theGodzwas.com

Enjoy the music from Sam and the rest of the NCC kids as they celebrate Jesus’ birthday.

Merry Christmas from the Godzwas!

Live nativities have become popular. Either they’re becoming the latest Christmas fad or I’m just more aware now that I’m the father of a 3 year old (probably the latter). Anyway, I love them! You get the all important “change of scenery,” free food, a chance to get a city kid in touch with nature, and the story of Christmas all in a early evening, pre-bedtime setting.

Sam loves them too. We went to one tonight. Sam stood awestruck as he looked on the scene. He stared at the animals, the manger scene, the choir, the popcorn trying to take it all in. At one point during the presentation, Sam staring became so intense that he didn’t notice he had his finger in his mouth and saliva dripping down his hand.

Now that I’ve been to a few of these, I’m also noticing another fad. It’s the Christmas Llama. It’s a little surprising to find the South American mammal integrated in a Middle Eastern reenactment, but I guess I understand. I did a little research and found that camels, on which the wise men traveled to Bethlehem (not really mentioned in Matthew 2, but implied?) and llamas are in the same family (camelid). Since camels are a little hard to come by in the District of Columbia a llama will do nicely in a pinch. To tell you the truth, I think a camel would have scared Sam senseless so I’m all for the Christmas llama.

But here’s where it goes a little too far. I googled “llamas at the manger” and I found an actual llama creche for sale. It actually comes with 2 llamas, a camel, a calf or donkey, and a duck. Yes, that’s right a duck, but if you’re buying a llama manger scene you’re not going for historical accuracy. Oh, and in case you’re interested, they’re sold out.

If you know Sam, then you know he’s into music. Well when Sam and I went for a father and son trip to the Air and Space Museum and we decided to throw in a photo shoot for his first album cover. What do you think?

A couple of weeks ago we hosted a guest speaker @ our Thursday Night Worship meeting.  I don’t get a whole lot of feedback from students so sometimes it’s hard to know how an event was received.  This time was different.

David Kuo blogged recently on a student who wrote to him regarding his presentation @ AU.  Here’s a portion:

I went into hearing you speak skeptical and ready to leave as soon as I got enough meat to write my short four page paper. I needed just enough to understand your side, argue against it, and get my grade. But the longer you went on, the more I agreed with you. I began to realize I was one of those people who confused religion with politics, only in my case I did the opposite. I confused the political views of my religion with God. My solution was cutting God out completely, instead of separating the two.

I left the Kay Spiritual Life Center feeling inspired and invigorated. My faith began to make sense. I began to make sense of all these feeling I had pent up inside. I was able for the first time in a long time realize that I could still love God and disagree with the political stance the church took. There was a way to distinguish the two.

Since then I have prayed everyday. I have prayed that others can come to this realization. I pray that one day God will not be synonymous with the republican party. Maybe this stint of skepticism was part of God’s plan, maybe my faith needed to be tested. Whatever his plan was, thank you. Thank you for helping me renew my faith.

Wow!  It’s exciting to know that we had a hand in helping a student return to faith.   Pray that this first step in faith would grow into a life-long pursuit of Jesus for this student and the dozens of others that were in attendance.

God does work all things for the good.  I’m happy to report we’re making progress in changing the the culture of public safety @ American University.  This article in The Eagle, the campus newspaper is reporting on the replacement of the malfunctioning security cameras.

Nebraska parking lot security cameras repaired - News

I also sat in on a meeting with the chief of the university police and he reported to me that officers are now being trained to use the cameras.  He assured me that by the end of the month there will be at least one officer on duty at all times who can operate the equipment in case of an emergency.  He also told me they are working towards full-time surveillance as well.

We were the victims of two crimes on campus this semester and I’m still feeling the effects of both of them, but I am glad that we’ve been able to use our experience to push for positive change.  Will crimes like these be committed again?  I hope not and I believe we’ve made it a little more difficult for anyone to do so.

The Kuo event made the AU campus paper, The Eagle. It’s not the greatest article in that the author seems to not have even attended the event and she forgot to mention who sponsored it (we did!), but it is advancing the conversation. Here’s the link:

Former official says faith not part of politics - News

Last Thursday night we switched things up. Instead our regular worship service, we hosted a special speaker David Kuo.

Kuo is the former deputy director of the White House Office of Faith Based Initiatives and the author or Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction. His book based is based on his experience in the White House and made him a popular figure among the talking heads. He’s been a guest a number of TV and radio shows including 60 Minutes, NPR’s Fresh Air, Morning Edition, Real Time with Bill Maher, and The Colbert Report.

Kuo is promoting a controversial idea in his book. He claims that the Christian Church has been corrupted by it’s reliance on politics. Because of this he is suggesting a political fast. He wants the Church to take a break from giving to Christian lobbying organizations and divert those funds to charities that are caring for the needy in our country and around the world.

On Thursday, he told his story. Spoke of how he began his relationship with Jesus, his introduction to politics and how he started to confuse the two. Kuo confessed that at the height of his political fame, he pushed his faith to the background and worshipped instead at the altar of conservative values. This devotion to his party led to a failed marriage, disillusion, and a some time away from DC to do charity work. A conversation with then Governor Bush led him to throw his hat back in the ring to work in the newly formed Office of Faith Based Initiatives. This brough only more disappointment as Kuo claimed that although Bush genuinely wanted to help the poor, his administration never gave the office enough funds or political capital to make a significant difference.

After a 45 minutes presentation and a question and answer session he hung out with us for another hour and a half sharing from his experience before leaving around after 11 pm. As I filtered through the crowd students and AU staff stopped to thank me for putting it together.

I could talk at length about Kuo’s ideas, but debate wasn’t the real reason we invited him to speak. Then why did we do this? The majority of the AU community spends very little time thinking about God and has difficulty understanding the relevance of faith. Kuo political message, recent popularity, and strong faith provided an opportunity to address both of those on a large scale. I’m praying that this was a spiritual awakening for many of those who came. I’m praying that it’s the starting point of a journey that will lead them to deal with their own spiritual questions and seek for answers in a community like ours.

I got a chance to talk with one student after most had gone home. He’s been struggling with his own spiritual identity because of conflicting ideas from his upbringing, but is feeling drawn to Jesus. He’s been reading the New Testament and senses power in Jesus’ words. When he attends Christian meetings he feels a love and hospitality he hasn’t experienced anywhere else. We talked about how he could continue his journey and what it means to follow Jesus. As we finished our conversation, I realized for this one student the event was a significant step and my prayers were already being answered.