Gardening the new building

So, I've been scheming about the guerrilla gardening thing - we just got rid of some hideous bushes outside of our condo and put in native, drought resistant and really nifty plants that should look awesome once they take off - and I noticed there is a ton of bare dirt immediately around the new building:


View Larger Map

I'm thinking we could do a lot of neat stuff with all that space . I also know someone who might donate some plants or would at least give us a good deal. If we get stuff started right then by next summer it should be looking great! I've got gardening gloves, shears and a shovel ready to go.

Greeley AKA "Sayyid Qutb's Sodom and Gomorrah"

Me and a coworker noticed on Wikipedia that Greeley had a number of alternate nicknames, just like a good episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle. One of those names is posted in the title. Look it up if you have a minute...

Anyways, this is just too freakin unbelievable. I'll just copy and paste out of the wiki:

Egyptian Islamist Sayyid Qutb studied at the Colorado State College of Education in 1949. In The America I Have Seen (1951), he portrays Greeley as a hotbed of debauchery, rife with "naked legs" and "animal-like" mixing of the sexes.

So, this dude apparently went to UNC (Before it was called such). He is now considered a pretty influential figure on Al-Qaeda and their ilk. And we live in a hotbed of debauchery. I must be hanging out in the wrong places. Or maybe Greeley has settled down a lot since 1949.

Restoration Debriefing

I think I speak for everyone when I say last night was basically made of pure win! I heard a lot of great feedback, and had a ton of fun doing everything. I thought it came off really well.

Anyways, Kim and I (and now Ben) talked and decided it would be kind of a bummer to just let the group dissipate, so is anyone else down for another get-together to talk about how things went and hang out and discuss where we want to go from here?

We could do a regular meeting like we have been doing, but it might could be nice to go ingurgitate some victuals at a local eatery.

Things I Ponder

"Everything I do turns into a disaster." ~Charlie Brown

There's something about Chuck Brown that makes me see a little piece of myself.

There's something about Chuck Brown that is part of the entire world.

We've been working on this project for just under 6 months now. It's stretched us, grown us, frustrated us, brought a new group of friends together that probably wouldn't have formed on its own. What an amazing microcosm of Christ's Church.

The work of restoration, of helping Jesus make things new, is a constant, trying process. It started when He came to earth as a little baby, and won't end until He comes back and wipes the earth's slate clean for one last time.

Sitting in practise last night, I looked at everyone there and realised that this night is amazing and powerful for the reason that it took labor, tears, sweat, lots of phone calls, amazing people willing to set aside time. Isn't this how restoration looks in life? We all break ourselves a little, do the work, get dirty, be willing to say what's said, taking something on ourselves to get done not relying on one person to do it, let go of the idea that I am the only person who can do it and do it right, and encourage those who fall along the side of the road.

Remember that cliff in the Sigur Ros video? This small bit we're doing for Sunday night...perhaps it will lead someone, or a group of someones, to jump.

Each of you are beautiful eagles. And perhaps on Sunday, you will remember you can fly.

May God's grace sneak up on you.

~H

Guerilla Gardening

LA Times just did an article on guerilla gardening - there's some folks that do some really amazing stuff on random unused and untended pieces of land. People do flowers, vegetables, fruit, pretty much whatever will grow in a given area.

I'm trying to think of places that would be cool to do this in Greeley, and also of plants that might do well. It's important to use plants that will thrive, and that also won't over grow and mess up other local plant life.

Do we have any gardeners in our midst? I don't know much about doing this stuff, but I would love to help someone who does.

Here's one of the coolest examples:



If you want to check it out:

Original Blog Post
LA Times Article
Guerrillagardening.org

to blog or not to blog?

The purpose of this blog is to talk restoration, and while the writer of this particular post acknowledges that, he does have one item of business that he wishes to discuss, that may or may not be relevant to restoration, but is perhaps relevant to the individuals who contribute to this blog.

That question is...

I am going to be gone in Chattanooga, Tennessee (a brief aside: Maybe it's just me, but I really enjoy typing words with double letters in them. It doesn't happen that often, but when it does it generally serves as a break from the monotony of all the other typing. That said I haven't typed "Chattanooga, Tennessee" very many times, but the length of the words and the frequency of the double letters is beginning to take its toll on me and the fun of double letter word typing is beginning to lose its nuance) this summer and I want to keep in touch with folks, especially folks in the Atlas community, and while technology has never been my gifting, I am considering creating a blog to record and relate the epic adventures that undoubtedly await me this summer. And so the question is, is this of interest to anyone? Would you guys be up for stoppin' by my blog, and reading/commenting and the like?

-Ryan

Band Question

My question is this:

Is the band rehearsing Wednesday night, and if so when?


Give me a call

Amazing stop-motion art

I've encountered this video once or twice, and when it came up in a blog again today I thought I would share - it's a little trippy, and I don't have any interpretive theories put together just yet (add some in the comments!), but if nothing else it is great for the sheer scope of the project. I can't imagine how long it must've taken.


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Also, I was listening to Pandora, and Knocked Up by Kings of Leon was playing, and it matched the video beautifully. Fun coincidence.

discouragement is the name of the game

why is the beetle's landlord being such a douchebag?

Stubby Toed Shoes

My friend Makeesha who blogs here posted this poem/pic today. Thought I would share.

She stands on the edge
the stubby toes of her sneakers touching the horizon
the great beyond reaches into her soul
pulling into the abyss
while she, working hard to be strong,
pulls backarms flailing, reaching for balance
heels digging in
stubby toed shoes creeping forward over the edge
the great beyond calling
fingers stuck in ears, trying not to hear
fearing to let go
fearing to remain
but a girl cannot be separated from her soul
so over the edge she goes
stubby toed shoes and all

In my last post, all I was trying to say, and from reading it again, I don't think it was very clear, is that we should compile a list of groups/organizations that are working to bring healing and restoration in our world.

It's one thing to talk about restoration, but what if in addition to our evening, we could empower people to go and help folks. That is all.

We could encourage people to get involved with various organizations, or be creative and find a new way to help folks.

Surely all of this wouldn't be explicitly in our evening, but would be in the program, or in the journal, the 'Restoration Project' is a lot of things, but it's not an info-mercial. That's all I'm trying to say.

My pitch for Habitat, has nothing to do with the 'Restoration Project,' I just thought some of you guys might be intersted.

Restoration Cont'd...

On Sunday night, Heather and I were talking about the pro-life demonstrators that come to UNC every year, and we had discussed our feelings about it, and it came up, that while they are protesting, they didn't make a big point to show the alternatives.

I don't bring up this story to bring up an incredibly polar issue, but rather to say that we, as the 'Restoartion Project,' a group of people who believe that God is bringing heaven and earth together, should not allow ourselves to suffer the same fate, and we should include, somewhere in our program, maybe in the journals, some spring board of ways to get involved.

Certainly we're drawing attention to the kind of work that God is doing, but perhaps we could give people something tangible that they can grab on to and get involved in the transformation of our world.

I'm pretty sure, that we did something like that when we did the 'Revolution' series, and I think that that would be a good addition to our evening, in whatever capacity it eventually manifests itself...

Just throwing it out...maybe it's not a good idea, maybe we've talked about it before, and I just forgot, if that's the case, please don't tell me, on account of I don't want to feel foolish.

Also...

Would anyone be interested in going to Habitat for Humanity on Saturday?

St. Augustine...Florida?

"When a cure takes place, they [evils] are not transferred elsewhere but, since they are no longer present in the state of health, they no longer exist at all." -St. Augustine

I don't know if this quote will fit in any way, but in light of what Jeff talked about on Sunday, I think this quote is talking about what will be in the new age, when everything has been transformed, and everything that's broken, wicked and evil will not exist.

Hey kids... for those of you who were at Atlas tonight you heard my little shpeel... but for those who weren't, umm this is a t-shirt design I made in a class and now I'm making and selling the shirts to raise money for International Justice Mission (check them out here).

If you're interested let me know. Woot.

Oh, and it's not in this image for some reason... but below and to the right of the tree roots it says "held."

Some image ideas

I'm trying to dig around for some ideas along the lines of a logo-thing to use for the stencil and restoration project in general.

I like the imagery of eggs, plants, trees, leaves, doves, feathers, wings, water drops... the recycle logo is cool too in the symmetry of it and everything.

I've looked at deviantart.com and had a fair amount of luck just finding related pictures, you might try flickr and google image search too.

Here's some of my finds - if anybody has any drawings to put up, that would be great too - not personally my strongsuit.

Young at Heart Chorus

The 'old-folks' chorus I was I was talking about at our meeting tonight is called the Young at Heart Chorus (www.youngatheartchorus.com).

From what I gather, they're a group who started in 1982 in an elderly housing project, and they just started combining their talents to put on an evening of entertainment for folks. Some of their memebers have lived and performed into their 90's.

Here are a couple of youtube links to see their version of 'Fix You' by Coldplay, the first one is longer, and provides a bit of the story of the man singing it, while the other one is shorter, but a better video...

Here you go...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ygWGcHVKv2s

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2u6k-99qcCE&feature=related

-

Plan for April 16th

Just in case you missed email and check this more religiously:

Here's what will be doing Wednesday at THE BEETLE:
*Plussing (40 minutes)- it's going through the plan and coming up with ideas to make it better. Please read the plan below before Wednesday to get a feel for it.

*Breaking up into groups to talk about how we're going to do the evening (90 minutes) ---Music (Ryan, Justin, Eric R., Tim) ---Visuals/ Atmosphere (Bet Brianne, Kim, Justin) ---Graphics/ Journal (Melissa, Bet, Heather) ---Tech (Aaron- who else could work with Aaron for tech??)

Remember, again, it's at THE BEETLE at 6 pm. Please don't be late!!

And no dinner, so grab something before you come!

Looks like we made it!!!

Finally!

question

are we meeting this wednesday?

separating the men from the boys...

my schedule for tomorrow:

noon - 2: wake up, shower, pack up drum stuff, go to margies and relax.

2 - 3: load stuff in car, drive to ft. collins, set up for what about pluto? rehearsal.

3 - 430: rehearse, tear down, load stuff in cars, drive to venue.

5 - 7: load in at everyday joes, soundcheck, set up merch, chill with the locals.

7 730: playing drums for man the moon [filling in for zack].

730-10: chillax with more locals.

10 - 10:45: playing drums for what about pluto? [filling in for nobody].

11ish - 1230ish - tear down, sell merch, schmooze everyday joes people, load stuff in car, drive home.

1ish: party at my friend jeds house!

what a day, friends... what a day.

For Wednesday night -

Hey, I was thinking about putting this under the comments on the Worship Plan post, but in case people don't look at the comments as often I'm gonna do it here...

For putting together the media stuff, I will need all the materials for it - feel free to bring anything you think might be good to include, but these are the things I know I'll have to have soon:

• The Weather Man movie - Eric
• Greeley Pictures - Ryan, anybody else who has some
• Songs you want incorporated - everybody (I don't know if we have any of these for sure, but now's the time...)
• Worship Lyrics - Some of these are probably on the computer at Atlas, but I guess one way or another we'll need to find them. I know Justin and Ryan's songs might not be on there, so I'll need those.
• Disposable camera pictures - Do we want these to be incorporated? I can scan them in if we do.
• Poems - I don't know if we want any of these displayed, if so, let me know. Also remember the litany and other general written stuff.
• Scriptures - Right now I'm seeing Genesis 1 and 2. I can get these myself in NIV, but if we need anything more specific than that, or a smaller/more specific part of the passage, say the word.

This probably isn't an exhaustive list, but if you guys can just be thinking about what things you've worked on that we will need, just bring it and I'll get it ready to go. You can email it to me, - werepants@gmail.com - bring a cd, usb stick, memory card, hard copy of pictures or text, or whatever format you've got.

I think that's everything... be safe out there

Worship plan

So, Tim is still being a cheater and not making an account, but he sent me the worship plan to post, so here it is:


Restoration
April 27th, 2008

Open- Welcome and Prayer (talk about slides underneath being pictures of Greeley, original works...)
Reading Gen. 2 account of Adam and Eve (Ben playing trumpet piece)
Reading of Litany of Restoration Scripture (with music building)
"All Who are Thirsty"

Restoration of Person to God

"I Need Thee Every Hour" (with Harmonica. Flows right into song from "All Thirsty")
"Ryan's Song"

Karen Badly shares

Restoration of Person to Self
clip from "The Weather Man" (I am fastfood)
Time of Confession (Where in life do you feel like you are not who you're meant to be?)
"Fix You"
"Be Thou My Vision"
"Breathed in Me" (Justin performs acoustically)

Restoration of Person to Creation
Video of "Planet Earth" (Aaron creates)
"All Creatures of Our God and King" (end by reading Gen. 1)

Restoration of Person to People
Eric Long's Hospital poem
"Give Me Your Hand" (by A. Strumpel)
Mosaic Activity (take something that was broken...create something out of it?)
"All Who Are Thirsty" (recap)

End
Read "Restoration Wedding" (Sam Performs)
Video of Kids reading Restoration
Band outro's with "Bitter Sweet Symphony"

***Please walk yourself through the evening in your head. If there's something that doesn't fit, comment on it. Offer things we could change... I feel like each section should have some scripture in it. Any ideas?

FreeCulture deploys in New York

So, this group called Free Culture is offering a prize of 1 iPod shuffle to whoever takes the best pictures in Manhattan on Friday, March 28th.

Here's the original post.

To be included, pictures have to be Creative Commons licensed, which means that they can be legally distributed, printed, copied, and/or used in derivative works, while still allowing credit to be given where it's due. It's a very pro-creative license, encouraging people to share art and make more of it.


I think it is kind of neat that this just happens to fall right around the same time as our proposed photo-expedition in Greeley. Also, I think it is an amazing way to help the community come together and contribute to a common cause.

What if we did something like this in the future - got some sort of prize together, asking businesses to donate or whatever, and then created a massive collection of all the photos - it could be a website, or a flickr group, or whatever.

The things I like about the idea: community building, getting people out and about on the streets of Greeley, showing people beauty in places that they never would've seen before, and getting basically a huge stock photo type collection - I could see this as a potential benefit to all sorts of Greeley-based organizations, just having a huge base of area-relevant images for presentations or marketing materials or just as something to hang on the walls.

What do you all think? Is there enough interest in Greeley? Would it flop? Are there any other benefits/challenges you can think of?

I love Bradley Hathaway

I do. I really do. But you will too. I don't remember if Eric or someone read this once or not... sorry if he did and I'm just being repetitious...

I went to Bradley Hathaway's show on Saturday in Ft. Collins, and it was AMAZING. I've seen him once before, read and heard some of his stuff and always liked it... but this show was really just an awesome, spiritual time. Really... it was a time of worship. it was a time of meditation, of reflection, of crying out to God, of celebrating His love... even just as I sat there in my chair and drank my hazelnut latte and closed my eyes and soaked in the words...

this is from his old cd... but he read it then, and i'd love to share it now.

Celebration Wedding

Bradley Hathaway

This is for the ones whose hope is falling
And you no longer hear your savior's calling.

This is for the ones whose backs are turning
And that passion-filled heart you once had has stopped burning.

This is for the ones abandoned.
Now all alone with no solace
and you think you're stranded.

This is for you empty, by life branded,
That had a vision that took leap, but it never landed.

This is for the ones who are plagued.
By those mysteries of life.
And you feel torn inside
by this mind of spirit and strife.

This is for the ones whose desire to do good is always outweighed
and you don't do as you should.

This is for the ones who mistakes are too many to count
and the guilt on your chest just continues to mount.

This is for the ones who have been done wrong by sins.
At the corrupted hands of perverted men.

Hold on.
HOLD ON!

Because soon will come the Celebration Wedding
and bundles of restoration will be our bedding.

Soon will come the Celebration Wedding
and bundles of restoration will be our bedding.

The trumpeter is taking a breath
The guests are taking their seats.
The Bride is putting on a veil.
The Father is making last-minute preparations.

There's Thousands Times Ten Thousand
angels waiting in holy expectation.

The readied groom is readied.

Soon will come the Celebration Wedding

If you are hurting, your hurt will cease.
If you are restless, you will find peace.
If you are empty, You will be filled.
All of these doubts, they'll be stilled.

If life for you is just to trying, Your tears will be dissipate.
There won't be anymore crying.
If the only thing you know is shame, you will be cleansed
and never again feel the same.

If you can't see straight.

foucus.
persevere.
And wait...

10 Q!!!

Good Friday went SO well :)

Thanks to each of you for putting stations together, showing up to setup/cleanup.

From the person who tried to do it solo last year, getting by with a little help from my friends was definitely better :)

~H

my new blog

i have been quite impressed with the user-friendliness of google. so much so that i have decided to switch my blog from xanga to blogger. so, if anyone is interested in reading my thoughts on life, the url is ohmysweetlord.blogspot.com

this video, i believe, really speaks to the idea of being restored. this womans name is evelyn glennie and she is considered the best percussionist on earth... oh yeah, and she is also over 80% deaf.

When it comes to spirituality in nature

Heather's nature metaphor got me thinking (because I think about these things a lot) about something cool I recently read on a science website.

For a photon (a particle of light) neither time or space exist. It moves at the speed of light, and Einstein's relativity theory says that when you move at the speed of light time is essentially frozen. So, if there were to be a little person riding in the photon, from their point of view it would take literally no time at all to travel from place to place. He would move from one end of the universe to the other without experiencing even a single second, or any sense of distance. You would be everywhere and nowhere, forever and never. Existence is 0 dimensional for a photon.

It is interesting to me as a metaphor for God because we have such a difficult time understanding things like being omnipresent or eternal, and good analogies for those things are hard to find. But it does seem to me that somehow this little fact about light perfectly explains how time and distance are totally different things from a divine perspective.

the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned

We <3 TS Eliot!

Of all that was done in the past, you eat the fruit,either rotten or ripe

And the Church must be forever building, and always decaying, and always being restored.

TS Eliot


Sometimes when I ponder the earth, creation, and people in general, I wonder if restoration was hard wired into us when God first created us in the Garden. Or was it something he intended/started after the Fall. Things like grass, which Planet Earth recently told me is the fastest regenerating living thing on earth. It is destroyed, and is rebuilt, more frequently than any other living thing. We see this pretty clearly out in the fields, which were only burned last weekend, yet little green shoots are all over the place.

And with people...we want to be restored. We want others to be in right relationships with us, and it is always so satisfying to forgive, or to be reconciled to one another.

Is this original design? Or something God built in after the fall?

Death and New Life

My cousin Scott died on Friday. Two days before, his Older sister gave birth to her first child. Somehow this speaks to me of the sadness and beauty in the world. There is always death, but there is also new life bringing restoration.

Remember St Patrick on his day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Lorica of Saint Patrick

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me

From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the OnenessOf the Creator of creation

St. Patrick (ca. 377)

Stuck in the Middle with you

Here's a story of small restoration that might make a difference someday but who knows.

I have two friends who are splitting up with each other irreconcilably. They were engaged at the beginning of the year, lived together, and one of them cheated to sever the relationship, so you can imagine all of the trauma, drama, and craziness of the past few months.

I'm not a professional counselor. I don't even have any experience in the area of so-called "serious" relationships. (I top out at a wopping 5 months for relationship record...) So when my friends lean on me for support during split ups of all sorts I kind of feel out of my element. (As Anne Lamott says, there are basically only two prayers we pray: Help me, and Thank you.)

Whilst at dinner with the female of the two (who was the cheater), we were talking, and she made this comment, "Wow, we really know how to fuck things up don't we?" I'd been listening to her intently without saying much for about an hour. And it occurred to me to mention, "We know how to fuck things up, but it amazes me how much human beings take that broken thing and can end up creating something beautiful." She paused and then asked me if that's why I love Charlie Brown so much. Yep, everything he touches falls apart, but somehow his friends find a way to put it back together to make something lovely.

She said that was the first time she had smiled in a long time. It amazes me sometimes what happens when I just listen.

I asked my 13 year old sister about times that made her feel joyful, trying to explain in different terms stories of restoration. this was hers...

"it's like when someone you haven't seen in a while comes off an airplane and you see them and you're so excited like "ahhhh!" and you hug them."

Oh Captain

Since we don't have the Project this week, I would like to know what Captain Coons thinks about our stories.

Yes, this is a challenge.

Bullfrogs N Butterflies

So...that's an old song from my childhood: Bullfrogs and Butterflies have both been born again...yeah, don't ask. Atleast I didn't have to listen to that annoying Charity Churchmouse :X

This morning I was listening to Morning Edition and they covered this story.

When caterpillars go into their chrysalis to become buterflies/moths, their entire body basically becomes mush (I believe the lady used "minestrone" to describe it) and then reforms as the new insect. After always associating butterflies with rebirth/new life in God through Christ, this kind of made me think...they become completely new...and yet.....

Research suggests that even though their brains get gooified with the rest of their bodies, they can still "remember" (bug style) things from their caterpillar days. Interesting...as our mind still remembers (in its human style) that old lifestyle it used to lead. And even more interesting: they tested this by applying negative receptors: shocks, poison-type gas. How much of our brain remembers old things which were negative which are now gone because of what Christ did for us?

Struggling with stories

I'm having a really hard time with this story thing - I usually end up somewhere between an ambiguous testimonial and rambling philosophy. I really like to write, but something about the pressure of sitting down and doing it has kept it from happening.

Here's part of a song I am working on though, that tells a little bit of my mental state, and maybe something of a story.

Lord I'm in need of some help now
For I just cannot go on
Doing these things that I hate now
Knowing right but always choosing wrong

The thing that I fear is not flesh and blood
But the hurt that I do to my friends
Your hands want to use me and oh, I am longing
Teach me to love you once again

Lord, save me from who I am
How I need your grace again

Pithy Stories

I've been pondering the idea of just having a smattering of "confessional" type stories...just a sentence or two. Hit reply and post any you think are cool.

Here's mine:

~There are some days when I feel more restored by a cup of coffee than anything else. Is that bad?

Benjamin's Blog

I have some stories.

I think one that I have experienced recently, not directly me, was seeing the transformation of my step-father after his business bankrupted. After our heated meeting yesterday, I was talking with Tim about how male comradery is restoring, and it made me think of Wild at Heart. My step dad liked the book. There...the dots are connected.

My step dad owned Wildflour Bagel Co. It went bankrupt for God knows why, but it really put him in a deep depression. The summer following the bankrupcy, he sought employment. When he wasn't seeking employment, he badgered us about Everything.

House isn't clean enough.
Chores aren't being done right.
The boys are too wimpy.
Etc.

My brothers and I found ourselves swimming and going to the library constantly, mainly to avoid him.

Anyways, he wasn't in a good spot. But with the help of finding a job and being successful at it, along with love from us and my mom, he is gradually becoming a happier dude.

So I know this is a prelim' story, but I think that it may be a valid inclusion.

Tag, your're it.

Stories

Wow. I don't know why, but there seemed to be so much tension tonight. I really hate conflict. In my friendships and relationships I tend to avoid conflict as much as possible. However, somehow, working through conflict is what eventually makes a relationship stronger. I was thinking about two quick stories. The first has no restoration, but it leads into the second, which does.
1 - When I first moved to Greeley, I was a sophomore at UNC. I became friends with a girl named Moriah from my dance class. Really, she was my first friend here. She ended up moving in with me because of roommate troubles on her end. When the semester was over, we decided we were going to move into this cool old college house with a bunch of other kids from the Green party - most of whom were pot-heads. I only knew Moriah, but I could sense the environment would not be good. In December of that year, I became a Christian. The leader of the bible study that I had been going to, Jeff Cook, and his wife said that they had a room opening in their basement. At the last minute, I called Moriah and told her I would not be living with her. When she asked me why, I told her it was because I was now a Christian and I felt like I wanted to be in a place where I could discover what that meant. (By the way, Moriah considered herself atheist and was turned off by Christianity.) Really, what I was saying was that she was a bad influence on my new life. I did not explain it in a tactful way. That was the last time we ever spoke. Later, I wrote Moriah several letters apologizing, and trying to make up, but she never wrote back. I have no idea where she is now, or what happened to her.
2- Eventually, I moved into Kelly and Jeff's basement and I started to discover what it meant to be a real friend. Tim, Rob, Eric, Kelly, and all of them had been friends since college. At some point, they all just decided that they were family. And with family, you don't quit. They pulled me in and I became part of that tight community. I can't count how many times one or the other of us has hurt someone else's feeling or said something hurtful or been unfair. And yet we always work through it. It is hard, and sometimes you just want to quit. But it is always worth it.

Shipyard - Artist Community

So, this is a collective of artists who have built a community gallery thing by putting studios in these big metal shipping crates. They do a lot of mechanical/ kinetic/ electronic art.

They've apparently had a lot of trouble staying in one place, because the city isn't sure how to zone them.

The pictures and website aren't all that descriptive, but I think the general idea is amazing.

www.theshipyard.org

Oy There Good Friday Folks!

If you would, please post your station ideas here, so we've got them all in one place? I'm sure we'll have some time to chat about them on Wednesday as well.

If you're needing some brainstorming time, please let me know! I can certainly help you :)

~H

The Body, The Blood, The Machine

Here's a sweet song by The Thermals, it's called Here's Your Future (the other songs are good but less relevant).









And for you visual learners here's a video (different song though).

Restoring a Community

With all the buzz about things, found this today on 9news:

Park Hill Methodist

What was required?

1.) People who saw a need for it.
2.) People committed to working through their differences to form on united body.
3.) People committed to work with those who disagreed with them.

Is restoration of our community something that needs everyone on board?
Is everyone on board?

What do you think?

Edward the Bear

I just listened to this podcast that pretty much made me get all choked up. It's a grown-up sci-fi Winnie the Pooh story. There's something very endearing and accessible about telling an adult tale through a child's view. It's just the story, without being dressed up with all sorts of fancy adjectives. (Is it hypocritical for me to use the word fancy in that sentence?)

Some of the deepest things can (and maybe should) be broken down into really reachable ideals.

Also - by adult, I just mean the story deals with death. This isn't a smarmy winnie-the-pooh romance novel... you pervs.

Here's the link.

una poema

endless and dark for many millions who
are counting down the minutes for when they
begin to feel again, for nothing true
is in their sights, tenebrous is the way

such fleeting time spent dwelling on the thing
that trifling would be too deserving to
describe, poor heart, the in-genuine thing
hope through disappointment is my rue

inane, just words of mediocrity
these are the breaths of life which you survive?
your soul chokes on unknown disloyalty
this is not what it means to be alive

what can one offer to the deafening plea?
a truth and light, a promise to be free

ok. now i've "shared."
(i really wish ingenuine was a real word)

Speaking of hards things needing restoration...

Last year my cousin, Scott, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I just this e-mail from his wife. I guess I am just asking for prayers for him and shannon (his wife) and their two little girls. Thank you. Bet

I have been putting off writing this email. I'm just going to make it short since I really don't want to write it. Scott had an MRI last Thursday. It showed that the latest go at chemotherapy didn't work. A doctor from Duke called me on Tuesday to tell me that they feel there is nothing left that is likely to have an effect on stopping the tumor's progression. They estimate that Scott has a few weeks of life left.

But we don't like to give up.

His doctor at KU, Dr. Sarah Taylor, has prescribed another chemotherapy that is in pill form. It is an older drug that has largely been replaced by newer, more effective drugs, but it was once the standard treatment for brain tumors. She said the chances are slim that it will be effective, but there's no reason not to try. This is the time, for all of you praying folks out there, to pray your pants off. That came out sounding weird but I'm not going to change it--I'm on a roll. Hope is hanging by a thread here. Life as I know it, as Scott knows, as little Emma and Claire knows it is hanging by a fine, precious little thread.

Think of us, pray for us, send your good vibes our way. We need your support.

If you would like to send a message for Scott, I would happily read it to him. I'm sure it would warm his heart to know he's being thought of.

Shannon

now would not be a good time to tell me an AIDS joke.

i just learned that, two nights ago, my cousin died of HIV.

id like to hear your thoughts on how this relates to the idea of restoration. please do not take the easy route and say "he is now completely restored in heaven."

Restore the world through....maps

Strange Maps Blog


Excellent blog full of different cool and funky maps. Just thought I'd throw it out there for visual ideas.

(Special thanks to my friend Brenton, who surfs the net so I don't have to.)


~H

Great Guerilla Art Idea

http://you-are-beautiful.com/

Tim thought of the phrase "things will get better" (or something like that) I randomly putting it everywhere.

What I Killed Today

One of the most moving blogs I've ever read - it's the journal of a veterinary technician who euthanizes animals.

I'm not sure, but I'm feel like there's restoration even (or especially) in death.

I look forward to seeing what our wordsmiths put together, and I'm excited to start working on some details.

I'm sure you guys already have thought of it, but just in case you didn't, I have one request - please consider showing restoration in brokenness, failure, or death, because my deepest reconciliation often happens in my lowest moments.

Kate Hurley

could we maybe use this song as part of the service, depending on the story?

Restore by Kate Hurley

Listen to it here
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=48904293

My other project

So I thought that we had to create another thingy for the last reading(The Bow and the Kiss and 1 Corinthians stuff). That being said, I wrote a poem. I don't want to appear flashy like I want to share my stuff, but if it helps Ryan, Heather, and Riles with story stuff, then I'll post it.

So here it is:


The Absent-minded Eagle

Every morning I watch
a funny figure.
It's the sight of
an absent-minded eagle.

You see, every morning,
this beautiful bird
with the powers to fly majestically over all he
sees, sadly must remember he can.

He was given
this powerful thing within.

Flight!

Sometimes he remembers;
I remember, when he did.

Sunrise! He just hopped awake
and leaped into the blue yonder.
Flight!

Most times he doesn't remember;
I remember, the days that
he flies.

Next time tomorrow?

GoT mE tHiNkInG...

So during our staff meeting today I walked away with huge revelation. The day to day stuff gets me stressed pretty much all the time... but if it is - I'm missing the big picture. Life is bigger than my daily struggle with the student in my class who is bullying other kids and can't seem to find solice because mom committed suicide and dad just got released from prison. I should be able to see that! Stepping outside of my bubble from 8-5 helped me see that I am here for a purpose and I am making a difference. These pictures kinda speak to my awe for "the big picture."


There's something about the sun that rings of new opportunities, chances, and just an overall "Re-DO!" Hope this restores some need you might be feeling as well.

For Good Friday

Here, thanks to Christine Sine, are a few ideas for Stations of the Cross for Good Friday

My Friend Wezlo's site of different creative elements for worship

Article at The Ooze about Experiential Worship with ideas

Part II of the Experiential article

Possible Prayer to use

Courtesy of Christine Sine
Words in Bold are words of the people, words in normal are words of the leader.

We are broken people,
Separated from God, isolated from each other, disconnected from God’s world

Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life

Our bond with God is broken
We have hidden ourselves from the all loving, all caring, all embracing one

Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life

Our bond with each other is broken
We are indifferent to the cries of dying children, the pain of the oppressed, the lonliness of the widow

Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life

Our bond with God’s earth is broken
We have destroyed and polluted what we should have preserved, we have not been good stewards of creation

Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life

The bonds withing ourselves are broken,
Our spirits are scarred and distorted by selfcentredness, green, violence and the worship of consumer clutter

Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life

God in your mercy come to us,
Forgive our sins, heal our bodies, redeem our lives

Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life.

possible the best poem about death ive ever heard:

How hardcore-right wing-conservative-evangelical christians are our brothers and sisters too. eh?

(Ok... so that title's a little silly.)


Aaron's blog really got me thinking. (So this is a tangent, not in direct response to that article, Aaron etc.)

I find it really easy to get fired up when I see Christians say crap that I think is totally the opposite of what Jesus stood for. Like "WHAT THE CRAP ARE YOU DOING?!"

But what do we do then? Humans will always disagree on things. Christians are included in that whole human thing. There are different interpretations of everything in the Bible, not to mention things in history and current political/cultural events.

So what do we do? Build walls? Create separate sides? Keep silent? Stand up for what we believe? Scream our "truths"? How do we love each other through complete disagreements?

What does Jesus model? Sometimes he got angry. Sometimes he was silent. Sometimes he said something completely unexpected. I wish the book of Matthew included a little chart that says "if situation 'Q' happens, then go to column 3 for response."

Golly.

I don't know. Christian bashing is bad. But so is spewing out lies.


What is the root of it all? What do most people want? Peace. Joy. Connection. Wholeness.

We just all have different ideas of how to get there.


Hmmm... I wish I had some conclusions.

The Publican and the Pharisee

In the Orthodox tradition, this last Sunday was the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee. IN these days leading up to their Great Lent (which begins on March 10 this year) the ecclesia (priest who runs the service) appoints this parable to be read, as a way for preparing for this time of repentance.

We all know the story....2 men went up to the temple to pray, one a pharisee the other a tax collector. The pharisee begins his prayer by giving thanks.....but for the arrogant reason that he feel better then other men. "I thank thee Lord that I am not like this Tax Collector...." The publican on the other hand could only beat his breast saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner."Christ gives us the warning that the way of the pharisee, no matter how righteous he may have lived, was the way to hell.....because he looked down on his neighbor. He gives us the example of the tax collector as a the way to heaven. The tax collector was NOT a righteous man....but he was REPENTANT. He could not see his neighbors short-comings as his own sins were so evident to him.

Who do YOU look down on? Who is YOUR Samaritan or tax collector?

New Greeley

Here's the poem. Tim tweaked it a little, but it's not that much different.


The New Greeley

I saw a vision - it was last Monday at 7 in the morning.

I was standing atop Lawrenson, looking down over the campus and city;
With a new found dawn breaking over the eastern prairie,
caressing trees and buildings with fuzzy pink light
and the Spirit of God breathed on my eyes,
And my eyes were opened.

I saw Greeley, the holy city,
coming down out of heaven;
Shining brighter than all the diamonds lining Weiss Jewelers' windows,
Sparkling like "Clear water in the eye of the sun."
and all the sickness was gone from the city,
there were no more concrete cubicles of goverment housing,
no more multimillion dollar homes lining the west side of town.

No difference between East and West,
Norteno and Sudeno.

I saw the Platte river running full and wide with the water of life,
as bright as crystal,
as clear as glass,
the children of Greeley swimming in it.

And the Spirit showed me the Tree of Life,
springing from the aquifer in Lincoln Park.
I looked out and there were no more homeless people,
no more people struggling to support families on minimum wage slaveries,
no more ignorant attacks on immigrants.
Healthcare quandries solved by the wiping clean of all illness.

There were no more drivebys
no more underfunded schools
no more gay bashing
no more rapists,
no more stabbings,
no more white and brown,
Christian and "real" Christian,
no more graffittis,
no more immigration reform marches,
BECAUSE THERE WAS NO MORE HATE!

And I saw women walking with no trepidition at night,
Saw men full of passion and gentleness
that none of the children were ever abused,
because the people's sex was full of justice and of joy.

I saw an old woman throw back her head
her careworn face smoothing of its papery wrinkled surface as she
laughed like a little girl.

And when the sky closed back,her laughter rang in my head for days and days
and would not go away.

This is what I saw,
peering from the edge of the tallest building in town,
looking up from the city of death,

And I knew then there would be a day of resurrection,

And I believe that there will be a day of resurrection.

~Heather Lunde5/3/07
As inspired by John's Revelation of the new Jerusalem, and Doug Gay's The New Glasgow

Bicycles

I'm a bit late in posting this, but this passage made me think of restoration. It's from Shining at the Bottom of the Sea, which is an incredible book, all of you should read it.

bicycles. In little Harbour, there was only one bicycle, and it belonged to the telegraph man, who guarded it so closely that it slept under his bed at night. No one but he ever had a chance to ride, so when the boys of the town tried to steal it for joyrides, their adventures always ended abruptly. They didn't know how to balance. Aenea therefore had no direct experience of bicycles when she had to teach Christophle how to ride one. She had to learn to teach what she had never learned to do herself. It was a double victory then when Christophle's velocity escaped the need for her guidance. Joy! It can be done! We progress! We Progress!

mel

I am flabbergasted

Check out this letter to the editor that was in the Tribune today.

I don't know how to handle it sometimes when Christians spout nationalism and self-righteousness. I don't want to love this guy. I hate what is being said in the name of our savior, I hate what is happening to everyone out there who already thinks Christians are a bunch of racist loonies. I hate that good friends of mine move farther from the gospel when these guys take their pulpit.

It really bothers me that he quotes the "anger in the temple" passage in scripture to justify his tirade, because I once had a frustrated church member use that as his justification for ripping into me for 30 minutes straight.

But with all of that, I know that the gospel is there to somehow restore him too. (right? part of me wants to be wrong on this one)

I'm not sure - what should our response be to stuff like this? I'm thinking about writing my own letter, but I'd really like some opinions, because I am a little bit lost, and I am sure this is equally frustrating to all of you. What I don't want to be is another biased and bickering Christian with a slightly different perspective.

If you want to know what made this pastor so bothered, it was when someone asked him to sign this, called a "Pledge of Respect":
"I pledge that as I take positions and enter into dialogue on the issue of immigration that the tone of my discourse and the choice of my words will reflect the respect I have for the sacred humanity of those about whom I am speaking and with whom I may disagree."

I'm not sure that this pledge is going to bring about world peace, but seriously, how angry do you have to be to go on a rant about such a harmless and well-intentioned paragraph?

Tim and Heather's poem was beautiful (please post it) and it really displays an amazing hope for this place.

I just get discouraged - I feel like that ugly article was the exact opposite of that poem.

Sorry for the rant, but seriously - Where do we go from here?

music

yesterday, i sat in my house and did nothing but listen to music for 2 hours and i was filled with a sense of hope and safety that i seldom feel. i believe the holy spirit was there with me, in my headphones.

eric

Math art

I found a really cool art exhibit that I am way into. It is all art based on math, like equations plugged into computers, or origami models of 20-gons (they're really called that).

Anyways, if nothing else I figured Tom would be into this.


Also Math Rock is the coolest.

Original article

This is Tim, not Betony...

Beautiful stuff everyone. Beautiful and inspiring. And this is the first post I've ever made to a blog.

Much Love,
Tim

I'm only calling it homework if we also get seatwork on Wednesday

I was always a bigger fan of seatwork than homework....

So a past story of restoration. Which shall also explain why I feel like our church is very powerful in the reason that includes adults and high schoolers.

I started as a jr high youth leader about 10 years ago (wow). I was there for the 7th grade girls who had bonded with my roommate Selena, who was going to stop doing youth group with them because of her move to Denver. I felt very strongly I needed to be there for them since I'd known them since they were 12. What I didn't factor in was that I'd also have to deal with Jr High Boys. They were crazy, insane, squirrelly, and all of those other things that come along with jr high boys. And then we had our first retreat.

Never in my life have I had conversations so profound, or seen someone worship as earnestly as some of those boys did. (And some of them still do.) It completely reworked the idea in my head that somehow we aren't "real believers" until we turn some magical age. I started to believe in (and defend strongly) the idea that once someone receives the Holy Spirit, that makes them just as able to contribute to the body of believers as someone who's been saved for years...has nothing to do with linear age.

~H

The Homework

To kind of follow Brianne's post we delve further into the high school brain; what is in our past that preaches restoration?

Beats me.

I feel very "high-schooler" anyways around you older folks; you have all traversed the path that is college and all that while we haven't even for sure pinned down our final destination(where is Ben Veilleux University?).

But while I have your attention, let me jump into what Restoration means to me, one instance of restoration to post on the blog.

The Junior Year

My junior year followed an amazing experience at The Rotary Youth Leadership Academy(RYLA) I attended the summer prior. It enhanced my life for the Ben Veilleux at the time(looking back I think it may have hindered me). Anyways I went into Frontier Academy as an 11th grader scared of everyone; everyone at RYLA was so nice and I knew that Frontier folks wouldn't be as friendly all the time.

I also had scheduled 4 AP classes that year.

My stress was heavy and my passion for everything was compromised. I fought with my band director over everything, and tried to coerse my friends into hanging out with me because I thought they didn't want to.

To put it short, I was an insecure young fella.

It was at this point that I started attending Atlas, as prompted by our dearly beloved Timothy Thane. He really took me under his wing, and from there began the never-ending quest towards restoration.

Tim catalyzed my growth as he likes to put it; he helped me realize how to be a grown man. I had girl problems; Tim told me that this girl wasn't right for me. I whined about everything; Tim told me to "man up."

I also give part of my restoration credit to EMDR(boy have acronyms saved my life?). EMDR is a form of counseling that my mom had me do to help with divorce trauma in my early childhood. While its methods seem sketchy, it is a way of desensitizing your emotions to certain events(like marital fighting, fighting in general).

At first it didn't really seem to take hold, but looking back it restored me. EMDR helped me realize that arguments come with love, and that trying to avoid them not only makes you unhealthy but also makes you weak.

So I guess that's my story of Restoration, hope y'all liked it.
See you guys Wed.
Love you all,

benJAMIN'

No artsy-ness, just some thoughts

so for the past several weeks... this idea of restoration obviously has been on my mind.
but for the past several months i've been questioning a lot of things on a big scale. a lot. i guess they're the normal adolescent/human questions of "why am i here?" "what do i believe?" and "what is the purpose for it all?"... but for me, that felt weird, because i'd never really doubted God before.

when i saw the pain of just my corner of the world, the emptiness, the seemingly insurmountable darkness... i just wondered how the strong the light really was.

when i saw the lack of passion in people who claimed to have Christ, i wondered if that was really it.

when i looked at my own relationship with Jesus, i wondered if I was just missing something.

wait, brianne, having doubts?
yeah. woah baby.

if the truth is so strong, then why is it so skewed? if the light is so powerful, then why is it so dark? if Christ is the source of peace and joy, then why are we still so miserable and apathetic? The biggest thing that bugs me is the way the Church has done things. Like, if we have found a light, and we are a window or a vessel, anything to connect our world to the truth, and there are millions of churches, then why isn't a world desperate for answers exploding with truth now?

i don't get it.

all i know now is that things are dark, but He will pierce the darkness.

the one thing I've had to come to terms with: it won't be in ways that we expect.

Jesus never did things the way we expected Him to, right? And He smacked darkness in the face.

It may not be megachurches and youth ministries and missions trips that ultimately bring light and restoration to the world. It may not be in huge explosions of growth or goodness.

It may be small things, donkeys instead of camels, stables instead of palaces, silence instead of words.



I don't know. Nothing profound here, just my thought processes I thought I'd share. Basically, I'm catching up to everyone else. I don't know how I'll contribute to this project creatively, but I'm so excited about it... Because it's met me right where I am... neat.

p.s. i cannot write a song, but if you want someone to sing with ya, let me know. cute!

Make giant pixelized images

You can use this tool (The Rasterbator - I didn't make it up)to make giant prints of any picture you want, in that cool dotted newsprint kind of style.

It converts the image into dots, and then breaks it up into printable sheets of whatever size of paper you want.

Click here to try it.

Restoration Photos

Ryan and I went photographing on Saturday, and I think we were both surprised at what there was to be found in downtown Greeley.
Taking those pictures was a kind of profound experience, especially in the context of restoration.

I think that we should continue doing this - if you have an interest in photography, set aside a few hours to get together with a photographically-inclined friend and take some pictures while you wander around.
Finding the beautiful details in a place that is often overlooked is a kind of restoration, and a small but significant way to give something back to this town we inhabit.

Click the links below to check out a few of the images. Eventually, it would be great to get one conglomerated bunch of all our pictures. Flickr lets us attach the images to a map, if we want, and I think as we go that could lead to an amazing visualization of this place.

Gallery 1
Gallery 2

Inspiration...

So I've been really distracted by work and feeling in some ways completely unprepared for the life I've been living. However, I feel as though I have finally found hope and wanted to share a glimpse of it with all of you. I drove down to Parker yesterday to just clear my mind and spend some time with my mom and dad. The drive was magnificent with the sun beating down on the road, and the mountains truly resembling purple majesties.

I thought for a moment... this is the good stuff. If I only exist to witness this, it's worth it. My life must mean something. Getting away for just a minute to revel in true beauty and letting the elements of our planet sink into my soul brought out inspiration once again.

I feel rejuvenated and wanted to share a photo I took at a wedding to send you all some inspiration...

I want to be determined just like this little guy...

even if he was on his way to the cake table!

One more - The Fall Project

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52projects/sets/72157594463021613/
I love how it shows the passage of time.

6 Word Stories

Check out the video at 52projects




---6 words


www.52projects.com

Web Zen - And lego

Web Zen makes some really cool collections of fun web-stuff, arranged on a rough theme.

I saw a lego one, and it was good. I really like things where structure and creativity mix.

Plus I would still play with legos if I could.

Coolest photo collection EVAR

If we are ever in need of some cool old-school photos, this site is amazing. They have archives going back to 2004, with (I believe) an awesome random picture each day. I think this could be some great fuel for a collage thing, or for a picture "station" like we had a while back at atlas.

These pictures are titled "Rest", "Repairs", and "Clean".

MOO: Mini Cards

This might be something interesting to do as a handout. Maybe little quotes, pieces of photographs, etc. They are fairly inexpensive too.
http://www.moo.com/products/minicards.php

Guerilla Art

Guerilla Art:
http://www.kerismith.com/funstuff/guerilla.htm

Random acts of sneaky art making

Water Collecting

Many of you know that the thing I miss most about California is my tide pools at Little Corona.

Maybe that's why this project seems particularly appealing:
What's Your Project?Project #111
Take a sample of every body of water you visit. Put them in little glass bottles and label them with the day and place. It could be an ocean or a puddle -- what matters is that that unique collection of pollution, purity, bacteria, algae, and such is a little time capsule back to that moment in time. Sometimes, if there is no water available, run a tap and label that bottle "so-and-so's tap". I recently found an old bottle of mine labeled "Grandmum's house" -- from before she moved in with my aunt, from before she died... This is all I have of her house and I now keep it next to my samples from Loch Ness and the Atlantic Ocean.
Emily WingNew York, NY

Thanks for sharing the project website, Bet, it's kept me occupied for far too long =)

The Sheep Market

There's a thing on amazon where people get paid to do random little tasks that computers can't do very well, like saying whether or not a grocery store is in a picture. It's called the Mechanical Turk.

This guy paid 10,000 people 2 cents each to draw a sheep. You can actually watch each one be drawn.

Visual Dictionary

One of the sites I found - called visual dictionary. Has people photograph words that the find, and then catalogs them into a dictionary. Really fun to look at. http://www.thevisualdictionary.net/

Here is the picture for "Restoration"

Yeah!

I love this idea Aaron. I spent my whole morning thinking about restoration ideas. My favorite site right now is
http://www.52projects.com

It kept leading me to other sites that were interesting. Start with the link over to the side that is called 52 projects. I think I might also purchase his book.

Guerilla Art

Rules of Art

I've always liked this idea...

In some cultures, plates are broken to celebrate. (i.e....the greek folk regularly maim fine plates)

In some families, plates are broken to alleviate stress/frustration/anger. (See the movie tortilla soup, if you're feeling like a chick flick with Hector Elizondo in it...)

Go to the arc, purchase plates, use sharpies to write things of celebration/things of frustration or anger. Release them to God by breaking against a wall. (Suggestion: get a permit for this if we are doing it outside, as the police were called last time I did this with a group...it's very noisy.) Earthenware plates work best for this project, as they have a tendency to break into usable pieces.

Take the pieces and create a mosaic or some other really cool thing with them. (I've seen it done as mosaic, and also as piecing the broken plates together to make new plates.)

Verses: Corinthians' old has gone new has come is usually the reference I use with this project. Sorry I'm not able to look it up immediately.

Colloborative stuff

Random Idea #58

It would be cool to have a project that involves everybody present in actively creating some art.

I'm not great at this kind of thing, but I have seen some cool ideas.

This project, for instance, could only really be described as a boombox symphony. Volunteers get a cd or tape ahead of time, and then, as far as I can tell, they stand around and hit play at an approximate time, and then each tape plays its part and becomes part of this crazy pre-scripted performance.
We could do something like that, or give random people percussion instruments to do stuff with, or maybe have people use cellphone cameras somehow and take pictures and send them somewhere... to do something... details are a bit fuzzy still.
There's that one project where you put up an easel and have people paint on it, with brushes, or paintball guns, and then after it is covered you take a stencil off the top and reveal something awesome (like jesus or america or something) that was underneath the whole time. Obviously the cheese factor could get out of hand with that, it's probably more of a youth group object lesson, but I think the gist of it could be useful.

Bonus idea for 12:37 in the morning: hand out baseball bats and beat something into a sculptured manifestation of the group's collective rage.

Thundercats are go

I don't know about everybody else, but I find it amazingly better for my creativity if I can get some stuff out of my mind and into some kind of tangible form. Also, I think with the ambitions of the project and our mostly different schedules, it will be difficult for some of us to connect often enough to really collaborate creatively. And it's better to get your ideas out there right on the spot a lot of times, rather than waiting till a reasonable hour to contact other people, or even waiting until the every-other-wednesday meeting.
So, whether it ends up getting used much or not at all, I thought it at least would be good to have a place available to jot down collective notes, have ongoing discussion, and keep records of whatever it is we might want to keep records of...

I'll probably post some random weird ideas that I get at unholy hours, and if anyone else wants to have rights to also post some top-level subjects(rather than just comments) then just let me know your account name (I think anyone with gmail is automagically good to go, and accounts are free besides) and I'll set it up for you.