Monthly Archives: July 2010

Church from the Other Side

Posted on
25

The Chapel has a weekly newsletter. Last week I wrote an article for it. And I wanted to share it with my blog family, just ’cause I know y’all would get the meaning behind my words:

“Church from the Other Side”

The room looks different when standing on the “stage.” (I don’t like that word, because nobody is performing on Sundays, but there’s no better word for it. Except platform. Let’s go with platform.)

The room looks different when standing on the platform. There are beautiful abstract paintings that line the back wall of the loft. Have you noticed them? And the room is simultaneously brighter and darker when on that platform. Brighter from all those “stage lights” (there’s that word again) and darker from how everything dims and fades into the background because of those lights.

Every so often I have the opportunity to stand on that platform and face the room. Despite the wash of light that hazes over, I can still see your faces. I can see old and new friends. Familiar faces. Faces that have quickly and effortlessly become my family of faith. I get to see you smile as you laugh at the latest “Randy Travis” appearance. I get to see you wipe tears falling from those “Good Life” moments. I get to see you close your eyes or raise your hands or watch the screen as we sing songs together. I get to see you slowly file through the line at communion, receiving grace soaked bread and juice. Then I get to see you head to the prayer chapel in the back corner and kneel before that mosaic cross, hands folded and head bowed. And I get to see you stand up, unprovoked, and sing “You Hold Me Now” with all your heart. And I get to pull that tiny headphone out of one ear and listen – I ignore my own voice, shut out the rest of the band, and I get to hear you sing. I get to hear you lift your heart and voice to Heaven.

And, you may think that we’re up there on that platform helping you meet with God, but at the end of the day, it’s you – my beloved church family – that helps me meet with God.

Thank you for letting me, in all my faith’s failings, do church from the other side,
~ Mandy Thompson
Director of Congregational Services
and Girl Behind the Guitar

What would you do with a day?

Posted on
8

The alarm clock screams you out of a conversation with your best friend about Bill Gates and how if he didn’t have to go to College to become this successful, then why did you? Especially since you’re not using your degree in your current job and Bill gets a yacht but you can’t even afford a RC boat for your kid. And then, in half wakefulness, you wonder just how much your dreams reflect your subconscious, because … well … you don’t have a kid who wants a boat.

You slam the clock into silence while it blinks 8:00am. Blinking back at it: “Why 8am? You’re late for work!” The panic hits before you remember that you’ve been given the day off.

But… There’s an alarm, but there’s no work to wake up to. This is prime sleep-in territory right here, and your sinister alter-ego must’ve anticipated the torture you’d experience in this very moment. There’s no other explanation for that alarm. Your head returns to its warm and welcoming indentation in the pillow.

You close your eyes and Bill Gates is standing in front of you, explaining that there’s just no room in his entourage for a person with a Physical Education degree. Your counterpoint rests on the fact that 85% of today’s college grads do not use their degrees in their career fields. He rolls his bazillion-dollar eyes. You can feel the vessels in your neck expand and tighten with your blood pressure. And your heart is pounding in your ears – except it’s a loud buzzing pounding that sounds a lot like….

THAT STUPID ALARM CLOCK AGAIN.

This time you’re full of frustration. That’s it. You throw back the covers and try clear your mind and it comes to you.

You’re staring at a blank-slate of a day. Nothing to do but enjoy the fact that you have nothing to do. And sleeping ’til 8am is late enough. You planned to get out and do something with the day.

So, this is what you do: [finish the story in a comment]

Who the heck is James Joyce?! and what does he have to do with Cory Doctorow?

Posted on
25

So, Mari had this fun post up about how she had her writing analyzed to find out who she wrote like. So I did the same thing and it told me I write like James Joyce. Wiki said he was Irish. Themodernworld.com said: “Like a force of nature, Joyce’s writing can be demanding, unrepentant, and merciless – but at the same time beautiful, mysterious, and compelling.” Yikes. This guy sounded interesting, in a bad way – this slightly famous writer person from way back in the day who was generously compared to Shakespeare – so I looked up some of his stuff and he has comma issues. Surprise surprise.

Anyway, something came over me, something skeptical and sneaky – so the next day I re-analyzed the same text. And it said I write like Cory Doctorow. Clueless yet again, but google saved the day. Canadian blogger journalist writer man. Blogger. That’s more like it. I look up some Cory Doctorow quotes for fun: ”Abnormal is so common, it’s practically normal.” And then there’s this one: “Novels for me are how I find out what’s going on in my own head. And so that’s a really useful and indeed critical thing to do when you do as many of these other things as I do.”

I like this guy. And maybe the other guy, too; because we all know I have comma issues. Or something like that.

So…. You know you wanna. Take a few posts or emails or whatever – paste them in the box and tell us who you write like.