second advent sunday

The kids and I have been noticing, while reading through the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life, how very often it was the Gentiles, the poor and the "sinners" who came to him in faith, and how - to the contrary - it was the most educated and respected religious leaders who wanted to do away with him (and for whom he had the harshest words and warnings).

On the second Sunday of Advent season, it's worth pondering this amazing time recorded in Luke chapter 4, when Jesus announced himself in the Nazareth synagogue as the prophesied Messiah (shortly after which, predictably, those listening to him ran him out of the synagogue and to the edge of a cliff which they intended to throw him off).

"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

    because he has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

    and recovering of sight to the blind,

    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.'

"And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'"

Not all who see him will receive him, but we still work and pray for the "advent" of Jesus in hearts of those who will believe him once they hear and understand his message of "good news to the poor" and "recovering of sight to the blind." What news could be better?

In that vein (playing a bit of blog catch-up since it's been...too long since I last posted), we are back in Bangui. We didn't to move back here because it's the most luxurious place on earth (although there really is an astounding amount of natural beauty here in the flowers, butterflies and trees that thrive in this climate). Nor did we move back because we just couldn't stay away from our friends here (though I have to say that the friends we have here are truly some of our closest and dearest). The real reason we came back was to work side-by-side with the incredible ACATBA translation teams as they translate God's word into their languages - to help them make the message of Jesus clear to those who have yet to hear.

A few photos from today: the kids sharpening handmade spears and throwing them at fruits in our jackfruit tree...and my desk which prompted me to think this morning about different times and places (a globe inherited from I-don't-remember-who, sitting on a little carpet I bought in Turkey in September 2001, colored pencils a daily-used gift from a partner church in SC, coffee mug bought at Aldi last year sitting on a coaster I bought Adam from the Brussels airport when flying through there six years ago).