Ironing

I'm in the midst technical tug-of-wars with videos (sigh, grumble, more sigh).  So, there have been some blog-update delays as I iron out said tug-of-wars.  Thanks for waiting..and coming back!

from the island,

Darin

Back to the Barrio

After six weeks in Canada...touring, visiting, eating (too much), uncling (not enough)...my bags are packed again and I am ready to head back to the DR.  Once I get settled in my new casa I will be back online to share more images and words from the barrio. Keep tracking with TEARS by clicking here.

A Seat at THE Table

Family, friends, and food.  When they mix...all the better.  Having been home in Canada for five weeks, these elements have had their fair share mixing with many shared meals, coffee conversations, over-night stays, and, for the specially appointed, over-week stays.  My thanks to each of you who have been in and provided the means for this mix.

Hospitality is an interesting deal.  It can be simple, elaborate, exhausting, trying, unwelcome,  encouraging, blessed, dirty, inconvenient, noisy, expensive, necessary, wanted, appreciated, abused, life-giving, or life-taking.  Hospitality is an interesting deal.

As I jot these thoughts I also have my nose in a new book, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition (Pohl, Christine D. Eerdmans, 1999).  Looking at hospitality through historical, theological, and social frames I appreciate the way in which this book has informed and deepened my understanding of hospitality.  Looking at hospitality in the New Testament and Early Church setting, Pohl writes:

"Households remain the most important location for hospitality in the New Testament Period.  Fellowship and growth in the earliest churches depended on household-based hospitality among believers.  For Greeks and Jews, the household (Greek: oikos; Hebrew: bayith) was very important and served as a basis for social, political, and religious identity and cohesion.  For the early Christians, rooted in both Hebrew and Greek traditions, the church as the household of God was a powerful theological and social reality.  The church was made up of family households, but it was more than the sum of those individual households.  The church was a new household, God's household, and believers became family to one another.

Early Christian hospitality was offered from within this overlap of household and church.  A homelike setting provided a natural environment for expressing personal qualities of hospitality.  The church as a gathered community required the most immediate connection to God's character and expectations - behaviors suitable to the household of God.

This expanded and transformed household was responsible for imitating God's hospitable and gracious character.  God's household represented the welcome of Gentiles into the inheritance together with Israel (Eph. 2:19) and relations within this new household explicitly transcended ethnic boundaries.. Worship, care, and hospitality in early Christian households included believers from different political, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, and early congregations developed a translocal and transethnic identity.

Local Christian communities shared meals together as part of their regular church practice - an important location for hospitality.  These agape meals provided a setting for communal response to the needs of the poor while simultaneously reinforcing a distinct Christian identity.  They were distinguished from the contemporary practice of offering elaborate banquets that reinforced status boundaries.  Although ethnic and socioeconomic differences sometimes surfaced in the context of eating together, these meals were intended to reflect the transformed relationships in which the worldly status distinctions were transcended, if not disregarded, and formerly alienated persons could view themselves as brothers and sisters at God's table."

The ultimate expresser of hospitality is Jesus.  The ultimate expression of hospitality is his death on the cross.  He came to serve.  To give everything to restore broken relationships between the Father and His Creation.  His invitation to new life in Him is for all.  He is making all things new - restoring shalom - preparing a place for people of faith for whom Jesus is Savior and Lord.

Pohl continues, "In Romans 15:7, Paul urges believers to 'welcome one another' as Christ has welcomed them.  Jesus' gracious and sacrificial hospitality - expressed in His life, minsitry, and death - undergirds the hospitality of his followers.  Jesus gave His life so that persons could be welcomed into the Kingdom and in doing so linked hospitality, grace, and sacrifice in the deepest and most personal way imaginable.

In the church, the household of God, hospitality is a fitting, requisite, and meaning-filled practice.  Hospitality is important symbolically in its reflection and reenactment of God's hospitality and important practically in human needs and in forging human relations.  Though part of everyday life, hospitality is never far removed from its divine connections."

As we practice (live) hospitality we indeed enact the hospitality of the Triune God.  The Triune God is our model, our means, and our end.  The Trinity defines both the content and the process of hospitality.  Made in the image of the Triune God we too can - in fact must - enact hospitality.  And in that way of life we can embrace the words of Matthew 25: 34-36.  Reading from the Message, we see/hear:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father!  Take what's coming to you in this kingdom.  It's been ready for your since the world's foundation.  And here's why: I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me."

Sophie Grace Constance Lovell

Ok, so I just returned after 5 days with my new niece, Sophie Grace Constance Lovell.  So adorable, so teeny-tiny, 10 small fingers, 10 small toes, cute nose...everything about her falls into the cute category.  Although she does budget a good amount of her day for sleeping, it was pure goodness to be around her, hold her, watch her sleep, listen to her burp...everything falling into the proud uncle category.

Sophie, I loved seeing you, holding you, and taking many a picture.  I miss you and look forward to our next hang out time (and you too Cheri & Iain).

Uncle D.

New (awesome!) Family Addition

It is my utmost privilege, as Uncle Darin, to introduce you to Sophie Grace Constance Lovell!  This precious 7lb bundle of cuteness was born Saturday, April 26th making, for the first time, very proud parents of Cheri and Iain. Hugest brotherly congratulations!

Sophie, you are adorable.  I want to meet you right now.  I used to joke with your mom that I would be the rich uncle...right now I am a missionary (i.e., not-so-rich-uncle)...so I won't be coming with any ponies (although a chicken might be doable in the future) but I will be coming with tons of love and excitement to meet you!   

Soon, Uncle D.

Bad Nal-genes?

Is there really a problem with my Nal-genes (sorry, had to go for it).   But, in all seriousness,  I'm kinda hoping for a second (third, fourth, fifth,...) opinion on the recent (at least recent to me) problem with Nalgenes.  More specifically with Bisphenol A (BPA) which is the chemical compound that makes up the Lexan polycarbonate found in Nalgene bottles.  According to some researchers, BPA may also cause hormone-related problems such as premature puberty and weight gain, breast cancer, low sperm county and an enlarged prostate.  

What to do? I love my Nalgene.  Not just for the great effort I've had to make it oh-so-cool with trendy brand stickers but because it is durable, functional, and encourages me to drink water and not coffee.  I've taken it around the world and it has served me well.

So, what to do?  If you have any thoughts let me know.  If you're wondering too, here's a couple links:

Learn About Plastic

Bisphenol A

Tornado Hits Maria Auxiliadora

Areas of the Dominican Republic were hit by a tornado this week. With a trail of damage and debris in its wake, many of my friends in the barrio of Maria Auxiliadora were forced to evacuate their homes as winds ripped off roofs and rain & hail damage took its toll.  In addition to many homes, the TEARS school lost its roof and has not been spared the devastating effects of structural and water damage to school supplies and classrooms.  

These images show some of the damage to the home of my friends Rosmary (teacher at TEARS school) and Obed (TEARS missionary). Together with their newborn, Zion, Rosmary and Obed have relocated safely and temporarily as rebuilding takes shape.  

You can view recent video footage by following this link.

NOTE: Four vertical pictures were put together to make these two horizontal images.  The pictures on the left of each horizontal image shows the rooms with the roof ripped off and then the pictures on the right of each image show the fallen roof.