Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas.

I went to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at the Central Moravian Church of Managua last night, and this serial reflection seemed worth sharing.

One of the scripture readings was Isaiah 60:2:

Darkness now covers the earth,
   and thick darkness covers the nations.
But the LORD dawns,
   and his glory appears over you.

I do feel that darkness is covering the earth as we head into 2017.  The vision of God's dawning in that darkness gives me hope.

Then after several other scripture passages and LOTS of Christmas songs sung with good spirit in three different languages (English, Spanish, and Miskito -- the Central Moravian Church is culturally diverse), the individual candles were passed out to each person, and we sang:

Jesus bids us shine with a clear, pure light,
Like a little candle burning in the night.
In this world of darkness, we must shine,
You in your small corner, and I in mine.

God is certainly able to intervene directly in this world S/he created, and I could tell you many stories from my own personal experience that appear to be such interventions to me.  But most often God works through agents -- and that means you and me, each in our small corner.

But that wasn't the end.  We were invited to raise our candles high.  In the dark sanctuary with all the electric lights turned off, it's amazing how much light a couple hundred candles can shed, and how beautiful they are, all those sparkling points of light.  And this time we sang:

This little light of mine -- I'm going to let it shine.
This little light of mine -- I'm going to let it shine,
Let is shine, let it shine, let it shine.

I take hope that God's light will never fail.  I take inspiration from Jesus' call that I be that light in my small corner.  And together with my sisters and brothers I pledge my commitment to let my light shine.

Merry Christmas.

                        (This is my Advent/Christmas creche, with all five candles now lit.)

History not being made

In 1968 the Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago, and I was home from college for the summer there.  The convention was marked by urgent demonstrations outside the meeting hall, demonstrations that the Chicago Police Department broke up with (in my opinion) totally unnecessary violence.  It was one of the occasions when folks were chanting, "The whole world is watching!"  And those were the days before the internet.

Dick Gregory applied for a parade permit, which was denied on the basis of the unsettledness of everything.  So he headed south down Michigan Avenue anyway, and when he was confronted -- this time by the National Guard, which was much more professional in its security measures -- he explained that he and a few friends had decided to walk home.  To the south-side ghetto.  A few friends, well, maybe 100 or 200.

My mother lived on South Michigan Avenue.  I declared my intention of going up to watch the confrontation between Dick Gregory and the National Guard.  My mother admitted that she couldn't stop me if I was determined to go, but she hoped I was willing to walk because she wouldn't give me the car keys and buses would be few and far between at that hour of the night.  "History is being made 3 miles from here!" I insisted.  "It can be made without you being there in danger," my mother replied.  My mother was not known in her parenting for taking a stand, but she sure did this time.  I sat in the house fuming, not being able to be where history was being made.

Now that we're all on the internet, I was hoping to have a ring-side seat for history being made today.  I was SO hoping that the Electoral College would do their constitutionally-appointed job and elect a President competent to hold the office.  Wouldn't that have been exciting to see?  Unfortunately, almost all of them abdicated that responsibility and rubber-stamped their state's vote.  So now we really will have a Trump presidency.

I would have loved to have had a(n) historical moment like this one that didn't happen during my lifetime.  I would have loved even more not to have to face at least 4 years of the disaster that I (and many others) foresee under -- can I force my fingers to type this? -- President Donald J. Trump.  The world did not respond to my wishes.  So we go on from here, looking for ways to be faithful.  God bless us all.

I was very worried when Donald Trump won the election (at least by Electoral College votes).  I disagree with so much of what he claims to stand for, I don't trust him at all, and I really don't think he's qualified to serve as President.  HOWEVER, I am well aware that performance in office isn't always well predicted by words in campaigns, so I was willing to watch and wait.

As Trump continues to name [okay, in my opinion] inappropriate and incompetent people to his cabinet, my worries are only growing by leaps and bounds.  How can he appoint a Secretary of Education who has no training or experience in education?  How can he appoint to head up the EPA someone who doesn't believe in climate change?  It's incredible.

I ran across this contrast on Facebook.  The Canadian cabinet:

Sendhil Naathan

November 20, 2015 · 

O Canada.....What a cabinet:
Minister of Health is a doctor.
Minister of Transport is an astronaut.
Minister of National Defense is a Sikh Veteran.

Minister of Youth is under the age of 45.

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is a former farmer.
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness was a Scout.
Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development was a financial analyst.
Minister of Finance is a successful businessman.
Minister of Justice was a crown prosecutor and is a First Nations leader.
Minister of Sport, and Persons with Disabilities is a visually impaired Paralympian.
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and Canadian Coastguard is Inuit.
Minister of Science is a medical geographer with a PhD.
New titles include
Minister of Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees was an Immigration critic.
There are scientists in the cabinet, and it is made up of 50% women.

This would make so much more sense for the U.S. as well.  Maybe even with a Republican-dominated Congress, some of Trump's appointments will be challenged.

New names

This blog used to be named "Talk to K Lynn."  "K Lynn" is the penname I used to publish my novel Friends in Need on Amazon for Kindle.  The Amazon folks said I should have a blog, so I made one.

I haven't used it for much.  For a while my sister and I used it to post zentangle art on websites that required posting from a blog.  But we have found other ways to post.

Recently I have been pondering what I should do about the current situation in the U.S. with Donald Trump as the President-elect.  Especially since I live in Nicaragua and can't be physically present at protests, wear a safety pin, etc.  I decided I could at least talk to people electronically.  So I decided to change the nature of this blog and use it for my own personal reflections as we head into 2017, and to share things that come to my attention that I would like to pass on.

I'm going to publish these posts on my Facebook page as well.  I don't know if there's a way with this server (blogger.com) to set up a subscription or a way to follow the blog directly in your email.  Maybe if somebody does know how, they will let me know!

Anyway, I would be happy for folks to pass this along any way that occurs to you.  And, please, to make comments if you have any.  I'd love to have dialogue, even with -- no, especially with people who disagree with something I say.

Incidentally, I am working on another novel I'd like to publish on Amazon some day.  So if you want to talk about Friends in Need or if I want to talk about Chosen, I'll still use this blog as an author.

Thanks for "listening."

Kathy (KLF)