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Wine and Hymns

“Sing songs. Drink wine. Be joyful. In public.”

This is the unofficial motto for a special activity I have been organizing in Waco over the last several months. We call it, “Wine and Hymns” and it is a wonderful, simple, encouraging event.

It's really pretty simple: Church members and friends are invited to a local wine bar on a weeknight; I bring song books with familiar and singable hymns labeled by numbers; a gifted pianist friend brings an electronic keyboard. Everyone makes themselves comfortable at the wine bar, ordering the food or drink of their choice. When settled, we call out song numbers for the pianist to play while everyone sings. Throughout the evening there is lively music, fellowship, laughter, and sincere worship of God.

Here is a short list of what I love about Wine and Hymns:

1. We make music! The subtitle of our event is, “A Joyful Noise” and that is exactly what we make in our evening together. Unlike programmed congregational singing on Sunday mornings (which is also a very good thing!), the music at Wine and Hymns has spontaneity and playfulness, with the crowd calling out songs and our pianist experimenting on the keyboard. There is so much joy in our singing and it is all sent out in loving worship to the living God.  For me, this event is a great compliment to the liturgical worship of my Christian tradition.

2. We drink! This may not seem like a big deal to some people, but in Texas it is. Trust me.  Christian culture in the South, not to be confused with Christianity, asserts that churchy people should be total abstainers. Let’s be clear about this -- lots of Christians in Texas drink! But they see it as a sneaky thing they do when Jesus isn’t looking.  I don’t think that we should approach God this way. Hosting a worship event in a bar is my way to challenge habitual thinking in our community and offer alternate models for living the Christian life.

3.  We feel good! Worshipping God is a means of centering ourselves and finding joy. It should feel very good. Wine and Hymns is held in the evening at a cozy, inviting spot.  There is good food being served and we sit around tables or in comfy arm chairs with our friends. It is all so enjoyable even before the singing begins!  I think this feeling of well-being puts us in the heart of worship.

4.  We are in public!  I mean two things by this. First of all, I mean that we are being the church away from our building called “the church.”  Worshipping God at the wine bar challenges the idea that God lives in our chapel only, or that the Kingdom expectations on our lives should only apply in some locations. Intellectually, we know better but in daily living it become so easy to compartmentalize and limit God to the church house.  Wine and Hymns is a nice antidote.  Secondly, I mean that on these nights we are all out together socializing in an encouraging way rather than staying cooped up in our individual homes.  God desires us to be in community and wants us to bless each other. I think that happens best when we actually hang out together!

5. We spend money! The wine bar we use for Wine and Hymns is a local business in downtown Waco, an area that struggles to attract people on weeknights.  Bringing a large group of people who buy food and wine is a financial blessing to this establishment and adds life to our downtown area.  That is all kinds of good. Surely this is an example of being light and salt.

6.  We surprise people!  When we start singing our hymns, you should see the look on the faces of people who are at the wine bar but not there for our event.  It’s Texas, so folks are not openly aggressive toward Christians. But they certainly don’t expect to find a bunch of us singing in a bar (see #2 above).  I like surprising people in this way because it reminds me of the surprises I see God offering us all the time. God is unexpected, offering life, grace, and mercy at the must surprising times. It feels right to worship God in this way.

What do you think of “Wine and Hymns”? Would this work in your church? What would you do if you walked into a bar full of people singing hymns and drinking wine?

Yurt

I want to live in a yurt. There, I said it.

This is not the time to tell me that its impractical or uncomfortable. I don't want to hear it. I just want to have my yurt fantasy.

I want to live in a yurt with a nice porch. And a good internet connection. Something like this will do:



For candy houses this year, I made a candy yurt. My fantasy yurt would be best if it were, in fact, made of pretzels and had hershey kisses for solar arrays.

Candy Houses

One of my favorite activities at the holidays is making candy houses with my family.

We don't do classic gingerbread houses because, well, I'm too impatient to make gingerbread and construct the appropriate architecture. Instead, my husband makes cardboard house forms which we cover in candy.

Going to the store to purchase various kinds of candy is a great part of the fun of this activity. However, it is a little embarrassing to check out with a cart full of junk food!

Once home, we use icing to stick the candy (and cookies, and pretzels, etc!) to the cardboard.

Here are pictures of our process and this year's houses....

















And here are our finished houses:

Happy New Year * 2011

This is my New Year’s prayer, stolen from the words of Thomas Merton.

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going, I do not see the road ahead of me, I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore, I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

Amen

Post Script

Apropos of my last posting, I should mention that I'd also like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.

Childhood Memories

Over dinner tonight the whole family was trading memories of favorite childhood TV shows. Even though the youngest member of our household is 10 years old, he has enough distance from the "old" shows he used to watch (BOB THE BUILDER, THE WIGGLES, BEAR IN THE BIG BLUE HOUSE) to participate!

The 16 year old reminisced about SESAME STREET, BIG COMFY COUCH, BETWEEN THE LIONS, and (yes, it's true!) BARNEY!

I bring this up because EK and I both share special memories of one particular 1970s show. In fact, we both decided that it formed our love for social studies, geography, and culture. And it probably also made us politically and socially liberal!

So, who else remembers THE BIG BLUE MARBLE??