart and mind, and frankly I would prefer a more Christmas-y post this morning. But in advent – in the waiting – we are called to be ambassadors of the Kingdom. To bring heaven where we can onto this earth because He Himself came to redeem. If so many are systemically abused during our tenure here, being informed matters. It doesn’t negate that the primary assault is spiritual, but it can give us a practical framework to understand how evil is perpetuated.

 

So…Any thoughts?

 

“In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa…”

Nehemiah 1:1b

Last time we established Nehemiah as a new leader whose name means “the LORD comforts.” Now we get a glimpse into his first-person memoirs to find out about this leader’s background. We begin with his location: Susa, the capital of the Persian Empire, in what is now southwest Iran. If our leader was in the capital – the citadel, fortress, stronghold of an empire – we can assume he was of some importance. And he was. We will find out more about that soon.

For now, can we celebrate that God will use a runt-of-the-litter shepherd boy as willingly as He’ll use someone of prominence in a pagan empire? How open He is to allow one of His own to advance to the 2^nd highest position in a nation if it advances His glory and His people’s good? And yet, how He will chase down a forgotten pagan woman who has been used up and sent away?

I love that about Him. He will take someone of great prominence in lineage and impressive in knowledge, and turn his passion toward Him alone. And He will come to a young, unassuming virgin and tell her she has found favor with Him.

And most of all, when He walked on this earth, He would have all the pedigree needed to be the Messiah, and yet be hunted from birth, born in a barn, and raised not in a palace but in a poor home.

The only requirement to be used of Him is humility. To have humility we must humble ourselves. Everything else must be dung compared to the fact that we know Him. Not for His sake, but for ours.

And He Himself will be our Citadel.