Welcome to Our Home

I think I'm focused on the idea of home because I just signed a lease for my first place without a roommate. I can't believe after eleven years of roommates, I will be living on my own.  So excited.  The big move date is July 7th and I can't wait.  


All the being said, this Sunday I'll be preaching on Acts & 1 Peter.  Here is a sneak peak of the sermon entitled, "Welcome to Our Home." 

This past week, several of my dear friends who also serve in the ministry had lunch together.  We were talking about our sermons and the trepidation with which we preach sermons about sharing our faith.  In fact, our conversation went on to reveal the ways that we avoid sharing the hope in us…like when asked what we do, instead of sharing the hope, we say something like, “Oh, Me? I am in non-profit management.”   Our laughter soon turned into confession about fear.  What will they think? What will we say?  Will they instantly lump us in the category with Westboro Baptist Church?

If Paul and Peter had been sitting around our lunch table, I imagine they would have said to us, “You were created for so much more.  You have so much more hope in you.  Do not fear the world around you.  They can’t argue with your story, your hope…its yours.  They can’t dispute the facts or tell you God wasn’t real.  It’s your hope.  So do not fear as the world fears, and open up your mouth and let the messages of hope speak.” 

Recalculating

Don't you find our faith life a lot like a GPS?  We hear the voice but there is sometimes we don't trust it to give us the right directions and we opt for our own way...and yet there is always God offering grace saying, "Recalculating.  When possible make a u-turn."  Want to hear more? Check out my sermon from last week is online at http://www.christthekingcary.org/Home/WorshipAtimewithGod/Sermons.aspx.

Happy Birthday Day to My Momma!

My momma and my niece Eloise. 

My mom turned 60 today!

Normally I would be killed for revealing her age, but I can tell you that because it was announced all over her school today. So, it isn’t a secret, and she is beautifully embracing it…or at least trying to embrace it.   In honor her b-day, here are the top six things I have learned from my mom.

Six:  Don’t get too used to your picture on the fridge.  When grandbabies come on the scene, you don’t stand a chance of remaining on the front.  You might get moved to the side, but don’t hold your breath.  Although the fridge may run out of room for our expanding family, my mom’s heart won’t.  There is always love to give and share. 

Five:  Let your children dream.  I have wanted to be exactly four things in my life—Head Coach of the LA Raider, Chris Berman’s replacement on ESPN, a campaign manager, and minister.   My mom allowed me to explore them all trusting that one day I would “stumble into” a calling that made me delightfully happy. 

Four: Ironing is overrated.  Well, actually I learned this in reverse. My mom loves to iron and is constantly worried about my wrinkles.  She regularly says, “What will they think of the way I raised you with all those wrinkles?”  Mom, they think I’m great even though I haven’t owned or used an iron in over two years!  May your next twenty years be filled with way less ironing!

Three: Weird sayings.  I have learned since living in NC that I say things weird.  For example, since my mom runs the word next door together, I grew up thinking it was spelled nextstore.   Or for slippery, she taught me to say slippy—just learned last month that was made up. J

Two:  Grace.  My mom cares for all of us in our crazy family with grace.  She protects the dignity of those she loves even if it means sacrifice.  She makes space for redemption and offers it to us who are often so undeserving. 

One: When your baby needs you, you come.  After finding out about cancer, it was a mere 48hrs. later that my mom landed in NC to be with me as I began the healing process.  She let me cry,  and held my hand when I was terrified.  She asked hard questions that I wasn’t ready to ask, and those which I wasn’t ready to know the answer.  She removed and replaced gauze on my scarred and stitched arm.  She never let me believe, not even for one minute that I was alone.  When your baby needs you, you come.

I thank God for all the moments I have had with my mom.  She loves unconditionally and I am absolutely blessed to share in her journey and have her as a teacher and guide on mine.

Love you Momma!

Sermon Link!

Check out my sermon "God of the Ordinary" here. 


And Don't Miss this Sunday's Sermon "Recalculating". I be at CTK's traditional service. 

God of the Ordinary

Here is a sneak peak at tomorrow's sermon entitled, "God of the Ordinary": 

Jesus’ comeback is so ordinary.  If there was ever a justifiable time for pomp and circumstance it is after you conquered the grave.  I mean, they spent 35 million dollars on the royal wedding.  They drop hundreds of pounds of confetti after the super bowl win.  And before the white house moved to lighting the national tree with more efficient LED lights, the bulbs shined using more than 50,000 watts. Jesus' comeback is so ordinary. 

His resurrection appearances mirror his palm Sunday arrival…they are just plain ordinary.  If Jesus had asked me, I would have planned something far more fanciful.  Perhaps introducing him with trumpeters playing a mighty fortress wherever he went.  I certainly would have picked something different then a dusty walk on the Emmaus Road and sharing bread—couldn’t he have least picked something fancier like a scone?

Jesus’ resurrection appearance, lacking in pomp and circumstance, affirms what the most grand event would obscure—our God is the God of the ordinary.  

Best Play Date

Yesterday I had the best play date.  I have been babysitting Kayla and Preston since I moved to Durham in 2005. I have loved sharing birthdays, watching swim meets and reading stories before bed.  I am pretty sure I made Preston a packers fan for life with his Christmas present this year (GB Shirt, hat and football).  I think Kayla's musical career (she now plays the violin) started with the pink guitar I got her when she was three.  

Now they are at the fun age where I can take them out for play dates.  Yesterday consisted of painting our own pottery, an hour running around at the playground, games at the house and their favorite meal--mac n cheese, green beans, carrots, and ice cream with sprinkles. I seriously love them to pieces. 

Kayla and Preston with the boxes they painted for Mom and Dad. 

Comments at the County Commissioners Meeting

Today, I was able to speak at the Wake County Commissioners Meeting on behalf of the nine agencies that receive fund for homeless agencies.  The county is currently working on budget in which there maybe significant cuts. You can check out a video of the comments at: http://wake.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=7&clip_id=925.  My comments start at 1:14:37.  You can jump to Public Comments. I was the fifth to speak.  (PS. If you watch the video, you will definitely be able to tell that I am nervous but I was so thankful to have the opportunity to share!) 




My comments: 
Good afternoon and thank you for the opportunity to share with you. My name is Danielle Kosanovich and I serve on the board at PLM-Families Together and as a Diaconal Minister at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Cary as the Director of Outreach. 


As one who serves in full-time ministry, I am no stranger to the tension between a limited budget and seemingly endless array of needs. Each year, our faith community makes hard decisions about what to fund and which people will be helped. I don't envy your position to have to make these difficult decisions for all of Wake County. 


Your partnership with organizations that serve the most vulnerable in our society is to be celebrated and I thank you.  I pray that you will continue to partner in life-giving ways with local non-profits knowing you are doing more than merely funding a program but are equipping the least of these to become independent, confident and generous people in our community.  

• Each year an average of 3,330 Wake County Citizens (including 500 veterans) are homeless, living in area shelters, on the streets and in the woods.  
• Wake County Public Schools presently has 1,308 children and youth classified as homeless. 
• Wake County has 80,000 persons living in poverty and those households spend on average more than 50% of their income on housing alone, making them at risk for homelessness.

Without partnerships of non-profits, churches and the county, the three-legged stool that many of our county's most vulnerable people sit upon will falter.  There is tremendous value in our partnering to increase the overall impact of the county funds.  

Being homeless is not just not having a home.  "Being homeless is being without--without shelter, without resources, without support, without recognition, without power to influence society.  Simply survival becomes a full-time, humiliating task.  People who are homeless often lose their sense of self-worth and their hope for the future.  They feel cut-off and alienated from the rest of society." (ELCA Message on Homelessness)  Yet, our partnering reminds them that they are people worthy of dignity. The services offered move people beyond merely surviving to flourishing.  Please continue to fund services for homeless families, especially with significant state and federal cuts to resources that support homeless families with services that attend to the whole person as they get back on their feet.  Your partnership through county dollars rewrites stories--they are no longer without, without, without but people with...with hope, with futures and with homes. 

I look forward to working with you on behalf of all God's children.  May God give you discerning spirits and fill you with wisdom as you continue in your discussion. Thank you.