If you don’t do so already you should begin reading Pam’s blog (actually she has two and both of them are great). She is consistently brilliant. I really like her latest post “The Theology of Coffee Cups” concerning the quiet servant heart of one of the “threads.”
Unforeseen Morning Church Consequences
As many of you now Tapestry is trying morning worship gatherings for 3 months as an experiment. This week I realized two unforeseen consequences of swapping to morning worship gatherings for however long we are doing this.
1. Tomorrow is Daylight Savings Time. How in the world did I not check this out? This is the second week of the trial and it is the worst Sunday for morning church. Spring forward stinks. Argh.
2. It changes my ability to run Sunday running races. For example, the Oshkosh half marathon is Sunday, April 13th. I usually go and run this half marathon and then come back for church. Not an option this year. Just means I can’t do the Oshkosh half this year. No big deal really. I just didn’t think of it before.
The problem this arises for me is that I need to pick a new Spring/Early Summer half marathon to run. Anyone have any experience with any of the following?
- Jailbreak half marathon, April 26 – Wautoma
- Ripon College half marathon, May 3 – Ripon
- Rockin’ Tomahawk half marathon, June 14 – Tomahawk
I haven’t run any of them so I don’t really know much about them. Any help would be appreciated.
All together not really big problems to deal with in trying mornings out. I will probably feel different about this tomorrow morning.
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. 😉
The Nook for Android App is Almost Unusable
Not really a post but I just want to comment that the Barnes & Noble Nook for Android app is almost unusable. I have quite a few ebooks from Barnes & Noble due to the fact that my first android tablet was a Nook Color that I didn’t originally root. I am presently trying to finish a book I started on that Nool Color. It is Exclusion & Embrace by Miroslav Volf. As usual Volf makes excellent points but this has not been one of his better flowing books. Therefore I have taken some time reading it. I would read and then take a break and then start reading again only to eventualy take a break again. Well I am now reading Exclusion & Embrace on my Google nexus 7 and the Nook for Android app is just heidous. It is almost impossible to highlight anything. ARGH! This is terrible. I am ready to be finished with this book so that I can swap back to Aldiko or the Kindle for Android apps which I much prefer. I’ve actually tweeted my disdain concerning the app to B&N and they never responded. That doesn’t really make me want to like the app either.
I Figured it Out
EUREKA! I figured out what I wanted to remember last night. I mentioned this in a post earlier today. Here it is. Anyhow it hit me a little earlier. I was writing to remind myself that it might be nice to blog about how to dialogue in the middle of a sermon. Now that I remember what it was I might actually write about it.
Communication In-service Training for Clergy
This post is basically just for my clergy friends in the Point area. The UWSP Communicative Disorders department is doing a Communication In-service Training for Clergy January 16, 2014 from 9 am to noon. The in-service should be helpful for us as ministers in guiding ourselves and the churches we lead to communicate better with people who have communication impairments and it will also help a UWSP Communicative Disorders grad student and professor do research that will further help the field. If you are interested you can get more information from Ms. Collins-Price (the grad student) or Dr. King (the prof). Their email address can be found in the brochure that I have attached below. I don’t think they will mind that I am posting this.
Communication Clergy In-Service
Hurry and sign up for this because they close the free registration on January 9th.
Tweet – A Church for Jesus' Birthday
https://twitter.com/churchanarchist/status/415853184079253504
Neanderthal Diet
In light of the popularity of the Paleo diet and other “eat like your ancestors” diets I have decided that I am going to create the Neanderthal Diet (provided of course that no one else has already created it). Based on my basic non-existent knowledge of Neanderthals I have decided that the way the Neanderthal’s stayed so healthy (because, after all, my basic non-existent Neanderthal knowledge informs me that they were in great physical condition) was by only eating what they were able to steal from others. Therefore, from this point until I decided otherwise (probably in about 15 minutes) I will only eat food that I have stolen from someone else. This should be pretty easy around the house, I’ll just quickly grab food from family members’ plates. I tried it during supper tonight and it worked fine. Pam and the boys were slightly perturbed but not super angry. I consider that a win. Going out to eat at restaurants could pose more of a problem. I think stealing food off random strangers’ plates will probably be looked down upon by the authorities. Of course, once I trademark my Neanderthal diet I am sure that people will understand and respect me for stealing food from their plates in order to maintain my good health.
I will only eat what I can steal off another’s plate
The good news is that by following my assumed Neanderthal eating patterns I will assuredly gain perfect health quickly. The bad news is that the constant food thievery will most definitely lower my morals. Good health has its cost.
Amazon Smile
This is just a quick little aside concerning Amazon Smile (which I just learned about). Basically you sign up for it and Amazon will donate %0.5 of your purchase price to the approved charity of your choice. For me this is World Vision which Pam and I thoroughly believe in and support. Supporting World Vision is something I believe in and I am supper cool with part of the price of my purchase going to them. You might want to look into it.
Wow that’s two Amazon related posts in a row.
Later.
The Memo
Pam and I do our giving to Tapestry electronically. Each month when I fill in the info on our giving I use the memo to say something stupid to Adam, the member of the Leadership Team who graciously serves as the church’s accountant. This month I decided to copy and pate a joke for him. I think I might start doing this every month. It beats just making up stupid statements concerning how awesome Adam is, which is my normal response.
If you are curious here’s the joke (don’t read this Adam because it will ruin the memo for you and I know how much you look forward to them).
A guy walks into a bar, orders 12 shots and starts drinking them as fast as he can.
The bartender asks, “Dang, why are you drinking so fast?”
The guy says, “You would be drinking fast, too, if you had what I had.”
The bartender asks, “What do you have?”
The guy says, “75 cents.”