tapestry | Robert's Blog

April 2, 2010

tenebrae was tonight

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.

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

March 28, 2010

palm sunday potluck

just a little reminder for all the “threads” out there.

tonight we will celebrate palm sunday and the coming of the kingdom of GOD by eating together during our worship gathering. the whole gathering will be based around a meal we share together and the LORD’s supper. we will do this at our normal time (6-7:15 p.m.). if you can bring food that’s great. the plan is for everyone who can to bring enough of their favorite dish for 8 people. if you can’t bring food then just bring your stomach. 🙂

oh i’m so looking forward to this.

March 26, 2010

pliny the younger on CHRISTian worship

i very excited about sunday night (3.28.2010) at tapestry because the whole worship gathering is a potluck. i don’t mean that we are canceling our normal gathering and having a shared meal. nope, we are doing the whole gathering, singing, LORD”s supper, preaching, praying, discussion and all, as a part of a common meal. it’s an ancient practice within the bride of CHRIST (i.e. the church) that just isn’t done as much as it should be.

here’s how pliny the younger (a roman magistrate) described the worship practices of the early CHRISTian church.

they affirmed the whole of their guilt, or their error, was, that they met on a stated day before it was light, and addressed a form of prayer to Christ, as to a divinity, binding themselves by a solemn oath, not for the purposes of any wicked design, but never to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate,and then reassemble, to eat in common a harmless meal. (pliny to emperor trajan, book 10 letter 97

“to eat in common a harmless meal” HA! he got that wrong. harmless – what a joke!

there is something about eating together that plays such a huge part in following CHRIST. i believe there is a reason that the bible tells so many stories of JESUS eating with people. i believe there is a reason that followers of CHRIST should eat together – ALOT!

i can’t wait to eat with everyone sunday night. if you are bringing food please bring enough for 8 people. that way together we will have more than enough for everyone.

March 21, 2010

island of misfit toys

this week i’ve heard a couple of different people say things about tapestry that have made me smile. one of these was meant as a compliment (though some wouldn’t think so) and the other wasn’t really meant as a compliment but i’m taking it that way because it thrilled me. the only one i’m going to talk about is the one that was meant as a compliment.

a person who has been a part of tapestry for a few months made the following statement, “we’re a church of misfits.” i love this statement. i know some people would not want their church described as a bunch of misfits but i think it is great.

i’ve recently been thinking of the church as similar to the island of misfit toys. if you remember the rudolph the reindeer tv special then you know that the island of misfit toys is an island that defective and unwanted toys went to. it’s where the “rejects” went to develop a community. again i know this sounds a little negative but it’s not.

you see i believe that the scripture teaches that we are all a little screwed up. we’ve messed up, we’ve done stupid things, and pretty much not gotten it right. we’re not the perfect ones. we are not the ones who have it all together. instead we are the ones who recognize that we are desperately in need of someONE to claim us and call us HIS own. yep we’re a church that is made up of a bunch of misfits but i’m thrilled to be a part of a group of misfits because the LION OF JUDAH loves to claim professed misfits. HE chooses the ones that admit they are misfits, alone, and in need. it’s what HE does.

i actually feel sorry for the churches that are not made up of misfits.

March 16, 2010

i hope this isn’t true

eskimo_baptism

pam posted this comic on her facebook profile. i thought i would post it on my blog as a reminder that mid-apiril/early may (depending on the weather)tapestry will baptize all who need to be baptized. we’ll do this in the plover river and make a picnic out of it too. so let’s hope for continued weather like we’ve had this week.

March 12, 2010

i’ve been spoiled

I LOVE THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH THAT I AM A PART OF! tapestry is simply the greatest and i love getting to be a part of it. there are so many things that i could say about this but today i’ll just mention two reasons i love tapestry and both of them are personal because they relate to my experiences as pastor. so here are two reason i love tap.

tap is a verbally safe family. we are not a quite group. it’s safe to talk and express doubts and triumphs. people participate in what is said during the message. in fact, one recent sunday that i felt like was a quite night pam pointed out that there had been more interaction during it than at any other church we had ever been. i’ve just grown to expect even more. i love the fact that while i am the primary one preaching i am by no means the only person in the room that people expect to hear GOD’s voice through. yes, we still have sermons and i do 85-90% of the talking but the 10-15% that comes from everyone else is huge. i love it. i love the questions. i love the doubts. i love the corrections. i love the additions. i love the personal examples. the tapestry sermon really comes from the community AND IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET BETTER AS WE CONTINUE TO MATURE (hint – my ultimate goal is to have an open weekly meeting for discussion and contribution to each week’s message). the above photo would never describe the thoughts of the threads.
tap is a loving group. plain and simple the threads love each other and it shows. i could explain more but i figure this one is pretty easy for you to imagine. the people of tapestry love each other, want to be around each other, and love on others in such a way that they are made a part of the group. it’s a loving community.

there are plenty of other reasons that i could talk about but those are the two that i was most thankful for two.

March 5, 2010

march 2010 prayer email

here’s the monthly tapestry prayer email that i send out to those who are praying for us. if you do not receive this email and would like to please let me know and i will add you to the list for each month.

February 17, 2010

ash wednesday – lent #1

as part of tapestry’s lenten experience (a.k.a. our preparation for easter) i am sending out something by email each day. 40 of those “somethings” will be images from si smith’s excellent comic style illustrations concerning JESUS’ time in the wilderness. it is titled “40.” due to the fact that these are copyrighted images that i have bought for church use i will only be posting a medium sized images (click to see this size). they are amazing. below the images is today’s email.

Hey Guys & Girls,

LENT BEGINS TODAY! Lent is time period before Easter that is used within the CHRISTian tradition as a period of preparation for Easter. It is composed of 40 days (not counting the Sundays of the week). During this year’s Lent I am going to send out something each day as a reminder for all of us to prepare for Easter. Usually this will be one of the images from Si Smith’s excellent comic interpretation of JESUS’ forty days in the desert called "40".

Sunday I suggested that a couple of ways to prepare for Easter would be to fast one meal a week and split the money you would have spent on the food between providing for people in need and gifting your friends. Another suggestion is to read through at least one of the gospels during the 40 days before Easter.

Whatever you choose to do I would HIGHLY encourage you to do something.

Now, let’s begin this journey together.

In HIS Love and Mine,
Robert

February 10, 2010

planning with eric

i thought i would share with you guys what it looks like when eric and i discuss and plan for a tapestry gathering. the above image is our discussion of what to do the week before easter. it all makes sense now, right?

SIDE NOTE – i finished “the tangible kingdom ” yesterday and therefore i thought i would mention a few of the things i really liked about the book. this is a pretty dang good book that i believe many in the church need to hear. in many ways it merely repeated the same things that i had been reading and interacting with in other sources and communities but i think halter and smay do an excellent job of connecting real stories with the theory and theology behind what they are saying. i was really pleased that several friends recommended the book to me with the phrase “i was reminded of tapestry while reading this book.” that’s a nice thing to hear.

i think the book was well worth the read if for nothing else other than attractional and incarnational approached to evangelism i blogged about earlier and their 4 aspects to living incarnationally, which are: leaving, listening, living among, loving without strings. these 4 chapters are worth the read by themselves. if the church universal would do those four things more we wouldn’t be known for buildings and places but rather for being involved in people’s lives and GOD making a difference.

i also loved the fact that they were open about people sometimes screwing up. why do we often expect people who aren’t CHRISTians to act like followers of CHRIST? just because someone is involved in a church doesn’t mean they are CHRISTian. we should expect stupid and even sinful things to happen within CHRISTian communities because these are supposed to be groups where screwed up people can come and be loved. once someone becomes a follower of CHRIST we should expect them to strive to be more like CHRIST but that still doesn’t mean that everything is going to be perfect. if anything it means that even more of our errors and rebellion are going to come out in public as we attempt to move closer to CHRIST. of course, we would rather just hide everything. too bad.