Happy Day after Thanksgiving!
I hope this post finds you well! It's been so long since I last posted it wouldn't surprise me if no one ever reads this!
Life has been crazy full the last few weeks. We've been preparing for Advent at church, I am working on a book, preparing to play at the big lessons and carols service at Perkins, working on the lessons and carols service at Argyle, (not to mention Christmas Eve!), trying to raise two awesome kids and, frankly, just attempting to suck the marrow out of life, if you will.
Last week I was blessed to have the opportunity to say goodbye to a pastor who has been an inspiration to me since I entered the process of becoming (and have since become) a United Methodist Clergy person. Rev. Kathleen Baskin-Ball is an example of what it is to be a faithful person of God and of how powerful and wide-ranging one person's ministry can be. Please take a moment to check out this link:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/112708dnmetbaskinball.4a72148.html
I would invite you to be in prayer for Kathleen, Bill, Skyler, Suncreek UMC, and The United Methodist Church during these days.
God is faithful and God is good.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Drums with KM2
This is our KM2 group, one of the children's music ensembles at Argyle UMC rocking out with a drum circle call to worship this past Sunday!
Monday, November 10, 2008
I forgot my camera!
Yikes! I forgot my camera! Completely left it on the counter at the house. I intended to upload some photo's from the last few days and comment on the pictures but tis' not to be at the moment.
Thursday through Saturday of this week I attended an alt worship conference in OKC that was phenomenal! Jonny Baker (the guru of alt worship in the UK) and Ed Phillips from Candler Seminary in Atlanta were the primary presenters. Alt worship has been an interest to me for some time and so it was very exciting to hear one of the premier practitioners speak on the subject. The gathered body (which included folks from the UK, New Zealand, South Africa and several of the States) also prepared and participated in an alt worship experience that was exceptional in it's participatory nature. My creativity was re-awakened and I'm excited to put some of the theories I learned in play here at Argyle and my work in the conference and the Fellowship. Truly, it was a blessed trip!
Sunday brought it's own set of adventures! At the early service we had a sign-language choir that performed "God Bless America" over a recording of the song. Normally, I'm pretty cautious about mixing church and state, but seeing these children sign these words, coupled with the events of this past week brought me to tears! (In a glorious, good way!) Immediately after the kids signed, the congregation sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness." Once we sang the refrain ("Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning my morning new mercies I see; all I have needed thy hand hath provided; great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!"), the moment proved to be so overwhelming to me, that I had to leave for a few minutes and collect myself!
Between thinking of the veterans of my generation, and of my parents and grandparents, and great-grandparents generations, and of all that this country has been through, I was so filled with hope and gratitude and the sense of God's goodness and faithfulness that I couldn't contain it anymore!
I haven't experienced this feeling about my country in well, ever. I am proud to see that we can, as a people, peacefully reset. What an incredible witness to the world. It's hasn't been fifty years since the passage of the Voting Rights of 1964 and we have elected a African-American man president! Incredible!
But that wasn't all! In the middle of a wonderful sermon about passion one of the pews in our church gave way! (Photo's to come!) The folks sitting in it were very gracious about the experience and no one, praise God, was hurt!
Think about that! These pews receive such a work out week in and week out that one of them actually broke from overuse! Imagine, if all of the church's in the world had pews and chairs and cushions being worn-out form overuse, imagine the change in the world we could experience! Obviously the next step is taking it out of the walls of the church and into the world but hey, it's a great, if scary, start!
Our KM2 children's music ministry rocked out a drum circle style call to worship at the 11:15 service and then the chancel choir sang Keith Hampton's "Praise His Holy Name" (a black gospel piece). Glory was given to God and the people were sanctified, which is the definition of worship according to the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. What a great week this has been!
Thursday through Saturday of this week I attended an alt worship conference in OKC that was phenomenal! Jonny Baker (the guru of alt worship in the UK) and Ed Phillips from Candler Seminary in Atlanta were the primary presenters. Alt worship has been an interest to me for some time and so it was very exciting to hear one of the premier practitioners speak on the subject. The gathered body (which included folks from the UK, New Zealand, South Africa and several of the States) also prepared and participated in an alt worship experience that was exceptional in it's participatory nature. My creativity was re-awakened and I'm excited to put some of the theories I learned in play here at Argyle and my work in the conference and the Fellowship. Truly, it was a blessed trip!
Sunday brought it's own set of adventures! At the early service we had a sign-language choir that performed "God Bless America" over a recording of the song. Normally, I'm pretty cautious about mixing church and state, but seeing these children sign these words, coupled with the events of this past week brought me to tears! (In a glorious, good way!) Immediately after the kids signed, the congregation sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness." Once we sang the refrain ("Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning my morning new mercies I see; all I have needed thy hand hath provided; great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!"), the moment proved to be so overwhelming to me, that I had to leave for a few minutes and collect myself!
Between thinking of the veterans of my generation, and of my parents and grandparents, and great-grandparents generations, and of all that this country has been through, I was so filled with hope and gratitude and the sense of God's goodness and faithfulness that I couldn't contain it anymore!
I haven't experienced this feeling about my country in well, ever. I am proud to see that we can, as a people, peacefully reset. What an incredible witness to the world. It's hasn't been fifty years since the passage of the Voting Rights of 1964 and we have elected a African-American man president! Incredible!
But that wasn't all! In the middle of a wonderful sermon about passion one of the pews in our church gave way! (Photo's to come!) The folks sitting in it were very gracious about the experience and no one, praise God, was hurt!
Think about that! These pews receive such a work out week in and week out that one of them actually broke from overuse! Imagine, if all of the church's in the world had pews and chairs and cushions being worn-out form overuse, imagine the change in the world we could experience! Obviously the next step is taking it out of the walls of the church and into the world but hey, it's a great, if scary, start!
Our KM2 children's music ministry rocked out a drum circle style call to worship at the 11:15 service and then the chancel choir sang Keith Hampton's "Praise His Holy Name" (a black gospel piece). Glory was given to God and the people were sanctified, which is the definition of worship according to the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. What a great week this has been!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
What an incredible night!
Regardless of how you feel about the results of this election, you must acknowledge the incredible historical moment we have just witnessed! As I watched Obama's children and Biden's grandchildren embrace just a few moments ago I found myself reflecting on Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream Speech." There is was, on national t.v.! Little black children and little white children, celebrating together! Incredible!!!! Increidble!!! I am inspired by what has just transpired in our country and it makes me incredibly proud to see what America can do!
Election Day!
O.K., so I've written three drafts for this post and this is the one I'm rolling with. It's so generic and vanilla it's pretty boring but because this blog is linked to the church website, I feel that I've got to be careful in what I write for fear of the IRS potentially challenging Argyle UMC's tax-exempt status. Sadly, I am not familiar with the in's and out's of the law enough to know if I could potentially be putting the church at risk by posting who I am voting for. I am not willing to even potentially put this church through that.
I will say, however, that I am excited and nervous all at once for the results from this day to come to the fore! Since I woke up this morning I've been doing all the things I do when I get anxious: overeating, drinking WAY too much coffee, over-checking cnn.com, etc. I truly believe that this election is a once-in-a-lifetime election for my generation and that we have an incredible opportunity to alter the trajectory of our nation today. Please, if you haven't voted today, go do it! There is still time!
Off to handbells! :)
I will say, however, that I am excited and nervous all at once for the results from this day to come to the fore! Since I woke up this morning I've been doing all the things I do when I get anxious: overeating, drinking WAY too much coffee, over-checking cnn.com, etc. I truly believe that this election is a once-in-a-lifetime election for my generation and that we have an incredible opportunity to alter the trajectory of our nation today. Please, if you haven't voted today, go do it! There is still time!
Off to handbells! :)
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