Our wonderful friends at Church of the Apostles are allowing us to meet in their facility - 1321 Trent Blvd. here in Lexington. We hope you can come join us - see you there!

And welcome to our own Brian Phillips - finally on the Vine. You'll hear from him from time to time.
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 12:48 PM

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::: wednesday, march 26 :::
Here I am.I guess I'm official at last.When I think of something real deep and spirtual to say,I'll be back.
posted by ::: Brian Phillips at 1:18 PM

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Getting close to our second monthly Gathering - Saturday, April 5th, at 5pm. I'm thinking it will be at the same location - Church of the Apostles - 1321 Trent Blvd. If that changes, I'll let everyone know - post it here and send e-mails. Hope we see some of you there!
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 12:59 PM

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::: friday, march 7 :::
I intended to put this up last week but never got to it. This is the little teaching I did at our first monthly Gathering - taught for about 10 minutes or so and then we openned up for comments - that wendt very well - some good things were brought out.

vbcc monthly gathering ::: teaching for march 1, 2003

We possess the prophetic message as something altogether reliable. Keep your attention closely fixed on it, as you would on a lamp shining in a dark place until the first streaks of dawn appear and the morning star rises in your hearts. First you must understand this: there is no prophecy contained in Scripture which is a personal interpretation. Prophecy has never been put forward by man’s willing it. It is rather that men impelled by the Holy Spirit have spoken under God’s influence. —2 Peter 1:19-21

We are the prophetic message of God to this world. The source of this “prophecy” is God, not us. We must keep our attention closely fixed on that source and live in a way that is constantly aware of His presence and of how that presence interacts with and effects our lives – how it transforms us. It is a matter of this course of life, this prophetic life, closely fixed on the source, that we become shining lamps in a dark place.

As the streaks of dawn appear and the star arises in our own hearts, it then rises in the world around us. We are the dawning of the Kingdom of God on earth, along with Christ – in Him.

We must understand, though, that “I” am not the prophecy. “I,” myself alone, am not the prophetic message to the world. Vine & Branches is not the whole light in the dark place – neither is Church of the Apostles, or Vineyard Central, or Ordinary Community. Being here together tonight we are living that prophetic message. So, it’s not about our personal thing. We are parts of a whole.

And this is all ultimately about God breaking in – into our lives, into our world, influencing us by the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, we should be people filled with and impelled by the Holy Spirit – a prophecy to the world spoken under God’s influence.
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 10:12 AM

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::: thursday, march 6 :::
You knew it was going to happen - digital camera > tons of pictures > here are some from our last night's Ash Wednesday meeting.

> the living room - eucharist set up on the bench in front of the fireplace - after we sang, we individually went to kneel and receive communion, then got up to receive ashes on our heads with the encouragement: "remember, you are not God, and you can do nothing without Him."
> the food - always the food - humous, grapes, carrots, pita bread - woo hoo!
> the matt - his big fat greek birthday! he got this cool icon and the dvd of bfgw.

> saint brian with his ashy head - "remember, he is not God"
> another view of the eucharistic set-up - an icon of Jesus the teacher at top.

That's it for the photos. We chanted the psalm of evening prayer for Ash Wednesday, had a good discussion about balance and sacrifice - and about life's struggles and how they are a part of "life" and our notions of how we handle them when they come. Then we worshiped with a song and went into the eucharist and to ashes. It was a good time.
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 9:18 AM

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::: sunday, march 2 :::
Last evening we had our first official "thing", or larger group gathering. Friends came in from all over, from Nicholasville to Cincinnati. It was great meeting new folks, like Rachel, and good to see other friends again, like Kyle and the Rainses. We had a really good time of hanging out with coffee and cookies and such, then got into some organized focusing on Jesus through the daily office. We sang (or chanted) the Psalm, which was very cool and a little foreign to some (probably most) of the participants. Then Alan spoke a little about the Scripture reading, and we had a time of open discussion of what was said. The participatory thing is very cool. Then we moved into a time of worship through song and communion. Afterward, of course we hung out and "fellowshipped" some more, as we used to say, then a bunch of us went to Bearno's pizza for the obligatory after-"thing" meal. It was just so great hanging out with a large bunch of folks with similar mindsets. I'm looking forward to doing this each month. Oh, yeah, look for lots of photos, probably both here and at Alan's site--he had his new "toy" (digital camera) in use last night.
posted by ::: Debi Warford at 2:48 PM

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::: friday, february 14 :::
Here's a quote from Gordon Cosby of Church of the Savior in Washington, DC. I am officially adopting this quote for our community and Gordon Cosby can come whoop me if he wants to - here we go...

We will commit ourselves to an intensive love effort with a few people. We will be committed to smallness. Large numbers tend almost inevitably toward depersonalization and institutionalism, toward a lessening of commitment. So we resist the temptation of numbers and the power that comes through numbers.

This is where we are now. We have stopped looking for numbers. We have come to realize that while we are called to be missional, to "be Christ" to the world around us and to invite, by our lives, people into Christ with us, we are about the building this small community of people into truly transformed people. This small transformed community, and others that will spring from it, will be signs to the world.

Oh, and we're having our first monthly public gathering, the one I was talking about before, on Saturday, March 1st, at 5:00pm at the Church of The Apostles - 1321 Trent Blvd. in Lexington.

We want to thank our good friends at Apostles for their generosity and honor them for showing a spirit of unity in the Body of Christ. Thanks guys! Hopefull we'll see some of you there to hang out with us.
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 9:54 AM

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::: thursday, february 13 :::
Wow! It has been a long time since I have written here.

Once again Matt did an awesome job of facilitating the meeting. We talked about self worth and what it meant to us. Great stuff. We took a lot of rabbit trails, but in all we talked for a long time. It is interesting when someone puts a question to you that you don't think about very often. You just seem to feel good or bad and don't consider where it is coming from.

Ephesians 1:11-14 in "The Message" says some good stuff. You all should read it.
posted by ::: liz creech at 7:59 AM

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::: thursday, february 6 :::
We had a good meeting last night as Liz said. Matt started his month of facilitating with a discussion on Isaiah 58 - the true fast - with a twist. We talked not so much about the poor and opressed and downtrodden that we might go to downtown and then leave, but about those who may be "opressed" and "poor" in some way who are in our lives, who are among us all the time. This, we discussed, could be each other at times. It could be anyone we work with who is not desirable or unloveable. It was good. We prayed and listened for a while - prayed for each other - ended up praying for Matt - some encouraging things came out. And we talked about the monthly gathering that we're going to do. Soon - March 1st - that's a Saturday night. We don't know where yet but have some good ideas. I'll let you know. We're excited but not feeling pressure - this is good.
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 10:42 AM

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::: thursday, january 30 :::
Back home. Our community met last night and I talked a while about some of the things I experienced at the Allelon gathering. First we prayed the Evening Prayer together and celebrated the Eucharist. Then I yapped and we talked about what went on out there in Idaho and how that is affecting Vine & Branches - what it means for us, etc. Like I said before, I feel like I, we, are a part of a new family. That's a good thing. I think God has drawn us into these relationships. We had a good time talking about all that.

Also, I had gone out there with something floating around in me, an idea about vbcc, something I was praying and thinking about. I had shared it with some others and wanted to wait till I got back from Boise to talk to the community here about it. So I did. Looks like very soon, probably in March, we're going to begin hosting a monthly gathering in a public place. This is a step for us. It took me a while to feel it out and see if this was a legitimate step to take. I think it is. As we talked about it last night, it seemed we all felt comfortable about it - even somewhat excited.

Why? Well - 3 reasons really: It will be another expression of our community's life and worship - us being us in this other context; It will be us being us "out there" as a missional step, creating another arena where friends can stand beside us to see who we are, some of who God is, and perhaps join with us in focusing on Him; Finally, and not so insignificantly, it will not merely be about Vine & Branches Christian Community, but about the Body of Christ in Lexington. We want to "sponsor" this monthly gathering and invite people who are parts of other bodies to participate with us. So, our friends will be there, with no pressure to become a part of "our little club." We will all be cultivating a focus on God together and building each other up. Hopefully even friends from other networks in other cities close by will also join us from time to time.

Think free-form monastic liturgy - worship installations - Eucharist - interactive teaching - music for worship and not performance - singing the Psalms - hanging out and touching base with old friends and perhaps making some new ones. As cool as this is going to be, it will, by no means, become the "main thing" of our community. Our primary expression of community life will continue to be, as it has always been, the small, intimate communities that meet in homes (or other places if need be). We just felt it was time to express ourselves as a faith community in this way. I hope some of you reading this who may be close can come hang out with us sometime. I'll keep you posted on when, where, and all that. That's it for now. I just wanted to put that little update out there. Pax Vobiscum!
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 9:40 AM

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::: saturday, january 25 :::
Heeeyyyy!! Sorry it took me so long to get back. I just now got to a computer. I'm in Eric Keck's office here - Eric is a trip - very cool guy. If you're visiting on a Thurday night you'll want to check into his garage for poker and beer - fuuunnn. We'ver rounded things up for the weekend now. Some folks are hanging around waiting to go eat. It has been a very good time. Allelon will be - is - significant. This is a new friendship - a family - bearing one another's burdens. It's a good thing. God has done this thing as a favor to many of us - and as a favor to His growing Kingdom on earth. More details later. I gotta go eat. Jason Evans is standing behind me now causing trouble - that boy needs help! I'm very much looking forward to seeing my family tomorrow. God's Grace be with you!
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 8:33 PM

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::: thursday, january 23 :::
Sitting here in Boise, Idaho in an internet cafe with all these weird guys standing behind me watching me write this - Kevin Rains, Malcolm Hawker, Mike Bishop, T. Freeman - some known to some of you. Very cool bunch of guys. We thought we'd come look around downtown Boise for a little while before going back to eat with some other folks in Eagle. It was a good flight here - not very eventful - thank God. It is 45 degrees f. here in Boise - amazingly warmer than at home. I look foward to the happenings to come tonight, tomorrow and the next few days. I'm going to let some of these other guys blog and get off here now. We'll all keep you informed. Thanks for praying for me vbcc! I'll see you next week.
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 6:45 PM

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Last night we had a very cool meeting. We got together a little early, due to the fact that we watched "The Last Temptation of Christ", and it's a fairly long movie. We, of course, ate first, prayed for Alan and his flight and trip to Idaho for Allelon. Then we settled in to watch the movie. It was, I must admit, pretty interesting. The best I can figure, the concept of the book from which the movie sprang was drawn from the passage where Jesus was tempted in the desert after His baptism. At the end of that passage (see Luke 4:13), it says that Satan "left Him until an opportune time." Apparently the author interpreted the time of Jesus hanging on the cross, waiting to die, as an "opportune time." It's a plausible story, for the most part, but there were some areas that I thought were rather unlikely, such as the beginning of the film where Jesus is portrayed as somewhat of a pansy, for lack of a better word, doubting His calling as the Messiah and being apparently unable to tell for certain if the "voice" He heard was God or Satan. Overall, it was a pretty good movie and somewhat undeserving of the bad rap it has garnered over the years.

By the time the movie was over, it had snowed quite a bit, so Brian, reverting back to his "head usher" days, went out and swept off all of our cars. What a nice boy he can be sometimes! :^) Oh, yeah, Liz made the most wonderful tiramisu, and gave us leftovers to take home! Yum-yum!!
posted by ::: Debi Warford at 6:25 PM

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::: wednesday, january 1 :::
Nobody's posted here in a while. I guess we're all too busy posting in our own blogs. Here's where you can read what's going on in our individual heads: Alan, Liz, Debi, and our latest vbcc blogger, Matt.

We've all seen LOTR The Two Towers lately and have some interesting thoughts on the spiritual parallels we've seen. You don't have to push these by the way. Tolkien was a Christian ans put them in there on purpose. Of course there will always be those things that speak to us as particular people on a journey, or community.

Here is a big snip from my blog (post of Dec. 24) concerning this community, the vision, etc. It's probably just as relevant here - not that anybody reads this thing.

The other thing about having this vision is that it is always being judged by everyone around you. They don't even have to say anything - you know. "How's your 'church' going?" "How's it going with your 'thing'?" Now, what does all that mean? I can never straightly answer that question because everyone who asks it has something different in mind when they ask it. Well, not really. About 90% of them have one thing in mind - "How many people do you have now?" And when you answer whatever you answer - when I answer whatever I answer, it's me we're talking about here - you get a range of looks and comments. I don't know what to do with that. I'm sort of tired of it. Maybe that sounds bad but it's just a fact. I just want to be what we are - to do what we're supposed to do - and not answer a bunch of questions about it.

I guess part of it is that I quite do not like feeling like a dork in front of people. I don't like not having the answer that would make me look good in the eyes of the asker. And I usually don't - so that makes for some uncomfortable sessions. I know, I know, I need to get over it and just answer what I answer. Yeah, I agree to a certain extent. I also think that people who go around asking these questions need to stop being ignorant - stop being so single-minded as concerns what the answers mean - what they should be. Of course that's not going to happen any time soon. So, I'll just have to suck it up and keep giving overly complicated apologetic answers. Maybe that's education. And as I go along maybe I'll get less insecure about the answers as well.
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 12:39 PM

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::: wednesday, december 18 :::
Wow, it's been over a month since I posted in here! I actually haven't had a whole lot to say that fits this context lately, so better to say nothing than ramble.....and so the rambling begins.

Those of you who have checked in at The Scriptorium know that I am currently reading The Springs of Contemplation, a Thomas Merton book. I've been sharing quotes there from time to time, and something I read the other night sparked a thought process I thought would be good for here. Here's the quote: "The desert life was a life of non-conformity....The desert people were protesting against the union of Church and empire under Constantine. When the church became a respectable establishment, people started going into the desert....they simply wanted to get out because they thought things weren't authentic anymore....Monks were the great supporters of orthodoxy. What we have to look out for is the fact of living in a trapped society. This society blocks qualitative change while it foments quantitative change."

The thought occurred to me that Merton was saying that the desert fathers were the first protestants, as in "protest-ants". They protested against the Church becoming "respectable" and therefore somehow not authentic. It got taken over by the "establishment" and turned into something that bore little resemblance to its beginnings. In the same manner, we in the "emerging church" are becoming the protestants of Protestantism, if you will. The "protest-ants" are always the ones who are trying to steer the Church (universal) back onto the path set forth in the New Testament. The desert fathers, Martin Luther, Asuza, and now us--we all wanted the same thing--to try and follow the roadmap left for us in best way we know how. I happen to think that the house church "movement" is the way to best accomplish that given the society we have now. We simply must continue to seek God and make sure that we don't fall into the trap of thinking that now we have it all figured out and no more "tweaks" will ever be necessary. God never changes, but people do, so our half of the relationship will always be changing as we hopefully grow ever closer to the beings He created us to be in the first place.
posted by ::: Debi Warford at 6:02 PM

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::: friday, december 13 :::
I'm really just posting here because everytime I go to this site I see nothing...I hear crickets chirping. Quiet. Quiet. Peaceful quiet.
Oh well. Partyin' with the Creeches tonight. Looking forward to that. Last Wed night the community got together for the usual fare. We hadn't met for a couple of weeks because of Thanksgiving & then bad weather. Good to be back at the Wed night thang. Yeah, I like these guys. Good people to hang out with.
posted by ::: Matt McDonald at 6:28 PM

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::: wednesday, november 27 :::
Well, I guess I couldn't handle it. I'm at my parents' house for Thanksgiving - we're just sitting around - so I have to blog. Having more than one place to blog is weird too. Where do I say what I want to say? Well, "my" blog is not a blogger blog. I update it manually and I don't have the software here so I'm hangin at the Vine tonight. I guess this will work for what I've been thinking about today. It even sort of relates to Robert's blog down there (Live! from Tulsa!!).

I was at work today. We have a laid back atmosphere there - it's very cool. Today at one point we were sitting around looking at old photos of each other, laughing, etc. One of my coworkers happened to ask me about my Catholic background. She had been raised in the Catholic Church - she and her husband both - but her experience was not good apparently. She did not connect with faith in Jesus through that vehicle. They were "saved" later, through someone sharing with them in a more "moment of salvation by praying a prayer of reception" kind of deal. I informed her I wasn't raised Catholic - I became Catholic "on my own" - I became a Christian through that vehicle when I was 13. I was raised "unchurched."

I think this took her aback. She didn't quite know what to think about that. She and one other person said - "that's amazing" - meaning it was amazing that I had "accepted Christ" and had actually become a Christian through the Catholic Church. Interesting. Not that I haven't heard things like that before. She wanted to know more about that story - so I told her. It was funny. I think at one point she began being "concerned" about me (in a polite way) that perhaps I wasn't a real Christian. Note - I've just put that thought in her head. I'm not saying this "against" her at all. I'm just sharing a story to make a point. She asked me if the Priest in the catechism had actually shared with me the Gospel story, forgiveness of sins, etc. I said, "of course - it's all right there in the catechism - who Jesus was/is, why He came and died, the whole picture of the core of our common Christian faith." Something like that anyway. I mentioned that no one may have said to me "do you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?" but that the whole conversation, the catechetical presentation was an offer - an offer laid out to be accepted.

I think she was fine. This interaction just brought that issue to the forefront. Am I not "saved" because I didn't pray this "sinner's prayer" with someone who "shared with me" a certain version of the gospel story??? Maybe you think I'm not either. Well, hmmm. Obviously I think you're wrong. I don't think the revivalist argument holds water. If I have a deep faith and trust in Jesus, in the Father and the Holy Spirit and I live this faith daily am I not "in Him?" I think I am. Not because I do things, but because of the faith that was spawned by His Grace - that has made me alive. Now, I'm not actively within the Roman Catholic Church at this time. That is not because I think it to be illegitimate or "not Christian." That's ignorance! I didn't "get saved" and leave what I thought to be Babylon. Again, ignorance. I have simply moved with what I thought God was leading me to do along the way. That's not the point though.

What about this? Do we have to have a particular moment in time to harken back to in order to be considered truly Christian? Or can our faith grow and develop and become mature and we just ARE a Christian and we might not really "know" when the Holy Spirit took up residence in us??? I strongly think the latter most option to be the case. We may well have a "moment," but I would never accept that it's necessary. This community - Vine & Branches - is not one where you'll see emotionally charged "altar calls" or even offers to pray a sinner's prayer, ever. We are in Him. We are walking this transformational journey. We walk this journey of faith in the world, in and among those who aren't walking it. We live it openly and are ready to "offer" it to others if they are open. Then, perhaps, they will come along side us and begin walking in the same direction and find the wonderful surprise of faith growing in their hearts eventually. That is what we pray. That is our evangelism.
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 9:55 PM

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::: monday, november 25 :::
Well, here's my long awaited blog. Alan is going to hate me because it is going to be really short (as I am blogging at work during my last 5 minutes of the workday). I might just rant a little. What ever happened to evangelism? When people think of evangelism, I think they think of Robert Tilton (see pastorgas.com for lots of fun, by the way) or one of those guys that went down in the 80's for fraud. In my job, I get to talk to pastors non-stop, pretty much all day long. One thing I've noticed: evangelism is on the back burner... I know that from what they tell me they spend on it usually and what outreaches they do as a church. It drives me crazy that we keep the truth of Christ shut up in a building! We keep the "salt" in the shaker, the candle under a bushel, and try to hide what God intended to be "a city sitting on a hill." What ever happened to personally sharing our faith in respectful ways with other people? What ever happened to doing something with the gospel?

The scary thing is I don't know what happened to it in my own life either. The cares of this world get to us all, and I'm no exception from the rule. Sometimes I wonder if we really believe this stuff. How would I live if I really bought it? How would you live?

Robert
posted by ::: Robert Wilson at 6:39 PM

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::: wednesday, november 20 :::
I've got a little simple coffee house church thang with me and my friend Steve, and sometimes his wife Joan - meets on Monday nights. We had a very good time this last Monday talking about a Thomas Merton quote - it's pretty thick - so thick we'll be talking more about it next week. I look forward to it. During the conversation we got into the fact that spiritual formation takes a loooong time - that the whole quick-fix mentality when it comes to this is right out the window. We talked about how we need to work things out when we get hold of new truths or whatever. We can't just say "OK, done with that one, on to the next" - it may take us years to really wrestle out what we've gotten hold of. So we're wrestling. Here's the quote...

Love in fact is the spiritual life, and without it all the other exercises of the spirit, however lofty, are emptied of content and become mere illusions. The more lofty they are, the more dangerous the illusion.

Love, of course, means something much more than mere sentiment, much more than token favors and perfunctory almsdeeds. Love means an interior and spiritual identification with one's brother, so that he is not regarded as an "object" to "which" one "does good." The fact is that good done to another as to an object is of little or no spiritual value.

Love takes one's neighbor as one's other self, and loves him with all the immense humility and discretion and reserve and reverence, without which no one can presume to enter into the sanctuary of another's subjectivity. From such love all authoritarian brutality, all exploitation, domineering and condescension must necessarily be absent.

Good stuff big Tom - chew on that stuff for about 10 years.
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 10:03 AM

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::: sunday, november 10 :::
Here's the "Christian quotation of the day" from CQOD:

"Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will only do harm to himself and to the community. Alone you stood before God when He called you; alone you had to answer that call; alone you had to struggle and pray; and alone you will die and give an account to God. You cannot escape yourself; for God has singled you out. If you refuse to be alone, you are rejecting Christ's call to you, and you can have no part in
the community of those who are called.... Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Into the community you were called -- the call was not meant for you alone; in the community of the called you bear your cross, you struggle, you pray. You are not alone even in death, and on the Last Day you will be only one of the great congregation of Jesus Christ. If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ."
---Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), Life Together

Just a little something to stir up discussion.
posted by ::: Debi Warford at 7:57 PM

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::: tuesday, october 29 :::
A few photos over there to let you in on what goes on around here. I haven't posted on here in a while. Our last meeting was a good one. Lester visited with us. We prayed our evening prayer, had a good discussion on the James passage from the Reading on "be a doer of the word and not a hearer only..." - good insights. We had our first "tele-church" meeting as well. Robert and Molly, who've moved to Tulsa, called us and took part in our discussion time via the speakerphone. That was very cool - good to hear from those guys. We miss them. They're still on the blog - they should be on here telling you what's going on with them themselves - we'll work on 'em.

Then at the end, we celebrated the Eucharist. This is two weeks in a row where we've had a literal "spilled blood of Christ" thing happen. One of the kids bumped into the chalice and spilled some of the wine - the blood. It was kind of cool really. The last time it happened before last week, I had just said the words "spilled blood" and it went down - that was good.

What about the discussion: it was a good one - talking alot about the "doing it anyway" thing that Debi mentioned down there. We talked also about the process - hearing > orienting yourself to God > transformation > doing that comes as a matter of that transformation. Good stuff. We're growing as a community I think.
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 9:40 AM

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::: sunday, october 20 :::
I started to post this on The Scriptorium, but decided it was better here instead. I'm catching up on my blog reading after my "hiatus", and got to Alan's entry of October 16th re: transformation in the context of community. The highlighted phrase "do it anyway" reminded me of a song I've not heard in a while by Ceili Rain, entitled (oddly enough) "Do It Anyway". I thought it might be edifying to share it with the rest of you:

You're scared to put your face in the water--
Do it anyway
You're scared to color outside the border--
Do it anyway
You're scared if you say that they will laugh at you--
Do it anyway
You're scared of what I say 'cause it might be true
Do it anyway--do it anyway--do it anyway
You're scared if you join up you still won't belong--
Do it anyway
You're scared that if you leave--you'll be gone--
Do it anyway
You're scared to let your friends depend on you--
Do it anyway
You might surprise the both of you--so
Do it anyway--do it anyway--do it anyway
What if you're wrong--and what if you're right
What if you walk the walk--and fight the fight
You're scared that that next peak is too high for you to climb--
Do it anyway
Afraid that they will start to laugh if you start to cry--
Do it anyway
You're scared to tell the world what you're doin' here--
Do it anyway
You're scared to say "I love you" right in my ear--
Do it anyway--do it anyway--do it anyway
posted by ::: Debi Warford at 12:40 PM

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::: thursday, october 17 :::
Had a good talk with my roommate the other day about worship. We were talking about how much of our own worship experiences have been more sentimentality and less meeting with God. We do the "thing" whatever that is & expect God to bless us. It can even protect us from meeting with God - because we all know that an encounter with God can often result in some kind of awareness of our own sinfulness & need for change. Or at the very least, just doing the routine helps us keep up the good image. Later that morning, I opened up the next chapter in Thomas Merton's book, Contemplative Prayer and read this. He's talking about meditation, but still a very similar experience. Pretty cool stuff.

All methods of meditation that are, in effect, merely devices for allaying and assuaging the experience of emptiness and dread are ultimately evasions which can do nothing to help us. Indeed, they may confirm us in delusions and harden us against that fundamental awareness of our real condition, against the truth for which our hearts cry out in desperation.

What we need is not a false peace which enables us to evade the implacable light of judment, but the grace courageously to accept the bitter truth that is revealed to us; to abandon our inertia, our egoism and submit entirely to the demands of the Spirit, praying earnestly for help, and giving ourselves generously to every effort asked of us by God.

A method of meditation or a form of contemplation that merely produces the illusion of having "arrived somewhere," of having achieved security and preserved one's familiar status by playing a part, will eventually have to be unlearned in dread - or else we will be confirmed in the arrogance, the impenetrable self-assurance of the Pharisee. We will become impervious to the deepest truths. We will be closed to all who do not participate in our illusion. We will live "good lives" that are basically inauthentic, "good" only as long as they permit us to remain established in our respectable and impermeable identities...Such "goodness" is preserved by routine and the habitual avoidance of serious risk - indeed of serious challenge. In order to avoid apparent evil, this pseudo-goodness will ignore the summons of genuine good. It will prefer routine duty to courage and creativity.

posted by ::: Matt McDonald at 11:29 PM

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::: thursday, october 10 :::
Abbey of Gethsemani...Aaah...3 days of silence. OK it was more like 2 1/4 days because on Monday God knocked all my nice "duckies in formation" all over creation. I reacted poorly. Became an ass. Became? OK, maybe I just went to new levels of assdome. Anyway, fumed (pouted?) the whole way to Trappist, KY because things didn't go my way. Great start for a spiritual retreat. Oh well.

Got there in time to eat, go to Compline & hear Father Matthew's talks. (Yes, Alan, He ROCKS!) He spoke of living in God's favor and easing into the rhythm of life rather than trying so hard to make things fit. (Ducks in a row?) It reminded me of the 1st time going skiing. At first I hated that stupid ski lift. But I learned once I relaxed & went with it, rather than trying so hard I was able to jump right on & go with it. Set the pace for the next couple of days.

The rest of the trip seemed to be all about "the journey". I started reading Eugene Peterson's A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. It's meditations on the Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120-134 the songs sung by Hebrew Pilgrims on their way up to worship in Jerusalem). Really great stuff that flies in the face of our instant society.

Had this beautiful experience walking up one of the wooded trails to the Hill of Statues. I walked it very slowly trying to take it all in. Beauty of the setting. Statues and signs all along the way. It's actually like walking through worship installations. I stopped at each point, took pictures, spent time meditating, writing down my thoughts & prayers. Through the whole experience God spoke very clearly about living in his grace. In a very simple way God reminded me over & over about how far reaching His grace is. The Abbey bell tolls every 15 minutes. All along the way (I took about 3 hours on this "journey") I could hear the bells. No matter how far I got I was always within the sound of the bell. Even at one point when I got off the path, stuck in these thorny plants taller than me I heard the bell. Great image of my life story!

I loved attending the prayer offices. Yes, I even did the Vigils at 3 am both days. Of course unlike the monks I went back to bed! God neatly wrapped the whole journey thing together on Wed during the prayer offices. We chanted Psalms 120-134.

One last thing, ran across a cool little book in the library. A Celtic Benediction by J. Philip Newell. Heard of it, Debi? I think you'd like it. It's a book of morning & night prayers based on the 7 days of Creation. Here's one of the prayers:

posted by ::: Matt McDonald at 10:24 PM

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::: tuesday, october 8 :::
One of us is playing monk this week. I even got to cut Matt's hair before he left for his retreat - I told him it was his novitiate vow. Hopefully he comes back and shares his collected wisdom with us.

He went to the Abbey of Gethsemani near Bardstown, KY. It's the former earthly home of Thomas Merton - only about an hour and a half from here. My friend Kevin said I should put up a Gethsemani retreat primer for those whove never been. Here's the short version:

- if you're a guy try to get in the Monastery wing - much more monk-like

- go to Vigils (night prayer office at 3:00am) at least once while you're there - very cool

- the guest library is a great resource - spend some time in there

- make SURE and go to Father Matthew's talks after Compline (last prayer office at 7:30pm) each night in the side chapel - not to be missed - a great character - lots of wisdom stored up in his 80 something year old frame.

- go walk in the woods

- don't try to do too much agenda wise - rest, pray, eat, rest, take naps, read, pray, etc.

More later...
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 8:34 PM

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::: thursday, october 3 :::
Good time last night. We talked about our lives, about the Anam Cara "soul friend" celtic tradition a little - good stuff. We prayed together an abbreviated Evening Office from the Liturgy of the Hours - we start in a time of silence - one Psalm, the antiphons, the Gloria, the NT reading - we listen as we read and pray - then we talk about what we heard. We've done this a few times now and the conversations always end up very good.

Although it's very liturgical in one way, it ends up very organic as a way to meet. The Evening Office is just there, for that day. I didn't pick it. We pray that - we listen to that, to hear what God is saying - we talk about it. It's very cool. I think this is turning into the default way for us to gather when something else isn't planned. I think it's a good thing. It's regular. It's steady. It's intentionally focused on God and what He says to us in His Word. It listens to His Spirit. It doesn't depend on the charisma of a man - of any of us.

Last week was my birthday. We met (it was our monthly potluck - we did Brian's b-day like this too) and had a little "thing." They gave me.... a bell. Yes, a big black iron bell worthy of a monastery church tower (not quite that big) - an awesome gift. I can't wait to get it set up so I can ring it. I can see that ringing thing happening on a regular basis. You might even be able to hear it if you try hard enough...
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 9:42 AM

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::: sunday, september 29 :::
I went to the Cincinnati Celtic Music and Cultural Festival yesterday, and had a wonderful time. I'll tell about most of it on The Scriptorium later today sometime, but one of the better things I did while there I thought would fit better here.

I attended an interesting but far too short lecture entitled, "Anam Cara: A Life's Journey", given by Rev. Andrew MacAoidh Jergens (I assume he is a Rev. somewhere in Cincinnati, but am not sure where). The lecture was only a half-hour long, and didn't begin to cover all that was in the accompanying handout. I could have listened to this for an hour or two, at least. Anam cara, for those who aren't familiar with the concept, means "soul friend" in Irish gaelic. Rev. Jergens' definition is, "A friend who is an equal who shares your spiritual journey."

Here, from the handout, are the Seven Qualities of the Soul Friend Tradition:
1. Great affection; a personal relationship, rather than a professional or technical one.
2. Mutuality, non-hierarchical, a relationship of mutual blessing. Sometimes there were elements of the master-disciple relationship, but the persons involved considered themselves as companions along the way.
3. Common values and common vision of reality.
4. Challenge, or accountability. A willingness to challenge one another, springing from the trust and affection of deep friendship, rather than from an unequal relationship.
5. God-centered, God being the soul friend in whom all other friendships are united. True soul friends do not depend on each other alone, but root their relationship in God.
6. Transcends geographical separation, the passage of time, even death. For the Celt, who saw the border between this world and the next as very thin indeed, even death could not break the bond established in soul friendship.
7. Value both companionship and solitude.

Does any of this sound familiar?
posted by ::: Debi Warford at 2:18 PM

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::: wednesday, september 25 :::
Just in case anyone is not aware of it, today is Alan's birthday!! Everyone visit his blog and give him a shout out on the big 3-6. Dude, you're catching up with me! (OK, not really, but it's fun to think of that way.) We're having our potluck tonight and I suppose there might be a cake or something.....we'll see.
posted by ::: Debi Warford at 5:32 PM

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::: friday, september 13 :::
Matt, Debi, Liz and I (and my whole family) are here in Cincinnati tonight - at Vineyard Central getting ready for tomorrow's regional worship event, super allgroup, whatever you want to call it. It has been great just hanging out, meeting people, eating, working, getting ready. It's a very cool thing to do something together with many other parts of the Body. We are NOT alone you know. Tomorrow we'll be really acting like we're not separate. We will be demonstrating that we are one. I think we're all excited about it. Our family is suffering the great hospitality of the Brownhouse tonight - I don't know if we can stand it. It infects you with the desire to go and do the same - to invite people to come stay with you and serve them. I want to do that. I'll blog more tomorrow night and let you know how things go. Pax vobiscum.
posted by ::: Alan Creech at 9:58 PM

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::: thursday, september 12 :::
OK, our community meets together on Wednesday nights - that was last night - the 11th. Here was out interesting topic of conversation:

I want to do something a little different tonight. This is a signigicant date - sept. 11. A terrible thing happened today, one year ago. Terrible things happen every day. Things happen to us, to our families, to our friends. People do evil things to other people. It's the way of things in this sick and fallen world. You'd think we would be used to that.

What are we about though? Are we about those evil things? As children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus - are we about getting back at those who do evil things? We should think about that very seriously. We should be very serious about what we think the Kingdom of God is all about.

I want us to go over a few scriptures on this significant day and talk about them. I'm not sure if many people will be focusing on these scriptures today, but we are.

Romans 12:17-21
Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, on your part, live at peace with all. Beloved, do not look for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." Rather, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head." Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.

Matt. 5:38-48 (Lev. 19:18 > love your "countrymen", hate your enemies)
"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow. "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Ephesians 6:12-13
For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground.

> How hard are these sayings to you?

> What do we do with these principles?

> What might need to change in your outlook upon deeply considering these things?

posted by ::: Alan Creech at 11:29 AM

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