Author: Robert

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i ♥ potlucks

pam forwarded this video from new name pictures (an artist community from the hollywood adventist church). i think tapestry and the hollywood church would get along well if for no other reason than we both love potlucking. potlucks are a wonderful physical representation of the spiritual reality of the church existing as the body of CHRIST – we are more together as the body of CHRIST than our individual parts.

i also really like their “i’m a social justice CHRISTian” video. i think it is a very cool response.

my wife finds the coolest things.

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qr code

qrcode-sptapestryon a lark today i setup a qr code for the tapestry website. in theory you should be able to point your smart phone at this image, scan it with a qr code app and then automatically be taken to the church website.  the problem is that i don’t own a smart phone so i can’t really check it out. even if i did have a smart phone i’m not sure how effective it is to even have a qr code. still i think tapestry is the first church in wisconsin to have its own qr code and it was free. woohoo! now my life is complete 🙂

the only thing that i have actually thought of doing with it is beginning to place it on various posters i make for the few special tapestry gatherings we do every now and then. i might also have some stickers made that i can place on various things in hopes that someone discovers them and scans them. i might set it up to a special qr code page on the church website just so the people who use it feel special. i like for geeks to feel special. it makes me feel special.

of course, i might just make it link to this.

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post-easter

decorations

just a few thoughts on the monday after resurrection sunday.

  • one of the things i love about gathering in a school is that every now and then really random decorations appear. the above photo shows what greeted us at the door this week for tapestry. btw, we meet at washington elementary school which is why the washington standee shows up every now and then.
  • i love the fact that tapestry has been lead in music by three different leaders over the past 8 days. thanks eric, brad, and joel for doing all you do.
  • yesterday i discovered how long a bible and a moleskine journal will stay on the hood of a dodge grand caravan. just in case you are wondering the answer for the bible is at least 1/4 of a mile, this is when it was noticed and recovered. the answer for the moleskine is much less than 1/4 of a mile AND it turns on its special secret camouflage mode when it falls off the hood of the van. my poor journal is lost in the cruel world of southern plover. since it is supposed to rain tonight i fear the worst.
  • i’m pretty excited about some plans that a few threads have discussed for celebrating easter next year. this year was great but i personally missed the resurrection activities that we did last year. next year we will be bringing some back and doing some new things.
  • i think easter sunday is supposed to be the beginning of the celebration and work. the resurrection enables us to be a part of GOD defeating death around us. i look forward to hearing some resurrection stories of followers of JESUS being a part of defeating death and decay over the next several weeks.
  • last night adam holte told me that he has a recipe for matzah bread. that’s right in the past we’ve had homemade bread for the LORD’s supper and now we will have homemade matzah! woohoo!
  • if you see guy at emy j’s coffee house please go out of your way to thank him for letting us do our tenebrae gathering in the garage. it was perfect.
  • here’s a link to the big picture – the photo blog i mentioned last night.
  • i preached at first baptist church stevens point yesterday morning (since they are without a pastor at the moment i fill in for them every now and then) and i definitely spit all over the front row a couple of times. i wish i had brought an umbrella for this one guy named al. he was hit more than most. i felt like a preacher stereotype but still i thought it was funny.

anyway i hope that each of you had a remarkable easter sunday that enables you to live out the resurrection.

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40 by si smith

for the past 40 days of lent i have been emailing people a different image from si smith’s wonderful illustrative interpretation of JESU’ time in the wilderness. since it is easter i thought i would share a youtube video of all 40 images. i love these illustrations.

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easter perspective from “a prayer for owen meany”

i love a prayer for owen meany on many different levels. one of those levels derives from the quote below.

i find that holy week is draining; no matter how many times i have lived through HIS crucifixion is undiminised-i am terrified that, this year, it won’t happen; that, that year, it didn’t. anyone can be sentimental about the nativity; any fool can feel like a CHRISTian at CHRISTmas. but easter is the main event; if you don’t believe in the resurrection, you’re not a believer.

 

“IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN EASTER,” owen meany said, “DON’T KID YOURSELF – DON’T CALL YOURSELF A CHRISTIAN.”

john irving, a prayer for owen meany, pp 250-251

HE is risen! i hope that you have a wonderful easter full of encounters with the ONE WHO defeated death.

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the week in tweets – 2010-04-04

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tenebrae was tonight

IMG_1917

as usual i come away from being with my fellow “threads” more in love with CHRIST and with them. i love being with the people of tapestry. tonight was our second annual tenebrae gathering. thanks to the generosity of guy (the owner of emy j’s coffee) we were able to meet in the garage which was a wonderfully intimate spot. it was a tremendously simple evening of scripture, singing, and increasing darkness. i know it has set me up for easter and i hope it did for many of my friends also.

thank you to everyone who helped do the tenebrae. you guys & girls were amazing.

for those interested in what we did here’s a pdf of the scriptures and songs.

IMG_1919 IMG_1929 IMG_1934

btw for anyone who is interest here’s the paul robeson version of “were you there” that we ended with tonight.

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derringer pen & don’t invite anyone

the derringer pen

i’ve mentioned before the 4 things a man has on him at all legal times to solve problems? this is a list that i was taught from my dad and i have changed based on modern life. the list is:

  • a pen
  • a bandaide
  • a knife
  • a calling card/cell phone (this is where the change is – it used to be a quarter).

my dad used to say that you could use these four items to solve pretty much any problem you will ever face. it has worked for me and i continually push it with adam and noah.

a few weeks ago adam holte introduced me to the perfect pen for always being prepared. it is the derringer pen and it is designed to fit in your wallet. when adam showed it to me i knew i had to get one for me and the boys. i gave them theirs this morning and they were thrilled. as a youth minister i had teens always picking on me for having a pen in my pocket. with the derringer pen they would have never even have known how prepared i was.

NOW FOR THE “&”

i have a friend from seminary who recently posted this on his facebook/twitter feed:

blurred to protect the innocent

the guy who wrote this is a friend i know from SWBTS (where i got my masters degree). he was a swell guy in seminary and i believe him to be a swell guy now. i am sure that he is a great pastor and i think his suggestion is generally a good thing. BUT i want to encourage you NOT to invite anyone to tapestry (or your church) for easter. instead i recommend that we all take advantage of the spiritual nature of this week and easter to talk with and listen to our friends, family, and neighbors about their lives, faith, and struggles. instead of just trying to get them to church let’s become intimately involved in our neighbors’ lives and thereby demonstrate the love of GOD for all to see. if you begin to believe that tapestry would connect with your friend and help them to explore faith in CHRIST and follow HIM then you should most definitely invite them. if you are a thread and think that another church would connect better with who your friend is and who he/she is becoming then skip tapestry for awhile and go with them to whatever church that you think would connect best with them. we’ll see you back once you have your friend connected with people who love your friend.

basically what i am trying to say is instead of inviting people get involved with people. JESUS will show up better through your involvement in someone’s life than by getting that person to come to one worship gathering.

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the current terrell family debate

the current terrell family (minus adam who is not home right now – darn driving teenagers) debate involves above commercial. pam and noah started debating whether the non-whippet dog is a basset hound or some weird cross breed that just looks like a basset. noah, correctly, says the dog is a really cute basset hound while pam, wrongly, believes that it is a divergent basset look-a-like. obviously pam is wrong but the debate lasted a pretty long time. i walked in on the middle of it. i added my two cents worth – basically that noah was right and pam was wrong. you would think that this would solve the debate but it didn’t. we continued to re-watch the commercial and the discussion. since she wasn’t going to give in and see reason pam ended the debate by telling noah “the jerk store call and they are out of you.”

nothing ends a terrell debate as good as a random seinfeld reference.