Are You Disturbed?
I recently saw a quote from the Roman Catholic writer and Christian apologist G.K. Chesterton. It was from his 1925 work titled, The Everlasting Man. Chesterton writes, “All the great groups that stood about the Cross [priests, soldiers, philosophers, the common people] represent in one way or another the great historical truth of the time; that the world could not save itself.” And, even though this quote concerns the death of Jesus—far away on the Church calendar on the cusp of Christmas 2019—it does bring to mind all the “great groups” at the nativity, or, better yet, all the “great groups” missing from the nativity scene. What do I mean? Well, it’s an image that I can’t get out of my head. It has stayed with me for years even though I’ve never actually SEEN it. And, it’s why I put it before you dear reader every year too. It’s a nativity unlike any you or I have ever experienced. It is a scene of prostitutes, thieves, slaves, and soldiers—the great groups of people. There are lepers and tax collectors and a broken and bloodied victim of crime. There are people from the fringes of life—disaffected, disenchanted, disturbed enough to come out of the shadows to worship the One who came to seek and save those who are lost. Oh, what great groups! Now, I’ve never actually seen a nativity like that, though I know it exists. (I read about it on the Friday before Christmas in an article in the Wall Street Journal in 2006.) The crèche is in Naples, Italy and I have a dream of spending a Christmas there, seeing it in its powerful entirety. I want
New Furniture, New Life in Jesus
Many of you know that my mom and grandma visited me this Thanksgiving. It was wonderful! My mom got here a few days early and lovingly looked at me and said, “Honey, you have a lot of clutter. What do you think about doing some rearranging and paring down?” Now, at first, I was a little upset. I was proud of my apartment. It was clean and organized. It might be a little under-decorated, but for my first apartment, all on my own, I thought I was doing well! Then, I started to look at my apartment with a fine-tooth comb and realized that more organization and some furniture moving would be good for me. My mom is definitely the lady for that job! A week later, I have some new furniture pieces and all of my furniture is in a different place, and I feel great! Every time I walk into my apartment, I think to myself, “now this is an adult apartment,” and I am thankful my mom said the hard thing. As I reflected on this I thought about Jesus. I thought about how in Him, I am made new. A new creation has come and the old is gone. Paul tells us this in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians. He tells them “The old has gone, the new is here!” and what is most beautiful about that statement is that it is present. I don’t have to wait to become new. The moment I was baptized into the family of God, Jesus made me new. He continues to make me new each day! It is not based on how good I am at following or
Thanksgiving
Holy Cross Family, I wanted to use my last blog post to be a letter of thanksgiving: to the Lord, to you, and to the community around our church that has made the last few years so formative for me. As you may have already heard, I have taken a position at a secondary school here in Dallas where I am on staff as a Spanish teacher. The journey that led me to become a teacher was a long one, but Francisco and I know that this is exactly where the Lord would have me in this season of our lives. As excited as I am to begin this new era, though, it is SO bittersweet! Holy Cross will continue to be the Armendariz church home, but nonetheless, the sadness comes at leaving the day-to-day of being in this office. I was originally welcomed onto staff around Christmastime, a member of another church and new to Texas and this part of DFW. I remember the excitement of that time and how kind all of you were to me as I learned your names (on paper) from the office side – and then later, as a member of Holy Cross (!) your faces – and even later, connecting the two! I remember the Advent services of that year as I learned to appreciate the liturgical traditions. I found growth in learning a new rhythm to Sunday mornings and what that could mean in my life throughout the week. All that to say, thank you! Thank you for being a welcoming church and for modeling well what church family can look like. I want to thank Pastor Tom and Angie, who have
What’s in a Name?
Most people think that we named our son after the character on The Incredibles or our favorite mid-century novelist. The story is a little different than you might think. Brennan and I were having trouble agreeing on the right name. I thought of a few only to be told they were too plain or common. ‘I don’t want anyone else in his kindergarten class to have the same name,’ Brennan would say. He would think of a few only to conjure up for me something that made them unacceptable. One evening while I was driving to the grocery store, I called Brennan. I had just driven by a cemetery and a surname on a tombstone caught my eye and had me thinking. ‘What about Dash?,’ I called Brennan and asked. After thinking through how we would spell it, if it would be his full name or a nickname, and several other details, we decided it was perfect. Every parent and pet owner has felt the pressure of picking the perfect name. It is what our loved one will be called their entire life. Do you know who has a name most special? A name that is above every name? Philippians 2:10-11 says: At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We, as God’s children, get to use His name to pray, praise and give thanks. There are so many things to be thankful for when we compare the character of God to our own. Jesus walked to the cross willingly. I would have run
Like Clockwork: comfort & perspective in times of uncertainty
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 1 Corinthians 5:1 As a result of the tornado that damaged Dallas Lutheran School last month, the contents of my husband’s office are currently stacked in cardboard boxes in my garage. When Todd came home a few weeks ago with these boxes containing over a decade of his professional life and settled them in their new home squeezed in between our lawnmower, bicycles and dusty camping gear, I was disheartened. Amid the chaos and uncertainty in our house at the time, those boxes threatened to be a constant and ever-present reminder in our home that all was not right or as it should be for the Nitz family or for our treasured DL family. My perspective shifted, however, about 10 minutes after Todd unloaded the last box when on my way to the garage fridge to grab something to defrost for dinner, I was startled by a loud chiming coming from one of the boxes. Todd’s dad (also a High School principal) had an affinity for clocks and when he passed away several years ago, Todd inherited a chiming clock from him which has hung prominently on his office wall ever since, announcing each quarter hour throughout the day. To be honest, I had forgotten all about it. I’d often visited his office in the last few years and the noise had faded into the background. I didn’t remember that he had the clock at all…until it moved into my garage. Now, in its new cold and dusty surroundings, I hear
Una cuestión de obedencia
Al llegar a la iglesia este domingo para participar en el servicio de adoración a las 8:30 am, llegué un poco temprano y me disponía a bajar de mi automóvil y mi mirada se detuvo en un anciano que muy lentamente se bajó de su carro, abrió el cajón de atrás y con esfuerzo sacó una silla de ruedas, la cual puso con cierta dificultad en el piso, luego muy lentamente fue bajando otros accesorios propios de la silla, después abrió una puerta de atrás y sacó unas tablas de madera, y dos palos del mismo material. Con mucha dificultad puso los palos en la parte de atrás de las ruedas de la silla de ruedas y otro palo puso en las llantas del frente. Supuse que era para que la silla no se rodara. Después de tomar un pequeño descanso y con las tablas en su mano, abrió la puerta del pasajero y desde donde yo estaba, logré ver la silueta de una persona que él con mucho cuidado ayudó a sentar en la silla que había puesto. Al mirar bien vi que era la esposa de él. No se cómo lo hizo, pero la señora se acomodó lentamente en la silla y su esposo puso en la silla las otras cosas que había bajado. Cuando su esposa se acomodó bien y le dio la señal al esposo que estaba todo bien. El se agachó y retiró los palos de las llantas de atrás y de adelante, las puso de nuevo en el carro y antes de empezar a mover la silla para llevar a su esposa a la iglesia. Rápidamente miró una ventana y con el reflejo de
