…continuing…

Pathmakers & alt.worship

*** WARNING - THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD. I AM TIPPING MY HAND. IF YOUR OR A CONVERSATION I AM GOING TO HAVE WITH YOU ARE REFERRED TO IN THIS POST, PLEASE TRY TO ACT SURPRISED WHEN I ACTUALLY HAVE THE CONVERSATION WITH YOU. IF I DON’T ACTUALLY GET AROUND TO HAVING THE CONVERSATION WITH YOU, DAMNIT, THEN ASK ME WHY THE HELL NOT? WE NOW RETURN TO OUR REGULAR BLOGGING ***

i want to create several alt.worship events over the next year. the first at our annual camping trip in october. seth’s folks have a 100+ acres east of columbus. there’s a hill just across the brook that has the feeling of a “thin place”. i think the outdoor setting will be huge. it seems a good way to introduce it to the congregation and pathmakers. i have ideas for about half a dozen stations, which i won’t reveal here. gotta keep a few surprises.

from christmas thru easter, i’d like to turn our pathmaker augmented sermon into a pathmaker crafted experience. no sermon that evening. everything based on the gospels, birth thru passion. brainstorming:

• christmas - i read about an interactive drama one church is doing. the gathered play various roles, host of angels, shepherds, etc. i have ideas ripping off and playing off that. (i forget where i first read that, so if you, dead reader, know, pass it on so i can give him/her the credit and others the resource.
• sermon on the mount - stations based on elements of Jesus message
• good friday - stations centered on the cross (duh)

i still have a couple more to fill in, but i’d like to come to these with my fellow pathmakers. hopefully i can give them an idea of what i see, let them into my mind a bit.

to do’s? talk to my pathmakers and gabe. everything becomes real, fixed with conversation. in my head i wonder if it ever existed. in the body, i cannot deny its existance. idea takes form, has life on its own, life that calls me to pursue it, to meet it in the future in it’s fullness.

so i’ve got a few ideas about alt.worship stuff that i want to bring to the Harvest. first let me fill in the history on Pathmakers, the ministry i am developing at the harvest. as i get current the alt.worship stuff will fit in nicely…

Pathmakers - Year 1
lets call this “year of the eye”. it was in this year that i first caught a glimpse of this vision from God. our vision @ Harvest is to be a church for the postmodern world; yet, if you looked at our service, it was very contemporary: topical preaching, guitar-driven music using contemporary songs. where was the community learning, the shared story and journey? where was the redemption of the arts? where was the recovering of the mystical?

enter a conversation @ a wedding. while avoiding the crowd of strangers in the ballroom, my wife and i sat in the lobby talking about all this with a couple friends of ours. this was the first time i expressed the jumble of thoughts, the snippets of vision floating in my mind to anyone other than kerri. my monologue went something like this:

“picture seekers - anyone seeking Truth, God, Christ - gathering, perhaps around a meal. conversation directs the proceedings. life in all it’s rawness and honesty is discussed. teachers teach. encouragers encourage. gifts are used and the body is built up. at some point in time the community is focused. we sing about and to God. perhaps a topic is proposed. facets are explored thru art: poem, drama, movie, canvas, song. conversation continues, the Spirit guiding all who seek to find.”

it wasn’t nearly as eloquent when i first shared it. nevertheless, the idea had been spoken. the words went out and so the process of becoming - that is, of coming into existance outside of the confines of my mind - began.

Pathmakers - Year 2
lets call this the “year of the toe”. the next year (last year) i shared the vision for Pathmakers as best i could with gabe (our leaderfounder, a dear friend, a guide, and one of the few people whose approval really matter to me), and he said go for it. i called together a small team, folks i thought were (1) ready to explore church in the postmodern age; (2) and diverse in their personalities and creativity. we would test the waters, begin by redeeming the arts, using them to creatively illustrate, expound, enrich the sermon. we would tackle one a month. we began in november 2002 and worked thru june 2003. we created a couple short films, an original song or two, a skit, as well as raising the bar on the the powerpoint used.

as i reflect, i say the year was successful, solid steps in the right direction. nevertheless, it wasn’t yet the nebulous, poorly communicated, barely understood vision that rattled around in my brain. i would be introduced to two things over this summer that would cast light and form into this vision.

first, i would read The Story We Find Ourselves In, by Brian McLaren. the most exciting bit for me was his description of La Adventura, the fictional(ized?) chruch in the Galapagos. the community, the trust in the Spirit to guide seekers into the Truth, the dialogue, the contact with the Almighty. it was as if he had seen the picture-fragments in my mind and assembled some of them into these few paragraphs. my heart lept as i gained clarity.

second i would stumble across some alt.worship stuff, particularily the labryinth. the notion of creating “thin places”, opportunities to encounter, experience the Holy again excited me. this is closer to the visions in my mind.

more and more i am disconnected with the contemporary church service. i long not to hear a sermon but to share in a dialogue. i hate to preach, not because i don’t like to teach or speak in public; but because i am never sure that i am relevent. “is this message what you need to hear? if i stumbled onto the write topic/path, have i met you on this path at the right point? or am i ahead of you? or behind you?” learning thru dialogue seems to remove this obstacle. it seems far more useful. this doesn’t mean a sermon doesn’t have its place. a body needs to be focused from time to time. vision needs to be re-cast. the sermon can be powerful when significant numbers are at the same stop on their journey, when paths converge. i just don’t belive this occurs often enough to justify weekly sermons (much less two a week as in some traditions).

instead we need opportunities to step out of our life journey for a few moments, a chance to step out and examine it in the precense, under the scrutiny, with the aid of others. does this sound like a small group? kinda. i’m not real sure, but i plan to pursue this in the fall…family issues permitting.

also, i want the opportunity to encounter God in mystery, in ways that are not programmed. i want to recapture the faith-history that the contemporary church has shed. thus the alt.worship side, something i intend to pursue in the fall.

Pathmakers - Year 3
what will this year be? stay tuned….

another great post out at the nextreformation:

dying to oneself, one’s individuality is the issue here. will we lay down our rights to become a people, a community? this is not the same as assilimation. laying down our individual rights and pursuits is not the same as losing our individual personality and expression. a kidney is not a stomach, though both are bound to the body for life.

a great post on paul and postmodernity:

skim thru the comments also for the NKOC remark, being “above the line”.

so i’m at the storefront, our church “building”, monday before a gathering. a lady walks out of the china buffet next door and peeks in the front window. nothing unusual here. then she comes inside. that’s rare. “jenny” (her real name) has to pre-schoolers in tow. she’s been around church before, that much is obvious by her questions:

1. are you affiliated with a denomination?
2. do you preach verse-by-verse or topically?
3. what is your worship, aka music, style?

ok. i answered her questions (no, topically, contemporary guitar) and extended an invitation to come back on a sunday night. we have a mops program that has done a great job connecting moms in the area. (btw, this is also me bragging on kerri; she heads up our mops group.) anyone seeking jesus is more than welcome.
nevertheless, as i answered her questions i couldn’t help wondering what jenny would think of the alt worship stuff i’ve been thinking about, the stuff i’m hoping to bring to harvest. hmmm.

jordon.cooper is posting daily blogs. reach out and touch someone new.

i’m sitting here on the office on what is supposed to be a day off for me (cool summer schedule thing happenin’). the good news: mcgriddles aren’t that bad…& i can type left handed if need be.

kenny’s got a sweet ride (last photo of the first sequence.)

had an idea yeasterday: develop an alt.worship experience to go along with the annual Harvest camping trip this fall. the land out at seth’s folks would be fantastic; i already have a few “station” ideas. i won’t spill it here just in case someone i know actually sumbles across my blog. wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.

signed up for IndieAllies. doesn’t look like there are enough for an august meeting in dayton; probably a good thing given the current state of family affairs. still, curious to find out more. would like to add some dialog (face.2.face preferably) in addition to my reading.