On Pentecost the fire of the Holy Spirit fell on the apostles. Debbie installed this multi-layered representation of the Pentecostal fire for our celebration of “the birthday of the church!”
Category: Creativity
On the eve of Thanksgiving watch this video by filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg. Try to view this on the largest screen possible because the photography is stunning. Schwartzberg captures gratitude, and the reasons for it, in this memorable TED talk and short film. Happy Thanksgiving!
Kids love VBS and this 45-second video clip proves it! Part of the VBS fun is learning the songs and motions, and getting into the spirit of the theme. You don’t need a lot of high tech stuff, but you do need some enthusiastic leaders, which we’ve got this week. The audio isn’t great, but you’ll get the idea that kids are having fun at Saddle Ridge Ranch this week.
We partner with 4 other churches in our community to do VBS each year. Each church takes a turn leading VBS planning, and hosting the community for VBS week. This year we’re at Chestnut Level Baptist Church for Saddle Ridge Ranch VBS. The other churches participating include our church, Chatham Baptist; Watson Memorial United Methodist Church; Oakland United Methodist Church; and, Chatham Presbyterian Church. Here’s a quick video montage of the sets, rooms, and our first night at Saddle Ridge Ranch.
Bruce Feiler, author of the book, The Council of Dads: My Daughters, My Illness, and the Men Who Could Be Me, talks about his diagnosis with bone cancer, and of his plan to provide his two daughters with a ‘council of dads’ in case he’s not around for them in the future. This is a great story for Father’s Day or any day. Watch it.
Mother’s Day will be here before you know it — May 9, to be exact. I’ve got the perfect gift for you to give away at church, or for that special mother in your own life. My author friend, Joan Wester Anderson, has written a delightful little book about the joys and challenges of motherhood, Moms Go Where Angels Fear to Tread: Adventures in Motherhood.
Joan has written over a dozen books about angels, which is how I got to know her. Earlier this year, I preached a series of sermons on angels, and Joan’s books are just chock full of great, true angel stories. But her book, Moms Go Where Angels Fear To Tread, reflects her own real life experiences as a mother and wife. These funny short stories, and there are 40 of them, cover everything from having a sick husband (men revert to less than children when sick), to taking a class in how to get organized (it didn’t help), to things she wished she’d never said (there’s a list for her husband and kids, too).
Mostly, Joan communicates the joys, minor irritations, and major rewards of being a mom. The mothers, grandmothers, daughters, and even a dad or two in your congregation will get a laugh out of these everyday stories filled with warmth, good humor, and grace. Guideposts is the publisher, and you still have time to order one (or a carton) to give away this Mother’s Day. You can find out more about Joan Wester Anderson at her website, joanwanderson.com, or friend her on Facebook. Happy reading this Mother’s Day!
St. Matthew In The City Church in Auckland, New Zealand is an Anglican congregation which uses some edgy advertising to get the largely unchurched Auckland population to think.
This Easter, St. Matthew’s put up this billboard explaining that in the Orthodox tradition there is a practice of humor which dispels the gloom of Jesus’ death. Someone took offense, and vandalized the billboard, crudely spray painting a reference to John 3:16 in the place of the original message.
What do you think? Did the church go too far? Is the vandalism the work of fundamentalists? Or do you think St. Matthew’s hit a nerve that they intended to hit? Hat-tip to Religion Dispatches for the heads up and their article. Here are the photos of the before and after billboard:
Ecclesia Church in Houston, Texas, whose website describes the church as a “holistic missional Christian community,” invited local artists to submit original artwork depicting each of the Stations of the Cross.
Young 10-year old artist Jackson Potts II, who has been studying photography with his photographer father for several years, was given the commission to produce a photograph showing Station #7, Jesus Falls For the Second Time.
Young Potts chose to interpret the scene by replacing the Roman soldier with a contemporary police officer, and he depicted the innocence of Jesus using a child, his own brother, to portray the fallen Christ.
The church was offended by the photograph, according to ABC News, and would not display the photograph in the church art gallery, Xnihilo. The decision by church officials has led two gallery directors to resign, but the church did create a blog about the whole incident. You can follow all the links in the curator’s blog for further information, including links to local media coverage.
The church gave a variety of reasons for rejecting the photograph ranging from “the photograph would scare young children who trust and respect police officers” to “we felt it was provocative in the wrong way” to “[it] did not draw people closer to the risen Christ.”
Which brings me to my questions:
- If this were your church, would you have allowed the photograph to be viewed? If not, why?
- Is the purpose of art to convey the church’s message or the artist’s message?
- When a church engages artists to produce artwork, should there be any restrictions on what they produce? If so, what?
These are pertinent questions as increasing numbers of churches engage artists in producing artwork to be shown for church purposes. Are we returning to “church art” of the Medieval period where the church was both patron and censor, or are churches genuinely interested in hearing what artists have to say? What do you think, and more importantly, what would you have done in this situation? Fire away in the comment section.
“I’m the most unsuccessful pastor in Pacifica,” Jonathan Markham observed four years ago. Markham’s church in affluent San Mateo county southwest of San Francisco was growing spiritually he thought, but not numerically. Church attendance hovered around 15-20 each week with few visitors attending. Located near the Bay area, the coastal town of Pacifica boasts an upscale, affluent California lifestyle where churches compete for residents’ attention. But Markham’s church had failed to attract many from the community.
In an unusual but providential twist, Jonathan Markham was asked to serve as interim pastor of a second congregation which met at a different time. Attendance at this church ran about 30 each week. It wasn’t long before Markham wondered if the two struggling congregations he led might become one. He approached church leaders of both congregations with the idea of creating a new church to reach Pacifica. By March 2007, both older congregations had disbanded and a new church was born.
This brand-new congregation, New Life Christian Fellowship, opened its doors to the community for the first time in September, 2007. Attendance shot up into the 80s each Sunday. But, the real confirmation of their church rebirth came on Easter Sunday, 2009. The church packed 153 people into its sanctuary, and church members had personally invited each guest.
Here’s how they did it:
1. One pastor led two congregations. In typical church mergers, two congregations with two pastors have to sort out vision, staffing, finances, and worship styles. Jonathan Markham was uniquely positioned to guide both congregations toward one dream — a viable, effective church for their community.
2. Discernment involved each church. An exploratory work group of six people, three from each church, was selected to answer one question posed by Pastor Markham: “Is it God’s will for two churches to die, and another one to rise in their place?” Markham thought discernment would take six months. Instead, the group unanimously answered, “Yes” by the end of their first meeting. The positive responses of both groups created momentum for the new church.
3. Everything old had to die. After the initial decision to combine congregations, details had to be worked out. Both groups agreed everything was on the table. Old church names were scrapped in favor of a brand-new identity. Meeting space Continue reading “Two Churches Die, One Emerges To Reach Out”
Are angels the new vampires?
Anne Rice, the author who made vampires trendy in her Vampire Chronicles series, came back to the Christian faith in 1998. Upon returning to the Roman Catholic Church, Rice published two books about the life of Christ. She has now turned her attention to the subject of angels. Her new book, Angel Time, is the first in her Songs of the Seraphim series.
The question is — will Anne Rice do for angels what she did for vampires? Rice was the author who spawned a virtual vampire industry. Stephenie Meyer’s The Twilight Series is being made into movies, and one blogger came up with the 10 most popular vampire book series. Lots of vampires and lots of readers who love vampire stories apparently.
Time will tell if Rice is able to turn angels into the next cultural trend, which would be interesting if it happened. Rather than the Goth look some kids love, we might get the Archangel look which parents would love. Halos would become popular, and wings would make a big comeback. But, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
But let’s say angels do become the new vampires, trend-wise that is. What do you know about angels? Rice sets her novel in a time-shifting milieu that finds a 21st century assassin transported back to the middle ages to defend Jews who are being persecuted. She believes angels move, not in linear time, but in another kind of time reserved only for — you guessed it — angels. Hence the title of the book, Angel Time.
But, back to my question — What do you know about angels? Did you know that the evangelical take on angels is pretty thin compared to the Roman Catholic Church? Did you know that a guy named Pseudo-Dionysius (called that because he wasn’t the real Dionysius apparently) said there were 9 ranks of angelic beings including Powers, Principalities, Thrones, Dominions, Angels, Archangels, Cherubim, Virtues, and Seraphim? And, finally, did you know that angels are charged with care of creation as well as people?
In my own internet search for theological books on angels, I ran across very few. Most angel books tell accounts of how angels appeared to various people, but few give serious theological consideration to the subject of angels. In light of this dearth of material on angels, should we just dismiss the whole angelic order as though we’ve out-grown the childish notion that there are guardian angels? Or should we get to know more about angels because we might have to respond to questions about Rice’s books?
What do you think? Are angels the new vampires?
Here’s Anne Rice’s statement to her fans about her Christian faith and the Vampire Chronicles.
ChuckWarnock.com 
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