"On our own, we conclude:
that there is not enough to go around
we are going to run short

of money
of love
of grades
of publications
of sex
of beer
of members
of years
of life

we should seize the day
seize the goods
seize our neighbor’s goods
because there is not enough to go around.

And in the midst of our perceived deficit:

You come
You come giving bread in the wilderness
You come giving children at the 11th hour
You come giving homes to the exiles
You come giving futures to the shut-down
You come giving Easter joy to the dead
You come - fleshed in Jesus.

"We are only men and women, singing hymns, murmuring prayers, trying to cover our nakedness."

I like to write down my thoughts, ideas, feelings, meaningful quotes - mostly on paper, for my eyes only. And every once in a while I like to re-read through my written thoughts and rediscover ideas/feelings that had previously felt significant enough to archive in writing.

I did this the other night, searching for a specific thought, but came across a quote instead: "We are only men and women, singing hymns, murmuring prayers, trying to cover our nakedness." [from Gordon Atkinson's real live preacher blog: "What If"] I just thought - that's me; I identify with that thought. And I also thought of the simple church, and that it was something I wanted to share.

someone was recently asking me about the simple churches. i have a hard time explaining it. then again, i have a hard time explaining a lot of things. there are so many thoughts in my head that just will not come out coherently.

so i used my disclaimer that i am bad at articulating things that make sense in my head, and then i went on trying to explain a bit of what we're doing, what we're about. it wasn't coming out as i had hoped so i ended up just summing up: "we're still babies, still experimenting. it's good shit!" i meant it. thank God - he knows i mean well.

what do we think, simple churchers?

On my way home from work... feeling down, wondering how I am going to eat this weekend [payday Monday]; I've been trying all week to eat for as cheaply as possible.
Despair, woe is me.
I get home and am sifting through the junk-mail, crossing my fingers in hopes of avoiding any more bills, as least for today. And there is a cheque. For me.
I think God is laughing a bit while he says "I take care of you." Smiling, at least. Probably a mixture of I-can't-believe-you-doubted-again and I've-been-planning-this-all-along.
God is good. ALL the time. [aka: even if I hadn't received the cheque - although I might not have acknowledged it]

I have been meaning to write something down since I signed up.
I feel like everything's still stuck in my head right now. I have so many thoughts, but the words aren't really coming.

I just want to share really briefly by copy-and-pasting [cheating, i know!] from an email i sent to my small group ladies a month ago :: "I went last Tuesday night and found that the things Andy was saying - the vision - was so much the same as the thoughts I've been having lately, about Jesus, about the church. I have been trying to read and listen to sermons and just do a lot of thinking lately, and the conclusions that I am coming to / continually evaluating are the same as what God seems to be speaking/doing at the "off" nights (prayer) this last year at ASAP. I have not really been involved (I think I went once or twice) in the prayer nights, so I wasn't too sure what was going on there until recently, but it's so encouraging and exciting to me that God has been speaking to me about the same things as I spend time on my own seeking truth. I am very excited about this community/neighbourhood house-church vision... I think God is working and moving in some really cool ways."