SPS on Twitter

SoulPerSuit is now on twitter.




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What can SPS do for you through twitter?

SPS on Facebook

Updated 03/16/2009

Are you on Facebook? So are we.

If you'd like to be a part of the SoulPerSuit Group on Facebook, let us know so we can send you an invitation. You can leave your Facebook account name in the comments or e-mail it to us at soulpersuit at soulpersuit dot com. just do a search for "soulpersuit". When the search results show up, click the "Groups" tab. We should appear on the first page. Click "Request to join" and we'll approve it asap!

In the group you can post your SPS cards, participate in discussion questions, and get to know the whole SPS community.

Are there any other social networks that you use?

Artuality: The Table of Grace

Each month, L'Chaim hosts a blog carnival in which participants celebrate the varied forms of art and the ways it inspires our lives. The theme for Artuality in February is furniture.

I am attracted to furniture because of the stories I imagine behind the pieces. How was it made? Where did the materials come from? Who made it? Was it a rugged cotton farmer making a primitive stool for his son to sit on and whittle by the fire after chores? Was it a highly-trained furniture maker tooling a cabriole legged chair with velvet upholstry and claw-and-ball feet for a wealthy British family? Did it sell for millions of dollars at Sotheby's last auction? Did a bunch of neighborhood kids find it in a chicken coop and heft it up to their tree house to store their treasures?
I just love to imagine who and where it came from... and who and where it's going to.

My mother owned a small antique shop when I was in junior high and there were few places I'd rather be on a weekend than milling around the antique mall while she worked, looking over strange and wonderful remnants of days gone by. My teenage-girl bedroom was outfitted in primitive antiques. I felt so comfortable there.


Here are my inspirational pieces of furniture for February:
About 3 years ago some neighbors of my parents were moving and trying to find homes for their unneeded furniture. Our family was the blessed recipient of a complete set- dining room table, 6 chairs, a sideboard and hutch, and a china cabinet.

Free furniture that is in gorgeous shape, with a beautiful finish, and is large enough for our family and several friends... and... did I mention it was completely free?
Sounds like grace.

I thank my God for those kind neighbors every time I enjoy dinner with my family at this table, or see the kids fetching their crayons and Playdoh out of the sideboard, or dusting Granny's thimble collection in the china cabinet. Every time we add another leaf to the table to make ready for a feast with friends, I recall the grace that was bestowed on us in this gift.

We barely knew those neighbors of my parents. There certainly wasn't anything we'd done to deserve their dining room set.
Grace.

Doing schoolwork at the table of grace

New Church Part 3.1

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

In the last post I talked about how each member of our group is involved individually in service throughout their daily lives. We feel very strongly that all you have to do is pay close attention to what’s going on around you and the people you encounter and you’ll have plenty of service opportunities – great and small.

If you get to know those that make your coffee at your favorite java joint, you might discover that one of the baristas has just recently been diagnosed with cancer.

If your neighbors have living room furniture in their front yard during the summer, it might be because they have no air conditioning.

Last Christmas a local church decided that, instead of spending money on a Christmas program, they would give each member $100 (a talent, if you will) and asked them use it in service to someone – to multiply it. The J family in our group is a member of this church and decided they would give the money to Heifer International. This organization hopes to end hunger and poverty by providing people with a source of food. Instead of simply providing a family with a limited supply of rations, they purchase the family a cow, goat, or pig that will provide for the long-term and contribute to the economy. (Go look at their unique gift catalog.)

Daddy-J was sharing with Son-J’s teacher at school how cool it was that they could buy a cow for a poor family. The teacher makes frequent trips to Nepal and is familiar with the poverty in countries like this and thought the idea was great. Together they have started Read to Feed, a fundraising program done by Heifer International, at Son-J’s school. Their original goal was to raise enough money to purchase one whole cow - $500. They have over 30% of the student population participating and they are challenging other local elementary schools to do the same.

I hope to share more of our everyday service opportunities. In the mean time, share some of your own.

New Church Part 3

Part 1, Part 2

Everyone Is Involved In Service

I had a distinct idea of what service would look like for our group. As we discussed our passions and explored the areas of service we'd been involved with in the past, a mystical, divine common element would arise. There would be a pentecostal moment when we all looked at each other and knew how to join forces for a common goal and move united to make an impact on the community.

Of course, this has never happened.

In fact I almost felt like the idea of service was being avoided. I was beginning to wonder if my group was not serious about putting soles to souls.

I don't know what changed during the last meeting. As individuals, were we suddenly in cosmic alignment? Or we were all just getting it?

Week after week, we share about the people we encounter, the worship experiences we have at unexpected moments, and our intense desire to make our faith count. Because we pursue our passions on a daily basis, I realized that we are serving wherever we are with whomever we met. Our “community of service” includes pre-school children and their parents, helping neighbors, making other people successful in their pursuits, the elderly, co-workers, being a great friend, and teaching. This is a beautiful way to serve community. 

I am overwhelmed at the capacity of love in my group. 

What day in and day out moments of service do you participate in?

Have you ever had such preconceived notions about the way things should look that you completely missed what was in front of you?

Part 3.1

New Church Part 2

Part 1, Part 3

The first time I wrote to you about our new church was last year in May. I think it's time for a little update on what we've been up to.

From my perspective, it didn't seem like we were making any strides. I'd envisioned us doing some sort of service in the community but we've never come together in agreement on anything. I thought that we'd find a common passion that we could explore and claim as our own like prayer or Bible study. Our membership has also dropped. I claim that's not a sign that things are going wrong but that things are going exactly right. But you tend to see affirmation in what you're doing by seeing others clamoring to join you. No one's clamoring.

I was slightly disheartened by all this until last week's meeting.

It was like any other meeting. Currently we're discussing Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. This is sort of a biography of one guys spiritual journey and ruminations. It evaluates the idea of God, faith, and responsibility from various perspectives in spiritual growth. It asks all the hard questions that our group really relishes chewing on.

Last Friday we discussed chapters nine through twelve. A couple of days later, MyGeek asked me what I thought about the discussion. As we talked about it I realized we, as a group, had come to some solid observations in that meeting. Theories or suppositions, if you will. And it wasn't the result of the one meeting but of weeks and weeks of discussion - discussions that have included Velvet Elvis, Premium Roast with Ruth, Espresso with Esther, Mocha on the Mount, and countless on-line resources. As we've considered several view points, our lives, our culture, and the Word, we're forming our own observations about church in the postmodern culture.

It's sort of thrilling to think about, really. We've got our own little think tank going on. It's like discussions that might have gone on between C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the other members of the Inklings on pub night or the students in the mountain community, L’Abri, founded by Francis Schaeffer in the 70s.

Well, sort of.

In future "New Church" posts, I'll talk more about our observations, such as:

As a group

• Everyone is involved in service.
• We are doing what we're passionate about.

Think Tank Observations:

• Church is not in one place.
• Stories are not in one person
• We are finding unusual, unexpected moments of worship
• Everyone has a story

Are you involved in a discussion group or think tank? What have you observed?

The Give and Take of Art

A few nights ago, I was reading the CD insert for my Seal CD and came upon this wonderful sentiment:

One of the most popular questions people seem to ask is, "Why don't you print your lyrics on the album?" Well, the answer to that is that quite often, my songs mean one thing to me and another to the listener. But that's OK because I think it's the general vibe of what I'm saying that is important and not the exact literal translation. How many times have you fallen in love with a lyric that you thought went, "Show me a day with Hilda Ogden and I'll despair," only to find that it went "Show me a way to solve your problems and I'll be there." I guess what I'm saying is that the song is always larger in the listeners mind because with it they attach imagery which is relative to their own personal experience. So it is your perception of what I'm saying rather than what I actually say that is the key.

You give something.
I give something different.

I take something.
You take something different.

That is the beauty of art. That is the beauty of life.

Color Collaboration

In 2001, 14 journal artists joined forces in a round-robin journal swap. With a simple theme- COLOR- each artist "hosted" a journal based on a single color scheme. All the artists needed to do was choose a color scheme, create a journal with enough space for the other 13 artists to work in, decorate the front cover and the first couple of pages to get things rolling, and mail it to the next artist on the list. The game was afoot!
Red, Black, White, Blue and Ochre, Aqua, Sepia, Violet and Yellow, Hot Pink and Orange, Sunset, Forest Floor, Metallic... from the get-go, one could tell this was going to be an interesting collaboration.

Every two weeks, artist's completed their contribution and mailed off one journal while anxiously awaiting for the next one to arrive. All mediums were fair game, all interpretations of the color were fair game, all approaches to creating these journals... fair game. It was an opportunity for each artist to show their true colors.

Over the next 16 months, the artists reveled in the journals they received. Some describe ripping open the packages containing their next journal before the postman even left their front walk. Others tell that they would dangle it like a carrot before themselves in order to accomplish some pressing administrative or household task. Still others just wanted to be alone with the newest journal, savoring it with a glass of wine or coffee, curling up with it by the fire to explore every detail of the previous artists' work.

They asked questions like:
How did the previous journal artists interpret "green"? How can I spring board from that idea or offer a counterpoint to it?
What medium lends itself to the boldness of violet? The subtlety of sepia?
How can I incorporate this piece of chicken wire (or roller skate wheel, or old apron tie) into my house design for "white"?

With each journal received, the artists had the challenge to weigh their independent creative vision against that of the entire group. They had to get a feel for the mingling of ideas and concepts within each journal's pages, while still maintaining their personal sense of style. Some artists chose to stick with their favorite media, others felt the need to branch out and try something new.

Karen Michel says, "Each journal truly emanated the spirit and style of the artist who made it, and at first it was quite a challenge to hold strong to my own vision and what I conceived to be my personal style. Working with the spirit of collaboration, I eased myself into the mingling of visions and images, getting my feet wet at first, then diving right into what turned out to be a very animated conversation of colors. I would listen closely to hear and feel what the book was saying to me and do my best as an interpreter."

The community that developed through their art journaling experiment continues on. In 2003, Somerset Studio published the collective works of this art journal community in the book, True Colors: A Palette of Collaborative Art Journals. It is a feast for the eyes, and a vanguard for the altered book and journal industry. Many of the 14 artists have websites featuring their work, as well as tips and ideas for creating altered art.

Michelle Ward, Nina Bagley, Lynne Perella, Anne Bagby, Keely Barham, Sarah Fishburn, Claudine Helmuth, Teesha Moore, Karen Michel, Marylinn Kelly, Lisa Renner, Judi Riesch

Check out the book.
Check out the artist's sites.
Get inspired.

Art Community: Community Art

Art is one of the few things in the world that builds community. Whether it's viewing a piece of sculpture in a sculpture garden, visiting a gallery opening, listening to a symphony at the concert hall, or watching a show in the theatre, art is created to be shared.
Shared in the enjoyment of a completed work. Sometimes even shared throughout the entire creative process.

Art is meant to be shared with others.

A wonderful example of art that is shared in conception, execution and enjoyment of the finished product, is Community Bridge, in Frederick, MD. This piece began as an effort to revitalize and restore a controversial sector of Frederick. The artist, William Cochran, proposed a collaborative art project using a bridge as his canvas. Not just any old bridge though, he wanted this specific bridge that divided the community into a quasi "right and wrong side of the tracks," both racially and economically. Cochran's vision was to use the very thing dividing the city in two and redeem it to become a point of unity, collaboration and community spirit. Hence it's name, Community Bridge.


Cochran asked 174,000 people (both locally and around the world) one question, "What image represents the spirit of community to you?"




In process from 1993-1998, and painted entirely in the trompe l'oeil style (meaning that the bridge surfaces are completely flat. Anything you see that appears to be three-dimensional is an illusion), Cochran and his art team incorporated hundreds of ideas contributed from the world-wide community. In the words of Cochran, "Imagination is the most powerful force available to humankind and everyone without exception has access to that force."

Cochran relied on a community to canvas the public for ideas. Cochran relied on a community of ten painters to assist in making the bridge mural a reality. Cochran now relies on the community of Frederick, and all the out-of-town visitors, to enjoy and experience Community Bridge together. Cochran's vision depends on community collaboration and serves to draw that community closer together. And one could even say that it creates community where there was none.


Cochran hopes to add still more symbols to the bridge. Click here to join the Community Bridge collaboration and submit your answer to the question,
"What symbol represents community to you?"