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sometimes people look at what i do with our youth at hfumc and wonder why? i know this, because many ask me, and that means that there are more that don't. i believe that there is a place to teach youth an expression of worship through art that gives new meaning (and sometimes confusion) in being creative as our we were created that transcends a sermon/talk or written word. donald miller backs me up pretty well with this.
found this radio interview (which someone put to video still shots) interesting as john macarthur takes on some of the emerging church. a quote, and still shot, that i found interesting was something like this, after he was equating a social gospel understanding to say that Jesus refused to create a welfare state.
the emerging church preoccupation to move away from theology. lets move away from those things that relate to eternal life, sin, judgement and talk about fixing the world. (at which point they show a picture of rob bell.. confusing)
our church is wanting to get into providing fair trade coffee for our various classes and gatherings as a lead in to more social justice issues. do any of you friends have any experiences switching over to something like this? i know the uk is taking initiatives.
as it stands now, we are thinking of doing this as an ongoing youth funraiser. not sure how that works philosophically for a change of habit, as people will only buy more expensive coffee to benefit the youth, not the farmers.. but anything is better than nothing. i guesss
after my confession of not being a potter follower i did take in the latest film this weekend. i am thinking this mash-up of welcome back cotter and harry potter might be the next film
tip: marko
this weekend we set out for our youth communities "mystery trip." it is always billed as a mystery with some elements that the youth most likely wouldn't do on their own. we try to keep the secret of the mystery trip up until they get on the bus to leave. then is when we give information to parents and the teens. this isn't always successful. last years got out of the bag the week of the trip. this year some people found out the night before.
this year we have trekked down to saint simon's island, staying at epworth by the sea. i have had some of the youth blog about the varied adventures. however, not yesterday. we started out having an early morning sunrise morning prayers, ate then off to the beach for a few hours. we then were going to do a little historic tour, but christ church was closed due to a wedding and then it started intensely raining, so we took our show on the road to norcross (a planned halfway home trip). after some traffic jams, dinner and then a movie it was a full day.
wish we could have spent more time in atlanta, maybe another trip. it's on the road again. should be home around noon-ish.
today i sent sail with the youth for saint simon's island for our "mystery trip." the idea is that the youth don't know what they are signing up for and it generally requires them to do something they wouldn't otherwise do and something they might. this year we are doing some methodist history stuff and kayaking, the stuff they would like to do.. hang out on the beach. i'm looking forward to going back.
it is a long drive to and from and i am packing a number of books, but i noticed. i am not packing a harry potter book and haven't even crossed my mind to pack one (purchasing one would be the first step in being able to pack one). am i the only odd ball that isn't reading harry potter this past weekend and forthcoming week?
what might actually make me weird is the books i actually hope to tap into.
in no particular order are some of my thoughts, observations, resources and words of wisdom.
the videos we used for "specto divina" something jonathon has come up with, though i am sorting through a book called visio divina (not quite the same thing, but i like the idea of using imagery in a similar fashion to lectio) came from a collection called "the work of the people." i like the videos because they try to be lectionary based, so there are videos that are usable for the Christian calendar. the particular videos we used were as follows, what we did was put in some black screen and some text to guide the meditations.
some of the paper stuff we put together.
i might add to this, but for now i figure this is enough thinking
i am pretty disgusted to hear about this young couple having their marriage threatened because of a racial difference. if you are like me (watching college football religiously) then you saw mr. johnson propose to his girlfriend after scoring the winning 2 point conversion in one of the best games of all time.
Since then, Johnson said he's received phone calls, 30 letters and, in some instances, personal threats from people who objected to his plans to marry Popadics.
i remember when i move back to the south (college years) and seeing some mixed race couples and thinking. oh wow! making me wonder if it was unusual or i still had a stereotype for the south.
this is however the pacific northwest area. i think that they have some more activity when it comes to white supremacist groups, but that is my speculation. groups or not, it is sad that people resort to threats to young people because they choose to not see a color or label.
"It's unfortunate that it involves a certain protocol being followed to ensure that nothing happens," Johnson said. "It's really sad because a lot of people that are probably doing it are the same people who were cheering me on."
i found this mending of a conversation between gregory of nyssa and his sister compelling as diana butler bass compares lessons from greg that michael vick could have used.
Macrina argues that human beings and “irrational animals” share common gifts from God, the ability to perceive and passions. What separates human animals from “irrational” ones is the capacity of free will, part of human ability to discern and choose. Thus, humans are given the responsibility to care for animals, as irrational animals are subject to human free will.
Gregory, quoting his sister, goes on to say: “For when reason does not control the impulse which naturally lies in them, the fierce animals are destroyed by anger because they fight among themselves.” Likewise, human beings who fail to discern and act upon what is good will be consumed by irrational sin. Gregory directly links human treatment and care for animals to acts of human violence, and implicitly develops a Christian theology of creation care.
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The Michael Vick allegations revolt good people, those who believe it is wrong for a person to treat animals viciously. If proved true, Vick failed to meet even the basic Christian requirement to employ reason and free will to care for his dogs. But this case pushes further: What of the animals? What are the fundamental rights of the dogs to happiness and life? How can those rights be guaranteed and protected? (Interestingly enough, India’s highest court recommended a course for the construction of animal rights in 2000.) And how do religious people generate a vision for animal justice from their theological traditions?
some guy has this "great" take on how al qaeda supports the emerging church. i don't know what is funnier, the logic path for putting a terrorist collective in the initiative as a group re-imagining church or the people who actually support this "logic."
That’s why anything that helps to further separate the West from its Biblical roots ultimately weakens the resolve of the West to fight. Anything that helps the ACLU to further de-Christianize America, to further silence the Christian voice like the current hate-crimes legislation or the fairness doctrine, and to further weaken the Church and devalue the Bible as the religious left has done for decades, are things that empower our enemies and weaken our allies.
A post-Christian, post-modern, secular-socialist America will be no match for a radical Islam fueled by petro-dollars and threatening the use of nuclear weapons.
But an America where the church is strong, resolute, and courageous? That’s a different thing altogether.
Which is why al Qaeda supports the emergent church.
tip: i forget who to tip this too
it seems in some late night cleaning of the computer hard drive. after deleting a trial of microsoft office on my mac i somehow deleted just about every application on the hard drive. ooops
don't expect any videos, podcasts, on time appointments, or word documents until i can get this little guy serviced. hopefully today or tomorrow.
espn much to my surprise, has started a new program called college football live, which will respond to fans that are able to send in questions or input via email or video. i don't see myself putting in questions or video, but i do see the dvr having another scheduled recording.
mostly, i am stoked that this means that college football in on the doorstep.
this is a pretty good article on helmet boxing. if you have not encountered it you probably will. i had a youth break an arm (or maybe just dislocate a shoulder) last year doing this after lacrosse practice. as with anything teenager, it is chronicled on youtube for your viewing pleasures.
reasonable sarcasm post
if you are in cincinnati then you might want to go across the river into kentucky to check out the new creationism museum. for you youth leaders you can go on the sabbath, as it isn't observed. partly because this is all about genesis, and the sabbath is in exodus.
too bad i can't combine this with my disney & holy land experience by way of my christian cruise to the sea of galilee.
in another train of thought. can you have a museum of history about a narrative?
from all my ramblings of what transpired at youth 2007. this might not be what you would expect to see. but we happened to see it often. emily decided it was youtube worthy (whatever that means).
i have spent some time putting descriptions onto how we put together the worship feast area at youth 2007. check out our photo set. if you have read this blog for a long time you might see some stories, concepts, and prayer stations before but this was done in a much bigger way.
some perspective on all those blogger awards via cartoonchurch blog
the third and fourth day of youth2007 was a bit of elation and frustration on the worship feast side. we had a bit more of an expectations from the youth, but again the numbers of participants grew and grew. at one point our art area was filled with youth creating artwork pieces that they started to tear apart our nice painting and drawing books.
it was one of those moments where we had to give away a control and let it be. for me to do this successfully i had to go and get lunch. it is the tough part of a contemplative ministry where you give up control, you have to be willing to allow your ideas and concept of 'how it should be' and allow God to do with the space.
as i would come and go within the space it we started to hear and see results of our efforts in this endeavor of sacred space. our morning prayers and compine prayers were always well attended. some with almost 100 people. for a morning prayers being at 7:30am at a youth event, that is pretty remarkable if you ask me. the taize' worship services we put together were a real highlight for me and i noticed others staying for long periods of time after we could end a service. hundreds of youth and leaders continued to come into the space, we continued to run out of canvas's no matter how many new ones we would purchase we would keep running out. frustrating, but still very cool. youth and adults alike would find those of us tending to the space and would express how much they appreciated the atmosphere, the calm, the opportunity for expression which was very encouraging.
i did three "splatshops" or workshops on spiritual practices over the week. day two we taught and practiced lectio divina, day three we worked through the awareness examen, day four we taught the Jesus prayer. it is an interesting experience to talk to a group that may not be listening at all. good thing i spent all that time as a state of tennessee trainer.
our general sessions were way fun. some high energy and over stimulation for me. i retreated backstage a number of times to take pictures and just hangout with the design team folks there. i took one of our youth backstage to help move some of the artwork we brought for on stage. he really enjoyed being backstage, though i told him this meant he had to be on design team in 2011.
our speakers were wonderful people. i couldn't say enough about them. as with every speaking engagement i take little bits with me. to close my personal journaling for now i will leave with what i gleaned from ray buckley.
"we take the things that god has given us and give them away. this is the dance"
i am thinking that this worship feast dream was part of our dance.
i will continue to keep posting worship feast room pics on my flickr. check out youth 2007 stuff experienced by our group at our hfumcyouth flickr site.
if you didn't watch the original airing. you need to check out my excellent friend jenny as she is featured on tennessee crossroads & her pied piper creamery in east nashville. it was an excellent spot and shows her hospitality, care for people and funny humor.
it is actually time to do my day three update, but i still didn't get a day two finished. i will direct you to some of our youth blogs. two of our guys sat down to give a mid event update.
for me yesterday was a bit stressful. i was up late working on some things for prayers and the videos for the next day. went to bed at what could be considered a normal time for an event like this. set my alarm clock on my phone. when i woke up the phone was next to me in the bed.. which was not where i left it. i knew then something not so pleasant was up. picked up the phone & saw that it was 7:46. prayers were to start at 7:30. i dressed quickly and ran downstairs with computers in tow so that i could get the videos going and help direct what part of prayers i needed. luckily jenny and jonathon had prayers covered. we had a great crowd, but i wouldn't allow myself to enjoy the moment. i buzzed around with these videos and let it all just set me wrong.
for the duration of the morning i was off balance in some measure.
this was the first full day of youth2007 so we were intrigued to see how things went over. simply put, it went over amazingly well (even with my agitation). we probably saw over 500 youth and leaders over the course of the day. something we were not expecting. most everything was fine, if you count; running out of canvass, freight train like groups going through the labyrinth, and having difficulties with printers. through it all, we count our blessings, people used the space to the extreme and we couldn't have been happier.
as i mentioned in pre-day two coverage, i was asked to lead a lectio divina reading from the main stage in the evening session. i was certainly nervous about the whole deal. how does one lead a contemplative practice with 7,000?.. let alone, 7,000 teenagers. the cool part of it all was that the prep involved in being on the stage allowed me some personal space. up to that point things were decided on by me. so i had to say bye to everyone early in the afternoon and go for a sound check. afterwords i just hung out with some of the speakers, superchick, the stage crew, and some design team friends. it was a good few hours to focus on what i was asked to do.
in the scheme of the evening i was the "calming" factor in the worship which was themed "pray." i walked up through the middle of the stage after fusebox did a two or three song set. walking up i see the crowd of kids & youth ministers pumping fists "one more song! one more song!" all i could do is look at them and say, "give it up, i know who is in charge & you are not getting one more song." i greeted with a blessing of shalom and started on. eventually people figured out that we were not going to mosh pit, so they sat down or ran back to seats.
luckily i had planned a somewhat energetic introduction to lectio. after that we began with the readings from Matthew 6: 1-9.. stopping before the Lord's Prayer for your super scholars. times of silence, times of reading, light instructions, then a quick share with your neighbor. it's kinda amazing how much sound 7,000 can make in a whisper. &:~)
we closed by finishing the scripture we were reading by saying the Lord's Prayer together. during which i walked out of the lights and off the stage. there was a pretty loud applause, so it was either that we were done or they enjoyed it.
nervous and weirded out, i wandered the backstage after that. many people said it was wonderful/well done/great job.. which was affirming. in some ways, it takes so much to lead others through a contemplative practice. you give it out, but you never own a response or get that instant feedback to measure your connectivity. i did get a great compliment however. i ran into nina reeves behind the stage. i hadn't seen her in few years and just adore her. she's wonderful & respected storyteller. i introduced myself saying "hey, you don't remember me, but..." and before i got far into all that story she starting giving me praise over what i had just done. "not just anyone can do that" she said. standing next to her was ray buckley, another whom i have great respect for. same intro to ray and i received back similar praise. i continued to wander in a haze i cannot explain
we closed our day with compline which has been a wonderful blessing for myself and i believe for our group. even though none of us ever went straight to bed after compline.
posting worship feast room pics on my flickr. youth 2007 stuff experienced by our group at our hfumcyouth flickr site.
i slept through most of morning prayers today because i was up blogging and doing other things associated with the worship feast room. so, tonight i am going to be early.. well, early for this trip. i will catch up with everyone tomorrow on the happenings of today. it was pretty amazing.
i did give some free pub for you sam. maybe you will get all these hits from greensboro this weekend. i led a Lectio Divina reading from the stage. not sure if i'd call this my most interesting or highlight of my day. but it was really cool. some new pics at our flickr set
we completed day one of youth 2007 this evening. it started out early for our crew. we had morning prayers at 7:30am, which some one didn't make it for. the youth went at it, putting the finishing touches on the worship feast room. we completed our tasks around noon time, closed our working period and officially/unofficially opened with midday prayers.
many of the youth ran off for some well deserved free time, swimming in the pool & hanging in the sauna. after a bit we re-gathered and headed to the coliseum to check out the expo center and some of the other destination spots. most of us detoured and volunteered to be a part of the opening of this evenings worship service. this got us floor seats.
back to the expo and destinations. people have now gotten some swag and goodies. so it was off to dinner, nothing special. food court at the mall, but it was quick, we had to get back for worship.
worship started off with a native american group doing a dance, i assume it was a blessing or dance that went with our practice for the night "seek." fusebox was our house praise band, they did a good job with some of the regular songs people know. their own stuff, which i don't guess many were familiar with didn't go over that great, though their energy is good for this type of event. that katinas rocked the house. the two memorable moments from this were some of the guys doing some nutty looking dances in between some of the seating sections. second moment was when todd, conner, and william started a trend by getting on the shoulders of the older guys. fun stuff. everyone enjoyed it and chatted on about it all the way up to compline.
we closed our day with compline. i noticed a new person had come to the worship feast space. upon further inspection i was none other than miss natalie. she'd come to see me. that was cool and sorta weird. we acknowledged that it was weird that we knew so much of each other, plus the minute she looked up from her book i recognized her, without ever meeting before. ciona also stopped by to have prayers with us.
check out images at our youth2007 set
there will be more later, i've got to go to bed though
it is way late, i'm off to bed so that i can actually get up for morning prayers. our group arrived safe and sound today into greensboro. no problems, except a missing key for about 8 minutes. more pictures to come later, but here is a bit of late night fun as we took in our labyrinths for the weekend. johnathan taking his first run/walk on a labyrinth.
i like many, have been watching the live earth stuff. though my watching is over the hours of highlight footage, not hour by hour, minute by minute. observations
catching up on some blog reading this evening while watching live earth stuff. it's been a crazy time of late. my team of folks have been busy prepping and building prayerstations and atmospheric stuff for our "worship feast" area of youth 2007. all things are built, painted, packaged and ready for packing and shipping on monday and tuesday. it was great fun, at times, putting a vision together. nice to spend someone elses money in doing it too. i have one item i am nervous about, but i won't speak of it here. if we don't pull it off then you won't know. you'll still think what we do is cool. &:~)
we are in a good spot with all things. i guess this is what happens when you plan. go figure. i hope to do some video blogging of our set up and experiences. if you are going to be in greensboro then come find me in or around the worship feast area. you especially
due to planning i got to spend today in bed and shopping with wifey. apparently it was shoes day. i got two new sets of flip flops (my shoe of choice, even when not weather permitting). this was needed as my most recent purchase of flops was almost two years ago. i also got some cool trail runners on clearance. impulse buy, but worth it. i might actually run in them. we got some new shoes for wifey. one of them being golf shoes, her first. i entered her and some friends in a golf tournament and seeing that she has never played before, she needs to learn to play the part.
we finished our day eating at chef's market in goodlettsville (town just north of nashville, but partly within the metro area). it was my first time to make it for dinner so i was excited, they have stuff on their menu that is only available for dinner. so i had a good idea i knew what i wanted. surprised to find one of my favorite conference youth kids there working. he graduated last year so i haven't seen him since last summer. big hugs and some catch up, that was special. i ordered the snake bite pasta.. everyone should have themselves the snake bite pasta. it is wonderful!! erin has the chicken cordon bleu, that was excellent, but not as excellent as the pasta i had. it was a huge portion so i took home half and have been looking at the leftovers just anticipating when i will eat it. yummie!
home again and after cleaning up a bit wifey went to bed and i'm catching up with you my blog friends.
in going through the reader, here are some things that i found funny, interesting or just blog worthy.
i am pretty much consumed with youth 2007 on top of my church responsibilities. for y07 jonathon, some friends, and myself are creating and maintaining the "worship feast" area. it is a contemplative worship & prayer space that is counter to the rest of the event. i am pretty stoked by it all, but there is a lot to do.
if you want to talk come see us in greensboro next week.
i received an email from the folks at prairie home companion yesterday. apparently a post that i had put up about garrison keillor & methodists, which was sent to me over email, was adapted/plagiarized and circulated. not being familiar with keillor at that time i found it amusing and posted the email circulation. i didn't know that i would be some source for this information. thus, i found this interesting
Your column gives the impression that some or all of the December 16, 2006 posting are comments that Mr. Keillor made regarding Methodists and as such has been reprinted in the UMMen Summer 2007 magazine.
in my post (which i have removed per their request) i mentioned that it was adapted & i received it through an email forward. so i find it interesting that i would be the resource for a print magazine.
with respect to mr. keillor and the brain trust behind prairie home i've removed my post as well as from a posting on themethoblog. jay has written a formal letter suggesting that they entertain the idea of using creative commons license.
it's been a busy time, so i have had a hard time spending time blogging. plus since my mom used my computer this weekend my browsers seem to crash a whole lot. which is annoying and quite defeating to start a post only to loose it all.
our youth choir did a kickin choir tour show. the whole thing was written by members of our church (we have some talented theater and songwriting folks who happen to like each other and can do this kind of thing). it was cheezy, as many of these can be, but not super cheezy as most are. best part was how the various charaters were played by youth who do not at all fit in real life the charater they are playing. erin cried laughing at one of songs where, a youth we are so close too we could call a daughter, did a rap which was well done and very out of character for her. at the end of the concert one of our long time youth friends joined the church formally. that was when i cried.. but not for long, it was a manly cry
youth2007 worship feast area is coming together... slowly. we had a great group from kansas crash our building party for a day and helped get us in gear. since then it has been hot and hard to get finished. hopefully one more day of work, then we pack up and head out. we will be taking a lot of pictures and video of the worship set up when we get there. till then i'd like to not spoil the surprises.
i checked out evan almighty yesterday with some of the youth. it was a good time, simple feel good movie as far as i was concerned, something i won't overthink. i am not a big moviegoer, so being eloquent in my praise or critique of the cinema is difficult. the content was good, sure one could pick on some theological elements, but i liked the overall message. especially liked the conversation between god & evan's wife.
today i am going into the office late. sitting in on staff meeting then doing some organizing for youth2007 and then playing shuttle driver for our towns "freedom festival."
thinking of july 4th things, why have people been lighting off fireworks for a week now? don't you know that you are scaring my dog to death! it is really annoying to have a dog follow you into the bathroom cause they think someone is after them.
so i have seen folks mention pownce before. then i get an invite from jay. before i know anything i'm signed up. if there are others of you out there that are on pownce or want an invite let me know. http://pownce.com/gavoweb/
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