A littl' fun

I've had Nev volunteering this week taking tons of footage of the programs and stuff .... here is a bit of fun.

advent ideas

So I have been searching for creative things about advent. ADVENT- You know that strange word for the 40 days before Christmas. It means, something....

In Latin, it actually means 'the coming' or 'before the coming'...it is the time we sit in darkness before....the BABY. (A little reminiscent of my life this year).

I actually like it just about as much as lent. I think it is probably the most important thing for us as Christians to remember and celebrate. Darkness, Longing, Hope, Despair, WAITING.....

Proost....a creative uk group has several things to engage churches. Including a snazzy litl' video I want to show at church.

Marshill has their congregation doing a community blog...

My personal favorites are still posts by Jonny Baker. Jonny just finished beer and carols....(man I can't believe I haven't met this guy). Search his links for advent...worship tricks 48-51

Jonny also lists some awesome ideas from Cheryl Lawrie, 'the pregnant pause' an idea that i stole.....with love. Cheryl has some advent services that are very creative and thoughtful.

If it takes all your faith to simply survive advent,join your prayer to those

throughout timeand throughout the worldwho despair at hope’s promise.
Take a baby,hold it in your hand
make your prayer of protestor your prayer for peace.

If you are looking for a video cause that is your thing, the church of england has put together a series of meditations you can watch every day......its called why we are waiting. It is also a great explanation of advent.

My Advent Addition: Last week I bought the youth candles. We had been talking about the word 'saved'. I made the connection between knowing you need something and WAITING. I told them to remember their need as they waited for a savior....in the dark....as they studied. Burn the little, fragile light and LONG FOR, and WAIT FOR IT.

Church Planting Thought #1

Now I have had a hard time distinguishing it is my pride, or my desire for progress that thinks things, especially churches should grow. I really like it when things grow. By growth I mean: numerically, in spiritual health-meaning broken people becoming healed, and in churches that plant churches. That seems healthy.

There are those that believe that what a church is-it is. If it is a church of 40 then that is it. I tend to think that there are reasons for it being a church of 40. Now let me be clear, a small church does not mean an unhealthy church. I am of the opinion the world needs more churches and different churches. BUT, the argument you often hear from small churches is.....well every church doesn't have to be a mega church. I tend to agree. Regardless, my observations would say, a church of 40 is unlikely to survive past 1 generation.

That means once the founding pastor resigns, that church will likely fold for a number of reasons. The leadership of a small church requires a greater burden on the pastor to be bivocational. A small church is not able to support a pastor. Secondly, a small church really gets built around the pastor and transitioning to a new leader is extremely difficult. Now a church closing, I have come to realize, is not the end of the world, but....

If a church wants to be around for successive generations needs to have a size of at least 100. Many say 150 is a 'critical mass'. Small churches if they are concerned about their community, about the people that depend on them, should be planning either grow, or be prepared to transition the community into a place where the long term care of the community can be provided aka. help them go elsewhere.

feel free to comment, this is about refining thoughts.

Everyday Smelly

So I started taking the bus this week because I am now the proud owner of 1 car. Working 20 minutes away (by car) I realize my life is now happily inconvenienced for the sake of the environment, the bottom line on my budget, and the walk that takes place at both ends of my journey. I have also proudly entered my neighbourhood, and community. I am now a participating member of my community, rubbing shoulders with the other happy bus travellers. I love it the people i meet, the things i hear.....BUT...

Wouldn't you know there are those inconviences, the kind of thing that make you second guess your decisions. Something happened that reminded me of why the convience of my own car seems much more like necessity. You see, there was a time when I remember being proud of sharing public computers in the library...I quickly outgrew this when I realized that most of my neighbours were simply playing online games, or looking at porn. So my first commute was in all respects interupted by the person next to me, who to my nose, quite simply smelled.

Having worked with numerous junior highs, I have to tell you smelling badly to them happens when you are an adult. It often shocks them that no it is actually something that happens and they need to try their best to coat themselves with any or all perfumes necessary prior to public meetings. As I overcame the discomfort of burying my nose in my jacket I realized something.....This person probably did not wake up thinking, I know, I am going to get on the bus smelly so that other people know that I am there.

Most people I realize don't know that they smell, they don't mean too. Then there are those who find their feet stink when they take off their shoes and it is awkwardly, and unfortunately too late to do something about it (i regularly fall into this category) . This also happens to me quite uncontrolably after eating chili. Very rarely are there people who just are dirty because there is nothing they can do about it. Smelling badly is a habit. After a while you get used to it, and you don't notice.

I remember a girl telling me that it was entirely possible to give up bathing with soap. The first few days without shampoo, she said were bad, but then your 'natural oils' take over and your hair is no longer greasy. In fact it doesn't smell at all,' she said. :) .......dare ya to try it.

Truth is if we give up bathing the only indication we stink is in people's reactions to us!! Smelling badly has simply become a habit that we are used to.

Now here is the point. This person beside me taught me something very valuable. I asked the question, Have I gotten used to my own smell? Do I realize I stink? Caught a little unaware by this thought, I realized how dependent upon the holy spirit I am to show me the things I cannot see, and smell. Like this woman, I go out in public not realizing my attitude, my spiritual life, the way I treat people....STINKS....and worst of all usually I didn't mean too, it is just a habit I have grown used to.

Adding a new blog jonny baker

This guy is worth the link. I have been checking out his blog, and as every blog should it has not just an interesting person, but lots of freebies. Yes, I see the shortfall in my own blog- mental note add freebies.

JonnyBaker (UK) speaks a lot about emergent church....a lot. He must be obsessive, but fortunately he really thinks too. (I can't wait to meet him). Anyways, his freebies are great like series of worship 'tricks'. Here is his idea number 10.

worship tricks [first series]
no 10: pentecost flame throwing

pentecost madness. mark pierson from nz is always coming up with wonderfully creative ideas. he seems to have a particular penchant for crazy pentecost services that involve as much fire as possible! this is his latest (don't run it past the health and safety people first though or it will never happen)..... "Pentecost is my favourite festival. So many great images. We took the Spirit of God as Fire this year. 2 services with the themes The fire of God's Spirit enables... and reveals.... I set up the space with a campfire of tvs 2 high running fire vid loops, lots of red flood lights, mirror ball etc so the place was awash with red. After our usual (a tradition now) popping of the popcorn all over the floor while I talked about the potential God sees in each of us and how the Spirit enables that potential to be realised in a relationship with Christ, I moved to the centre piece. I had a large steel bowl (wok ) on top of a metre high black plinth, with candle burning beside it. In the wok was a pile of meths soaked pumice rocks (very porous). At the appropriate moment I pulled out an aerosol can of cooking oil and sprayed it across the top of the candle. It ignited like a flame thrower and lit the bowl of pumice beside it. Very cool effect! We also used a cross covered in magicians flash paper to ignite in the dark. Now next year...!"

FLAME THOWERS IN CHURCH>>>WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT!

Mine and Yours and the Open Source Threat

'Dang, where is that spatula?'

'Hon, Hon, Can you print me off another spatuala? I can't find any.'

Need a soother, or some other often misplaced object.....Print it. This is the next generation of 3D opportunity. I was listening to an interview on Spark the other day that rattled my brain.

I have been a huge fan (as much as a technofobe can be) of open source and things like wikipedia. Why? because they go against the grain of consumerism, materialism, privacy and ultimately of our deep sense of individualism because they share, colaborate, and freely give what most of us would naturally like to bottle, contain, protect....

So here is a product, a 3D printer that a professor (Adrian Boyer) has put on line all open source so.....in theory even his printer could be printed off, piece by piece. The entire technology that would allow you to create any household plastic object entirely free. Need a ball? a souther? a bottle? a tupperware? The entire plastic manufacturing industy could become obselete.

Now why hasn't he patented it, so that he can make mega money?....Because he is motivated to see how far this idea will go. He comments saying, "Protecting an idea is for people who want to make money to hire lawyers to fight patent laws...." Ultimately it is a way to have people with resources pay for something and keep it from the hands of the people who could often benefit from it the most.

WOW! Could it be that community (something we often spiritualize as a Christian idea) is actually something that is so human. That those that can see past the shallowness, of 'mine' and 'yours' actually long for something....shared, useful, accessible.

Check out the 3D printer interview from Spark.

Dreaming about Neverland

Reading through the book of John, I have been realizing how devoted to escapism I am. I pray to get results, I serve to build something, I work for a reward, I love hoping it is reciprocated. Yet, when I look at Jesus I realize his reward was being forgotten by the crowds, deserted by his friends, and allowing his own life to be consumed for the sake of obedience.

Whether we call it obedience, or worship laying our life down is so central and yet such an easy thing to overlook, to ignore. This makes Jesus such a great hero and huge challenge to me. It has gotten me thinking about my expectations of friends and community. Having grown up in a deliberate 'community', I am fully aware of the idealism we have associated with that word as Christians:

• i want to be with friends, I deserve friends, God wants me to have friends
• i need to love people I dislike because Jesus tells me to and it is good for me
• i need a mentor and if i don't have one something must be broken in my church

This is neverland. Always wanting to be kids, never adults. Always wanting play, never work. Always needing the thing I don't have. This is fantasy and unfortunately so consumes us because we are human and at some level don't believe that God can look after us in the midst of a broken and selfish world. I am so stoked about the sermon series that we are working on at Cambridge. We are taking Bonhoeffer's book life together to discuss REAL community, not what we fantasize about.

"You can love the dream, more than the community and therefore ignore and kill it."

Bonhoeffer, Life Together