my highly polished and professional looking graphic for use during the message i am preaching sunday at tapestry. as you can tell i spare no expense in conveying the message of the LORD.
SIDE NOTE – i want this!
it’s an elmo document projector and i can get this used one for $199. some friends of tapestry sent on unexpected check last week that i might use for this. the problem is that while i really think it would come in handy i won’t be sure until i try it out. unfortunately i can’t find a place around point that will rent one so i can’t just try it with no obligation. then the issue is that these units usually costs $1,000 so this one is a huge deal. i hate decisions like this.
awhile back pam said i needed new clothes. this is a big deal because i rarely buy clothes. my clothes usually come from birthday and CHRISTmas presents. until recently this system had worked pretty well for me. i had clothes and i didn’t have to go shopping. it was the best of both worlds.
a few weeks ago pam said i had to get some new clothes because i had worn out most of my better looking outfits and the others were working terribly out of date. i looked at what i was wearing and determined that she was right. so pam took me shopping and i came back with nice looking clothes.
i know the clothes are nice looking because today everyone has been telling me so. seriously, i have had two different groups of people say “you’re looking very good today.” it’s not something that i am used to. i will probably have to take pam’s advice more often.
i just wanted to say “thanks” again to so many of you. when i left parkview a year ago they threw a party (i’m still not sure if it was out of joy or sadness over me leaving). at the end of the party jess, meg, josh, and the parkview youth gave me a jambalaya pot and some fixins. this pot has been used quite a bit since moving to wisconsin.
tonight the pot was used to fix the weekly meal for the “place of peace.” the “place of peace” provides a free meal each week for all who need it. a lot of independent living residents of point go for the meal. i spent most of my day fixing a meal for about 45 people. that would not have even been an option if it had not been for all those who thought of giving me the jambalaya pot. so if you are a part of that group i wanted to tell you that you made dinner for 45 people tonight and it was pretty good.
where love is implemented, there is the church. ubi caritas, ibi ecclesia. … where it is not translated into blood and prayers and tears, into “works of love,” no amount of theology, candles, vestments, incense, or polished black hearses can make up the difference…
john caputo, what would JESUS deconstruct?, p. 124.
every thursday night the tapestry leadership team gets together at our house to eat, discuss what GOD is doing in and through tapestry, bounce ideas around, and watch “the office” together. it’s a good time because we all pretty much love hanging out together.
anyhow this week was great because of two reasons: 1) we heard a report from a non-church goer we had asked to come and critique one of our sunday night worship gatherings, and 2) we agreed upon being a part of the advent conspiracy.
awhile back i had meet a new friend who had only been to church a few times in her life and those visits where for weddings. she had never been to a church worship service. i asked her if she would come and critique one of our worship gatherings. i joking referred to it as “renting an atheist.” the goal was to make sure that we were not unintentionally talking in religious code or doing things that did not make sense to people who had not been raised in the church. she graciously agreed to come to one of tapestry’s worship gatherings and give us her thoughts. tonight was the night that she reported. she actually brought a friend with her to the worship gathering this past sunday and brought another friend with her to the report tonight. it was great. they were all extremely helpful in their critique and gave us some much needed input on the things we are doing within tapestry that are actually connecting. it was a fun evening listening and talking with them, as well as having extra people at the house to watch “the office” (more laughter = more fun).
the other great thing was that we discussed involving tapestry in the advent conspiracy. i posted about the conspiracy back in june. at that time i talked about the conspiracy being something that i hoped tapestry would like to be a part of. tonight that became a reality. the above video does a wonderful job of explaining the basics of what the advent conspiracy is. i’ll begin to bring this up at tapestry this sunday and we’ll focus on it until CHRISTmas. i think this fits perfectly with the dna of tapestry.
if you are not presently listening to “this american life” each week you should start. it is consistently great. this past sunday’s show did a great job of explaining how big a deal the current economic crisis really is all while also being quite entertaining.
do you self a favor and download last week’s show here and then subscribe to the podcast here
the above photo is from my facebook profile (if i’m not your friend just look me up and add me – i’ll gladly confirm you). anyhow mike (a member of the leadership team, a great disc golfer, and apparently a lousy fisherman) posted the above statements on my wall. it was so cool to see that he is already thinking “may it never stand still” in regards to tapestry. in the last six weeks we have taken some huge steps, but the goal isn’t to be satisfied with where we’ve reached. the goal is to follow CHRIST more and more. i hope we have a “not that we have already arrived” type of mindset. i hope that we become a group of people who are pushing and striving for more faith in CHRIST and taking more “leaps to faith” every day. it would be awesome if three years from now tapestry is taking more risks than we have in our first six weeks. that’s the type of church that i want to be a part of (and the type that i think i already am a part of). my hope is that tapestry will be a group that believes its only satisfaction is in CHRIST but is never completely satisfied with what we are presently experiencing in and through HIM. i hope that we are a group that always wants more of HIM and wants to follow HIM a little more closely. if this becomes who we are then we will continue to more forward in following HIM.
yes, i am probably biased but i am loving the girls and guys who lead the music at tapestry. not only are they are doing a great job but they are also being very creative. in the four weeks of worship gatherings we have already had original songs, a cello/beat boxer deut, and a harmonica solo. it makes me happy each week to think of what new stuff they are going to do.
SIDE NOTE – i also love the fact that i get to be a part of a church where i can use the picture below in the worship gathering and nobody bats an eye.
a couple of weeks ago my car’s radio antenna suffered a catastrophic collision with my canoe. the result has been that i am now constantly listening to podcasts on my ipod. today i was listening to talk of the nation as it described the national geographic show “factory floor.” the show details the process of mass producing items. during the interview concerning the show the producer kept describing how the engineers behind the mass production are neurotic about perfection. he described several situations of factories doing whatever was necessary to turn out the exact same product with no defects thousands at a time. he described a pasta plant that takes a photo of every grain of wheat that is used in producing their pasta. they want to remove any dark or defective grains from their process so that all the pasta is “perfect.” in an effort to achieve this they automate everything they can and remove as many human interactions as possible.
of course, while such mass produced pasta may be “perfect” it is also bland and boring. when people think of great pasta it is usually homemade. of course, homemade pasta isn’t perfect. it has irregularities, inconsistencies, and imperfections within it. not being the same lends to the the reality and quality of homemade pasta versus mass produced pasta which may always tastes the exact same but could never stand up against good quality hand made pasta.
i wonder if the same isn’t true with ministry and more particularly with worship. i’ve been around places that produce “perfect” worship and ministry. it is always consistent. the mistakes have all been worked out or hidden. the transitions cause everything to flow from one element to the next without a second’s pause. the intonations, gestures, and looks of the leaders are planned down to the last detail. it’s been worked out and designed so that it will be perfect each and every week. of course, i think worship like this is also usually pretty bland because of all of that. there’s no art, no hands involved within it. i like ministry and worship when it is a little “gritty.” i don’t mean by this that it is sloppy and not well done. just that it’s not overly ‘processed.” just like homemade pasta you can do things in worship and ministry in a high quality manner that are still not overly processed. i hope that’s what we do at tapestry.
