Two Of The Multitude Of Reasons That I Love Tapestry

Tonight was Tapestry’s regular Place of Peace (PoP) meal. As usual it was wonderful and now that I am home and I have eaten a little jambalaya I want to share a couple of photos that reflect some of the multitude of reasons that I love Tapestry.

First, the Glazes. I posted earlier about the fact that there have been a few guys at PoP asking each week about tuna casserole. The Glaze’s (specifically Natalie but rumor has it that Eric helped too) took over Project Tuna Casserole and made tuna casserole for the first time ever. They brought it tonight only to find out that, most likely due to the cold temp and snow, the guys who had been asking for tuna casserole didn’t show up tonight. The Glazes’ response? “Well we know how to make it for next time, then.” Just so you know our next time to serve the meal is March 29th.

The next photo is of Elizabeth and her harp (actually this is her travel harp). She brought it to the PoP meal tonight to play background music during the meal. Yep there is a harpist that is a part of Tapestry and Elizabeth plays beautifully. During all the conversations, laughter, and eating that were going on during the PoP meal, Elizabeth was playing soothing  background music. I greatly appreciated Elizabeth playing during the meal. She helped make the evening wonderful.

These were just two of the many reasons that I was reminded of tonight concerning why I love the “threads“.  I am so honored to be a part of these wonderful people. Y’all are the best.

Shibboleth

The messages I deliver during Tapestry’s Sunday morning gatherings are usually structured around one book of the Bible at a time. We don’t usually go topical, but it does happen every now and then. This morning I thought it was important to address acting like a follower of Christ in the midst of the results of Friday’s executive order affecting immigration/refugee. Loving our neighbor is supposed to be a shibboleth of the Christian church.

The audio from the introduction to this morning’s gathering is below. Please forgive two things: 1) the audio quality is poor because it is from the room mic, not my mic, and 2) I realized while I was reading from Judges 12:4-6 that I initially mispronounced “shibboleth” as “sibboleth” and decided on the fly that it would cause confusion with two words that sound very similar if I stopped and corrected myself mid-reading. Therefore, I continued the passage swapping “shibboleth” with “sibboleth” and vice versa.

Threads“, several of you asked “what can we do?” The answer is we’re working on that and we need your creativity. At present we are contacting UWSP to see about extending love to the international students and faculty at the university. You will hear more concerning this. We are also trying to contact some international communities in our area to also spread love. For now I encourage you to do two things: 1) Do as  Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us and be a good and loving neighbor – that’s why He ends it with saying “go and do likewise” (Luke 10:37), and 2) contact your senators and representative to let them know your thoughts as a follower of Christ concerning how we treat the foreigner. Your senators and rep if you live in the Point area are:

Senator Tammy Baldwin, 717 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, (202) 224-5653, Online Contact twitter

Senator Ron Johnson, 328 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510 (202) 224-5323, Online Contact twitter

Representative Ron Kind, 1502 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-5506 Online Contact twitter

No matter your politics, whether you are conservative, liberal, libertarian, or, like me, a mutt please get involved and let vales of followers of Christ be heard concerning the “strangers” in our midst and at our doors.

Malachi Collaboration

Hey Ladies & Gents. I’ve missed collaborating with y’all and thought I would start off Google Doc files for the Malachi series so that you can collaborate in the preparation of the sermon. How do you do this> Well you read the text for this week’s sermon and then record any comments, questions, stories, images, etc that come to mind from your reading of the passage of scripture. You will also be able to see my work on the message each week and make comments on what I have been writing.

Below is a screencast of how to operate in Google Docs that I created for those who were helping me collaborate on sermons for my D.Min project. The information in it still works for a basic primer on how we will use Google Docs for collaboration.

I decided to start this a little late this week. Form now on the file for the week’s sermon will be open starting each Monday. For those of you who can be with us because you have gone for the Summer or you are traveling this is a manner in which you can still be involved in the message of Christ to our community.

Here’s the main link page that I will link every sermon prep Google Doc to and here is the actual Google Doc for this week.

A Conjunctive Contest

If you have heard me preach more than a few times you may have unconsciously picked up that I love the conjunctions and conjunctive adverbs in scripture. In other words, I love the “and”s, “but”s,  “or”s, “therefore”s, “since”s, & all other words and phrases found in the Bible that tend to join multiple thoughts together. I feel like I reference these enough that I should have some consistent images to display when I talk about them.

IMG_20140302_104951
It is a rather large screen and I love it.

For those of you who haven’t heard me preach in the last 7 or so years you don’t know why I want these images. Let me explain.

At Washington Elementary we have a 25″ screen to project our lyrics an my message PowerPoint slides on to.  When I preach I don’t put a lot of words on my PowerPoint slides. Instead, I project images or single words that fit with what I am talking about at the moment. Therefore, when I point out a conjunctive word I usually have either the single word or an image conveying that word displayed  behind me. This happens a lot and therefore I think it might be nice to have a consistent set of images to display.

So here’s the contest. If you can come up with a few images (one for “therefore/since,” one for “and”, & one for “but”) that convey the thought of the conjunctive words I am pointing out then I will do one of the following:

  • Treat you to coffee/ice cream at Emy J’s or Zest.
  • Take you to lunch at Green Tea  or Politto’s Pizza.
  • I will write your parents a letter saying how wonderful you are.
  • I will give you Pam’s cat (Pam will probably veto this action but I will still try).

Many of you “threads” are artists, or at least artistic, so this should be easy for you. These images can be photos or illustrations. It is up to you. Go for it.

Little Baptism Help?!?!?!

I have a practical baptism question. Since Tapestry is what would be referred to as a nomadic church (i.e. a church without a building – though I also like the idea of us as being a raiding party) our baptisms are usually done at one of two places: Warm weather = Iverson Park, cold weather = the Metallo’s hot tub. It works really well and I love baptisms, both for the proclamation of faith that happens during the baptism and the fun everyone has together during them (baptisms for us equal potluck dinner). It is a really good setup that I don’t want to change in any long term manner,

With that said, I would like to try at least one baptism at the school where we normally meet (Washington Elementary School). Anyone have any ideas for a tank big enough to dunk someone in, that could be setup, filled, and (this is key) brought to room temperature in 2 hours and then completely torn down in 45 minutes? We have 4 hours total at Washington which makes things a little difficult and it costs us per hour to reserve more time.

Sometimes it would be so much easier to just sprinkle. 😉

 

I Have Failed as a Geek

original_255758_O1doruLgO16QRMunEW1pGL3X_I have failed as a Star Wars fan. Tonight during my message at Tapestry I used the image to the right as an illustration to talk about the past, present, and future. I thought it was a good point and that the image would help convey it but there was a problem that became a huge distraction for every geek in the room. You see I went from left to right with the first couple representing the past, the second couple representing the present, and the third couple representing the future. The problem? Well as any true Star Wars fan would know the icons of Darth Vader & Princess Leia wouldn’t work for the future because the story takes place …

a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

In fact the image should actually look like this.
star wars correct

I feel like such a failure and I deeply regret letting everyone down.

A Prison Letter

It is really strange to me that in 20ish years of ministry I have never done a sermon series on Paul’s letter to the Philippians. I say it is strange because quite possibly my favorite passage of scripture in the New Testament is found in the second chapter of the letter (I say “quite possibly” because I am also a pretty big fan of Matthew 25:31-46 as well as other passages). I think Pam was just as surprised that I had never done a series on the letter.

So Tapestry will start one this week. We will go 8ish weeks. I would encourage everyone to come prepared by reading through the letter before you get to Washington. I’m a slow reader and the 4 chapters of the letter takes me about 10 minutes to read straight through. Therefore you can easily read through it in the midst of your busy week. I am sure that reading through the letter each week before Sunday will be a great thing.

See you Sunday.

Theology Group & I Stink @ Names

Thinking through new small/bible groups for 2014 while also designing a temporary ramp for the front door of the Terrell abode for “Hot Drink Night.” One of the members of the Leadership Team (who will remain nameless because while I am sure this person wouldn’t mind me mentioning their name, I don’t have their permission so therefore I won’t) suggested a theology 201 group – i.e. a more thorough discussion than just “here’s the basics of Christian faith.” I liked the idea and we’ve discussed starting it in January and meeting once a month.

Here’s what I mean by theology 201 – not just defining a theological belief but looking for its implications in our faith and life. One example of this is what I mentioned in yesterday’s post concerning Barth’s focus on the wholly other nature of God. That isn’t just a definition but a discussion of its implication in our life.

Other examples are:

  • What does the nature of the Trinity say about the church as the body of Christ?
  • What does the Incarnation mean for a follower of Christ’s role in the world?
  • What does the Transcendence and Immanence of God mean for our relationship with our neighbors?

There are more and more examples. Good theology should affect life, otherwise it probably isn’t good theology. I guess that would set this group up to be more practical theology, rather than systematic, biblical, or historical theology (though obviously all three of the latter will be a part of the former).

So here are my questions:

  • Anyone willing to say they would already be interested in something like this?
  • If so, any suggestions concerning what day/time would be best to meet once a month?
  • Anyone have a decent name for this thing? All I can think of is “Let’s Talk Theology” which is a dumb name that I promise we won’t use. Little help here people. I really stink at names, mainly because I don’t think they matter that much. I would probably just call the thing the “Wednesday (or whenever) Theology Group” but that wouldn’t tell people much about the group other than when it met. If I could combine “theology” (study of God) with “biology” (the study of life) without it completely confusing people I would do that. Please help me people.

Jambalaya as a Bow & Arrow Experience

Miss Jambalaya

As I posted a few days ago Tapestry provides the teachers and staff of Washington Elementary School a jambalaya lunch on their last day of work each year. We’ve been doing this since we started the church a few years ago. The teachers, and their families, love it. Just look at the picture of the pot above. The photo shows exactly how much jambalaya I took home after the teachers were finished. As I said, they love it. Every time I see a teacher from Washington in public invariably their first statement is “you guys are going to make jambalaya for us again this year, right?” Today there were 8 “threads” that were a part of providing food for this meal. Those of us that were there heard the teachers and staff say “thanks” a ton but I want to make sure that everyone who couldn’t be there knows that those thanks were meant for you too.

But first, an illustration of why I want to make sure everyone else knows those thanks go to them too.

Katniss is nice enough to illustrate my point here. See how the bow and arrow work together.

I have some friends that I love and respect greatly that form a amazing church in Baton Rouge. They have taught me more than I will ever be able to adequately acknowledge. One of the things that they do that I love is that when they talk about missions they use the example of a bow & arrow. It is such a great example. You see the arrow is what hits the target. You could say the arrow is what accomplishes the aim (that’s right I just made a pun). Yet the arrow can’t do anything without the bow. The bow gives the arrow its power. The bow sends the arrow on its mission. The bow and arrow work together.

The Holy Spirit working through the “threads” of Tapestry is the bow. I know all of you can’t make it to a lunch during the work week. You are working. You have responsibilities that don’t allow you to do take off at 10:30 a.m. on a Friday. Still, please remember that you were a very important part of the meal that took place today. Your offerings through the church paid for the jambalaya. Your belief in what we do as a church makes it where people consider it part of my work to make jambalaya rather than just considering it a picnic for me. Some of you even went out of your way to drop off food even though you couldn’t be there. The 8 of us that were there may have been the arrow but God working through all of the “threads” is the bow. Whether you were are Washington today or not God is still working through you and what God is doing through you is powerful and effective.

So this arrow wants to say thanks to all of you for being an amazing bow. Thanks Tapestry for believing in us serving in manners like this and thanks for making it possible!

Tapestry Feeds the Washington Teachers

Each year we provide a meal for the teachers and staff of Washington Elementary School to say thanks for putting up with us. This Friday we are doing it again. I will be cooking jambalaya for them and the rest of the “threads” will bring the following:

  • Salads
  • Bread
  • Dessert

You can participate too by bring something by Washington before 11 a.m. At church I announced this was at 11:30 a.m. The principal has asked if we could do it at 11 instead. You can bring your stuff by the school anytime before 11 a.m. You are also invited to stay and eat the meal with the teachers. This is one of the ways we say “thanks” to the school.