(New Church) Revolution

Well for those who are Presbyterians, or if you aren't, there is a new movement forming. It is called the New Church Revolution. This group is not asking for permission to be the church or be in the church, they are being the church and changing it.

They know that an overwhelming majority of those people under 35 believe that the church should be a welcoming place to ALL people, so basically the world is going to change. People can get on the bandwagon now or continue to fight the change.

Check it out: http://www.tamfs.org/ and look for the new revolution

So along this line, there was a big deal today in my church, a group of people voted 40-11 to removed G6.0106b. This is momentous. Ordination will not be limited potentially by whether or not you are in a church approved relationship, instead the other changes allow ordination to be about a person's willingness to commit to the church. While it is not perfect, it is a big deal. I love this quote from Tom Long, a professor down the street at Emory...

"The issue before the church is not whether persons of this or that sexual orientation can be ordained to ministry. They are already ordained to ministry by virtue of baptism...The real question is one of stewardship of gifts...What we are truly summoned to decide is not who among the baptized receives these spiritual gifts or who is entitled exercise them. The Holy Spirit decides that. We are summoned, rather, to receive these gifts with joy and gratitude and to be the kind of church that orders its life in such a way that these gifts are honored, exercised and nourished to the glory of God and the blessing of the world."

I want all people to have the opportunity to live in a church "that orders its life in such a way that all people's gifts are honored, exercised and nourished to the glory of God and the blessing of the world."

So let us all join the revolution and start being the church, with or without the rules.

Viva la revolution!

Worship

Okay, so I am a presbyterian who finds refuge in the episcopal church. This week I am at a conference about Christian Education for my job. Of course, being a Christian conference, there are worship experiences. For those who have not been to Episcopal worship is it full of standing and sitting, plus if you are lucky more sensory experiences like incense or dancing.

Today for our worship we had the full on episcopal service -

1st there was a 5 minute explaination about the service and several instructions on what will happen during the service that I think confused half of us.

2nd the service went in reverse for two hymns and then we got on track again as the children dressed as angels and stars processed down the aisle of the church.

We were then given bells to ring, but the directions were given 10 minutes ago so there was bell ringing the entire service.

We read the scripture and then the sermon was offered by a good speaker, she just gave a disjointed yet funny message.

Oh and I forgot about the "angel" feathers flying out of the bible during the scripture reading and the priest who said we did not greet enough people during the passing of the peace and to get up and move around. Of course, everyone just sat there and she proceeded to shake everyone's hand in the sanctuary. Episcopals are very welcoming =)

Then we sang a bunch of songs that we really didn't know, then we wedged ourselves up front and took communion. I didn't know you could really feed the 5,000 with one loaf of bread. Unlike everything else we did not get directions on this part so, of course, it was guided by the Holy Spirit.

Afterwords, we were asked to dance in the aisle (of course no one did it) and then left with the joy of Jesus in our hearts.

I have to say it is great to be stretched and yet sometimes stretching is too much for people who like tradition. There is nothing wrong with that. hey, the night before people heard the words "building a worship installation" and got up and left. I am all for tradition. I still like my tradition of presbyterism. We may not be perfect, but who really is?

Do you know what a worship installation is?

Supposedly, they are worship experiences that are created in apartments, barns, churches, etc. and people post them on the internet in Europe for people to find. They leave them up so people can come and worship there. They are themed around scripture. We did one last night around Psalm 23 and someone actually was the cool waters in the greeen pastures (they made a waterfall that ran during the experience). It was cool to hear the water flowing during the scripture reading. Okay, so if you didn't know before I am a church nerd.

Lasers and Patriotism

Okay, picture this...a monster sized rock that has three confederate army leaders carved into the side ( and that's just the beginning). Then as the sun fades these faces become illuminated by lasers and fireworks accompanied by some "God bless America" soundtrack. It was amazing.
One of the hokiest things I have every seen, but well worth the four bucks I paid to get in. The only thing better would have been beer and the show for $4. There also was a laser montage straight from the 70's of Atlanta's landmarks, sports teams and all the kids we were with exclaimed at the end "Yay! Atlanta!" How can that be bad?

There was brief interlude by Chik-Fil-A with cows playing the roles of movie stars that was followed by a moving section about being a hero. Of course, this included many, many references to our military people and their families. I left feeling like this group of people is the foundation of this country.

It was amazing how all this was okay and people actually paid to see a 10 minute commercial for the armed forces. And I will say again, it was well worth the $4.

For more info you can check out Stone Mountain's website.

On another front, I knew that is was possible that Obama could win, but now I actually have to start thinking about Hillary as a VP. I am all for a woman in the White House, I just wanted the first one to be the president, not VP. I have no idea how the rest of this election is going to go...will the democrats make it happen this year?


Little fact of the day:

Two other women, besides Hillary, are on the short list for Obama's VP. I almost want one of them to win instead of Hillary.

Baby!

My friend from high school is pregnant. I am so excited. She is the first of my close childhood friends that is pregnant. I can't wait to go buy fun little outfits and hang out with her fun little baby. Being 30 is great, but the whole friends having kids things is really exciting. I am looking forward to this part of life.

Speaking of kiddos, I am having a great time at VBS. Everything is going so smooth I can't believe it. I hope next year we can double our attendance.

So anybody excited that July 4th is coming and it is time for that lovely day weekend?