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I’ve had this song running through my mind lately. I’ve learned something about someone from my past and have been holding in my mind, mulling it over, sharing it with friends in digestable bites that are sometimes hard to chew.

When it comes down to it, I really do wish them well. I wish happiness and the best for those in my past and those in my present.  That doesnt mean that news of a friends new passions or a loves new fiance don’t cause me to reflect.  I look at the road behind me and in my mind I reflect on the map that I had planned for my life.  I planned on children, adopted and my own, I had planned a career, i had planned a partnership with first one, then a second partner. I wanted a house, and property. I wanted to garden, to dig into the dirt. I wanted a dog, and a housefull of cats. I planned for family and hoped for friends. I longed for a city I had never been, believing it to be my home.

Seattle is everything I thought it would be. Some major relationships failed, other major relationships have flourished. I am back up gaurdian for a delightful 13 year old. I have cats, but no canine companion. No picket fence to hold in my dreams. Friends have beceom family, and a place I called home is now a mystery to me.

My life is good, if different shaped then the one I had mapped out. I still have room to go, and I still have my failings. I did my time in the Computer industry and quit my career for something more fufilling. My garden is overgrown, and tomorrow I pay someone to mow it for me. I spend too much time on the internet , tending my garden of internet blogs, writing sites and maintaining net friendships.

When I look how different my life has turned out, it causes me to relfect on those who I’ve parted company with, those who made promises  , those who took vows.  If my life didnt turn out the way I expected, then how can I hold them responsible for their decisions when their path zigged when they thought it should have zagged?

Anyway, as I think about this I wish them well as they move on with life. Someday I will be please to look back  and savor our time together.

"I Wish You Well" Josie and the Pussycats
I wish you well
Couldn’t you tell
After all these years
I wish you well
And life in a world
That you’re dreaming of

__

You;d think this post would belong on my cooking blog, but no. This issue is not food related.

A recent marketing move has made me swear off all soda. Recently Coke  and Pepsi have both decided to  release 8 can "fridge packs" While it may seem like a convienent move for those who just dont want to drink that much soda I see it for the price raising measure.   Gradually the 8 can case will be priced what the 12 can case was  and  people just wont notice. After all, isnt 8 cans what comes in a case?

I remember when soda came in 24 can cases.  I’ve seen the price shift already In the past I’ve always been a shrewd shopper especially when it comes to grocery shopping. My mark of fame was being asked to leave Albertsons after taking advantage of their loss leader (5 12 can cases for $10) Typically I know that soda can be found for $2.50  per 12 can case, on sale.

With the 8 can case pricing is thrown out of wack. Checking Safeway.com in the Seattle area, I can see that:

Coca Cola Classica Fridge Pack Soda – 8-12 Fl. Oz = $3.33.  (96 ounces of soda)

Coca Cola Classic Soda In Fridge Pack – 12-12  Fl. Oz = 3.50  (144 ounces of soda)

Coca Cola Classic Soda – 2 Litre = 1.79  (66 ounces)

Coca Cola Classic Soda Contour Bottle – 1 Litre = 1.59 (33 ounces of soda)

Coca Cola Classic Soda – 20 Fl. Oz. = 1.29

Looking at these numbers I dont understand why someone would buy a 1 liter. and if you need a fair amount of soda, it appears that the case of 12 is a good deal, while the price remains low. The specials running at my safeway are why its 3.50 per 12 can case now.  I’ll have to wait until next week to see what the non special price.

Maybe it’s not marketings fault. Maybe it is the fault of the consumers who buy things like Ready Pac convienence vegetables. 3.50 for 5 ounces of chopped red and green pepper? Is convienence really worth that much to us?

And do we really forget so quickly that soda comes in 12 can cases for around 3-3.50?

So even though I’m back from the learning party and have posted my findings so far, doesnt mean I’m done with reaseach.
I had hoped to go to The Church Has Left The Building but the timing isnt right, and the money isnt there right now. (With prices of $175 its not cheap.)
But I’m still planning to go to other services and see what  they are like.  For example, Seattle Metro Church does a Film night and a bible study that both look interesting.

Quest in Magnolia, is sitll on my list, and Ill likely be making them a priority on a Sunday evening. Vineyard in the U district  is also on my list.  I’ve also come to the understanding that Quest that I read about in Emerging Churches is not that Quest in Seattle, its this one

Two recent additions to my list , beyond the Seattle Metro Church, are The Center for Spiritual Living and  University UCC’s Taize style worship .

Its interesting, I was reading the link at the the Second Quest Seattle’s site   and it says

If you are looking for a "church" to attend,
don’t bother with Quest.  However, if you are serious about living your
life and making some space to connect with a few others nudging them in a
God-ward direction then you may want to investigate further.

And I understand what they mean. I’m not looking for a church to attend to. I have that in Broadview.  I also have a fantastic community that I am part of up there, but I also think there is room in my life for more involvement and more community. There is room for  a study group or a theology pub, or who knows what. 

In Emerging Churches the ring model was mentioned, where instead of trying to fit everyone in one big rubber band ring of community that streatches and streatches, you have smaller rings where people grab hold of one ring then go on to form another ring for their other hand, reporting back to the first ring with the good news of the community. And within that other ring you would have others doing the same thing. They would grab hold  and also form their own ring, thus propegating the community in a different fashion.

There was a great article  in the Seattle Times yesterday  about a  College student in Chicago who ebayed his soul off for $500. He stated that for every $10 of the winning bid he would attend a church service.  (There is a good article <A href="http://www.off-the-map.org/idealab/articles/wsj_ebay_atheist.html"> Here </A> if you are interested.
A publisher won and instead asked that he attend 10-15 services and write about them.
The student has a blog here http://ebayatheist.blogspot.com/
More information is found at http://off-the-map.org  Where the student has a second more official blog. http://www.off-the-map.org/atheist/

So far he has visited
Old St. Patrick’s Church
Park Community Church 
Parkview Christian Church 
Salem Baptist Church
Willow Creek Community Church  (I’m really curious what he has to say about Willow Creek.)

I’m fascinated by this.  An actual honest review given to the Church. For some reason, it strikes me that individual churches likely dont get a lot of honest critisism.  After all, do people tell their pastor "Sorry it sucked today, try to improve next week?" People do vote with their feet, but what feedback does that provide other then "something isnt working".

This is why I like visiting other services with Aron. He’s got a more academic and better researched background then I have and he’s always willing to share his full opinion with me.  It’s always nice to go to these services with someone as well, that way you dont stick out like  sore thumb.

There was a great article  in the Seattle Times yesterday  about a  College student in Chicago who ebayed his soul off for $500. He stated that for every $10 of the winning bid he would attend a church service.  (There is a good article <A href="http://www.off-the-map.org/idealab/articles/wsj_ebay_atheist.html"> Here </A> if you are interested.
A publisher won and instead asked that he attend 10-15 services and write about them.
The student has a blog here http://ebayatheist.blogspot.com/
More information is found at http://off-the-map.org  Where the student has a second more official blog. http://www.off-the-map.org/atheist/

So far he has visited
Old St. Patrick’s Church
Park Community Church 
Parkview Christian Church 
Salem Baptist Church
Willow Creek Community Church  (I’m really curious what he has to say about Willow Creek.)

I’m fascinated by this.  An actual honest review given to the Church. For some reason, it strikes me that individual churches likely dont get a lot of honest critisism.  After all, do people tell their pastor "Sorry it sucked today, try to improve next week?" People do vote with their feet, but what feedback does that provide other then "something isnt working".

This is why I like visiting other services with Aron. He’s got a more academic and better researched background then I have and he’s always willing to share his full opinion with me.  It’s always nice to go to these services with someone as well, that way you dont stick out like  sore thumb.

(Read on …)

Now that the weekend is over, and has been for about a month, the question is, What does it mean for me? Why am I interested in the Emerging Church and what now that the learning party is over?

There is no perfect solution.

I don’t think anything at the learning party will translate over particularly well to Broadview, but I do think that bits of it will translate over perfectly for my life.  I think that I need to find and form my own intentional not residential community. I think that this will include involvement at Broadview, occasionally COTA, and possibly even other UCC churches in the area. It will involve a closer study of the Gospel and looking at my life and figuing out how to live in a  more consistant Christian manner.

No I’m not giving up my family. I’m just examining my life as a whole and asking the trite question of What Would Jesus do? He didnt go hide away in an expensive restricted religious community. He lived amoung the people and made it his mission to care for them.

Life as a mission. My future as a mission. I’m not talking about selling Amway, I’m talking about fellowship with those around me no matter what their religious beliefs, or denomonational leanings. I’m talking about taking the best of the religious landscape around me and using it to form my own "church life".

And that for me, is Emergent.

During the Learning Party, I was discussing technology with one of the other attendees and we were musing on how  sometimes adding technology can only add more problem. Suffice it to say, as no presentation is perfect there were a few small slide show problems with the presentation.

While I do believe in technology (as an early adopter, mac user, pda user and ipod owner) It does have its downfalls. Having music projected on a screen is great, but how do you know when to sing and what to sing, let alone what key?

As we add technology into worship I think its important to analyz it’s use and to make sure  that it works and works well, that everyone who will be using it is trained, and that we have a back up plan when it doesnt work.

The next section was about Emerging Churches in General, COTA, and then  Living in an Intentional Community.

The COTA and Emergent Church sections mingled and overflowed into each other so I’ll talk about them together.

We went more in depth into what the Emerging Church was and what it wasnt. Karen shared two amusing immages. One from here  and the other is  here . (On the second one read the whole post, its amusing.)  We talked about  this being a crisis time for the church and that it was also a time of great opportunity.  The Emerging Church is about Theology, not the coffee, not just theology for the academic, but theology as action.

COTA wants to be a P-Patch Church. Meaning they want to nurture and grow within their community. They dont want to be a mega church, they want to be the best church for their neighborhood, serving the neighborhood as it needs. This includes having the abbey available as an Arts center and running different music shows their regularly.

Monkfish Abbey was also discussed because the Pastor of that group is trying to do the same thing , only for her block.

The importance of fitting into your setting was mentioned and Karen discussed the goth service they would be doing.  It’s what the neighborhood wants, and it is what has meaning for her congregation.

The big highlights I wrote here are "Beliefs should feed the practice" and "Fresh Expressions of Church"

They discussed the recent service I attended  (discussed here in part two ) and discussed how they felt the service itself was more meaningful. They even played a bit from the service. Specifically it was Liz from the group I was with, speaking about moving from the Rose Garden back into the street. . (They said  "We didnt tell Liz we taped this, so shhhh" That made me feel rather uncomfortable)

—-

Then Ray got up to speek. He’s been living in an intentional community and discussed how they had decided to form a small household and basically form a tight religious community, with discussion, prayer and fellowship. While they started out strong,  with dinners, and fasting and regular meetings, now things have dwindled and they are looking for a way to strenghen the intentional bit in the community.

I spoke to Ray while we were on break, and expressed to him an understanding. Even though I’ve lived in my household happily for 5 years, I must say some of our intentional ideas, just dont play out. I admire them for trying and wish them luck in the next phase.

And for me it raised another question. What would a non residential intentional community look like?  (More on this in the final part, part 7)

We ended with a worship service and the day of learning was done Or was it really done? Perhaps it is just that the learning has just begun.

I found this through  Johnny Bakers website, and though tI would share with you. Its a cartoon series showing Jesus 40 days in the Desert.

"For my thirtieth birthday, I gave myself some time away from it all."

I used to consider myself a writer. As late as 5 or 6 years ago I was contemplating a career in publishing. To look at my writing today, you would never know. I used to have good ideas, good grammar and even decent spelling. Now I have good ideas, horrible grammar and even worse spelling. What’s changed?

The Internet.

I bring this up because I was listening to a show on Literacy and Technology on KUOW earlier in the week.
I’ve often lamented the fact that the internet has killed my writing skills. Since I’ve become active on the internet my writing has become more casual, faster and less polished. Rewrite? Reread? what’s that?

On the other hand, shorthand on a text messaging devices drives me nuts. No matter the size on my cell phone screen or the size of the chat window, I’d really rather write it all out even if i misspell the word, then use a shorthand version. But is net speak really just shorthand or is it a new language in the making? I wonder this more and more as my 13 year old begins to use net speak out loud. ("OMG")

Part of it is writing to your audience and remembering who your audience is. For example, on LJ my audience is my friends. Here my audience is the general public. When I write a letter at work it is my coworkers, my boss or even my clients. Each of those audiences calls for a different style and voice of writing some more formal some less formal. that’s not to say that I couldn’t use a more formal voice here or on LJ, but its not what the forum is for.

I experienced this a couple of years ago with a local church Pastor. My email to the pastor yielded the most netspeak email I had ever seen. I exchanged a few emails with the person but in the end just gave up because I couldn’t tell how serious the individual was. A later interaction with them was the same. Ultimately I would say it was what kept me away from the organization.

Yet as one caller on the show said "If you can’t understand it, It’s not meant for you." Perhaps the language is used in that manner to be exclusive not inclusive?

Has the internet affected your writing at all? Or has your cell phone?