Well, tomorrow is a big day in the life of Nashville Metho-Bloggers!! Gavin Richardson and his fiance' Erin tie the big KNOT-O-ROO!!
It's been fun to see Gavin get ready for the big day tomorrow. All the "to do's" that come with being a groom, picking out and choosing, dropping what's going on and meeting up with coordinators and decorators, etc etc...
I remember my wedding "crunch time" and all the stress I brought Jen and her mom with my "procrastinating boo-tay".
I wish Gavo and Erin all the Shalom and love with their marriage, but before that I wish the groomsmen all the FUN tonight!!!! Yeah!!! Here we go!!
Also friends, if you get a chance- Jen has asked me to pass this along (and now a word from my darling wife):
"Hello Jonathon's blogging friends. Last Saturday we had a grand birthday experiencere for our son, Jonas. I am now exploiting my son's good looks to try and win a digital camera. Please visit this site and vote for Jonas and help us po folks from the east side out." Thanks. Your vote does count in this election, I promise!!"
This is a great short film that I stumbled on. Speaks to racism, gender issues, and consumerism... it's worth the watch and the spoken word in it ROCKS!!
Rumor has it that someone I admire immensely will be starting a blog soon!!! I'll be linking to it from my site and announcing it just as soon as it is up and going. It will be one of those psuedo theological/political/ecclesiological blogs where the writer is lame and dosen't really have much to say-- I hate those kinds of blogs.... :)
On August 29th Carrie and Mike Fridell welcomed their new baby girl into the world. Lucy weighs 9lbs and 10.4 ounces. Carrie and Mike are wonderful friends of mine and Jen from our previous church- Blakemore UMC.
Rumor has it that she's already mastered rockhopping on a mountain bike.
I just posted pics from the youth group over the summer. Included is the Sr. High Pilgrimage to Johns Island South Carolina and the Jr. High Missions week at Camp Lookout.
If you're interested or bored check them out here.
I'm still not quite back in the swing of blogging; plus I've just been exhausted lately and have not been able to get over it. Maybe I should take off and sleep for a week. Hmmmm.
Long time passed Morning into night into morning delight... We walked together and talked all through the evening before we knew it the clock said 3am...
Flashes of light Lunar brilliance Hypnotic trance- a celestial voyage
With your voice I hear all that I believed before that floated in my head
Father Son and Spirit dancing in a moonlit whirlwind
Maybe it's time...
Now it's time...
for me to
BLOG AGAIN!!!
IT'S BEEN A GREAT SUMMER AND NOW I'M BACK FROM MY BLOGBATTICAL. MORE TO COME SOON.
So, as much as I the thought of this I know that I need to just go ahead and do it:
As of today this will more than likely be the last post of the summer for the phaith of st. phransus. I have way too much going on and I really need to simply give something up so that other things can fall into place (hopefully). So I do think for my sanity and creativity- a blogbatical is in order.
I may post here and there so I would encourage you to sign up to receive email updates- or you can just wait and visit in august and you will not have missed much- i promise.
So for know the blogbatical will begin today and I plan to return after the 1st week in August. You'll probably find me in various comment strands but that's about it.
Oh, and I should have some interesting new developments when I come back in August, at least I hope to have some. HAVE A TERRIFIC SUMMER ALL!! May the Lord bless you and keep you wherever the summer months take you.
Last Thur. marked 10 wonderful years of marriage for Jen and me. Do I even have to say that SHE IS AN ABSOLUTE SAINT? It's obvious. Since I was away at Licensing School last week we did not get to spend our anniversary together. So we are splitting out in just 7 hours for a two day getaway. I don't think I'll have internet access so it will probably be Thur. before I can post again. Would you believe that we actually started dating when we were 14 years old so we're actually celebrating 17 years together. That just blows my mind!!
If you get a chance check out "Licensed to Ill", a blog that I've dedicated to the wonderful people that went through the Licensing School experience with me. I've posted pics from the week and mp3's of some of the better lectures will be posted too. I hope all is well in your life.
In 4 minutes I begin a day of Methodist Polity, Methodist Theology, and the History of Methodism with Frank Gulley- who is an absolute icon of Methodist Polity. He was the head of Methodist studies at Vanderbilt.
If you didn't know I am Licensing School this week and I am in the company of some absolutly retarded "foos" (they said that not me, however it is true)
More to come later today, for now- it's THE GULLEY!! I don't have a picture of Dr. Gulley but he has an insane resemblance to this guy:
Yesterday I was on my way to Jen's mom's house. I was taking Jonas there and then heading back to the church for our usual Wed. night festivities. Well, Jonas was his usual Jonas self telling me about everything under the sun. We were about 2 miles from Jen's parent's home and Jonas was still going strong. At this point in the story things get a little blurry but I remember turning back and glancing back at him while I said something to him. When I turned around there was a car stopped in front of me and I didn't have time to even slam on my brakes.
Needless to say there was a 4 car pile up, my airbag worked and seatbelts and carseats work cause Jonas had not one scratch. Thank God no one was hurt in this accident. I'm feeling very detached today, almost outside myself and nervous. I'm so glad no one was hurt and I really just want to hold Jonas all day today.
Well today is my day in Mark Yaconelli's "Contemplative Youth Ministry" Blog tour. I have tried to take a little bit of a different direction from other contributers to the tour. So if you have been following the tour since day 1, my hope is that this first part of my review becomes an interesting "rest stop" along the journey.
I have put together a meditative video that shares the words and ideas from Mark himself, along with the stories from actual youth workers who have put into practice the ideas in "Contemplative Youth Ministry" set to a soundtrack that I came up with yesterday morning. I believe that this meditation does justice to Mark's book and for those who are interested in knowing more about the idea of contemplative youth ministry- i think it speaks to that, as well.
(about 9.5 minutes)
Also, I was able to catch up early this morning with Mark, via an email conversation. I raised a couple of questions from which he had wonderful and challenging responses:
Jonathon: So Mark, where does social justice/kingdom building fit into contemplative youth ministry?
Mark:After years of working with social justice groups Franciscan activist Richard Rohr (Everything Belongs) discerned that the biggest issue within Christian Social Justice movements was that activists weren't grounded in prayer and the experience of God. The result was that people became bitter, cynical, angry and burned out. He then founded the center for action and contemplation in Albuquerque, NM to address the issue.
My work in contemplative youth ministry has been about seeking to ground "activist" youth workers in prayer, discernment and community. Sometimes people characterize contemplative youth ministry as too inward focused, and yet they forget that our target audience is busy, active youth ministers. When you take people who regularly spend time in the public square (meeting kids, ministering to families, interacting with the culture) and then slow them down, invite them to listen in prayer and silence...something breaks open. It seems to me that the Jesus-life breaks forth in us when we're in that tension between prayer and service, solitude on the mountain and chaos in the streets.
In a contemplative approach to ministry everything begins in prayer and discernment. All of our actions come out of listening to the Spirit and then following what you hear. My experience is that when we listen in prayer we're not drawn into isolation but rather our eyes are opened to the way in which God is weaving us together in community with people we previously considered "different" or "other." Real contemplation, real prayer and listening to the Spirit of Jesus leads to authentic action, action that isn't about our own ego or need to prove ourselves, action that is rooted and grounded in love.
Jonathon:how do we keep our youth ministries from turning this into a "magic formula" and help our congregations see this as a "way of life"?
Mark:Well, certainly as we researched this there were people (primarily senior pastors) who tried to turn this into a formula. In such cases silence became oppressive and prayer...even contemplative prayer became heavy with expectation and even manipulation.
Human beings always want formulas because we want some kind of control and order....we're terrified of the way in which Jesus lived...completely free, open to the present moment without a planned formula. Jesus invites us into the same kind of freedom...which is very difficult for us to handle...we'd much rather have a leader, a seven point formula, a progression to holiness with check points. Instead God offers us a moving, living relationship that can move and breath and shift and die and be reborn...just like real relationships. Doesn't every married couple look for a system or formula in which to relate to each other? It never works, once there's a system then we no longer have to pay attention to one another, the relationship becomes predictable and begins to die. Here are some of the ways I try to keep from living and ministering by a formula:
1. I continue to struggle to pray in silence and listening each day. Silent or contemplative prayer allows God to speak and move within me breaking up the stifling, stuck places within me. 2. I have spiritual companions who listen to my spiritual life and help me discern what is of God and what is my own brokeness, sin, anxiety, etc. 3. Ministering in community helps to bring different perspectives so that my own agendas are challenged or modified. 4. I try and tell the truth. As much as I can, I tell the truth about my doubts, my anger, my hopes, my joy so that I'm more able to see and let-go off every thing in my life and ministry that is false and strive toward that which is life-giving and of God.
Thanks Mark for the words of wisdom and I look forward to seeing you Friday evening and all day Saturday.
Here's how this week's blog tour has gone and is going:
If you happen to be in the Middle TN area tonight:
Samir Adil, cofounder and general secretary of the Iraqi Freedom Congress, will speak at the Nashville Peace and Justice Center tonight, May 15th at 6:30 p.m. This is a rare opportunity to hear directly from an Iraqi talking about efforts to build nonviolent opposition to the U.S. occupation and sectarian violence. The Iraqi Freedom Congress is dedicated to building harmony among all Iraqis, regardless of religious or ethnic identity. Its members are also creating a television station that focuses on peace issues.
The Freedom Congress promotes a “third way” forward for Iraq, through nonviolent techniques. It offers positive opportunities for Americans to contribute to peace and unity in that country. They are involved in the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in Iraq, the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq and the Union of the Unemployed in Iraq. They produce a newsletter called Iraq Weekly. For more information: http://www.ifcongress.com/English/index.htm
What does it look like when Gavin, Jonathon, Cole, and Thunder are out on the town in Nashvegas? Check it out here... (just substitute "boss" for "significant other")
... I'm a "Red Letter Christian".... we love to box ourselves in with words and labels. I suppose we need that to an extent.
Thanks to Tony Campolo for continually challenging me and American Christians to not accept the boxes that we tend to find ourselves in. Read this article about how Tony Campolo blasts Religious Right as 'frightening'.
I am...
A traveling nomad who ponders the Good only while laying in a hammock.
A bard, or poet, who wants us to re-imagine what we see in the world so that we can learn to tell our stories in a different way.
someone who purposefully does not make sense nor take himself too seriously
