October 10, 2007 – Monday Hunger Awareness, Wednesday Book Discussion and Choir
There have been many downs and ups this week for me and the week is not over.
Our Hunger Awareness team meeting was on Monday. I must and will apologize to the rest of team for focusing that evening on what others could do and not on what was possible for me to do.
We typically have energetic meetings but Monday’s was not. There was a team consensus that given the team size we couldn’t do justice to new projects. Since we don’t need to meet monthly about the OFB donations effort, we agreed to meet every three months.
Is there a natural cycle for a team of volunteers? There were highlights for the Hunger Awareness effort this year at Creator but I wasn’t expressing thankfulness but basically wondered if there will be new people who sign up for the team when the Time and Talent sheets get turned in next month. Would new team members shake us up?
The consensus decision was a retreat for the team but perhaps that needs to happen right now.
Wednesday’s first Book discussion on Brian McLaren’s The Secret Message of Jesus had, in contrast, a high level of energetic discussion and there was an unexpected group dynamic; at least from my perspective.
There was a half an hour time constraint given 6:30 is the time Confirmation begins and 7:00 is choir practice for many participants but so much was packed into that half hour everyone agreed to starting fifteen minutes earlier to give us more time.
There were 7 of us: Greg, Shirley, Randy, Debi, Gretchen, Pat and myself. Knowing that our time was limited we plunged right into what we felt about the reading. Instantly there were books that one person would refer to that another person or more had read: God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It by Jim Wallis was one and Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller was another.
McLaren describes in the book what is widely called ‘the emerging church’. There seemed to be general agreement that our focus was more on the Bible being a human response to God rather than the only divine Word ever given to man. Also we seemed drawn as a group more to the historical and metaphorical rather than literal factual interpretation of the Bible.
Biblical interpretation brings up another touchstone the group is currently sharing during our Adult Education hour. That is the video series: Mark Allan Powell’s How Lutherans Interpret the Bible. Gretchen reported that David was hearing Powell speak during his current trip to Chicago.
There was also an enthusiasm for McLaren’s interesting use of placing you, as a contemporary reader, into the historical context of trying to figure out which of the Jewish groups that Jesus belonged to.
Among the other ‘emerging church’ interpretations McLaren explores in the first part of the book are the idea of the kingdom of God or eternal life pointing to the here and now rather than an afterlife and that there is also a public, not just a personal dimension to salvation.
Well, I could go on but there was choir practice that was no less interesting. We opened practice with a song from Agnus Dei which we will perform for Christmas. We worked more on Be Thou a Smooth Path and the music is more beautiful each time we rehearse. Kelly commented on the sound that was coming from ten voices. It was amazing (although I believe all of us are hoping more will join for the Christmas program). We also rehearsed All Are Welcome and God Is Our Refuge and Strength.
There have been many downs and ups this week for me and the week is not over.
Our Hunger Awareness team meeting was on Monday. I must and will apologize to the rest of team for focusing that evening on what others could do and not on what was possible for me to do.
We typically have energetic meetings but Monday’s was not. There was a team consensus that given the team size we couldn’t do justice to new projects. Since we don’t need to meet monthly about the OFB donations effort, we agreed to meet every three months.
Is there a natural cycle for a team of volunteers? There were highlights for the Hunger Awareness effort this year at Creator but I wasn’t expressing thankfulness but basically wondered if there will be new people who sign up for the team when the Time and Talent sheets get turned in next month. Would new team members shake us up?
The consensus decision was a retreat for the team but perhaps that needs to happen right now.
Wednesday’s first Book discussion on Brian McLaren’s The Secret Message of Jesus had, in contrast, a high level of energetic discussion and there was an unexpected group dynamic; at least from my perspective.
There was a half an hour time constraint given 6:30 is the time Confirmation begins and 7:00 is choir practice for many participants but so much was packed into that half hour everyone agreed to starting fifteen minutes earlier to give us more time.
There were 7 of us: Greg, Shirley, Randy, Debi, Gretchen, Pat and myself. Knowing that our time was limited we plunged right into what we felt about the reading. Instantly there were books that one person would refer to that another person or more had read: God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It by Jim Wallis was one and Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller was another.
McLaren describes in the book what is widely called ‘the emerging church’. There seemed to be general agreement that our focus was more on the Bible being a human response to God rather than the only divine Word ever given to man. Also we seemed drawn as a group more to the historical and metaphorical rather than literal factual interpretation of the Bible.
Biblical interpretation brings up another touchstone the group is currently sharing during our Adult Education hour. That is the video series: Mark Allan Powell’s How Lutherans Interpret the Bible. Gretchen reported that David was hearing Powell speak during his current trip to Chicago.
There was also an enthusiasm for McLaren’s interesting use of placing you, as a contemporary reader, into the historical context of trying to figure out which of the Jewish groups that Jesus belonged to.
Among the other ‘emerging church’ interpretations McLaren explores in the first part of the book are the idea of the kingdom of God or eternal life pointing to the here and now rather than an afterlife and that there is also a public, not just a personal dimension to salvation.
Well, I could go on but there was choir practice that was no less interesting. We opened practice with a song from Agnus Dei which we will perform for Christmas. We worked more on Be Thou a Smooth Path and the music is more beautiful each time we rehearse. Kelly commented on the sound that was coming from ten voices. It was amazing (although I believe all of us are hoping more will join for the Christmas program). We also rehearsed All Are Welcome and God Is Our Refuge and Strength.
Kelly closed us in prayer and once again I felt blessed to be a part of the Creator choir.
posted by Gary at
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