Hello friends, and happy new year!
I had a great time reminiscing this week on all the books that have been a part of 2017. Some were fun, some were deep, and others completely over my head. Here is my top ten (er, eleven) books of the year!
Author: jfunkhouser
Merry Christmas from the Funkhousers!
This is no time for a child to be born,
With the earth betrayed by war & hate
And a comet slashing the sky to warn
That time runs out & the sun burns late.That was no time for a child to be born,
In a land in the crushing grip of Rome;
Honour & truth were trampled by scorn-
Yet here did the Saviour make his home.When is the time for love to be born?
The inn is full on the planet earth,
And by a comet the sky is torn-
Yet Love still takes the risk of birth.-Madeleine L’Engle
This has been a year of many changes (but then again, aren’t they all?). We have both experienced the “risk of birth” this year as we step into new & unknown directions. Through it all we have been so grateful to have a Father who has gone before us, taking the ultimate “risk of birth” by coming down in human form to bring us hope & eternal security through his son.
Per tradition, here’s the bullet point version of our year:
- We’re still living in Southeast, the longest we’ve lived in an apartment by far. We’re enjoying the chance to continue getting to know some neighbors and hope to keep investing in the community. Plus, our mice neighbors have finally been evicted, a definite reason to rejoice.
- Jenna had a series of scary health issues Feb-May of this year. One of the bummers of this was that we had to cancel our trip to Amsterdam. Thankfully she is feeling much better now & is actually grateful for some of the things she learned during that season. It was a hard but good season of trusting and relying upon God. (Although we still hope to make it back to Amsterdam before long!)
- Ben completed his fifth year of working with CIS, then took the exciting step of following his passions towards a more people-oriented career. He is now working for L’Arche Portland, an intentional community for people with disabilities.
- Jenna also took on a new position with Loom International on their Marketing/Communications team. So far she loves it, and will hopefully be planning a trip soon to visit some of their work on the field.
- We traveled to Chicago this June and attended the Justice Conference, a dream come true for both of us. We were especially inspired to broaden our perspectives by pursuing relationships with those who see the world differently.
- Great memories with family: Celebrating both parent’s 30th anniversaries this year, and visiting Ben’s parents in August. In October we had the opportunity to visit family in Oklahoma and also went to Sunriver with Jenna’s family.
During this year, we have also been so thankful for each of you, our friends & family who have rallied around us in the hard times and cheered us on in the good. We hope you know how much you have blessed us this year! May 2018 bring you peace, joy, and perseverance as we go further up & further in together.
Love,
Ben & Jenna
A Prayer Between Thanksgiving and Advent
Lord, we confess to you that in this season of abundance, we are still often slaves to our mentality of scarcity.
We thank you for the generosity of our Native brothers and sisters so many years ago, and continuing to this day. We confess that we and our fathers did not faithfully reciprocate this generosity, but have rather subjected this land and many different peoples to violence for our own gain. We have sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind of hatred, division, and bloodshed.
We confess that we still often lack this generous spirit to the poor, the immigrant, and the minority. Our mentality of scarcity has tricked us into a false dichotomy that believes enough for me must mean less for you.
We ask that you touch our hearts anew with the story of Christ, who became poor that all might become rich, who became marginalized that all might be included, and who became an immigrant that all might find their true home.
Teach us to live in the abundance of your kingdom, that in humility we may find more than enough in you.
Amen.
Ministry Update: Looming Ahead
Hello friends! I have an exciting ministry update to share with you all! But first, a little context:
As some of you may know, in 2005 I went on a two-week missions trip that changed my life. That summer, my youth group partnered with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) to immerse ourselves in urban outreach. It was here that my heart was deeply stirred for the cause of the vulnerable and the marginalized, and I knew then I would spend the rest of my life seeking justice and compassion for the oppressed through my love of storytelling.
The next 4 years I spent a lot of Friday nights under the Burnside bridge, washing feet and handing out socks and sandwiches. I loved getting to meet people there and I began learning the power of relationships in changing hearts. However, I still was operating from a top-down mentality. What can I give you? How can I help you? Instead of, How can we work together?
Commitment to Celebration
In autumn, death comes like a cinder paintbrush, lighting up the trees in flames of red, orange, and gold.
It’s as if the whole world has come together to celebrate the summer that was and the winter that will be. I think, when I’m honest, this is a challenge to me. How often do I find it easy to celebrate the summers in my life, and struggle to celebrate the seasons that feel more like death?
Lately I’ve been thinking about what it means to commit to celebration in our lives, as a spiritual discipline that’s more than simply giving thanks. What would it look like to celebrate the stuff that’s keeping me up at night? What would it mean to throw a party not for the new job, the new house, or a new year, but for the things I’m not sure I want to claim, the things I’m afraid of or don’t understand?
“Suffering brings us to the end of ourselves–our strength, our resources, our comfort, our understanding and wisdom, our plans and control–but as it does so, it can drive us to the One whose very being is endless. We often despise our limitations because we want to be strong and self-sufficient, but our weaknesses fit perfectly into God’s gracious salvation plan. For it is only when we are bowed low before God in humility that we are exactly where he wants us to be, and, surprisingly, where we most need to be–powerless to help ourselves and totally dependent upon him.” -Sarah Walton
Paul said it like this:
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5
I’m not sure I’ve learned yet what it means to rejoice in suffering, but I think it looks a lot like autumn. The leaves that blaze in piles of glory may die, but they know the true secret: that what seems like death is simply a preparing for spring.
Celebration in the midst of suffering is the truest way I know to speak of the truest thing I know: that redemption is coming, that in some mysterious way every death can be the preparing for a new kind of life. A hope that does not disappoint, like every tree aflame with a fire that does not consume.
Scary/Good
Some time ago, I realized my normal modes of exercise–mainly biking and walking–were primarily benefiting a certain set of muscles. My legs. Although I felt in good physical shape, there was a whole half of my body that never received a very strenuous workout. In order to right this imbalance, I needed to seek out exercises that targeted these weaker areas.
In some ways, the choices I make in my life are similar to the exercises I choose. It may seem like I’m in good shape, but when I look closely I’m very heavily focused on certain areas, with whole areas of my life ignored or uncultivated. Just like my physical body, these “muscles,” if not used, will continue to stay stagnant.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about risk. After years of making choices, we are (often unconsciously) choosing what muscles in our life we want to be strongest. Years of making a safe, easy, or comfortable choice will cause those muscles to become my reflex response. The more I choose comfort and security over risk, the more I’m closing my heart off to all sorts of scary but wonderful things God might bring me.
Choosing to embrace risk, doing things that are good but scare me, is a way to begin building strength in other areas, knowing that more scary things will inevitably come and these extra muscles sure might come in handy. As reluctant as I might sometimes be, I want to keep doing something that scares me every year of my life. I want to keep saying yes and building my muscles of trust, creativity, prayer, and dependence upon Christ.
What are some things that really scare you? I’m not necessarily talking about spiders, snakes, or steep ledges–although I totally get that. But what really terrifies you deep down?
Rejection? Failure? Isolation? Meaninglessness? Not-enough-ness?
Me too.
There are some days we look at our life and think, why risk it?
The point is not that risk is inherently good, but that life is about these sort of small choices we make every year of our lives. This isn’t about gaining points by being a crazy risk-taker, but re-aligning our priorities so that we’re willing to take risks for the sake of big and beautiful things. Discerning when to step into this risk intentionally, and the process of embracing it, is what exercises our muscles of dependence on the Spirit. We learn to pray, live, and love Jesus differently when we’re out of our comfort zone.
Here’s who I want to be: someone who enters into risk with the full acknowledgement that I need both wisdom and courage, that I don’t have enough of either of these on my own. I want to step forward towards good/scary things because I know whether I fail or succeed, just the very act of stepping forward is a victory.
And once I’m there, I want to look back with a knowing smile on my face, recognizing that Jesus led me all the way, and turn my face towards the future and say,
“Let’s try again tomorrow.”
Only Love Remains
I heard once that in previous centuries time was not viewed as a line you move through, with a beginning and an end, but circular–the way the sun rises and sets, or the year always circles back to spring.
In my own heart I often recognize this circular pattern. I learn something true about living every day, and I do my best to remember it. But new thoughts come, distractions drift my mind away, and the sharpness of this truth becomes dulled. Months later, I’m reminded of these truths again and around the circle goes. My prayer is that each time becomes like the blow of a great hammer, driving it deeper and deeper into my soul. Like the unforced rhythms of grace.
When I first started this blog nearly three years ago, one of the first things I wrote about was love. The more I live & pray about living, the more I’m convinced that this is each of our great lives’ works–the work of love.
The God who met me in my mess.
Lately, when people ask me how I’m doing, I want to say, “Let me tell you a story.”
A story of how much of a mess I have been this year.
A story of the God who has met me there. Continue reading
Christ My Prize
Oh, God, be my everything, be my delight
Be, Jesus, my glory; My soul’s satisfied.
This past month has been one full of so much refreshment and so many mixed emotions. Joy at seeing wonderful friends from all over the globe, sorrow from the many goodbyes that came after, and a whole lot of wonderful conversations, laughter, and honest, raw moments in-between. I feel so incredibly thankful, and yet at times I have struggled with contentment, feeling discouraged or inadequate because of the vulnerable place the last six months have brought me to. Continue reading
We need them.
Happy June! This weekend Ben and I celebrated our fourth anniversary–crazy! In some ways it feels like we’ve been married for a while now, and in others it still feels like we’re just beginning this adventure together. I’m so thankful for his support and presence during this especially hard season–he has truly been amazing. Although I still have some up & down days, I’m also so thankful to be beginning to feel better, have more energy, and hopefully be on the upswing for good!
June started out with an exciting trip for us, as we traveled to Chicago to attend the Justice Conference, held at Willow Creek Community Church. We heard from many powerful leaders of faith during the two day event, and I thought I would share a little of what we’ve been processing afterwards with you.
In the past year or so, both Ben and I have begun to dramatically shift our thinking away from seeing injustice as an individualistic issue, to learning about systemic injustice and broken systems that perpetuate suffering for so many people. This past weekend really cemented our convictions that in order to really change communities and see justice long-term, we have to address these bigger realities. Our God is a God who goes after the one lost sheep, but who also gave himself to defeat evil universally. We find ourselves asking: How do we learn about the complexities these broken systems? What can we do to change them? How can we help without hurting? And how can we not neglect the needs of our neighbors individually as well?
Second, I was so inspired by the words of many speakers, reminding us that justice work is not about “helping” or “fixing” or any type of mentality that gives us the role of savior, coming in to save the day. I loved hearing Sandra Van Opstal share about vulnerable members of her congregation, and how she is inspired to seek justice because she realizes that she needs them. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Russell Moore:
“We do not need more ‘ministry’ to the poor or racial minorities or immigrant communities. We need to be led by the poor and racial ‘minorities,’ and by immigrant communities.
…The child with Down Syndrome on the fifth row from the back in your church, he’s not a ‘ministry project.’ He’s a future king of the universe. The immigrant woman…is not a problem to be solved. She’s a future queen of the cosmos, a joint-heir with Christ.
…No matter how important the United States is, there will come a day when [it] will no longer exist. But the sons & daughters of God will be revealed. Some of them are undocumented farm-workers and elementary school janitors right now. They will be kings and queens then. They are our brothers and sisters forever.”
May we continue to advocate for those on the margins, looking for ways to bring their voices to the table, because we need them.
Downwind of Grace 