Casting Crowns - Who Am I

This is quite amazing...

The other side of the world...

Shakira sent $40 million to Peru to help earthquake victims. Must have gotten lost in the mail somewhere. This is a video which was sent to her to show her what her money is NOT doing. (Has FEMA taken up residence in Peru now? Seems like it.)


Shakira... from Kim on Vimeo.

Strange dreams...

...of a dog that becomes a cat, a person who becomes someone else entirely right before my eyes, and of a man who, at first glance appeared perfectly normal, until I realized his head had 2 faces (nearly identical, so when I realized this, I didn't even know if I'd been talking to the same face during all of our conversation).

All is, so it seems, NOT what it seems. What appears to be reality may not be so. I forget that sometimes...maybe I just needed the reminder. And a vivid reminder it was.

It's VD!!!!

Meg at vd.meish.org has captured my VD sentiments in a bunch of GREAT Anti-Valentine cards. I have to quote a bit from the FAQ section of her website--I couldn't have said it better myself.

I’m against anyone with a vested interest telling us how and when it’s appropriate to be affectionate - say it with roses, a diamond is forever, if you REALLY loved her, you’d take her to Paris.

I hate all those cutesy bears holding satin hearts saying “I wuv oo snugglebum!” - as if love can only be this childish, price-tagged, pukey thing. I hate the fact that flowers which are reasonably priced at any other time of the year suddenly rocket in price in February, only to plummet again afterwards. It’s like the coporations are saying “yeah, we’re clearly ripping you off, but you have no choice but to accept it.” And I hate the cards with saccharine, pre-written messages and poems. If you love someone as an individual, why would you give them a generic message of love - “I love you in exactly the way that the card company says I should”?

There’s nothing less romantic and/or sexy than a bunch of wilted, overpriced flowers, slutty lingerie made in a sweatshop, chocolates melted down from left-over advent calendars and reformed into hearts and a card pre-printed with someone else’s generic sentiment which you’re supposed to sign away to your sweetheart.

Amen, sista!!

Smiling Addiction

Would you attend this gathering...?

I would. And I think I would feel very comfortable there.

I LOVE the idea of having an art gallery as part of the sanctuary..."church" as we do it limits/excludes the creative expression/gifting of such a large part of the body--if you're not "called" to preach or can't sing or play an instrument, you're pretty much rendered ineffective and plopped down into a pew as part of the "audience" during that thing we like to call the "worship service". Issues...I have big ones on this subject. If we are the body...why aren't His hands painting/writing/shooting photos/recognized as having a purpose?

Apparently, I have things to say about this...I intended to just post this without comment.

There are churches with strange names. Like Threads.

People in church dress in shorts and blue jeans and have tattoos and piercings.

Rock bands play worship music, which sometimes includes tunes by Pink Floyd or The Who. Church music also includes Gregorian Chant and Native American flute compositions.

Sometimes you sit in silent meditation or practice Lectio Divina.

You break into small groups during the spiritual talk and discuss things with people you met just seconds ago.

Multisensory elements are part of the worship gathering and could include chair races, Let’s Make a Deal game shows, tying strings around each others’ wrists, journaling on a prayer wall, or having someone tattooed during the spiritual talk. An art gallery is part of the sanctuary.

Lee, the pastor, makes a point each week of welcoming visitors who might not believe in God but are just there to ask questions. Church is for asking questions.

Lee, the pastor, likes people to just call him Lee.

In church there are middle-class married professionals with families. In church there are ex-heroin addicts, former alcoholics, ex-porn addicts, former abusers, those formerly abused, and physically and mentally impaired people.

There are no programs, no men’s ministry, no women’s ministry, no youth services, no single’s groups. Your pastor believes in people saying no to doing too much so they don’t burn out in church ministry.

There are people who meet in community groups all thrown together regardless of age, gender or marital status. Not all the people leading groups or in groups are Christ followers. Some are skeptics with lots of questions. (Church and community groups are for asking questions.)

You don’t know who your pastor votes for because you don’t talk about politics in church. In church there are very conservative Republicans and very liberal Democrats.

You don’t use Christianese words because you exist for the unchurched and some words might make others feel excluded.

The pastor is humble and full of love for God and people, and with his words draws people into a deeper encounter with the love of Christ. The elders ask who would miss our church if it disappeared tomorrow, and that leads them to meet with the mayor to find out where we are needed in our community.

There are no church gatherings one Sunday so you can take busses to one of the rougher parts of town to do energy audits so people can receive new insulated windows through a grant.

No offerings are taken, there’s just a giving box at the back of church.

Church friends don’t think it’s odd if you have friends that are atheists, Buddhists or gay.

You learn that the heart of a church is serving others instead of coming to be served.

At Christmas you decide to “worship more, spend less, give more and love all” and raise enough money to build several wells for villages in Africa.

You find out church is not a building, but people with a deep love for God who want to live life in community with each other and love and serve others.

You discover (I discover) that this spiritual community is family, and you are home.