November 13, 2007 Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Last Supper has inspired countless folk to imagine what Jesus’ last meal might have been like.
Today I saw this neat online tool that allows you to get REALLY close to the mural, revealing an unbelievable amount of detail through digital magnification. Check it out!
Posted in church history 
No Comments »
November 13, 2007 
Last Tuesday I went to see Rob Bell at the Uptown Theatre. I’ve you’ve not heard of him, he’s an engaging and captivating voice in contemporary Christianity. He’s written a few books (with provocative titles like Velvet Elvis and Sex God), and he’s come up with a series of short DVDs called NOOMA that are just dynamite. He’s the founding pastor (and now holds the title “Teaching Pastor”) of a non-denominational church called Mars Hill Bible Church outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
I first became interested in Bell after reading a New York Times article about his previous speaking tour, called Everything Is Spiritual. It seemed the Times was picking up on the fact that this Bell guy was selling out auditoriums all across the country, filling them with (mainly) 20-40 year old folks and sparking something in them along the way. So I bought Velvet Elvis and started using his NOOMA videos for some of my adult ed and youth group classes…
I’ve found Bell’s work personally uplifting and edifying for my own faith and ministry. He seems to be an interesting bridge between what I would call mainline protestant and evangelical thought. He comes out of the latter world, and while some of what he writes and teaches has been challenging to those of a more “evangelical” worldview, it seems pretty much in line with the faith handed down to me in the various mainline-reformed communities of my upbringing. Focusing on individual piety, the work and grace of God in Jesus Christ, and novel ways of reading and hearing the biblical material for today, Bell has a way of drawing people into the gospel message and rendering it meaningful for people where they are. He doesn’t shy away from where he thinks the gospel speaks most deeply: to help people become free from their hurt and their sin and their pain.
I was excited when I heard that his present tour, The Gods Aren’t Angry, was coming to town, and I was quick to get a ticket. It was billed as “part anthropology, part history, part deconstruction.” I wasn’t sure what to expect at the uptown, but the place was buzzing with excitement. The event was sold out, and in this venue for small, intimate concerts, hundreds of people were lined up for the wait to reach their plastic chair before Bell took the stage.
My internet-friend and fellow Presbyterian Pastor Jim Bonewald, also known as The Church Geek, has written up what I think is a very good summary of what Bell spoke about, so I don’t have to rehash that here. If you’re interested, please read it. In many ways, Bell’s presentation shows how solidly he fits within the basics of Reformed Theology (which is what we Presbyterians are): we celebrate the love, grace, and freedom that God has already given to us, and it is because of that alone that we are set free to get past the need to “appease the gods”–be they our guilt, or our fear, or our rage–and to live fully, live freely, live wholly. That’s basically what Bell was getting at, I think, and that’s Reformed Theology 101. Good stuff.
It was so wonderful to be in an auditorium with 500+ young adults craving to hear that message. Bell’s a wonderful communicator. Would that more begin to hear the word that he is bringing to the world, so that we can live by it.
Incidently, I’m wanting to start showing these NOOMA videos to the young adults at our church. We just need to work out a time and a place to begin. Trust me, its worth it…
Posted in Faith 2 Comments »
October 31, 2007 Roeminations went dormant just after Easter this year. Too much was going on in my life to tend well to this project: Jeff’s sabbatical, my beautiful girls, various other realities of life.
Southminster just went through the process of changing our webhosts from AT&T (nee SBC) to Dreamhost. We’ve gone this route for a few reasons, including getting far more webservices for the dollar, the possibility of video streaming, and more robust blogging and social networking platforms. It will take us several months to figure out just how to make these extra features work for us, but the basic webpage that the other service enabled is working just fine on the new service.
I’ve also decided to move my blog to this new server. This will get it off of my personal webhost, and will perhaps integrate better with our church’s webpage. I will need to clean up and maybe modernize the look-and-feel of roeminations a bit, so it might take me a bit of time to get back up to speed. But I’ll work on it.
Until then, thanks for reading this occasional blog. I hope to have something worth writing about shortly.
Posted in blogging No Comments »
April 16, 2007 I’m on vacation the next few weeks, so posts will be light. Keep checking back for more soon…
Posted in General No Comments »
April 12, 2007 We were glad to have Sus back visiting with us Easter Sunday. She was a youth sponsor and Elder at Southminster before she moved to St. Louis this past winter. Here she and I are with a few of the youth:
Then they decided that they needed to do a “goofy shot”. I don’t know who suggested that they should try to lift me, but someone did. I think they were gonna drop me:
Our youth group was glad to see Susie back for a Sunday…
Posted in Youth No Comments »
April 11, 2007 Southminster’s lucky to have so many talented members! One of them is the Funky Mama (check her out at www.funkymamamusic.com), Krista Eyler. Nobody’s better at making yer youngster wiggle their tushy than the Funky Mama (and its likely you’ll shake your money maker too…)
Krista was invited to play at the White House last week as part of their Easter celebrations! Here’s video from that awesome day:
Keep on rockin’, Krista….
Posted in General No Comments »
April 11, 2007 
For the next three weeks, the Adult Education class that I lead (called Southminster Seekers) will be watching the satirical faux documentary CSA: The Confederate States of America. In light of the recent conversations about race in America that have been circulating this week, it should be a good discussion about what has been accomplished since the civil rights movement and what still has yet to be accomplished. If you can, join us at 9:30 in the fellowship hall…
Posted in Christian Education No Comments »
April 9, 2007 Easter Sunday we were back in our newly renovated sanctuary. More than 390 people joined us for our 11am service, and another 100 for our 8:30 morning light worship. Here’s a picture Wayne took from the new sound booth…
What a wonderful Sunday to begin our use of the renovated sanctuary! Particularly because of that beautiful flowering-of-the-cross….
Posted in Worship No Comments »
April 4, 2007 Wave your palms! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord!
Posted in Children's Ministry, Faith, Worship No Comments »
March 29, 2007 I had lunch with some pastor friends Wednesday, and one of them confessed to “giving up blogs for Lent.” He meant by this that he neither was reading blogs (including my own), nor was he contributing to his. It sparked interesting conversation over our lunch (along with, of course, prognosticating the upcoming Royals season.)
Turns out my friend isn’t the only one giving up various internet media for lent. Today CNN reports on students giving up social networking tools (such as myspace or facebook) for Lent:
(CNN) — For some, it’s chocolate. For others, it’s coffee or cigarettes. But as this Easter approaches, some young and devout Christians are anxious to return to what they gave up for Lent: Internet sites Facebook and MySpace.
Many users describe the popular social networking sites as addictive, which is why they say giving up these 21st-century temptations is a sincere sacrifice. Members on both sites create profiles and add each other as friends. They can also share messages, photos, videos and personal blogs.
“It’s been hard, especially in the beginning,” said Kerry Graham, who says she gave up Facebook for Lent. Her boyfriend challenged her to do so, describing her as a “Facebook fiend.”
During the first days of Lent, the 23-year-old graduate student admits she had to stop herself from typing the site’s Web address nearly every time she checked her e-mail.
Graham, who was raised Catholic, is studying theology at the University of Nottingham in England. She’s far from her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, and said the distance has made the sacrifice more difficult.
“If I’m missing someone, there’s no real way to let them know,” she said.
…”Some of my friends think it’s silly, since people usually give up food,” said 16-year-old Emily Montgomery, who says she’s given up her access to MySpace. “I wanted to give up something that’s really hard for me.”
…Montgomery says she spent an average of two hours a day on MySpace, logging onto the site at least four times a day. She’s using Facebook as a substitute during the 40-day period.
“Not because Facebook is special — I think it’s boring,” she said, explaining that the site helps her to still “feel connected.”
“People try to be clever with Lent,” said the Rev. Michael J. Dolan, college chaplain at Trinity College and the University of Hartford in Connecticut. “It makes sense that students are giving up these things. By giving up something, you hope to gain something.”
Dolan himself has a Facebook account. He says he’s friends with more than 130 other members at Trinity and 80 in the Hartford network, and has spoken with many students who have given up social networking sites or online messaging for the Lenten season.
“It’s a form of spiritual awareness that allows you to reconnect with God,” said Jocelyn Chiu, an Emory University sophomore and active member of her Presbyterian church. “By giving up something that used up so much of my time, I realized that I had been leaving my spiritual life behind.”
Chiu gave up Facebook for Lent in 2006 and went one step further this year — vowing to avoid the Internet altogether. She has only allowed herself to check Emory’s internal e-mail for school-related messages.
“I realized how much time I was spending on the Internet,” said Chiu. “I needed to make myself focus on schoolwork more.”
…
Interesting story.
Posted in Faith, Internet No Comments »
Chad Andrew Herring :: creature of dust :: child of God :: husband of 9 years :: father of two :: associate pastor at southminster presbyterian church in prairie village, ks :: exploring a progressive emergent mainline christianity :: friend of presbymergent
Contact
Cleaker 2.1 Theme created by Adam Walker Cleaveland with Widget support added by ckwebb.com 
content rss | comments rss
Recent Comments