A blended Easter Service catalyst moment...

Sometimes the idea of a blended service is good. It brings generations together to experience another's taste in worship and music. Causing us to celebrate our differences and unique perspectives of a risen Savior and crowning Lord. We give room to another's ways of prayer and traditions that were significant in shaping their faith and theology. It makes us big or does it just piss of every one a little bit.

Yesterday's Easter Experience was a moment in time where my imagination got the best of me.

Everyone was anxious for the the service to begin. Many of the children in new Easter attire and hair with plenty of "product" in it sitting pretty and calm. Each with an Easter basket to collect eggs after the Children's Message out in the vacant lot next door.

Then it began, the guest organist, who played in some of the great sanctuaries and pizza palaces throughout Central California, started with a Bach fugue which morphed into Queen's "We are the Champions." I knew we were into a blended moment in history.

The choir began their processional, which we don't do very often because the last time it took Edna May McMurty 15 minutes to walk the distance before she had the hip replacement. This time we borrowed a few of the motorized shopping carts from Raley's which sped everything up until a few of the Emergents from the 6:00p service showed up and started protesting the choir's new robes which were allegedly made in sweat shops in Thailand. The parking lot attendants were called in when the protesters started throwing sweat from children collected last Wednesday afternoon during the Awana outdoor exercise time, on the robes. The parking lot attendants used their flags and cones to corral the hoodlums and get them outside where the multi-grain poppyseed cupcakes and espresso bar diverted their attention and mellowed them out.

After the congregation began to refocus the Bell Choir came up and did an acapella number featuring the woman playing the low D# bell. She kicked it.

The Associate Pastor invited the children to come down for his story on Easter. One of the kids start eating an Easter Lily which caused him to throw up a Peep bunny, a Peep chicken, and the recently released Peep Doberman Pinscher, all in their entirety.

Then came the Praise Music component of the service." The Grateful Resurrected," the worship band, came up and did a raggae medley of "He Lives/ Christ the Lord is Risen Today/Up From the Grave He Arose" But during the PowerPoint presentation the "Easter Egg Virus" kicked in and brought up last years Junior High's Halloween Lock-In Video. It wasn't pretty.

Then, the offering was collected and for the anthem, they brought in a trumpet player, who also is the rental clerk over at the TruValue, to play. When he was in the middle of his number, "Rise Again," he expelled some of his spit, which landed in the back of the praise guitarist wah wah peddle and shorted out the PA system which brought his karaoke trak to an abrupt halt. Luckily he had more spit to put out the small fire.

The pastor got up to bring it on home and he was really starting to preach, when the Children's Director's phone went off playing Sir Mix-A-Lot's, "I Like Big Butts" ringtune. Some of the high school kids got up to shake their booty and four people accepted the salvation plan.

Driving out of the church parking lot to the restaurant to have an Easter Eggs Benedict with colored eggs and Ham at brunch, I noticed the picket line of the local Union of Parking Lot Attendants starting to mount up the campaign for the 10:45a Easter service. I think most of them were Methodist.

Just another Easter celebrating the resurrection of our Lord...

My past few weekends as a woman...

I don't know if you know this about me but I love to go to women's conferences. Christel (my wife) and I have been leading worship for the one at Calvin Crest for the past 13 years. We have been invited a couple of times to Jackson Hole Wyoming to lead worship for their women's conferences as well. It was a great gig.

Last weekend, I was invited (or did I intrude) by my friend, Sheri Wiedenhoefer, to sit in on a conference with a group of women and discuss sexuality and spirituality. I left with my head spinning and my heart broken. I am formulating what happened during that weekend that is shaping a deeper view of what my action plan is and how we use the camp facility to bring about some awareness, strategy, change, catalyst, sanctuary, and conversation in the year to come.

I am more convinced that the conversation needs to reach a depth of intimacy to bring about Kingdom behavior. Deep calls out to Deep. We cannot just keep talking about curtailing behavior we need to go below into the heart, the questions, the fears, the need.

Thank you Sheri for allowing me in to such an intimate place of trust and honor...

A pearl anniversary...

My wife and I are celebrating 30 years of marriage (to each other) this week. The only problem is she is in Prescott, Arizona helping her mother move into a senior's community and I am home with the flu. She gets back on Friday when I hope to be present enough to listen to her about her time and feelings in this stage with her mom.

Next-Wave eZine...

Charle Wear from Next-Wave has reprinted (if reprinting is the right term for taking something off of a blog onto an eZine) my post, "Yesterday Sucked..."

I feel really funny about this, I really enjoyed his magazine, but to quote Groucho Marx, "I would never join a club that would have me as a member." begins to bounce off in my head.

Thanks Rudy for leading Charles my way.