Cascadia Worship and the Arts

       Nat and the family came over this weekend. We had a Friday evening/ Saturday conference on worship and the arts. Or should I say art as worship? Or maybe worship as life? It gave me a lot to think about and I think there was at least a small takeaway from every session I sat through. Some speakers will have me pondering through the spring. First of all, the real draw for Nat and I was when we saw that Sara Groves would be the worship leader for the event. She is a gifted songwriter that knows how to exhort in the gentlest most beautiful way. It was a VERY small group compared to most conferences I've attended and probably the most interesting thing about it was the complete open-endedness of it. For example the first evening the gentleman that spoke did a wonderful job of talking about how liturgy is formative to who you are as a person and how architecture, art, worship and other aspects of church affect how you can "close down" or "open" the style and flow of worship. But then he didn't tell you what to do with it. Most events I attend for worship have a pretty specific game plan and way to implement said plan. This was more like take whatever you wanted, be inspired or not, and act or not in whatever way seems appropriate to you. It was actually very nice to be challenged to do the actual thikning. "How do I want to apply this?" I kept asking myself.
       Something else unique about this event was the lack of the standard worship team. It was just Sara on the piano and a friend of hers singing with her. In a church designed for accoustics I was a little bit in heaven as we sang old hymns and quiet contemporary choruses in beautiful harmony. There was obviously many musicians in the room and there was no lack for parts. It reminded me of my youth at Grace Bible when there was no fear to stop playing, indeed the playing of instruments was always secondary to the voices. My how times have changed. Over all, much of the things shared were beyond the scope of my current church. Things like hosting Art Galleries, etc. I still came away with a lot of ideas and best of all I came away thinking about where I fit in the scheme of things. As I sat in the audience of contemplatives and listened to the academics use their big church words while still showing very sincere hearts I realized that I don't quite fit in their realm. Maybe someday but not yet. On the other hand even though I know that facilitating is a gift of mine I don't see myself being the "people person" at my church as far as standard organizing of ministries is concerned. It occurred to me that I could help Lucas and other people involved in anything that touches on art life at church. Maybe I could share ideas that are a little outside the box that bring the church together. An example that I thought was so great that was given was the idea of blowing up a local map of the greater Seattle area. Many small churches in the area do not feel they have much impact and most people have a disconnect about their place of work being somewhere they experience worship but isn't worship a way of life? So the idea is that everyone puts a pin in their homes and their places of work and the main roads it takes to get there. Then you step back and you suddenly realize what a huge impact your church is having as people go out on a weekly basis to jobs, schools, etc. and live lives of worship that have an impact on the community. Suddenly it's not just the one dot located at I-90 Community Church but an entire urban and suburban area.
      Something else I will be prayerfully considering is what we can accomplish in the new church build that is planned. Right now, BEFORE the walls are changed and the building is added on is the time to consider what the artisans in our congregation can bring to the table to enhance our worship space and bring glory to God through the visual arts. Things that bring life and unity to the body that meets within it's walls. I love the idea of a massive chalk-board wall that has different prompts each week like "this week God has done for me ___________" or "This week God wants me to _________" , or "I see God in ____________" and then see the testimonies and thoughts that come from the people I sit by but don't really know. I want to know and love my church more and more but there is precious little ways to do that outside of a small group which in and of itself only helps me know a few families at a time. I see so much potential but the scariest part is probably that it requires the people at my church to participate! I'm not particularly artsy, though I am musical, but I am an extrovert and I find myself game to try things that others might not be. Is that a good excuse though not to broaden our perspective of the possibilities available on a given Sunday morning? Simple things like serving someone communion could be a way to overcome what we call the "Seattle Chill" factor. I am looking forward to prayerfully putting forward some ideas like this in the future. One of the things that stood out to me that was shared at the conference was that we MUST get congregations to do more of the heavy lifting. Yes Lord! I so agree with this.
         Since we all had some free time Friday morning I decided we would take Benjo down to The Old Cannery before he was too old to enjoy the trains. I've posted on The Old Cannery before, it's one of my favorite places in the Seattle Area. A massive furniture store filled with trains and quirky history and taxidermied animals, what more could you want? A candy counter with homemade fudge you say? Well you're in luck they have that too. I wasn't sure how Daniel liked the idea but I think he liked the trains and he was totally checking out some of the pieces to see how they were made. The wheels were turning, maybe Nat has some new furniture in her future. Of course I fell in  love with some of the most expensive dining chairs they had. Thanks Old Cannery. . . . . .

 This was actually at a store called Lucky Home, Nat was trying to talk me into these bookshelves because she knows that I am dying for them to go on either side of my fireplace.

 the chairs I *wants. They look like darkwash denim.

 Isaac pulling the train whistle string

 Candy Counter!!!

 Happy Nephew

 I love how Natalie is smiling at me while Daniel is looking how it's made.

 talking moose

 piggies for grandma

 cuties

 Kissing the bear. ew.

 I love the retro view of the Puyallup fairgrounds

chasing the train down the tracks

 of course we viewed the falls like always

this is the only picture I took at the conference

 

January

we kicked off the year with an overnight visit from our Texas friends Cliff and his daughter Amie. They were in town to work with Amie's prosthetic doctor on a new helper.  

in early January we went furniture shopping. Our couch is shot and we could use dining chairs and a few large area rugs as well. We saw a few we liked but didn't make any decisions. Once Cliff told me there was a MASSIVE furntiture store (like mall size) near Dallas I thought perhaps I should hold off. =) Maybe they have free shipping?

I like these chairs but Jeremy hated them. They would look better with wood floors and we are getting those priced but for now a cool rug will have to do.

Blake in one of his favorite spots. . .at Dad's computer. While we are still dealing with much whining and contrariness at home I was pleased to get a personal communication from his substitute teacher, who subbed for a few weeks while his teacher recovered from minor surgery, that he had remained focused and steady throughout the two weeks, dropping what he was doing to help her organize or hand out assignments. I was thrilled that this update indicates there is some maturity beginning in my little boy. His basketball season began this month and he is having a blast.

 I found this wonderful lady is North Carolina that raises whippets. She makes these fleece coats for them and I just HAD to get one for each puppy. Regular dog coats don't always cinch tight enough around their skinny frames. Also I've been working at least a little on Jessie's leash training. We are behind in her socializing and behavior practice. It's a good thing she is such a sweetie I don't really see any big issues that will need correcting.

as I mentioned on Facebook, Trinity has been having fun chalking Isaac's hair when he gets out of the bath. She has had a real upswing of her anxiety this week so school and bedtime have been a real struggle. I am eager for her ADHD testing to give me better direction on how to meet her needs and to help us figure out the chicken/egg problem of anxiety or ADD being the main culprit.
I booked two trips for the spring, one to see my friend Laura in Whitefish, MT and one to see the Donathons in Dallas.

 In CC we have finished pennywhistle and have moved on to art. Last week we made cast molds (see starfish) Isaac really got into that one. The week before we took playdough and made layers then shoved a straw into it to get "core" samples. He loved that too!

Just a playdate. We didn't get very many in in January but we jumped when we had the chance. I take them to a playland and they have more fun with the mega mirror in the bathroom.

Trinity had a fabric belt on her pants that was bugging her so she took it off and tied it rambo style around her head. Wore it that way the rest of the afternoon even at choir. I love her sense of style. lol

You get some awesome rainbows over the valley in the winter/spring. This one was absolutely brilliant, the picture does NOT do it justice.

ahhhhh my blissful view. and my orange bucket. . .

Here is one of Isaac's January presentations
Wow I really can't believe that the first month of the year is already over. I'm realizing that we do better with school on the days that aren't fragmented with other places to be but that seems next to impossible these days. I need to find a better balance of time to get work done and that means more preparation and planning. I have realized that Trinity is capable of more schoolwork than I am giving her but adding things like piano lessons or foreign language seem a little bit much at the same time. So I will need to take some time to pray and think about how I might expand her schoolwork. Honestly, it could be as simple as more reading on the subject matter covered in CC. I think Isaac would like more science experiments.

This is one of Trinity's presentations. I was very proud of her for presenting on her anxiety. The fact she felt comfortable to share about it tells me she is trusting and bonding with the kids in her class. Also some affirmation is that we have been able to gather around a few families in the CC community that are in need and make a real difference for them. This sort of loving support is an extension of the church's duty and to see the giving nature of our group really blessed me.
It's funny I've been working on this post for a few days and I feel like I simply can't remember more specifics from the month. Sheesh. Oh! I did get to Star Wars and on the last day of the month I went to the Matt Maher concert with some friends. I knew about all of his worship stuff but I didn't know he writes all the time with David Crowder (jeally) and he can play some mean southern rock. I wasn't expecting that side of him but I liked it so I might have to download a few of those.
an my Nana fell and broker her ankle mom is flying out in a couple of days to care for her. so that happened. =(