Transmitting 12/17/08
January 2, 2009
On December 17, there was Transmissioning, and it was good. The Transmission group headed to Dan Marrin’s swank brownstone in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Mabel Bermejo prepared an Italian dinner, garlic bread and spaghetti, for our group of seven people, and Isaac led the ritual. He started with group songs and then read us a story from The Way of the Wolf, a collection of stories about bunnies, wolves and nature that start out sounding like children’s stories, but end as provocative and mature parables showing what it means to be Christian.
Then came the fun. Our theme for the night was “free gifts” and the free grace that we’ve been given through Christ. We don’t have to earn or pay for the love of God: salvation has been given to us through his son and our love for Him. So, in that spirit we brought each other gifts that cost us nothing and exchanged them. Each gift had its story, like Mabel’s Israeli soap (which she initially mistook for candy), Paul’s Bible Memory Match cards (random religious stuff- yay!) and Katie’s purple scarf (Who’d think Santa Claus would take the form of an Indian tailor?)
Afterwards, we held prayers for any of us who needed consolation and did a laying on of hands for personal healing.  My roommates came in just as we were laying our hands on top of people’s heads and praying: a few of us chuckled and then Paul, who was the one getting “layed on” started screaming out a chant and we all burst out laughing. Yup, we’re a weird bunch, but in all the good ways.
All of us are going through trials and changes. Though we know our blessings, we pray we can face our challenges with grace and faith, knowing that we have friends we can turn to along the way. 
Isaac announced that he’ll be hosting Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve get-togethers. So mark your calendars for those and keep reading the updates as they come in!
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!