Newsletter - March, 2002
The bottom line on the upper room is disciples waiting together to see what God will do. Between the Ascension and Pentecost, they waited in prayer and unity for the promise of the Father. I'm usually so exhausted after running the gauntlet of Holy Week and Easter, that the thought of doing anything churchy at that point is fairly repugnant. However, in this particular mid-March moment, having a prayer time at The Word Shop between Easter and Pentecost sounds like a fine idea. I'm thinking 9 -10 on Wednesday mornings, beginning April 3. Would anyone care to wait with me? Several folk hailing from and praying for different churches would rejoice my heart.
Richard Foster's books have provided grist for some great group studies in years past. CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE made for a fine summer study, the weekly homework of focusing on DOING each chapter's discipline helped moved the study out from the usual talking & thinking about, into direct action. His book PRAYER - Finding the Heart's True Home kept us busy the following summer, looking at all the different ways to pray. Soon after The Word Shop opened, we started a study using his DEVOTIONAL CLASSICS, which have a piece of writing from a wide variety of Christian authors; each one including comments, group questions, individual going deeper suggestions, a scripture reference and a bibliography of the writer's work. That group began as a six week study and didn't quit for over a year.
Someone donated Foster's STREAMS OF LIVING WATERS to the store. I'd not seen this book before. It is subtitled, "Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith," and is broken down into seven chapters that include contemplative, holiness, charismatic, social justice, evangelical, and sacramental traditions. Since that fits in perfectly with the seven weeks between Easter & Pentecost, I thought I'd use this book to inform our waiting together. The first chapter is an overview; I'll have some copies of it available. The book is $20 new if you want your own copy.
Speaking of groups, the Final Friday Folk will discuss journaling at noon on the third Friday this month--the Final Friday being Good Friday, which is final enough all by itself. The First Tuesday Writers Group will focus on self-publishing and the writer's call at 7:15 on April 2. Last month Steven Crocker wrote a beautiful piece on the topic "where do we get ideas." Here's an excerpt:
Writing is an expression of what we value, what has meaning for us. We cannot write about what does not move us. In this we are challenged to find what matters most. Each word, each scene, each story, to be important must reverberate within us. It must have a dimension we are willing to explore. A bell is sounded, a light goes on, a sweet haunting of invisible weight and inner recognition occurs.
DUMB BUNNIES: Bill of bubble-gum machine fame has been bringing us stuffed bunnies. Blue, pink, white; he even prices them for us $1.25, $2.50, $.75. Please come and buy some for Easter baskets. They look very nice on our Easter display next to Karon's JEREMY and Morrison's WHO MOVED THE STONE, but I don't want to have to stash them away when the season ends. Placed in a bag in a dark cupboard they would probably DO THINGS. We'd end-up with twice as many bunnies next year.
AUDIO BOOKS: I got a big response to the idea of a rental library for audio books. The current plan is a $20 membership. This entitles you to request one title for adding to the library (they usually cost around $25) and one free rental. Future rentals cost $3 a week. Non members, who we know, can rent books for $5 a week. While we're building the Audio library, if you donate two stellar tapes, we'll waive the membership fee and let your rent books for $3, but you don't get to request a title.
So as not to confuse the staff, we'll apply the same system to book rentals--raising the price of nonmember rentals to $5. Most of the books in the store are available for rental.
LEADERSHIP: I like to read how-to-be-a-good-leader books. I just read LEADERS, interviews with various folk from Eugene Peterson to Richard Foster. (Used HB $4) Unfortunately most of the Christian books on Leadership assume that senior pastor and leader are interchangeable terms. Every so often I just burn out on translating. Yet most of us are leaders in some venue. Have you read any Christian leadership books lately that speak to leaders in a variety of settings?
PLANTING TIME: Our New Testament and partial Scripture shelves are bursting at the seams again. Most are a dollar or two a piece. For the price of lunch you can buy a handful to pass out. Get the seed off the shelf and into the dirt.
FAMILY CAMP registration has arrived. If you are interested in a week of Christian Community, let me know. The "camp" is hotel style rooms and dorm style food, at the Episcopal Conference Center in Oakhurst, July 7-13. The program includes talks by such matchless luminaries as me (Do you like "matchless luminaries?" Brings forth all sorts of questions like: how do they get lit without matches? Are candles WICKed? Who is going to get flamed this year?) Also there is wondrous praise, prayer groups, creatives, trips to Yosemite, the lake, the river, and the particular grace of spending a week in Christian love with a bunch of folk you probably couldn't stand for any longer than a week, or in most other circumstances...with the exception of heaven, of course.
When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you. (4 -8 year olds on love)
Blessings,
Alliee +