Summer Camp 2011

We've been at summer camp at Westminster Woods this week, brining children from our church community to camp for the week, and for me to be speaking in the Forest 4th-6th grade camp.  It's nearly the end of the week, and as I walked back from an early morning meeting today I found myself thinking about what constitutes a day in the life this week: the pool, pudding cups for desert, campfire, the craft shack, Robin Hood dueling with the Sheriff, Ro-Sham-Bo about the life cycle of a salmon with Chimi & Changa, Free Time, not taking a shower, new friends, old friends, dumb body tricks, and mosquitos, trying new things, reveling in old favorites, getting a bit homesick, or just plain tired.  That’s what camp is about it.  All of those things in a brief span.  Comfort and challenge, joy and frustration, living with others and learning to stand on your own with your parents not nearby (unless your Dad is the camp speaker).  

Celebrating Black History Month

"God is Not A White Man"

I discovered this song and video today.  It's perfect for bringing a smile.

A Social Network Christmas

Continuing on the clever Christmas videos with post-modern and technological twists, I'm including another addition: A Social Network Christmas.

The Christmas Prophecy

Advent Video

Advent is my favorite time of the year, in large part because in church communities we read through sections of the prophets, in particular Isaiah.  I find it to be a deep spiritual time for me, a renewing of hope, an articulation of what the world is meant to be(come) and be about.  This year there have been numerous creative digital and electronic creations around Advent and Christmas.

Here's one I heard about through a French friend, a creative way to retell the prophetic poetry of Isaiah in and for our context today.

The Digital Story of the Nativity

I've been sent links to this video by several friends this week.  An interesting take on a sometimes too familiar story.

Trader: the video.

Thrill the World | Oakland

I caught the Thrill the World effort at Studio One in the Temescal today where the Bay Area Flash Mob gathered and trained any and everyone to dance the Thriller dance to Michael Jackson's song in the effort to establish a new world record.

How do you spell convergence in Church-ese?

This video, or a similar one, is diffused via youtube at the conclusion of each year. It's a definite eye-opener, albeit super American-centered, in terms of the speed at which aspects of our life together as a society and our deepening dependance upon technological tools are converging to impact the details of every day life. I continue to find myself asking if anyone and who in the church is paying attention.  In Advent we remember and focus upon the promise of the return of Christ, the promise that all is not lost, that there is hope for justice, redemption, wholeness and shalom-peace even in our world today.  It's what the Bible articulates as the hope we wait anxiously for, a waiting in which we're admonished to say awake, to say alert and to be on the lookout.  Maybe in the church we've forgotten that message?  Or maybe we just don't know what we're hoping for and/or waiting for in liberating expectation?

Happy Thanksgiving ! | ?

In general at Thanksgiving we're ready for a good laugh, the chance to relax and be with family and friends, to eat, but most of all it's the time together that we remember: watching a game or a parade, the smells while hanging out in the kitchen, the post-dinner clean-up, the late-night snacking.

The World is Just Awesome

I saw this video on a friend's Facebook page.  Yes it's a fun advertisement and also found it to be an interesting response to last week's lectionary text from Mark 13 and an invitation to reflect upon how we react and engage the world in which we live.  Definitely more my style than the choice of flight and withdrawl that might be more expressed in the 2012 film, or the emerging fear of apocalyptic destruction and judgment looking forward to auspicious date December 21, 2012 in the Mayan calendar.