Attention!
PHAT 108 will resume this week (July 7th) and will meet at the church instead of our apartment.

The next couple of weeks will be the beginning of our summer, and I am really excited about it. Please remember to check your calendar for upcoming events. If you don't have one, you can download it here.

The trip to D.C. is coming up and so far I only have four spots left. If you are planning on going please call me on my cell phone to let me know. Remember space is limited! Just in case you have forgotten what the "Worship in the Spirit of Justice" service is all about, go read the website.

This coming Sunday we will continue with our new Youth Church format. YC will begin at 9:45 am and end at 11:30 am. This week we are going to finish the movie "Hotel Rawanda" while the other group is on their way to DC.

Finally our Tuesday lunches start on July the 12, so make plans to come to that.

Have a great week! posted by: J-Wild at: 2:42 PM -  1 comments

Summer is Coming! I have ordered the movie called "Invisible Children" and as soon as it comes we are going to have a watching party. Last Sunday we thought about what it means to be a Christian in a world full of injustice. To be honest I don't really like talking about these things because it causes me to take a really hard look at myself, and that is never fun.

This Sunday we are going to continue our look at what the Bible says about being a Christian who brings about justice in a world that is unjust. Below is a list of lessons and events that we are going to do as part of learning what it means to become active in bringing about justice to the poor of this world:


Sunday, June 19 - Amos a Prophet for the Forgotten
Saturday, June 25 - Tag Sale at MCOC for Darfur
Sunday, June 26 - Youth Sunday (Yeah Gwen, Alisha, Stefan, and Azat)
Sunday, July 3 - "Hotel Rwanda" (this is the first day of our new Youth Church schedule 9:45 - 11:30 am)
Sat. - Sun., July 9&10 - "Worship in the Spirit of Justice" in Washington D.C.
Thurs., August 4 - "Heir Force Film Festival" - Gwen, Soeuraya, and Greg are the Co-Chairs

I am really excited about these events and what they can do for our world view. I pray that you are thinking about how you can use your gifts and talents to bring about attention and hope to the situations of injustice that happen all over the world. When you love others as yourself you take part in ushering in the Kingdom of God. When Christ returns he will reign with Justice and Mercy, but until then we are to love with justice, mercy, and selflessness.

I have finished the summer calendar and you can download it by clicking here. There are a lot of fun things that we have planned and I hope as many of you as possible can show up to each event.

One final thing. I would like a new name for Youth Church. Youth Church sounds so boring and institutional. So what can we call the hour and a half that we meet on Sunday's. One idea I had came from a song by Switchfoot called "The Beautiful Letdown". I like the part of the song that says "we are a beautiful let down, painfully uncool, the church of the dropouts and losers and sinners and failures and the fools oh what a beautiful let down are we salt in the wound let us sing one true tune" So my idea would be to call it "The Letdown." But I am definitely interested in any other ideas you all might have. posted by: J-Wild at: 3:04 PM -  2 comments

Lyrics Rock... If there is one thing that I have in common with you guys it's a love of music. It's true that we often like different kinds of music, but it is still music none-the-less. Lately I can't stop listening to U2. I know that Damian (if he is reading this) will be saying "Yo, U2 is old, they suck." All I have to say to that is, you're crazy.

Anyway, I have heard it said before that music serves as the expresion of a human beings theology. I believe that is definately true when it comes to our worship songs as well as our "secular" songs.

Song lyrics are amazingly powerful, and have the ability to rattle around your head all day (whether you like it or not). The lyrics of a song that you listen to fifty times during the week affect how you see the world. It would be impossible for it not to. I am curious as to what some of your favorite song lyrics are? They can be phrases, or whole songs if you want, but you must say why you think they are powerful. I will go first.

(In no particular order)

1. "White America" by Emenim: The first time I heard this song I was blown away. Here is Emenim explaining to every parent, youth worker, minister, teacher, and anyone else who will listen how he is connecting with so many young people. One line sticks out to me as being true in the context of suburban vs urban:"Surely hip hop is never a problem In Harlem only In Boston After it bothered ya fathers of daughters startin to blossom".

2. "You glorify the past, the future dries up." by U2 on the song "God pt.2": Just think about that for a second...you start to realize how many people live in yesterday.

3. "Pride - In the Name of Love" by U2: About MLK and others who were killed in the name of love...awesome and inspiring!

4. "To love another person is to see the face of God" from the musical Les Miserables: It's even more powerful after you have listened to the musical.

5. "Thou o Lord are a shield about me, you're my glory, you're the lifter of my head." from the song "A Shield About Me": I constantly need a reminder of that.

6. "Baby mine don't you cry, rest your head close to my heart, never to part, baby of mine." From the Dumbo Soundtrack: You guessed it this is a song we sing to Levi.

7. "Light Up Ahead" by Further Seems Forever: I love this song, especially the acoustic version. I love the line "Take this heart of darkness, I give it up, and all the emptiness, you fill it up, the times that I feel nothing, you bring enough".

What are your favorite lyrics and why? posted by: J-Wild at: 1:32 PM -  4 comments