I've Got Soul but I'm Not a Soldier -or- Pull Up a Chair, Close Your Eyes, and Sing as Loud as You Can

"Oh Pirates, yes they rob I, stole I from the merchant ship..."

It all started with Bob Marley and a guitar covered in signatures and shout-outs. "Redemption Song" set off a chain of events that no one could have predicted. Live covers from every genre. Every hand on the guitar, or bongos, or spoons, or bottles, or the dreaded remote control/bottle combo. Loud singing and louder laughing. Closed eyes and creatively scandelous hand motions to creatively hilarious songs.

The playlist was incredible:
The Killers
Bob Marley
Larry Norman
Great Hymns of Faith
Damien Rice
Robert Dugan Originals
Protest Songs

All hilarious, sad, true, joyous, and beautiful in their own place.

I love it. Pick any UBCers... any of us at random and throw us in a room of somewhat comfortable surroundings. What takes place is beauty. What takes place are God-moments. You may not recognize them right off. But sit and listen and watch and learn about love. Learn about a common heartbeat. Learn about differences... and how they bring us all together. Pull up a chair and sing loud with us. Close your eyes and throw your head back and sing. Double over, lose your breath and laugh. Tell your story. See how often and surprisingly God and life intersect naturally, and unforced. Watch things change from deconstruction to redemption in each moment.

So we all sit in the living room. All hoping for the same thing to be true. We sit pining for the same truth. Sure, we have doubts, and questions, and frustrations, and setbacks. Be we also have hope, and love, and peace.

God, thank you for church that feels less like something we do and more like family. Thank you for knowing looks and the kind of laughter that makes you sigh afterword. Thank you for good songs, loud singing, and the ability to allow each other to be comfortable in our own skin. Thank you for church, thank you for your big, inviting, welcoming Kingdom. Amen.

Thought Vomit -or- What Happens When You Wait Too Long to Blog

I just finished reading a blog by a guy who is a very well-advertised Atheist and who was running some assumption-driven, horribly off smack about UBC and Kyle's death. His facts were all wrong and it was validating in a strange way. All the things he was saying about why "Christians" deserve such things happening to them were things that I can sigh and recognize as things that most UBCers are not. Still though, how does one event fuel so much commentary from people (some claiming Christianity and others claiming other things) who have no concept of who or what they are talking about? Is our world that assumption-driven? I'm tired of people acting like they know so much. I want to spend time with people who know very little. People who aren't so certain about anything and everything. People who are thoughtful and humble. Not jackasses who throw around statements and points and uneccessarily intellectual jargon to create for themselves some sort of comfort within their lack of identity. Why can't people allow people to be people? This world is full of some complicated stuff. Most of this stuff is people. I want to try to treat every human as a complicated, intricate, glorious, messed-up, person capable of love and capable of hate. Even though I have no idea what that looks like necessarily.

That's done. Emotion and frustration successfully released and published to THE WORLD!

This past Sunday was our first Sunday back in our building at 1707 Dutton Ave. It was everything it needed to be. The one adjective that I'd use to describe it is healthy; for me at least. Dave did great with the music, starting with "you make everything glorious" and then "Here is Our King"... Adam read the reading he wrote for CLP (beautiful! and this CLP group is more like therapy or something than a writing group... I love it)... then Dave played "Rescue is Coming". My own memories from this building started flashing... but finally they were good ones. The first time we heard "Rescue Is Coming"... The small fires started by candles... Kyle dropping "papa's" urn... When I saw him raise his hands and felt my whole charismatic past start to be validated finally... good stuff.

I watched the new candles melt on the new stage and I smiled. We will have new memories. We will have new history. New wax melting in new patterns on new floors. The same smell of vanilla candles. It was beautiful. Never have I been happier to see wax melt and drip.

Let the blogging begin again.