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Well the Yarn Olympics are over and they have tired me out

I took the challenge to cut my works in project in half by finishing 3 of the 6. i succeded, but only by staying up until 3am.
Couple that with a German exam on Tuesday and you have  a busy Deb.
Don’t expect to see a post from me till Wednesday

i’m exhausted from the knitting olympics, and am being slow to respond. At to that a Chapter Exam for German, and you know I’m busy. Expect the next update around the middle of the week.

The ride down to Portland was uneventful, if delayed.  I stayed at the Portland Hawthorne Hostel overnight and took a bus over to St Peters and Paul Church, the host for this gathering.

I came through regsitration and unfortunatly ran into a small bug. Though I was on scholarship. they registration desk didnt have my information. They wrote down my name and let me join  in  I assured them I would check in with Karen and get it straightened out.

Folks were gathered in the fellowship hall, a nice spread of bagels, coffee and virgin mimosas were provided. I got a cup of coffee, half a banana and had a seat agains the wall where I could stow my backpack out of the way.   I’ll admit I felt a little intimidated at this point. I  smiled and introduced myself around the table. 

And it was good.

Resoundingly everyone I met over this weekend was friendly.  A wide variety of clergy and laymen, all interested in learning more about the Emergent Church. Conversations before it began and at lunch mirrored it as well. Folks were interested in digging in and talking about this and talking about their experiences and how this all applies to them. 

As I sat with coffee I spied a familiar face,  Ray from COTA had arrived. I gave him a hug and asked if Karen was around. With his help the issue with my registration was resolved. It really was great having someone I knew there, though there was the drawback of  the introduction. You see it would unfold like this.

"Hi I’m so and so from Wherever"
"I’m Deb from  Seattle"
"Oh are you with Church of the Apostles (COTA) "
"No, I’m a free agent

Since COTA was the Grand Poobah organization at the event it was assumed that since I also came from Seattle I was part of that group.
—

We opened the learning party with a prayer, and then introductions. From there it was story time.  Karen read to us from  <A href="http://www.mit.edu/people/adorai/seuss/seussboy.html"> Oh The Places You’ll Go. </A>   
I particularly liked the bit about :
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you’re too smart to go down any not-so-good street

It was a metaphore for the journey we were taking down the path of information.   There was a short activity with  roadsigns that got us up out of our seats again, talking to others. :

Bascially, around there room there were a number of roadsigns , each corresponding to where we felt we were at in regards to church.   Below the road signs there were little slips of paper with a corresponding  word. It might be a speed limit sign with a corresponding  slip of "GO!".
a  sign showing a winding road with a slip "Slow!"  , a Stop sign with a "Stop" tag. I didnt see what the forth one was, but my guess is that it was a yield sign with "Yeild"

After we picked our sign we were to talk to 3-4 others with the same tag about what that meant to us.

My Choice was GO! because:
    I feel like all of this that I am learning is very exciting and wouldnt it be neat if we all looked forward to a new direction and went!  Sure I’m sometimes to fast and miss the details, but the journey can be fun. I had a blast talking to two other goes before we had to return to our seats. Karen read to us a little more then we had our first  Church talk to us about their travels. It was Soul Cafe in Hood River.  Take a moment to check out their website , and get ready for my next entry which will  give my impressions of that presentation and the presentation on postmodernism.

I went back to COTA last Saturday. I thought I might also make it to another Church or two, but time got away from me.

I started at Icon Coffee with a cup of coffee. This used to be COTA’s Space at one time.  I went over right about 5, and felt immediatly like  I was turned around. You see, instead of having the seats face the front of the chapel, they now faced the back. People went around handing cards to friends, inquiring who did and did not have a card.  I sat next to a fellow knitter and pulled out my current project to work on until things got moving.

I was approaced by one of the DJs. Do you have a card? "No I don’t" He handed me one. "You are now in my group, green 1." Ok, does this mean I have to do anything? "You’ll see."

Service started as normal. Scripture reading, responsive call to worhsip, song. No passing of the peace or greeting your neighbor.  Tim spoke from the Mike and flashed a map of the neighborhood up on the screen.  As part of this weeks scripture and looking at the light and dark of the world and seeing where they meet. My group wandered up North in a small group of 7.

Being the new person in the small group felt fairly comfortable, everyone was kind and thoughtful about each others observations. We wandered up to the Rose Garden near the Woodland park zoo then turned around and returned.

Back at service we settled in and waited for everyone else to be back. The mic was open for commentary, as people stood up and spoke about what they saw and what they felt.
One member of my group spoke from her heart about the contrast between city life and the rose garden, in a very compelling way. I still have my notes for how the walk made me feel.

Then we rolled into communion, the offering and the announcements. A song, then the benediction. Communion was rolls being brought around and torn, and small cups of wine that we used to toast to life. Here I felt a little ackward. While I do not feel weird singing, praying or celebrating at another church taking communion is something I  typically leave for the home church. I didnt feel the communion was well enough explained, (we didnt know when to take the body) and that there wasnt much of an opt out option without making it ackward.

But the sermon. To send us out in the world, remind us of our mission and have us go do it right then. Amazing. And a testament to the group that was there, we had people return with speeches, poems and even pictures. A full multi media event.

Sadly, I didnt make it to the Vineyard or Quest.  From what I’ve heard of the Monkfish Abbey, I don’t think its within its nature that I might attend. And Mars Hill still intimidates me a touch.

We sat on the train idling in the station, 45 minutes after the train was supposed to have been on its way. Knitting needles flying the person next to me said "This is why I never take the train, its always late. How can they run it like this? I don’t see how they stay in business. Government Subsidies I answered **

We rolled into Portland an hour and a half late, but with no harm other then an extra inch knit on my project. Taking the train and staying at the hostel is what I refer to as Organic travel. This is travel  without travel agents, with basic arrangements made and then everything else thrown to the wind. It is arriving late or arriving early, it is sitting at midnight in the hostel living room on the public use computer while petting the house cat.

Organic travel is realizing the bar we wanted to go to was too crowded and that a new place must be found. Organic travel  means you can find yourself out  on the far East side of the City when the bus driver has given you the wrong directions.

Organic travel is a girls afternoon of burgers and fabric shopping. Organic travel is wanting to do it again, and knowing that while it may be great, it wont be exactly the same.

My Trip to Port Townsend last summer was independent and organic.
This weekends trip was organic.
I plan on doing many more organic trips in the next year.

**It’s more complicated then that, but to Quote the Wikipedia entry

Nominally, Amtrak is an independent for-profit corporation, but all of its preferred stock is owned by the federal government. The members of Amtrak’s board of directors are appointed by the President of the United States, and are subject to confirmation by the United States Senate. Some common stock is held by the private railroads that transferred their passenger service to Amtrak in 1971. Though Amtrak stock does not pay dividends and is not routinely traded, a small number of private investors have purchased Amtrak stock from its original owners.

I’m really annoyed. I had this entry ready and posted last night and somehow Its gone. So I’m trying to reconstruct what was written last night.

I’m back from Portland and ready to talk about the experience. This includes the COTA reseach services I went to  and  my overall impression of the weekend.  This will take more then a post or two spread over the next week or so.  I do have something to say in regards to the travel itself, but that will reside over at a different blog  So on to the Summary.

The Reasoning

Why are you interested in the emerging church. This was the unasked question flitting through my mind. Why am I interested in the Emerging Church.
1. Its different. It is people standing up and saying "Could this be worship? Can you worship in that way? Lets give it a try"
2. It might be more relevant.  If you move Church out of a 90 minute period on Sunday morning it into  other parts of your life.
3. Maybe it will appeal to a new generation. Had there been church like this in Chicago perhaps I might not have left the church for the time period between 1993 and 2005

I cant speak to the depths that these reasons go. They are just what I see on the surface today. Tomorrows surface may look different.   I dont think there is anything wrong with the traditional worship, but I also am finding beauty in what I am seeing around me in this emerging movement.

The Research
———–

The first service I went to at COTA was about a month ago. Aron joined me for company. We rode the #5 down and stopped at Lighthouse Roasters for a cup of coffee then wandered over at 10 to five. We  climbed the steps to the Abbey and opened the door.
I was immediatly struck by how little space there is between the entry and the chapel.
We hung our coats and found seats.

The chapel was filled with a mishmash of chairs and couches that reminded me fondly of Don’s Coffee Club in Chicago.  At the front of the chapel there were two curtained off areas. Between them, an alter with  a bowl  and around it very large plywood icons. Closer in to the chairs there was a smaller altar , a microphone and a whole section of musical intstruments off to the left  At the back of the room behind the chairs was a DJ table.

Aron and I sat, not to near the front, not too near the back, We were greeted by a number of people who inquired if we were new, where we were from etc.
Service began with a song, projected onto the screen  with a large projector. A welcoming prayer, the call to worship,  passing the peace.
The bible reading, the sermon.

The bible reading was the same I would read at BUCC the next night, and showed me that they were using the common lectionary. After the sermon was open spaces, a chance to offer a prayer, a concern or just to meditate. Candels were lit, people kneeled before the icons and behind the sheets offering their prayers as they felt appropraite.
Communion, the offering, The announcements, and then the benediction.

All in all a fairly  regular church service save some music choices and Open Spaces.
It almost was too normal. I expected it to be wildly different as this church was at the forefront of the Emerging Movement. Perhaps the next service would be different.

I’m back from Portland, and  with lots to say.

While the event was led by  Church of the Apostles Two other emerging churches made appearences,  The Bridge and  Soul Cafe .

All three Churches had some similarities and differences, all three told their story in different ways with amazing clarity. I have  6 pages worth of notes scribbled to decipher and to talk about. A lot of this will be thinking out loud while I wrap my brain around the event.

It was good and I’m glad I had the opportunity to go, now the question is where to go from here.

Do you love bacon like I love Bacon?  Bacon serves so many roles in the kitchen, salty snack,  smokey flavoring, greasy protien.  Well now elevate bacon to an even more important role  your life.  Bacon Alarm Clock
After all why wake up to the smell of fresh coffee when you can wake up to the smell of fresh Bacon!

I feel like my little brain is going to burst.
I have this fantastic idea for something I want to do. I mentioned it to Pastor Dan in the context of a Church related thing, but as I think about it now, I think that it  will be bigger then that.  I’m going to sit down with pen and paper and sketch out the idea more in depth, then source out some assistance, and then maybe, just maybe bring an event to life.

Cruise director hat on!