Biloxi Challenge

One more post tonight – hopefully it’s short.

Here at Lord of Life, we’ve committed to raising $25,000 for a new house in Biloxi. As part of this process, we’ve handed out ten dollar bills to members in the congregation asking that they use the money somehow and multiply it. If everybody makes their ten dollars into a hundred dollars then we’ll raise the money we need. Now, how people go about doing that is totally up to them. One person has been baking bread and then selling it. Some others shined shoes last Sunday and turned their ten dollars into two hundred dollars! Still others have got their entire tennis team in on the deal and they are selling old possessions on eBay and then donating the money to the Biloxi Challenge.

So here’s the problem – I still have ten dollars that I need to make into a hundred (or more). I’m not sure what to do… I want to tell the story, get the word out there. It is partially about the money, but it’s more about the story. What are we doing and why are we doing it? Answer those questions for people – help them to see why we have committed to helping the people of the Gulf Coast. But I also know very few people in this area outside of church (and I want to do something outside of Lord of Life). Plus, what skills do I have for making money? How do I invest my ten dollars?

Please, if you have any ideas at all about this, let me know. If you simply want to give me money, I’ll take that too. =) But preferably I would like to do something and have a great story to tell some day. So any help in this area would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Kate

It Seems to be the Same Old Story

I’ve been pretty bad about updating this blog. It seems to me as I look back through many of the previous posts that it is the same story every time… I’ve just been way too busy.

In many respects that’s absolutely true. The past month and a half (or two months now I suppose) have been absolutely crazy with the past two weeks being of special note. I suppose that may suffice as an excuse, but I also suppose that I could be more intentional about blogging than I have been. So here’s a new Lenten discipline in addition to the other I’ve already made with myself – to post at least two times a week, if not more.

So what have I been up to and what made the past two weeks crazy? Let’s see… last Sunday was the sixth and final session of my Adult Forum series on Revelation… so I had to prepare for that the past several weeks. A week and a half ago, my supervisor went out of town on vacation. He left in the middle of a giant snow storm which meant that I was the only one at the office on Valentine’s Day. Apparently we were all snowed in and since I could walk to work… (the joys of living right next to the church). That wound up being a good day for me in terms of getting some work done. A quiet office and I got to bum around in my socks – that was nice.

The rest of the week was spent preparing for stuff and then Saturday I had several friends come in from out of town. It was a blast having them here and it was good to get out. We went to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. It was a good time and we got to see Sue the T-Rex… the largest T-Rex skeleton found to date. There should be a picture from my phone up here on the blog (probably after this post).

With my supervisor out of town, that meant that Sunday, February 18, I was preaching, leading worship, and teaching my last class. It was a busy morning! I also made my first hospital visit since I’ve been here. Can you believe it? Six months here and I hadn’t made a hospital visit. But we got through it, it went well, and I took a monster nap that afternoon.

This past week was busy also. I preached on Ash Wednesday and handled some other phone calls and stuff. I also made a second hospital visit (for another person) this week. So after six months of no hospital visits I get two in one week – crazy! I miss the hospital but I’m loving the parish….

Today was a well needed day off. I’m also looking forward to the rest of Lent. Every Wednesday I’m doing mid-day Lenten services. The theme this year is Journey to the Cross starting this coming Wednesday with Jesus’ call to any who want to be his followers to take up their cross and follow him. So we’ll look at what it means to take up our crosses and journey with Jesus to the cross this Lent.

Well, that’s what’s been going on – at least in a nutshell. It’s been crazy around here, but very, very good. So now I believe it is time for bed (soon).

Kate

Sue The T-rex

You have new Picture Mail!

Worship

As I was sitting in worship on Sunday, a thought occured to me. Well, several thoughts occured to me... I thought about worship and what makes it spiritual for people. Two weeks ago (I guess it's almost three at this point) we had a different kind of worship service here at Lord of Life. The band responsible for the once a month worship service for our mid school youth "took over" and executed the worship services that Sunday. In addition to the music being more 'contemporary', there was a drama in place of the sermon. We still did the offering and communion, but things looked and felt very different. We asked for feedback from the congregation and received it from many - some liked it and some didn't. Some wanted to see it every Sunday, some said, "Let me know the next time you do this so I can stay home that day." A lot of people were somewhere in between.

With all this 'contemporary' v. 'traditional' stuff going on as far as worship is concerned, I began to think about what we grow up with and what emotions we associate with certain types of music, worship styles, prayers, etc....

I personally like the liturgy. I like the organ. I like the LBW services. I like the extra touch the brass adds on Easter or other festival services. I like all that.

Now, I also like more contemporary stuff, more melodic stuff. I don't like too much praise music because I want more depth, but some praise music is good. I could do worship with a band - complete with guitars and drums and the like. I like both.

For my age, I think I'm a bit odd for liking some of the more traditional stuff. But I also think about why I like that. I also think a bit about Pavlov's dogs (you know... when food was brought out after a bell was sounded for some time eventually the dogs started to salavate simply when the bell was sounded because they had been conditioned that the sound of the bell meant food was on its way). I think for me (and for many of us out there), we feel something spiritual when we worship with the traditional liturgy. We've been conditioned that we felt something special, something spiritual, when that music was played. Thus, every time we worship, we want that feeling back, we expect it to return if we hear LBW setting one or whatever it was that was played at that time. We're a lot like Pavlov's dogs I think.

But maybe for some of us that particular liturgy evokes feelings of hate and disgust. Hatred for our parents making us sit through that service or having to listen to the really boring sermon that day. Bad memories and therefore bad feelings associated with worship.

I have to wonder if that's why there are such divisions between people (particularly of different generations) when it comes to the type of music used in worship (or even the format). If this is the case, if we are just like Pavlov's dogs, then is there a way of 'reconditioning' people so that there is a spiritual experience with a new type of worship experience? Is there a way of bridging the gap? Of making something that wasn't appealing before now something that wouldn't be missed now? Does any of this make any sense to anyone other than me?

I don't know - this is apparently what I thought about on Sunday (and have a few times since then). Are we conditioned at an early age to like a particular style of worship? Is how we are raised of significance to our adult experience of worship? What do we do with this now?

All something to chew on....

Kate