have a good christmas

i have a friend who sleeps in a parking garage behind rite aid. his name is freddie.

freddie was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, as was his mother (who lives in senior citizen housing across the street from the rite aid that freddie sleeps behind).

freddie is a huge help to me at the meal program. he comes most mornings to set up the dining room, does the dishes and even mops the floor when the meal is over.

the other day while i was going to buy some coffee for my wife, i saw freddie along with 5 of our friends who also come to the faith covenant meal (where i work). they were walking down southern artery in quincy, fresh from a session of drinking nips and mgd behind cvs. being aware of the fact that they were all quite drunk i asked if they would like some coffee. all except freddie answered with a quick "no" (since it would "kill the buzz").

i ended up buying freddie a coffee and hanging out to talk with him while our friends went to ask for money from holiday shoppers who were filled with the giving spirit of christmas. i told freddie that i loved him and that he was different from other people. that he was a caring and compassionate man with a huge heart.

the conversation inevitably turned to "getting freddie better." freddie immediately put his head down, feeling dejected and sorrowful. i encouraged him to go and stay at the shelter so that he could get sober and have a good christmas (yes, a little naive). i knew the whole "have a good christmas" thing was stupid while it was coming out, but i often suffer from a disease called verbal diarrhea.

he looked up at me in anger. "how can i have a good christmas?!"

"your mother?" i said.

"yeah. how can i have a good christmas if i can't be with my mother?"

you see, freddie is no longer allowed to go into his mother's apartment because he is a belligerent drunk and would start fights with some of his mother's neighbors whenever he stayed there.

i had no response. i had nothing to tell him that would allow him to have a "good christmas". i felt paralyzed and defeated.

here i am on christmas day, sitting on a couch in my in-law's home with my beautiful daughter, amazing wife and loving family. we are eating, opening presents, playing games and laughing. i am having a good christmas while my friends sleeps cold and alone in an abandoned parking garage.

however, i am struggling with christmas in a whole new way this year. for one thing i appreciate it more than i ever have before. but on the other hand i am hurting for my friends who may never know the love that i am able to experience with my family.

my prayer is that i will come to know the poverty of my heart so that i can offer hope to those who are hopeless.

merry christmas everyone.

-dave-

the didache

what do you know, i have something write!

i was reading a blog today about a new book that tony jones has written, analyzing the didache (an early church document, possibly written prior to the time of many new testament books). you can read the entire text of the didache here. it's not very long at all.

i must admit that my first and only impression of the didache came from a professor at seminary who told our class that he thinks the didache is the reason for legalism in christianity.

i could not have come to a more different conclusion.

it looks more to me like a community looking to emulate and prolong the teachings of Christ, rather than fall into the way the World does things.

this could not have come at a better time for me. it is a time when i am trying to discover what it meant to be a member of The Church shortly after the time of Christ. it looks to me like we don't look a whole lot like that early community of people. check out some of these lines from the didache that echo the teachings of Christ. actually, the interesting thing is that the document begins with a kind of summary of the sermon on the mount. here are some excerpts that struck me.

3:7...be gentle, since the gentle will inherit the earth.
3:8 Be long-suffering and pitiful and guileless and gentle and good, and with trembling, treasure the words you have received.
3:9 Don't exalt yourself or open your heart to overconfidence. Don't be on intimate terms with mighty people, but with just and lowly ones.

be pitiful, guileless and gentle...?!?! seems slightly contrary to the way we are taught as good citizens nowadays...

-dave-

learning to listen

hola friends,

i haven't written anything for quite some time, mostly because i realized that i was doing a lot more talking than listening in my life. i have been so ready to espouse my opinion for so long that i wasn't taking any time to shut up and listen to what God might be teaching me.

i'm a guy (an italian guy at that!), so by nature i like hearing myself speak. i really feel like God is trying to get me to spend more time in silence, listening to what he might be telling me, rather than spending the majority of my time telling God what's up and how things should work.

so, i apologize to anyone who actually cares that i haven't been saying anything lately, but i have to sit back and shut my mouth for a little while.

although i am still doing more talking than listening, there is a little more space in my airwaves than there once was.

-dave-

good stuff

read this article by jon foreman.

also, jen and i just watched "the soloist." i highly recommend everyone watch it.

-dave-

the hardest way to live

hey everyone,

thanks so much for all of your fantastic insight into this issue. i resonate with everything that was written and struggle with the implications of being a peacemaker in this world of violence. it is quite simply the most difficult way to live.

i have questioned, for quite some time, why it seems to be true that Christians (more than other people i speak with) have a hard time accepting that God asks us to love (and do good) to our enemies, to bless those who curse us and to turn the other cheek. not only does he ask us to live this way, but God himself lived this way through Jesus Christ.

why is it that we praise the martyrs of 1st and 2nd century christianity, but we are now baffled by those who would rather die and kill?

why do we continue to pluck out our brother's and sister's eyes for the wrongs they have committed against us?

why do we battle other christians, showing no love or compassion in our words, over trivial matters of theology?

why do we believe we can be pacifists by abstaining from physical violence, while neglecting to be peacemakers with our words?

the answer to all of these questions really is very simple...it's not easy. Christ showed us the beautiful and selfless way of the cross, but we will always prefer the quick and easy way of the sword.

we still desire that which is the easiest and least costly.

if only we really believed what our Savior did and said.

peace

-dave-