Can you tell I’m not in bloggy mode?

I could share stuff.  Or not.  I don’t need a “button” to BLOG WITHOUT OBLIGATION.

I obviously am not pressuring myself!! 🙂

Life races on: I was sick for the Easter weekend.  (We colored our eggs on the Tuesday AFTER Easter)  I skipped the Resurrection Cookies… We had already started reading Benjamin’s Box, so we continued that.  And they had been listening to The Lamb on CD… so they were prepped whether I did much about it or not.  Our family Lent project fell through… completely… I kept shortening it, and then I got sick.  Next year.  Thanks to the grandparents for hiding candy filled easter eggs through their house.

We are planning a district (that means all the Nazarene churches in the area) service this week.  every time there is a 5th Sunday in a month, the churches host everyone else and do a “sing”.  It is Souljourn’s first time.  They just have never asked us before.  And we are theming it on prayer of sorts… about 20 minutes of singing, Scripture, and a Congregational Responsive reading of Psalm 107… then on to the fun stuff!!

I think we will have 2 each of about 15 stations for people to pray at

• Intercession for the World
• Intercession for the Persecuted Church
• Intercession for Alaska
• Intercession for Anchorage
• Intercession for each other’s burdens
• Our version of a wailing wall, for private prayers to God
• Station for releasing of burdens
• Station for confessing sins (this involves a sin shredder)
• Station for reading God’s love letters and writing one back to Him
• Station for a guided Lectio Divina / meditation on Psalm 23:1
• Stations for both our perspective on life and our purpose… not sure if those two will come together
• Graffiti Wall of Praise with paints, markers, etc…
• Thank You Scroll of Today’s gifts… paper on roll… where you can walk by and list all the gifts you can think of that God has given us today.

Each place will have a different something to do, Scriptures to meditate on and respond to, and most something to ‘leave your mark’ – highlighting the streets prayed for, thumb tacks on countries prayed for, sticky notes on walls, piles of shredded sin unable to be revisited, a pile of burdens dropped…

I am excited.  This is the first that many of these people will have seen of our church.  We are a bit of a mystery to them.  “MJ’s church”… “MJ’s thing”… dark sheets, candles and crosses…  I am praying that they will ENTER in… especially to the intercession.  Our goal is to provide a place and a starting point and an inspiration to INTERCEDE for our city, nation, world…

Ah.  that feels better.  I have more work to do on this, so I had better continue.

This is Jesus in His glory…

King of Heaven, dying for me… such love is this… for ME.

Follow the link to watch “See His Love” by Tim Hughes… I can’t get the video uploaded today.  Just not working for me.

Passover was great tonight.  We added a Hebrew song tonight.  It was great.  Thaddeus played lots of bass notes the whole time I played and everyone sang with GREAT gusto… which was awesome… a little unexpected and had us laughing a lot.  Maria thought I had a little too much wine, but it was just Thad’s addition of sound 🙂  Its fun to see the kids as their understanding of all the symbolism grows each year, and their ability / desire to sit and participate increases each year!! 🙂

Good to Better

Redirect. Redirect. Redirect.

Not yelling, smacking, handling rough.

It’s good.

Redirect. Redirect. Redirect.

Sit down and play with busy curious 10 month old who is into everything. Everything.

It’s better.

just a little outside of ourselves…

On Saturday we went and hung out at the bus stop and gave out home made choc chip cookies and coffee.  The reactions were mixed… but the majority… as in 90% probably… were into it and it was well received.  I mean, really, who doesn’t receive cookies and hot coffee on a cold windy day while you are waiting for the bus? 🙂

We had some good conversations, while my boys climbed the municipality trees they PROBABLY weren’t supposed to be climbing.  I don’t know what the rules are on those things. 🙂  We’ll do it again.  In fact we have seen our new homeless “will work for food” signed friend since then and have waved and brought him some dinner.

Tomorrow we will celebrate Passover at our house with those from our church that will show up.  Should be a good time.  Especially since we finally FINALLY painted our diningroom… grasscloth green.  I should put up pics, but they aren’t taken yet.  I want to get that second coat on and stick some pics on the wall.  Of course the reason Passover will be so great is cause we painted some walls.  Surely no one would have enjoyed their stay in our house without green walls.  They have been faking it the last two years, I am sure…

winter… or not… or maybe

I am so ready for winter to be over.  It doesn’t help that the weather keeps taunting us with the hope of spring… the warmth.  Just enough to tease, not enough for significant meltage.

last night it started snowing again.  The guys in our cell church were talking about getting their motorbikes out.  I didn’t hear that part of the conversation… I am so NOT in winter mode, I actually thought there must be a fire and I was watching the ashes… the boys looked at me with these blank looks on their faces… “it’s SNOW Renee”  OH!! 🙂

Our Palm Sunday service

I am excited about our service tonight. I look forward to worshiping and celebrating, and remembering the cross and my part in it. Here is our order of service:

• Be Glorified

Reading of Palm Sunday Scripture… entry of Jesus on a donkey into Jerusalem

• Ancient of Days

• King (adding a bridge – “hosanna to the highest“, then the regular bridge, “we will give Him glory” ) I think its a good call and not tacky or corny. 🙂

King continues to be played slowly while MJ reads a passage from the gospels… ” Light came into the world, the darkness did not accept the light… etc”

this next set will be done with the didgeridoo and piano.

• Grace Flows Down

• How Deep the Father’s Love (v 1 – 2 only)

• Grace Flows Down

then with the congas only, no musical instruments…

• O Sacred Head, Now Wounded (an ancient hymn that is a MUST for this time of year…one of my favorites.)

then we will ‘do’ the Tenebrae

for those who don’t want to follow the link… it is readings (we’ll have 4 readers) of the Last Supper (communion will be received at this point), betrayal and denials / trial / crucifixion … also 12 candles are lit that will be snuffed out one at a time at different points during the readings.

At the end there is silence and darkness (except our cross will still be lit). Then we will read together corporately the passage from Isaiah “surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…” and that is the end.

May we be reminded this weekend of our sin. It’s seriousness. It’s vileness. It’s consequences. And Jesus’ sacrifice and LOVE for us. For me.

I’m thankful for…

a dog that pees ALL OVER the ENTIRE baby room… ok she missed one of the 4 walls.  seriously.  Because… now I know all that laundry will be clean, the chair is clean, and the carpets… they get to be cleaned.  If I didn’t have a dog that peed randomly now and then, I would probably never clean my carpets.  SO because of a peeing dog, I get clean carpets.

really.  I am thankful.

AND my father-in-law is, I am SURE, thankful for this house that continues to surprise us in the most unpleasant of ways at the most inconvenient times… ) as in FLOODING – fast – basement… I get to go suck it up with the shop vac every 1/2 hour.  through the night… oh I hope not!)  Because now he gets to use that sump pump sitting in his garage that he bought on a super sale a long time ago and never used it for what he was going to use it for, so now, at 10pm at night, he gets to install it in our crawl space.  Well, I am thankful for his buying a sump pump on sale.  That is not one of those things I would think to pick up on a good clearance sale.  Shoes? maybe. Sump pump? not so much! 🙂

to be the church… tonight… or next month… or next year…

yeah, I realize we are the church no matter what state we are in and what we are “doing” or “being” blah blah blah…

Tonight… AGAIN… we prayed… and prayed… and listened… WHERE did it get us???!?! I am not frustrated or anything. Really. We talked about options. Going down to the bus station some time with sandwiches and coffee and just hanging out and talking. We talked about the ministries in town, and how we could join with them.

I talked about “long term” ministering… like a single mom that could use more than a sandwich and coffee and evening… maybe meals, and listening ears, and wheels when needed, and a babysitter and some men to wrestle with her boys.

I think I’m in whine mode. I don’t want to ‘organize’ it. Or be the point person or whatever. If that is what God hands me, fine. But I have no desire… and I am not sure God is asking this of me… to go seeking and make a bunch of phone calls and become… whatever. There are days I hardly have time to breathe. I feel so overwhelmed… when a life of balance seems so far-fetched and a dream for another time and another life. The thought of another ministry makes me want to cry. I am so open to anything God brings into my life. I can’t say I’m so open to running to seek it out. It seems like it would actually be incredibly irresponsible on my part… in regard to family, current ministries, etc. warning: if you didn’t think the previous paragraph was a whine… there is one coming up. Why doesn’t SOME ONE ELSE take it upon themselves to do something!!??!?!

I’m sure I know at least some of the answers and some good advice for myself. I think I’ll spend some time in prayer and song before bed…

Are you tired? Worn out?…Come to me…
Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.
Keep company with me
and you’ll learn
to live freely and lightly.”
(Matt. 11:28-30 MSG)

Oh I have so, so much to learn.  So much to let go of.

ok just kidding

but really… NOW here is the link… for real this time!! 🙂

great link

…in my opinion, of course 🙂

HT to Molly 

Obviously I am not having too much to say to cyber world and cyber friends lately…

I am not one to enter into huge theological debates… but I have been thinking about this quite a bit.  Especially since I lead worship in a church, and other places, and that used to be outside my box of where I thought I SHOULD be… until God told me otherwise and I had a choice to make.  Go with my first instinct, or follow God’ s leading into a ministry I was clearly annointed for and into which He was clearly leading.

Anyway.  I like this guy’s thoughts.  Kind of to the point.  Balanced.  (Sometimes, I think that is a code word for me for “walking the fence” 🙂 )