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| Myself, Kristen and Mary respectively. |
From left to right is me, Kristen and Mary. They are wonderful and kind ladies, and they have such heartwarming and kind presenceses. I don’t live with them, but, it’s really neat to be able to share some of the Esperanza experience with these ladies. It’s nice.
Kristen and Mary work often at the other sites, so, I do not get to see them that often. Kristen works as a cook and server at the cafe at the Hunting Park location, and Mary is a volunteer medical assistant, working in between the three sites, but mostly at location near Alleghany and 5th Street. And, as I had mentioned before, I help out with the clerical assistants, making it the first reason that I (who currently smells of compost) has ever had to dress in "business casual" clothing so far.
Esperanza is the Spanish word for Hope, which is kind of funny, because, hope is what I find the season of Advent to be about. In this picture, we're standing outside of a buidling called Project Home, which is another one of the service sites that our Mission Year peers volunteers at, which works to develop solutions to homeless and poverty here in Philadelphia. We became a part of a seminar there called Peace on Earth and the Politics of Christmas hosted by a man called Will O' Brien who is part of a conspiring group called The Alternative Seminary.. I was pretty excited to go to this "class/seminar" thing, in which we basically talked about and compared the gospels of Luke and Matthew and dived into what the writers were moved to share about Jesus's arrival on Earth.
O' Brien wanted to share this seminar with us because of his desire to discover what it would mean to have a more meaningful Christmas, one that isn't reduced to consumerism and busy-ness, as well as a more meaningful season of Advent, a season in which we prepare for the coming of King Jesus on earth, a season in which we remember the brokenness of the world and remember that there is hope in His grace and His Way.
I will not get into the full details of what O' Brien talked about, but, I think that overall, most of my Mission Year peers, as well as myself, were challenged into being more thoughtful about significance of Christ's birth, keeping in mind the manner in which he humbly was born into poverty, to obscure parents, and the period of hostility that he was born into. Looking at Jesus, and the world that he chose to be born into, what does that mean for us, who want to follow the way of Jesus? What does that mean Christmas should look like to us? And what does Jesus' birth have to do with the rest of his whole life? There are many questions to ask in regards to what Christmas should mean to us, and those are questions I am asking myself this Advent.
For me, Christmas is a time to remember whose alliegence I want my heart, mind, body and soul to align myself with. Do I want to align myself with the loving, peaceful and life-affirming way of Christ, the Prince of Peace? Or do I want to align myself with the violent, chaotic and nihilistic ways of Herod... of Ceasar... of those who rule with darkness? For me, Christmas time is a reminder that there is hope in the revelation of Christ and His Kingdom, that the whole world can be redeemed and made new. Advent, and it's final arrival unto Christmas is when I can remember that the Light of the world chose to be with us human beings, all of us who are poor and lonely. Out of his compassion, he chose to be in solidarity with our poorness and loneliness when he was born.
I hope that this time of year will be one that you can meditate on what it means for Jesus to be born into the world, and what that means for your life and for your spiritual journey, as well as the lives of those around you. You can check out a group called Advent Conspiracy for ideas if you wish.
If you want to get a general idea of what O' Brien talks about each year, you can listen to this video uploaded by The Simple Way, one of the co-conspirators of Mission Year and the Alternative Seminary.
Peace be with you,
Love,
Rachel
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