Holy Water Used to Dedicate New Sancturary

Dedication Service of new sanctuary of Mzuzu UMC

On Sunday we commemorated the Baptism of Jesus on the second Sunday of Epiphany. Rev. John Culp preached on water and remembering your baptism. I celebrated the blessings of being in a new sanctuary while reminding the congregation to not forget their beginnings and humble roots. Together, John and I along with Pastor Copeland Nkhata, dedicated the new sanctuary and community center in Mzuzu, accompanied by jubilant singing and dancing in the Spirit, as if the members were full of new wine.

John sprinkled water on congregants from Reagan's Well--named after his granddaughter who at 5 1/2 survived cancer diagnosis--with the words "remember your baptism."

We used the same village well water to sprinkle on the doorposts on the new Hope Scholarship House which we dedicated after the worship service. We've awarded 45 Hope Scholarships since 2007!

Hope Scholars in front of Hope House Dedication

Mzuzu Shalom Team met to plan next steps, including new chickens and a piglet project to raise funds to support orphan care in the shalom zone (1 kilometer circumference around the UMC church building.)

We now have 6 emerging shalom zones in northern Malawi.

12 Hope Scholarship Recipients in 2012 in "Hope Mobile"

more reflections when I can find some time to blog.

I'm returning home tomorrow (and my lost luggage was found and picked up today).

First Generation Lambs Club Reunion

Fifteen of us gathered Saturday night at the Lambs Club for a 35 th year reunion of those who helped start the Lamb’s Church in Times Square in the mid to late 1970’s, including: Rev. Paul S. Moore , Founder of the Lamb’s Church of the Nazarene, and his wife, Tamara Dr. Michael J. Christensen , charter member and former associate pastor, and his wife Dr. Rebecca Laird Fr. William (BJ) Webe r, former Associate Pastor and Director of the Lamb’s Residency, and his wife Sheila who lived at the Lamb’s Jim and Dustee Hullinger, who were on staff together and made the Lamb’s their home for over 25 years Effie Canepa , who was the church pianist under 3 pastors, and her husband Peter Shirley Close, who attended the Lamb’s in the late 1970’s while studying, performing and teaching music and voice Carl "Chappy" Valente , former associate pastor Rev. Bob DiQuatto , lead singer of the Church’s “Manhattan Project” and staff member of the Lamb’s, and his son Jason Rev. Gabriel

Liberation Spirituality: Henri Nouwen and Gustavo Gutierrez in Dialogue

Liberation Spirituality: Henri Nouwen and Gustavo Gutierrez in Dialogue Lecture Notes: Presented by Michael J. Christensen, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Practice of Spirituality and Ministry, Drew University; and International Director, Communities of Shalom, The United Methodist Church Introduction “There is a little man in Peru, a man without any power, who lives in a barrio with poor people and who wrote a book. In this book he simply reclaimed the basic Christian truth that God became human to bring good news to the poor, new light to the blind, and liberty to the captives. Then years later this book and movement it started is considered a danger by [the USA, or Rome], the greatest power on earth. When I look at this little man, Gustavo, and think about [the President of the US, or the Pope], I see David standing before Goliath, again with no more weapon than a little stone, a stone called A Theology of Liberation (Henri Nouwen

Not Afraid of Death by Julia Esquivel

In reading your blog, Michael, I immediately think of these two poems is poem by Julia Esquivel, from Guatemala, whom I had the pleasure of meeting years ago. Un abrazo, Ada Maria I AM NOT AFRAID OF DEATH I am no longer afraid of death I know well Its dark and cold corridors Leading to life. I am afraid rather of that life Which does not come out of death, Which cramps our hands And slows our march. I am afraid of my fear And even more of the fear of others, Who do not know where they are going, Who continue clinging To what they think is life Which we know to be death! I live each day to kill death; I die each day to give birth to life, And in this death of death, I die a thousand times And am reborn another thousand Through that love From my People Which nourishes hope! THREATEN WITH RESURRECTION They have threatened us with Resurrection There is something here within us which doesn’t let us sleep, which doesn’t let us rest, which doesn’t stop the pounding deep inside. It is the s

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