Gallery Wednesday - Judges 5

Take Me Away

For this weeks Shuffle, I'm selecting to take some pictures of my cathedral - a place where I'm inspired.
Most people know that I love the beach. You might find it surprising that I actually don't like water but I love laying on the beach. The sounds and smells are so relaxing to me.

I experienced God's cathedral when I was at Reynolda Village, laying on my back on their lush lawn looking up through the enormous pine trees at the blue sky. Suddenly I felt like I was in the chapel that God built.

There is a more readily available place I can go and I went there today. My bathtub. There's just nothing like a steaming hot bubble bath. I light a candle, put on some Benedictine monks or sounds of the ocean, and lay back on my plastic pillow. (You may notice I don't have a picture for this. You're lucky; I thought of it but not until after my soak.)

I find it interesting that all of these have my laying down which changes my perspective and shuts out as much of the busy world around me as possible. I'm able to concentrate on the sensations available.

Java with the Judges- Week 5

Samson the Conflicted
Java With the Judges (Coffee Cup Bible Series)

Welcome to Week 5 of the SoulPerSuit Blog group venturing through the book of Judges together.

Here's a refresher on our schedule:

March 3- 16: Introduction and The Good Guys
March 17- 30: The Good and the Reluctant
March 31- April 13: Gideon
April 14- April 27: Jephthah
April 28- May 11: Samson the Conflicted
May 12- May 25: Civil War and Anarchy
May 26- May 31: Wrap- Up

Reminder:
- This SoulPerSuit group is hosted solely on the blogosphere. All the information this Judges group needs can be found right here on SoulPerBlog and in your personal copy of Java with the Judges.
- If you don't happen to have your own blog but still want to participate, just use the comments section here to share your thoughts on the book of Judges.
- If you're participating in this Java with the Judges study, please let us know when you've written a new blog post relating to the study.
- Be sure to visit the other Java participants' blogs to see what they're thinking about the book of Judges.

Right here on SoulPerBlog every 2 weeks I'll be posting some Shuffle the Deck activities to kick start your creative thinking. Rhonda will keep us visually motivated on Gallery Wednesdays, and Sandi will offer some additional insights to round out each study with a set of Play Your Hand questions.

(Not sure what any of that means? Click this link for an overview of each aspect of SoulPerSuit.)


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Shuffle the Deck activities for "Samson week."

1. My Cathedral, My Prayer Closet (Inspired by Rhonda’s Week 4 Gallery post)

Cathedrals were built to be awe-inspiring places of worship. The grandeur and beauty of the cathedral was meant to overwhelm the senses of anyone who entered and, using craftsmanship and artistry, to draw visitors into adoration for God.

Think of a place that acts like a cathedral in your personal worship life. Is it the seaside? The mountains? Lying on your back, identifying stars in the summer sky? Sitting in the front row of the symphony?
Take a photo or sketch your personal cathedral. Describe what it is about this place that inspires such worship in your spirit.

The Bible speaks of each Christian keeping a “prayer closet,” a quiet place where we can individually meet with God for contemplation, conversation and intimacy.

Think of a place that acts as a prayer closet in your personal worship life. Is it a literal closet? Is it your hot morning shower? Is it in the car on your evening commute? Is it walking laps around the high school track?
Take a photo or sketch your personal prayer closet. Describe what it is about this place that enables you to climb like a child onto the lap of Jesus.


2. Describe your day-to-day activities as a warrior doing battle. Describe the enemy, weapons, fields of battle, victories, and defeat. Do it in the form of prose, a comic book, an illustrated book, or an epic poem. Or video tape it using puppets or actors.

Gallery Wednesday - Judges 4

I didn't get a card up for Gallery Wednesday; things have just been crazy this past week. (And you guys aren't helping! Is anyone else making cards? Is anyone out there - there - there - there? Hello - Hello - Hello - Hello?)

This "card", for what it's worth, is the best I can do for this week. It just goes to show you sometimes it's not the art or the time, it's just getting your feelings on the page.

So how does this card apply to you?
What verse or quote would you attach to this card?

Play Your Hand

We’re in week four of our journey through the Book of Judges. And we continue observing ancient Israel’s cycle of sin, suffering, supplication, and salvation. Often we find this very cycle in our own lives. We mess up; we endure the consequences; we ask for deliverance; God bails us out. History certainly repeats itself!

Now it’s time to engage creatively, reflectively in what we’ve read. So below are some options. Either make up your own or select from one of these. Make a card about…

. Any change in your personal Cycle of Misery. If you made a card for your personal cycle in week 1, review the card. Are there any changes? Why? If you didn’t make a personal cycle of misery card in week 1, consider making one this week.
. What your current spiritual legacy looks like.
. A prayer for God’s Church that is suffering.
. Like Ephriam, fighting with the family while ignoring the common enemy.

For more info about how to do Play Your Hand exercises, you can go here.

SoulPerSuit Goes on Retreat

SoulPerSuit went on retreat recently. Here's a photo diary of our time:


Gilded frames awaiting masterpieces


Some participants needed time to unwind and let their thoughts lie peacefully.



Some participants chose to continue a long-running conversation with the Lord.





Some needed a chance to begin a conversation or come to terms with what God was doing in them.




Others used it as an opportunity to free up their worship experience.



Some used it as a means to process the weekend's teaching times in I John.


Everyone enjoyed a time to fellowship and create together over a common purpose.


Gilded frames overflowing with our words and pictures. Blessing each other and blessing the Lord.



Interested in incorporating SoulPerSuit on a retreat? Ask us how.

Gallery Wednesday - Judges 4

One of the Plays for this week was to color a monochromatic face with colors that describe my mood today.

I quickly sketched a female face on watercolor paper and then outlined it using a sharpie. I have a lot of Fernanda Guedes influences in there. I love her portraits.

Lucky for me, I think, I was in a really great mood today. The sun is out, the temperatures are mild, I got a fantastic haircut, did some shopping, splurged on a latte, and my husband started a job after six months of unemployment. Pretty much all the best things that can happen in one day.

My face turned out looking a lot like a transvestite but I felt very colorful, bright, and happy to be me today. Pink is my happy color for 2009. I wanted the portrait to appear friendly and psychedelic. The flame hair may not really fit with "friendly".

Java with the Judges: Week 4

Java with the Judges

Jephthah

Welcome to Week 4 of the SoulPerSuit Blog group venturing through the book of Judges together.

Here's a refresher on our schedule:

March 3- 16: Introduction and The Good Guys
March 17- 30: The Good and the Reluctant
March 31- April 13: Gideon
April 14- April 27: Jephthah
April 28- May 11: Samson the Conflicted
May 12- May 25: Civil War and Anarchy
May 26- May 31: Wrap- Up

Reminder:
- This SoulPerSuit group is hosted solely on the blogosphere. All the information this Judges group needs can be found right here on SoulPerBlog and in your personal copy of Java with the Judges.
- If you don't happen to have your own blog but still want to participate, just use the comments section here to share your thoughts on the book of Judges.
- If you're participating in this Java with the Judges study, please let us know when you've written a new blog post relating to the study.
- Be sure to visit the other Java participants' blogs to see what they're thinking about the book of Judges.

Right here on SoulPerBlog every 2 weeks I'll be posting some Shuffle the Deck activities to kick start your creative thinking. Rhonda will keep us visually motivated on Gallery Wednesdays, and Sandi will offer some additional insights to round out each study with a set of Play Your Hand questions.

(Not sure what any of that means? Click this link for an overview of each aspect of SoulPerSuit.)


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Shuffle the Deck activities for "Jephthah week."
1. Put on some music and do a happy dance.
For inspiration:
The Evolution of Dance
Snoopy's Dance
Matt's Dance
Ellen's Dance

2. MonochromaFace
In descriptive writing color and emotion are often tied together. “He turned red with embarrassment.” “She’s green with envy.” “A yellow-bellied coward.” “The little girl was tickled pink.”
What color describes your mood today?

Enlarge, print and color in one of the mannequin faces below using the entire range of hues for the color you choose. (Ex. for green- use light green, kelly green , olive, lime, forest green, teal, grass green)

Gallery Wednesday - Judges 3

Hanging on for Dear Life

Do you ever feel that way - like you're hanging on for dear life?

I just finished reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert and there's an analogy she shares that describes this feeling perfectly:

"Imagine that the universe is a great spinning engine. You want to stay near the core of the thing - right in the hub of the wheel - not out at the edges where all the wild whirling takes place, where you can get frayed and crazy. The hub is calmness - that's your heart. That's where God lives within you." - "Eat, Pray, Love", Elizabeth Gilbert

The imagery was so poignant for me I drew the picture above in my journal with the quote. It wasn't until I decided to include it here on the blog for Gallery Wednesday that I saw it was another cycle.

There are times in our lives when we're closer to God than others (that's my little meditating stick figure next to the heart). This is often described as being at peace or having a sense of peace. But we're constantly moving in and out of this cycle, sometimes closer and other times farther away. I know when I'm farther away, I feel more like the little stick figure hanging on to the outer ring. Everything seems harder and I feel more scared. Look at all that emptiness around the poor stick figure hanging on! There's nothing else to grab onto.


I also enjoyed finding a little math applied philosophy in my sketch. If I have to get to another point on the ring, I have to travel a lot faster and a lot further on the outer rings than when I'm closer. The closer I am to God, the easier the pace, the shorter the distances.

This also reminds me of my labyrinth!

Even if you're closer to the center and there's chaos going on around you, you still feel calmer than when you're on the edge. Gideon seemed more frazzled hiding in a winepress to thrash wheat (Judges 6:11) than when he was at the edge of the enemies camp armed with nothing but trumpets, jars, and torches (Judges 7:17-18).

Play Your Hand

It's "Play Your Hand" day. Play Your Hand is a SoulPerSuit label for the exercise in which we provide questions designed to inspire artistic interaction about the week's study. Because we're journeying through the biblical Book of Judges, this week's questions relate to our third week in Java with the Judges.

For more info about how to do Play Your Hand exercises, go here.

This week: Choose one of the questions below or make up one of your own. As you ponder it, think about how you can make an SPS card (or clay piece, or jewelry, etc.) to illustrate your idea of choice. Here are some idea options for week three.

Make a card about…

. An area where you’re weak and God is strong.
. The signs you require from God before you believe Him.
. Your fleece.
. Bing like Jotham—allowing God to seek vengeance on your behalf.
. Worship in the midst of your weakness.

Not for the Life of Me - Judges 3

It seemed appropriate, when I kicked off my TGIF playlist this morning, that "Vacation" by the Go-Go's started. I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love by Melissa Gilbert about her year long trek across Italy, India and Indonesia so my mind is in a get-away kind of mood.

When Gilbert was first in Italy, she struggled with the notion that she was there for pleasure. She had an ingrained sense of guilt about deserving to enjoy her surrounding. In a response that I'm very familiar with, she tried to strive for pleasure. "I wanted to take on pleasure like a homework assignment."

I am constantly striving and the question in this week's study, Java with the Judges, is very hard to register: Does it ever bother you that you're weak? Yes! Always!

Somewhere along in my early childhood I surmised that being weak was bad, very, very bad. So, from this childhood mystery developed my self preservation technique to never be weak. Seriously. Freaky, huh? I mean, how can someone do that? Quite obviously, not without a lot of damage which defeats the whole self preservation thing and creating guilt in experiencing any kind of pleasure. Hmm, that sounds like a cycle.

God wants us to have pleasure in the way that we live and serve; he's provided so much for us to have pleasure in. The reward in living and obeying is in discovering where you fit and experiencing pleasure from it that you never imagined possible. The obstacle we all run into is our modus operandi - our mode of self preservation. It blinds us from seeing what we can do.

Gideon was scared, there's no doubt about it (Judges 6:15). When told what he was to do, he stalled. But when you get him in battle, he's on fire (Judges 7:15)! He takes the reigns and thrives. It may be hard to say he took pleasure in this but its obvious he's in his element; there is no more fear or worry of self preservation. When he got past his knee jerk reaction, he learned something new and amazing about himself.

So maybe the false modes of self preservation we have aren't only preventing us from serving God in some cool way but even keeping us from experiencing the amazing delights God has bestowed generously on us like food, worship, and relationship.

Gallery Wednesday - Judges 3

For this weeks Shuffle I made a cootie catcher. It's not finished yet but I like the idea of doodling on it for the rest of the study. I stuck with pencil and paper this time; no glitter.

The idea of a cootie catcher is like casting lots or using an 8 ball. You ask a question then select a number between one and eight. The cootie is moved that many times and then you select another number between one and eight. This number reveals your answer. So there are eight slots for you to insert whatever kind of answers you want ("Never!", "Could be", "With certitude", "Not in your future", etc.)

I hadn't planned on making it spiritual; it just sort of happened that way. There have been a few key verses that I've attached too over the last month since we've been going through these hard times. I put them in the cootie catcher to help me remember them. Instead of writing the verses out, I created little icons to represent the key parts of the verse.

I've only got four verses right now so I have room during the rest of the study to add more. There's also the fun of doodling a design on the outside.

SPRINGS OF LIFE FROM HEART
Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. -Proverbs 4:23

CROWN OF BEAUTY IN GOD'S HAND
You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem in the hand of your God. -Isaiah 62:3

GOD EXCHANGES ASHES FOR BEAUTY
To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory. -Isaiah 61:3

YOUR HEART REFLECTS YOU
As in water the face is reflected as a face, 1 so a person’s heart 2 reflects the person. - Proverbs 27:19