reyes-chow :: FAITH

Youth Group, Preaching and Dopplr

Last night was the launching of MBCC's new youth group.  We have a five 5th-6th graders and figured it was time.   As I dropped my eldest child off, I told her that I was more excited than her and maybe I should go too.  With the rolling of her eyes and poke on the shoulder she squealed, "Daaaaaaaad, noooooooo, you can't come to youth group!"  And then she smiled.  She was excited.

It seems that it was not long ago that I was on the other end of this tradition.  Parents dropping the kids off at youth group, trusting that these folks could do justice to God's spiritual claim on their lives.  What an amazing privilege and honor it is to help raise generation after generation in the faith.  Such a great time of movement for our family, MBCC and E.

And then there was the beginning of Advent.  I am not preaching until the 23rd with other folks from MBCC helping the community get into the Word.  Yesterday was our Worship Arts Coordinator, Tiffany Flaming, next week Intern, Nick Larson is on and then on the 16th, Parish Associate, Leslie Veen.  We do a pretty good job at modeling a diversity of voices here at MBCC and I am only in the "pulpit" about 30-34 times a year.  I must admit though that I love and yearn for opportunities to help guide the a group of folks in the engagement of the Word.  I don't think I am the only one that can/should be there, but I do love it.  Advent this year at MBCC has brought about a new level of activity as well: weekly Advent art group, Advent meditation group and this great banner and wreath (below) created by our other intern Abigail King Kaiser.  What a privilege it is to be in ministry with these folks!

And last but not least, if you are looking for yet more things to join in on, Rohit Bhargava, social networking expert and new dad, has started a pretty cool Facebook Group, Bloggers Who Like to get Beta Testing Invites, where you can get in on some of the newer beta sites.  I have received a couple of invites and am intrigued by www.dopplr.com especially with the whole moderator possibility looming in the future.  If you want a dopplr invite invite just leave a comment with your eMail and I'll send one your way.

And now for the Advent photos:

Blues in the Night at the Post Street Theater

This past week Robin and I were able to attend one of the preview shows for Blues in the Night now showing at the Post Street Theater.  My cuz works for the theater but that has no bearing on my thoughts about the show.

If I had stars to give it would get 4.5 out of five!

FROM THE POST STREET THEATER
Presented by Eugene P. Stichman, Steven M. Hayes and Arline Cone, BLUES IN THE
NIGHT focuses on the relationships between three delicious females and one lonely guy,
their interweaving stories told through the music of Benny Goodman, Bessie Smith, Duke
Ellington and other blues and jazz legends of the 1920s and 30s. The Broadway production
opened on June 2, 1982 at the Rialto Theatre and was nominated for the Tony Award for
Best Musical. The show then moved to London where it ran for nearly a year and was
nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Musical of the Year. Woods also received an
Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Performance of the Year by an Actress in a
Musical.

We probably should have read this before taking our eldest daughter and a friend, but I think most of the innuendo went right over their heads.  Still it was quite an evening.

A few random thoughts . . .

• I love going to shows that have diverse audiences.  There was definitely a different audience from the last show we went to the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - the Adult Version and Blues in the Night.  One crowd was not better then the other, just different.
• I tell you, if you want to be in this show, you better be able to bring it because it is all about the voices.  The three female leads were pretty solid, with my personal favorite being "The Girl with a Date", Paulette Ivory.  While "The Lady from the Road," Carol Woods was clearly given the show-stopper number with Wasted Life Blues - and she sang the heck out of that song - I felt like Ivory was holding back and could have let loose if given the chance.  "The Woman of the World" played by the sophisticated Freda Payne was also very good.  For a preview show, you could tell that all three women were top-notch.  A few timing things with the band, but they all could REALLY sing!
• And then there was "The Man in the Saloon" played by Maurice Hines.  While he was an adequate singer and played the part well, through the first half, I just felt like he was just there to provide some male presence off of which the blues could be reflected.  Then he busted out the tap with Baby Doll and really did make it all worth it.
• Overall, the show was very good and we enjoyed it immensely.  If you get a chance try to check it out.

The artist within me ;-)

As we are purging getting ready for a move, I discovered these paintings I did a few years back at a conference I attended.  The conference was for a bunch of urban pastors and we were FORCED to engage is some different spiritual practices.  This is what came out of our time to paint.  I think I was trying too hard, but oh well.

Living in the Gray

Shades of Brown

I HEART Stuff

Brain Candy for the Soul: Episode 7

EPISODE VII - What the?!?!?!?  Yes, pop culture filtered by yours truly.  A waste of time?  The pulse of contemporary culture? Nope, just weekly rant and reflection about the sites and sounds that have stimulated my brain for good or bad, and now regurgitated for your reading pleasure.

This week, My TOP FIVE CHEESY PARENT SONGS

Just the Two of Us - Will Smith [YOUTUBE]
Even though it is about a boy, my girls love this one as we change the words.  The lyrics of this song are pretty good, meaningful, etc.  Take a listen, see what you think and try to name all the father/son combos.

Beautiful - Christina Aguilera [YOUTUBE]
Okay, cheese factor come in hard here, but you have to admit Xtina can SANG!  This video is a live version which shows her chops.  The video is totally obvious, but good anyway.

Butterfly Kisses - Bob Carlisle [YOUTUBE]
CHEESE ALERT!  CHEESE ALERT! So sue me, as a dad of three girls, I don't care.  And while there are some stereotypical female traits portrayed here, my girls do give butterfly kisses . . . and wet willies!

Sadie - The Spinners [YOUTUBE]
Not that my mom was Sadie, but there is an element of what she went through to raise this knucklehead.

Child  of  Mine - Carole King  [YOUTUBE]
An all around great song.  Balance for the above mentioned Butterfly Kisses.  Cool video for you artsy-fartsy types.

MYSTERY LINK // Click at Your Own Risk
No words to influence your thoughts on this weekly link. Might be very cool or very scary, you make the call!   [CLICK HERE]

Jessica Hagedorn's "Fe in the Desert" World Premier

Let me first acknowledge that it is kind of freaking me out that my MOTHER has been a blogging maniac the past few days AND blogged about this before I did.  *gasp*  In any case, I will get up off the floor and offer my own on offering. 

Thanks to Michele B., Mom, Joel, Beadle and I were treated to the world premier showing of  Jessica Hagedorn's play "Fe in the Desert" now playing the Intersection for the Arts.

Some quick thoughts . . .

• Intersection for the Arts is just one more reason to love San Francisco - like I needed more - as the breadth of creative offerings is truly amazing and moving.
• Jessica Hagedorn is awesome.  Her classic Dogeaters is a powerful story and her depth, wit and honesty continues to shine through. 
• Fe in the Desert, was pretty fun . . . thought it got a little disjointed towards the end, like there were too many things to tie together.
• The actors were very good for local theater, never felt like there was a rook among them.

The best part of the evening was the "Vibe"

• family and friends gathered for an artsy evening our to support a good cause;
• a play that was not PC but evidence of the blessings of the complexities of humanity: culture, economics, etc.
• the people who were in the audience were eclectic, artsy, funky, and just so SF . . . LOOOOOOOVE it!

Stoopad in the morning

www.stoopad.com is quickly becoming one of my favorite blogs to read at the beginning of the morning.  Who doesn't need a good quickie giggle to start the day?!?!?

Is the "New Guy" comic a metaphor for the church or what?!?!?!?

Totally worth a place on your reader list.

Oakland Art

Per a previous post on wanting to be artsy, here is one that I took last Saturday at the Barack Obama Rally in Oakland.  This is a sculpture located in the middle of the City Center.

Distracted by Bright Shiny Things

I have always been a fan of the artsy photographer.  I have always tried to be one, but never with much success.  I think "The Eye" is one of those amazing gifts that God has given to some to be used so the rest of us can really see the awesome images of God.  Two places that I have founds this to be true are, one the group photography site, www.jpgmag.com and a photographer in our congregation who goes by the name "balengong" - and I have no idea what it means . . . but he is gooooooooood!

Picture #1 // Anyone who can make M&M's artsy deserves a looksie [see more pics]
Picture #2 // Head on over to www.jpgmag.com where you can see some cool collections and help pic photos for the print edition.  My favorite theme right now it "URBAN" and this one is by Stormy Sleep, probably not her real name ;-)

Ryan Post Plug

Ryan Post [MySpace] [Website]
All of us get notes on MySpace or some such other Social Network and most of the time we just ignore them.  This AM I got this one from Ryan Post via the Emergent Church Group and decided to click on over.  Clearly a stock note to folks, but authentic enough to get me to click over to his site and listen.  You know what, good stuff and good enough for me to recommend that you go over and take a listen.  Don't know the guy from Adam, but his music sounds great.  I liked the style and content that clearly has a message but is not over the top cheesy 80's "Jesus is my boyfriend" kind of stuff*.  Very much a Jack Johnson or Jon Mayer kind of sound.  He also donates a portion of his sales to School of Urban Missions in New Orleans (a school that served as one of the major hubs of the Katrina relief effort).  Click on over and show him some love.

* I apologize if I offended anyone, I like swayed with MWS and Friends are Friends Forever like everyone else ;-)

Art Installation on Forgiveness

This Sunday as part of our Lenten Series, we explored Forgiveness [pdf].  One of the things we have been doing as of late is trying to incorporate more arts.  Part I was the hiring of Worship Arts Coordinator, Tiffany Flaming. In just a short time she has rallied some folks and voila, out first arts installation.  The install's main elements were "The Cup" where we bring our confessions and the Basin, where we remember that Jesus served and forgave all.  After the sermon we each dropped written confessions into the cups.  MBCC is generally pretty good about being open to new experiences and once again folks were open to experiencing God in various ways and with different senses.  Here is one reflection by the main artist, Katherine.