the church geek

This is a lovely decorated table that was part of a Lenten service I attended this evening at Lori’s church.

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If you’re a pastor or maybe a Christian education director at a church, then you’ve probably been getting packets of promo material from Fox Faith in the mail.

What have you done with them? I’ve quickly perused through them and then felt some small pangs of guilt as I’ve tossed them in the circular bin. Real Live Preacher has gone a step further and has offered some insightful comments about those packets from Fox Faith.

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“Thanks to the Boston Police bomb squad, this is one traffic counter box that won’t get a chance to kill anyone.” HT: Boing Boing

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This was one of those days when nothing really photo worthy came my way. So today you get a photo of my computer/book bag that has been my constant companion over the past five years. I don’t know what I’d do without this trusty bag, and I hope that I will never have to find out!

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The spirit of truth does not seek comfort. The purpose of Lent is not to escape the conscience, but to create a healthy hatred for evil, a heartfelt contrition for sin, and a passionately felt need for grace. This continuous movement of faith from a sense of sin to grace and forgiveness ends only when the spirit is ultimately released.
Edna Hong

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This weekend we purchased our first orchid. Looks good so far; hope we don’t end up killing it.

I’m not entirely pleased with the color and lighting for this shot, but I like the framing and the way the rest of it turned out. I did cool down the color a bit in paint shop pro and that helped some.

That’s my wife in the background enjoying a book.

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Recently I read an article that intrigued me, called “Preaching as Practice: Techniques to Help Your Whole Congregation Share Their Faith during Your Sermon.” It is in the most recent Congregations journal published by the excellent Alban Institute.

The basic premise of the article is that if we move to a more interactive style of preaching, the congregation will begin to realize that they too have something worthwhile to say about their faith. Such a move would make for a much more dynamic and participatory worship service as well as encourage the congregation to see that the sermon is not exclusively the work or words of the Pastor.

But of course, we all think that developing a more interactive preaching style would require a HUGE leap of faith, both for the preacher as well as for the congregation. But this Alban article says it doesn’t have to be that way. There is a logical progression of four small steps that the pastor and congregation can begin to take together:

1. Take a vote - We all know how to vote; we’re asked to do it all the time. So why shouldn’t the task of preaching also include a vote taking process to get the congregation involved: For example you could ask “Would you rather have Christmas or Easter?” Ask for and encourage a show of hands for each option. Be confident and encouraging especially if the response seems kind of weak.

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These are ice shards from our driveway. It’s just warm enough for the ice to have slightly melted which made it pretty easy to break up. The conditions today here in Cedar Rapids aren’t as bad as we all feared (the storm swung north) as the warmer weather has started melting the ice that coated everything yesterday. The unfortunate thing as far as photography is concerned is that all those great pictures I was going to shoot of various ice coated things have all disappeared!

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This shot of our deck is taken through our ice encrusted patio door. More freezing rain expected today with significant snow and blizzard conditions over night. Looks like we’re hunkering down for a couple days.

Other shots on this theme are here and here:

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Looking for some ideas to improve your life and better your spiritual self? Check out the Ship of Fools’ 40 Ideas for Lent. I guarantee you’ll find something to help you along in your lenten journey.

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We have a fairly major winter storm brewing here, but all sorts of contradictory forecasts as to what it will look like when its all said and done.

This is a picture from our front door stoop looking to the south. I like feeling like the king of the hill.

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We may come {to baptism} singing “Just as I Am,” but we will not stay by being our same old selves. The needs of the world are too great, the suffering and pain too extensive, the lures of the world too seductive for us to begin to change the world unless we are changed, unless conversion of life and morals becomes our pattern. The status quo is too alluring. It is the air we breathe, the food we eat, the six-thirty news, our institutions, our theologies, and politics. The only way we shall break its hold on us is to be transferred to another dominion, to be cut loose from our old certainties, to be thrust under the flood and then pulled forth fresh and new-born. Baptism takes us there.
William Willimon

This quote and others to come are from the devotional book Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter.

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This one looks best at large size, so click through to the flickr site to select and view a large size image.

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It is well known that Christ consistently used the expression “follower.” He never asks for admirers, worshipers, or adherents. No, he calls disciples. It is not adherents of a teaching but followers of a life Christ is looking for.
Soren Kierkegaard

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I conducted an Ash Wednesday service this evening. Unfortunately the ashes are no longer in the form of a cross, just a smudge. This is probably the one and only self portrait you’ll get this year… Oh, man am I bald!

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