This Page Is Intentionally Left Blank

From the world's most renown unreliable source, Wikipedia:

An intentionally blank page is a page that is devoid of content, and may be unexpected. Such pages may serve purposes ranging from place-holding to space-filling and content separation. Sometimes, these pages carry a notice such as, "This page is intentionally left blank." Such notices typically appear in printed works, such as legal documents, manuals and exam papers, in which the reader might otherwise suspect that the blank pages are due to a printing error and where missing pages might have serious consequences. The phrase is a self-refuting meta-reference, in that it falsifies itself by its very existence on the page in question.

An intentionally blank page is a brilliant metaphor.
What do you think of when you see them at the end of a book?

What is Sin to a Postmodern?

Here are my thoughts after reading Scot McKnight's post, "Emerging Atonement: What is Sin?"

Postmoderns reject Christian terminology as being judgmental, hypocritical, and exclusionary. "Sin" is on of the Christian terms they reject. If a discussion with a postmodern is to eventually lead to a discussion of atonement, then we need to consider what means "sin" to a postmodern and use those words. Let's explore the postmodern culture USA very briefly.

Self Aggrandizing
Raising one's street cred is not just about materialism (the latest technology for your hip and designer clothes) but it's also about how charitable you are or how green you are or how involved in other cultures you are. And this is all done on a large scale, globally, if possible. Send money to Phuket, bid at a charity auction, or volunteer at the humane society one day a week, then talk it up at the local coffee house that uses only organic materials and recycles.

Self Promotion
Do you have pictures on Flickr? Have you made videos for YouTube? How many friends do you have on FaceBook? Do you have a blog? Only one? The numbers of ways for social networking on-line are endless. YouTube videos alone have made several average, everyday people famous and/or rich. What could be better than having your video downloaded and viewed a million times? Getting paid for it, maybe.

Reality TV seems to be on it's way out, but the networks will repackage the idea because our desire to be affirmed in public is insatiable. We are the personalities now. Have you noticed how much more energetic and personable game show contestants are? And their whole family is on the show with them. The possibilities are endless for makeovers, surviving, getting a husband, getting a wife, becoming more sociably acceptable, losing weight, or proving you're top in your field. Who would have ever thought you'd see game show winners walking the red carpet?

Self Realization
You need to know who you are and what you want. And if you don't, at least you're doing a lot to get there. You're reading The Secret, you're doing yoga, or you're Feng Shui-ing your living room. If one thing doesn't work, you simply pursue another. There's always something new and better and they'll tell you about it on Oprah or Dr. Phil. You're getting closer all the time, you can just feel it! Closer to figuring out who you are and what you're doing here.

So, to a postmodern, these things are the actualization of a complete life. So why these things? Why pursue these particular things? What drives this culture to Self Aggrandizing, Self Promotion, and Self Realization?

Don't misunderstand me. These things are not wrong. Recycling, taking yoga, and giving to charity are all good things (I do these things), but for the postmodern they are a replacement for the real deal.

So what terminology or what imagery do you use in the postmodern culture for "sin"?

A Spoonful Of Sugar

We recently got a clothesline at our house. As I helped my daughter hang her clothing on the line last week, she informed me that she has a very particular way to organize her clothing on the line. It's like file folders. All blue jeans and slacks on the first line. All short sleeved tops on the second line. Next, come the long sleeved shirts. Behind that is the sock and underwear row. (So the neighbors won't see her delicates. Smart thinking!) And finally, her sweatsuits, pajamas and jackets on the rear row. A place for everything, and everything in its place.
She was quite adamant that I hang her clothes in this and no other fashion, or I'd be relieved of my duties as "laundry hanger upper helper."

My middle daughter likes to hang her clothes like there's a party going on. Her dresses want to mambo with her jammies. Short and long sleeve shirts waltz together in the breeze, holding hands and bobbing up and down. Her socks would never dare to hang together in matched pairs- this IS a get-to-know-your-neighbor kind of affair, after all. She finds a pink knitted poncho and plays matchmaker with her green camoflauge cargo pants. The match made, they tango on the line for the rest of the afternoon. She twists the legs of her jeans tight so they can unwind and twirl from the clothespin- just because she thinks her jeans might enjoy the ride.

You would never, ever find either of these children hanging her clothes out to dry like her sister does it.

(Me? How do I hang out my clothes? Oh, I thought you'd never ask. I color code the clothes line. I wash all of our clothes in color groups so I've been having fun hanging out my many colors of the rainbow. But within the parameters of ROYGBV I'm also trying to be efficient and balance the weight on each line so things don't drag in the grass. Who wants to wash the same piece of clothing twice just because it dipped in the mud?! Not me. No sir.
Look and see... you can tell precisely where one wash load ends and another begins.)

I've been pleasantly surprised at how willing we've been to wash laundry around here lately- all because we get the giddy pleasure of hanging and organizing our belongings in the way that pleases us. (I have taken so many photos of our laundry hanging in the sunshine this week, that I know the neighbors are beginning to wonder.)

It all makes me think of Mary Poppins and her spoonful of sugar. It really does help the medicine go down.

In ev'ry job that must be done
There is an element of fun
You find the fun and snap!
The job's a game

And ev'ry task you undertake
Becomes a piece of cake
A lark! A spree! It's very clear to see...

And so I thought we might help each other here on SoulPerBlog.

What is your least favorite household, school, ministry or work-related task? Something you can't escape but find completely mundane? The thing you dread beyond all other things? The job that brings out the groans and full-body convulsions when you know it's "that time again"?

Share it here in the comment section we can help each other brainstorm a creative approach to our mundane tasks. Sooner than you can say "supercalifragilistikexpialidocious," our creative selves will be engaged in transforming those jobs we detest into...

A lark! A spree! It's very clear to see...
(and now you'll be humming for the rest of the day.)

Feed Your Artist Soul

If you want to know how to use the SoulPerSuit concept to interact with spiritual truth, go here.

We have lots of new photos of cards that people have created as they've interacted with biblical truth (like the one you see here). You can click on any of the pictures you find here to see more.

If you want to do some creative activities in preparation for studying the Book of Colossians, go here.

Our Yahoo group for Colossians is full, but don't let that keep you from doing your own creative study of the book solo. Or grab some friends and go through it together. For a calendar to give you some structure, go here.

The Tool of Product- Pt. 2

A few weeks back, I started a small series about making SoulPerSuit cards and how they can be significant to your faith journey.
This week, I want to touch on how a SoulPerSuit card can actually be insignificant to your faith journey. There are some things that a SoulPerSuit card simply cannot do. Gotta keep it all in perspective, right?


Things SoulPerSuit cards are not:

-a substitute for active application
If the Lord is impressing on you the need to go to a brother and be reconciled, then don't make a SoulPerSuit card about reconciliation… go and be reconciled.
Perhaps you feel convicted to give over a certain area of your life to the Holy Spirit's control. I encourage you to not dance around the topic by fashioning a pretty SoulPerSuit card. Put yourself at the mercy of the Lord and do what He is prompting you to do.

(Between you and me, living out your faith and convictions is a much better SoulPerSuit "card" than anything you could dream up with a magazine collage.)

-an art contest
There is no such thing as a juried SoulPerSuit art show.
Your job is to get your thoughts out in a visual way that is meaningful to you.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about. (Artistically? Mediocre. Meaningful? Oh yeah.)

- mandatory (a)
Can you believe I just said that?!?

If you aren't feeling inspired to make a card during a given week's SoulPerSuit lesson, skip it. There are no rules. Often times your ideas will bubble and brew in the background and by the time you get to Week 5 of the study, you'll have the perfect idea for Week 2's application point. You can go back and revisit any lesson at any time. There are no rules.

But wait, there's more to this story...

- mandatory (b)
You might happen to be one of those people who just. plain. can’t. ever. think. of. a. single. card. idea.
Even after Week 2 and Week 5 march by.
Don't lose hope.
If it freaks you out to attempt making a SoulPerSuit card out of thin air, I recommend starting out by tackling the Shuffle the Deck questions at the beginning of each SoulPerSuit lesson. While the Shuffles are meant to get your creative juices pumping as a lead in to the focus of the lesson, the Shuffles might be the only creative thing you feel you can manage for now. Focus on the creative things you can do, and let the rest fall away. There are no rules.

The great thing about those Shuffle the Deck questions is that the instructions and art supply parameters are provided for you. All you have to do is follow the directions.

-just a playing card with a picture glued to it
While of course, this may be what your SoulPerSuit card looks like, there's really an infinite variety of things you can do for SPS.
If you like to bake cakes, bake a cake.
If you knit, then knit.
A dancer? Choreograph a little something that springs from your time in the Scriptures. Rhonda has even suggested attaching artwork all over the side door of a Volkswagen Bug!
Whatever thing you like to do most, do that thing.
Whatever new thing you want to try, try that thing.
There are no rules.

Study Winner

The winner of the Cappuccino with Colossians study is Heather G.

Thanks to all who participated publicly and privately. Loved your answers!

Approval of Man & Greed

"Six billion people live in this world, and I can only muster thoughts for one. Me." – Blue Like Jazz, Don Miller

Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak
by Jean Hatzfeld, 2005

"No one was going to their fields anymore. Why dig in the dirt when we were harvesting without working, eating our fill without growing a thing?" - Joseph-Désiré, Hutu participant in the Rwandan genocide


Machete Season was written by Jean Hartzfeld, a French journalist who went to the prisons in Rwanda to interview ten Hutu men who took part in the genocide of 50,000 of their Tutsi neighbors. These men who had grown up together went to "work" with their machetes each morning in April and May of 1994 to slaughter every Tutsi they could hunt down. Hartzfeld wanted the story told by the killers so the book is almost entirely quotes by these ten men.

I read Machete Season a couple of years ago and started this post soon after. I wanted to try to explain what I'd learned about human nature because the words of these men struck at the heart of me. They seemed familiar. But I found it difficult to explain or admit how the words revealed me given the level of gruesome detail of their atrocities. Surely there is some significant difference between them and I.

Recently our outXast group finished reading Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller. In the chapter entitled "Problems" he discusses the process of coming face-to-face with your own depravity. He's having a conversation with a friend about the genocide in the Congo and how horrible it is. Then his friend asks him, "Do you think you could do something like that, Don?" Miller really had to think about this and was able to explain what my prejudice couldn't.

You're cornered, you see. If you say yes, I am capable of such things, it makes you flawed, vulnerable, culpable, predisposed, responsible. If you say no, you've made yourself, your essence, your makeup better than those men. Not just the action of one man or even Hartzfeld's ten, but of entire nations of people who commit unspeakable acts! All people are created in the image of God. Just. Like. You. How do you explain that? Don's friend says, "I think it is easier to do bad things than good things. And there is something in that basic fact, some little clue to the meaning of the universe."

I think we have a very common problem in "civilized" societies and worse still, in Christendom, that it's Them and Us, that we're separate. But we've fooled ourselves into thinking we look so much better or at least disappear in the grand scheme of things if we're standing next to a guy with a bloody machete. Thing is, God knows the secrets of the heart; He doesn't need to see your hands.

The quotes below are translated from either French or Kinyarwanda, the Rwandan language. As I read the quotes from these, my human brothers, I was struck by the matter-of-fact way they speak belies the actual stories they're telling. How familiar their excuses sound, even to the point of complaining about how difficult "the work" was.

----------------------------------------------

Alphonse: We slogged through the marshes with a crowd of people to kill. The mud came up to our ankles, sometimes to our knees. The sun hammered our skulls. The papyrus tore our shirts and the skin beneath. Colleagues were watching us. If they saw trembling, they sneered and called us cowards. If they saw hesitation, they grew angry and accused us of treachery. If they saw generosity, they scolded and called us old women. They were quick to abuse us.

In that situation, the jeering of colleagues is awful to overcome if it gets around your neighborhood. It is just the same in school or in the cabaret, but more serious in the marshes. This taunting is a poison in life. You try to protect yourself from it, of course. So you join the camp of the ones doing it. When the killings begin, you find it easier to ply the machete than to be stabbed by ridicule and contempt. This truth is impossible to understand for anyone who was not there beside us.

That is what I want to say. In the tumult of killings, stepping aside is not viable for a person, since that person would then find only his neighbors' backs to talk to about ordinary concerns. Being alone is too risky for us. So the person jumps up at the signal and takes part, even if the price is that bloody work you know.

----------------------------------------------

Pio: At the start of a genocide, there is a cause, a reason, and people who find it worthwhile. The cause does not drift around there by accident; it's even fine-tuned by the intimidators: the desire to win the game for good. But the people it tempts are the ones who just happen to live there. And I was there, at home, when the temptation came calling. I'm not saying I was forced by Satan and the like. Through greed and obedience I found the cause worthwhile, and I ran down to the marshes. But if I had been born in Tanzania or in France, I would have been far away from the commotion and dirty bloodshed.

Simple people cannot resist a temptation like that, not without biblical rescue, not on the hills, anyway. Why? Because of the beautiful words of complete success. They win you over. Afterward the temptation cannot go to prison, so they imprison the people. And the temptation can certainly show up just as dreadful further along.

When someone sees what is in his own best interest come right up to him, and his colleagues as well, he loses no more time in waiting and hesitation, he no longer considers feelings, no longer hears pleas for mercy. He sees Evil in the form of Good and is content with it. He thinks of all he will gain for himself and his family until the end of his days. He follows his own best interest into the swamps.

Afterward he cleans himself of filthy mud and blood the way he downs a Primus. That is what I did. I'm not saying I am not at fault. But I am punished both for my mistake and for my unlucky fate.

----------------------------------------------

Léopord: Through killing well, eating well, looting well, we felt so puffed up and important, we didn't even care about the presence of God. Those who say otherwise are half-witted liars. Some claim today that they sent up prayers during the killings. They're lying: no one ever heard an Ave Maria or the like, they're only trying to jump in front of their colleagues on line for repentance.

In truth, we thought that from then on we could manage for ourselves without God. The proof—we killed even on Sunday without ever noticing it. That's all.

----------------------------------------------

Joseph-Désiré: It became a madness that went on all day by itself. You raced ahead or you got out of the way to escape being run over, but you followed the crowd.

The one who rushed off machete in hand, he listened to nothing anymore. He forgot everything, first of all his level of intelligence. Doing the same thing every day meant we didn't have to think about what we were doing. We went out and came back without having a single thought. We hunted because it was the order of the day, until the day was over. Our arms ruled our heads; in any case our heads no longer had their say.

Free Giveaway: Art Supplies

It seems that watercolor pencils have recently piqued the interest of several SoulPerSuiters so I scoured the art store for a beginner set to give away. This pack contains pencils in red, blue, green and black, and comes with a round tipped brush and a 4X6 " spiral bound pad of watercolor paper. It's the perfect size to travel to the park or stay home in the backyard on these nice spring days to experiment with paint.

Wondering what watercolor pencils can do? How they work? Here are a couple of in-house reports:
Graduate Level Coloring
Watercolor Greeting Cards

In this giveaway I'm also including a fresh deck of vintage-printed playing cards for your SoulPerSuit experience.

*This giveaway is open to everyone, even if you can't join us for Cappuccino with Colossians.

To enter, leave a comment on this post and tell me whether you're a traveler or a home-body. Will you be watercoloring in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, or right here in River City?

I'll post the winner's name on Friday, April 11th.

Winner: Art Supplies

Grateful Gramma is the winner of the set of watercolor pencils and vintage-print playing cards.
Congratulations, Ginnie!

E-mail me your address and I'll get these on their way to you.
soulpererin at yahoo dot com

Free Giveaway

Did you notice the announcement (above) about the new Yahoo group we're forming for the next Colossians study? Well, here's your chance to win a copy of Cappuccino with Colossians.

Just leave a comment, and we'll hold a drawing next Friday for the winner. What should you say? Pretend you're an author whose story begins with this sentence: "It would surprise even my friends if they knew what I had hidden in my closet." For your comment: Use your imagination and tell one thing your character is hiding and why.

Arts in the Church

What makes a successful artist? Watch this short video...

Announcement: Cappuccino with Colossians

Registration is now open for the next SoulPerSuit group going through Sandra Glahn's book, Cappuccino with Colossians

If you're interested in joining this study art group, here are some things you need to know:

- Contrary to what I wrote here before, we are NOT hosting the group on ShoutLife. Sorry to misinform you, but after examining the technical details, we decided to go back to the mostly-trustworthy but at least very-familiar Yahoo group. So, if you 'd like to join the discussion, click the purple button on the right.

- This SoulPerSuit group is limited to 10 participants, so if you'd like to join the discussion, click the purple button on the right.

-Our group discussion will begin on April 13 and run for 9 weeks. Get yourself a copy of Cappuccino with Colossians, break out your deck of playing cards, the scissors and glue sticks, and click the purple button on the right.

Tabletop Tripod

I was thrilled with the gift MyGeek recently gave me: a table-top tripod for my digital camera. He came up with the idea totally on his own and it’s perfect.

I love my little Nikon Coolpix 2100. There are definitely newer models on the market but I’ve gotten such great photos out of this camera I've no reason to upgrade. (The pictures shown here were taken with a Treo phone camera, not my Nikon, obviously.)

The tripod is the Philips Tabletop Tripod with Ball Head at the unbeatable price of $8!

Completely collapsed, it takes up a space not bigger than 6″x2″x2″. The tripod legs have little rubber feet to keep it from slipping or sliding around. The length of the legs will extend from 6″ to 11″. The camera mounts to a ball joint that allows the camera to be set in an unlimited number of angles, including looking straight down! In this position, I can see in the camera's display screen perfectly to compose my shot.

It’s going to be great for shooting pictures of my artwork (carved rubber, greeting cards, tags, SPS cards, journals, etc.). Having the camera stationary, I can use the timer, which will help keep shadows out of the shot and limit blurring.

It’ll also come in handy on retreats when I have to shoot pictures of 100+ SPS cards. The biggest issue I have is blurry photos. I have to take a lot of pictures and I don’t have much time to do it. Now I can set up a “photo booth” of sorts so that my background and lighting are always set.

Thanks, MyGeek!

The Tool of Product- Part 1

Part of our mission at SoulPerSuit is to help unpack some of the creative process. While putting together a SoulPerSuit card is a highly individual act, there are a few tools one can keep on hand to make the process less intimidating. (You've read that before, haven't you?)

One "tool" to bring with you is the understanding of what can be retained via the finished product of a SoulPerSuit card.

I hesitate to urge SoulPerSuit participants to focus on producing cards because I realize the temptation to hinge our self-worth on our productivity. Somehow our society has gotten a skewed view that the amount or quality of things we produce in this world has a direct correlation to our value as a person. The more stuff we have to show for ourselves, the better our chances of not being "voted off the island." And we certainly wouldn't want anyone to decline joining a SoulPerSuit group because they feel that can't make art- whether good art or enough art, or both.

Please purge those notions from your mind, that's not what "producing" in SoulPerSuit is about.

There is a downside to majoring on the process rather than product though. Many times SPS participants get a flash of inspiration or a direct application from the Lord about an area of their life, but things fizzle out because they don't take that thought to the next level. Making a SoulPerSuit card might just fit the bill.

Consider God's commands to the Israelites to build altars and memorials throughout their land. Was his purpose that the Hebrews have a first-rate collection of fine art? No, obviously not. These were piles of dusty stone set beside the roads, at the riverbanks, and under trees. Taking the materials readily at hand, the Israelites built these monuments as a reminder of God's work in their lives. God wanted them to have these visual reminders as places to stand and look and share the story of how God saved them, disciplined them, restored them, loved them. God knew their fickle minds and their faulty memories.

He knows ours too. And that is why we encourage SPS participants to make cards in conjunction with their time in the Word. If the Lord is making an impact on you, don't trust that impact your fickle memory. Don't allow the profound words He's saying to you in a SoulPerSuit study get choked out, blown away or dried up by the distractions of life. Do something to remember them, to keep them before you in a way that brings impact and focus. Do something that you can share with others. Get your ideas out in a SoulPerSuit card.

Here are a few samples of my personal SoulPerSuit card "monuments":

"Wherever the Good Shepherd has me is a green pasture."
- based on Psalm 23
Death, decay and deserts are all known to my Shepherd, I am never out of his hands or his plans
Magazine collage, playing cards, red thread
Hangs by my kitchen sink

The Matrix of Merrymaking
- inspired by the Sermon on the Mount
Reminds me of my need to fast and see with spiritual eyes
Playing card, gold wrapping paper, magazine collage
I use this one as a bookmark

Hesed
-inspired by the book of Ruth
The loyal love that leads to redemption
Digital photograph of my kids in the backyard
This is the screensaver on my laptop

Next time I'm back, I'll share a few ideas about what SoulPerSuit cards are not.

Does God Care about Beauty?

Does God care about beauty as it relates to our worship environment? Jesus said that those who worship Him will worship in spirit and in truth. (See John 4.) So does that mean we should minimize the importance of external beauty in our corporate worship, opting for cinder-block ugly rather than spend money to create beautiful spaces? We Protestants tend to think so. Yet consider that God gave elaborate instructions for how he wanted the temple to look, inside and out. To give you a snapshot, here's what he said about Aaron's robe:

"And you shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. And there shall be an opening at its top in the middle of it; around its opening there shall be a binding of woven work, as it were the opening of a coat of mail, that it may not be torn. And you shall make on its hem pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet material, all around on its hem, and bells of gold between them all around: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, all around on the hem of the robe" (Exo. 28:31-34).

I'm not suggesting we should spend millions on our churches while the poor languish. But beauty is a characteristic of the One who created the Cascade Mountains and autumns in Boston. And being made in His image, when we create beauty, we reflect something of Him.

Daniel Rozin mirror art

I'd like to introduce you to the art work of Daniel Rozin. Here is an exert from his bio:
Daniel Rozin is an artist, educator and developer, working in the area of interactive digital art. As an interactive artist Rozin creates installations and sculptures that have the unique ability to change and respond to the presence and point of view of the viewer. In many cases the viewer becomes the contents of the piece and in others the viewer is invited to take an active role in the creation of the piece. Even though computers are often used in Rozin's work, they are seldom visible.

Here's a sample of his work:


He describes this piece as follows:
Peg Mirror comprises 650 circular wooden pieces that are cut on an angle. Casting shadows by twisting and rotating, wooden pegs forming concentric circles surround a small central camera. The mirrored image produced in this work is activated by software authored by Rozin that processes video signals and breaks up imagery geometrically, seemingly pixel by pixel. The silently moving wood components in this piece flicker like jewels or coins in the spotlight, challenging our notions about what constitutes a “digital object”.

When you go to his site you can access Quicktime videos of almost all his pieces. Be sure and check out Shiny Balls Mirror and Video Painting Easel. This is another great example how that technology and art, in my opinion, are one in the same. I admire this guy as an engineer and an artist.

Tips n' Tricks: Tracing on Opaques

For a recent SoulPerSuit card I was making, I envisioned a sturdy tree full of branches with roots spreading out to the sources of nourishment and vitality. I also thought it'd be cool if my tree could be metallic to symbolize how a Christian can be a reflective light of wisdom in a dark world.
I decided that metallic ink on black drawing paper was a good combination and began sketching a branchy winter tree on scrap paper.
Turns out I really liked the look and the balance of the branches I'd drawn, but there was a problem- my awesome tree was sketched on white paper, and I really wanted my SoulPerSuit card on black paper.

After noodling on things for a bit, I remembered a great trick my junior high art teacher taught me. It works really well so I wanted to share it with the world.

Taking regular, everyday white chalk, I flipped my tree sketch over to the back side and rubbed it with chalk. Making sure I covered all the drawn lines, I chalked the entire back of my tree.

My black drawing paper awaits.

I gently taped my tree sketch to my black paper, with the tree sketch now right-side-up so the chalked area is touching the black paper.

Using a ball point pen in a different color than my pencil (to make it easy to tell where I've already drawn), I traced all the lines of my tree. When I did this, the ball point pen acted as a stylus to force the chalk off of the back of my sketch and onto the black paper in all the areas I wanted lines.

The beginnings of a tree on black paper.

There are some areas of smudgy chalk, I know. That's typically where my hand rested as I traced with my ball point pen. Never fear, it's very easy to clean up with an eraser.

Once the tree lines were chalked on my black paper, I used metallic silver Windsor and Newton ink to brush over all of my lines. For this particular drawing, I used a variety of brush widths for the tiny ends of the branches all the way down to the fat tree trunk. They were just regular old round watercolor brushes dipped in the ink well and brushed on like paint.

My tree, partially inked.
Can you tell which part has the reflective metallic ink?

Chalk does not resist ink so I could paint right over it, and if there was a part of the tree that I decided not to ink (or thought maybe my chalk lines were too fat), I just worked around that area and erased my chalk marks after the ink was completely dry.

The finished product.

** I used the exact same method on the calligraphied words. My handwriting is not the neatest, so I chose to print my verse in a pretty font, chalk the back of the printout and use a pen as a stylus to get the beautiful font onto my piece of art. Then I carefully inked my lettering, waited for it all to dry, and erased the stray chalk marks.

Some Links

If you're the creative type (and you probably are if you've found our blog), below you'll find some links to artsy sites you should know about. (The blogs from the Arts Pastor and the one that follows I heard about from Erin.)

The Christian Pulse

Diary of an Arts Pastor

Stuff White People Like (just for laughs)

Newsletters from Speaking of Faith

Image Journal

Announcement: The Next SoulPerSuit Group

The next on-line SoulPerSuit group is going through the book of Colossians, using Sandra Glahn's book, Cappuccino with Colossians.

We'll also be moving our discussion group over to ShoutLife, which has been compared to other social networks like MySpace and FaceBook. It's going to be a big experiment for all of us. We'll see how we like it for our SoulPerSuiting purposes.

If you are interested in joining the next SoulPerSuit group, keep your eyes right here for registration announcements.
The group is open to everyone, but in order to honor all the members of the study (and let them get a word in edge-wise), our group size is limited. So you gotta get in while the gettin's good.


Things you can do to do to gear up for the next SPS group:

- Open a ShoutLife account and familiarize yourself with it's ways.

- Check back here over the month of March for the details about how and when to register yourself for the next SoulPerSuit study group.


Until then... practice your split jumps like Mr. ShoutLife up there. Or not.

Gallery Update

Our beloved Rhonda has been hard at work updating the SPS galleries. She and I did a women's retreat together at the Billy Graham Center in Asheville, North Carolina (for Shandon Baptist Church). I spoke and she taught participants how to do SPS, interacting with the truth they were hearing. Their creations will inspire you: click here.

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.

Though Silent, They Speak

When I consider the heavens--the moon and the stars which You created,

What is man that you are mindful of him

Or the son of man that you visit him?

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

The Tool of Process

Part of our mission at SoulPerSuit is to help unpack some of the creative process. While putting together a SoulPerSuit card is a highly individual act, there are a few tools one can keep on hand to make the process less intimidating.

One "tool" to bring with you is an understanding that just as much can be accomplished in the process of creating a SoulPerSuit card as is accomplished in the finished product of a SoulPerSuit card. If we get hung up on producing a museum quality piece of artwork, we'll become just that-- hung up. A person who is willing to embrace a mistake and either learn from it or incorporate it into their card design is going to sleep better at night and probably enjoy their SoulPerSuit experience more than one who can't let go.

Here's a personal example. For our recent SoulPerSuit group in Premium Roast with Ruth, I had an idea for a card that would represent the groaning and duress that is common to all of creation. Each of us endures our specific losses and our individual griefs, but decay and loss in general are something that this entire planet shares. We are all hurting in some way, all mourning the loss of something, disappointed by the decay of one thing or another. To communicate this idea I was going to make a picture of the Earth caught up in a giant tear.
Well, I was.
Until...

My daughter's finger paints proved that it is impossible to achieve a high level of detail with any artistic medium touting itself as, "Ideal for Preschoolers." All my carefully sketched continents and bodies of water became...
... greenish blue globs and smears.
(Certainly not the concept I'd started out with.)

At the point I realized finger paints were not the right medium for map making I was faced with the decision to either scrap this first attempt and start again, or to see what might become of these greenish blue globs of paint. I was also forced to re-examine the concept behind this particular SoulPerSuit card. Was a detailed image of the world vital to communicating my message? Were there any other elements in my card that might be able to communicate the message just as clearly?

Since I had several written portions to this SoulPerSuit card that said what I needed to say, with or without a recognizable globe, I decided to press on with my finger painted "mistake."

"The whole creation groans and suffers... even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for the redemption of our body." Romans 8: 22-23

Pushing the fingerpaint around, writing out the things I mourn, looking up a Scripture verse to capture the fallen state of creation, and taking a step back to deliberate on how to best use my "mistake" were, for me, all a part of the discovery process. They all worked into my conversation with God. And it's all a vital part of SoulPerSuit. My SoulPerSuit card doesn't have a pristine rendition of our planet, but it definitely gave voice to my feelings and thoughts. And in that respect this card is a success.

Creative Communication

I think sarcasm, irony, and parody are totally under-utilized in Christendom. We creative types need to use them more in our communications. Consider a few examples where it works:

Sarcasm. Recently I was translating in the book of John where the religious leaders interrogate the man born blind. They don't believe Jesus healed a blind guy, so they grill his parents. But Mom and Dad insist this now-sighted man is really their son who was blind from birth. So the leaders go back to the healed man and interrogate him again. This time they say they don't know where this Jesus guy is from, but that they are descendants of Abraham (the right pedigree, dontcha know). I had to stifle a laugh when I translated the man's reply: "Well, this is a marvel. Since the beginning of time it has never happened that a man blind from birth has been healed, yet you don't know where he's from?"

Irony. I'm thinking here about the part in "The Passion of the Christ" where the guy drafted to carry the cross for Jesus complains about his image, saying he's innocent but people will think he's guilty.

Parody. This one you have to see. View this short video, but look at the second-hand on your watch before you start it. Then tell me how many seconds passed before you were laughing. I want to know how long it took you. (It took me 15 to snicker, 40 to LOL.)

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?

Ant Food

Go to the ant, you sluggard!

*Movie poster c/o moviegoods.com

Free Bible Study

If you want access to a free Bible study series I (Sandi) wrote that you can use with SPS, you can find one at bible.org, (a great place to get such resources). The topic is: Your Worth in Christ, and it explores how precious you are to God. Here are the topics and links:

Defaced But Not Erased (Lesson 1)
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (Lesson 2)
Adopted as God’s Child (Lesson 3)
Disciplined as God’s Child (Lesson 4)
Restored and Rejoiced Over as God’s Child (Lesson 5)
Justified, Sanctified, and Headed for Glory (Lesson 6)
Broken but Usable For His Glory (Lesson 7)

Black History Month

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Black History Month.

So tell about an African American who has influenced you.

My pick is Sojourner Truth. I love her famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech.

At the time people were saying God made women for protecting. That He made them weak. That He meant for them to be honored. Yet what they often really thought was that He made white women for such treatment. Consider Sojourner's words:

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen them most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

I'll have the Word with a side of...

My small group is going through Donald Miller's "Blue Like Jazz". In chapter four, he tells the story of how his friend, Penny, became a Christian. Penny started reading the Bible with her Christian friend, Nadine.

"Yes. We would eat chocolates and smoke cigarettes and read the Bible, which is the only way to do it, if you ask me. Don, the Bible is so good with chocolate. I always thought the Bible was more of a salad thing, you know, but it isn't. It is a chocolate thing."

The current online SPS group is going through Proverbs. In one of their recent IM chats someone said,

"Well ladies I must say this is the most unique context in which I've done Bible study...sitting in bed, with my laptop, 2 dogs, and a husband who just brought me a glass of wine."

My Bible goes well with a superb coffee crumb cake and a smooth cappuccino. It's easy to manage and taken in with small bites slowly over what seems like an endless amount of time. It has a constant underlying sweetness with mements of bitter.

So, what does your Bible go good with?

Rivers and Tides

Excellence in Creativity

Take some music, add four guys a bunch of treatmills and some innovative choreography. Voila! What do you have? Some serious creativity. If you haven't already, check this out. My favorite part is when they look like they're skating. Yours?

Imitation maybe a sincere form of flattery, but it sometimes just doesn't measure up. On the other hand, sometimes the imitation even includes some improvements.

Put It in Your Pocket

In the current issue of the 3.1.6 Journal, SoulPerSuit is featured in miniature.
Teeny.
Tiny.
Abbreviated.
Pocket-sized, if you will.
They say good things come in small packages, right?


Pocket SoulPerSuit is a one passage, one page interaction with the Scriptures. Much like a full-length SoulPerSuit, Pocket SoulPerSuit uses a passage of the Bible (in this case, nine verses from the book of Mark) and a handful of thought-provoking questions to allow you to explore yourself, your Lord, and your creative medium of choice: All against the backdrop of Scripture.

This is a wonderful spiritual "bridge" for the Holidays. Most Bible Studies and adult Sunday Schools don't reconvene until January. Many of us are eyeing 2008 as the year we want to delve deeper into the Scriptures. The next full-length SoulPerSuit session is a few months away. So here's your opportunity to take a spiritual step forward and bridge the gap between 2007 and 2008. Try the Pocket SoulPerSuit.

Click below to order your 3.1.6. subscription and get your hands on the Pocket SPS. You can choose either a paper copy or a pdf. file.

(And of course, it always thrills us to see what you create, so send me your Pocket SPS results at soulpererin at yahoo dot com, and I'll post a pocket-sized gallery here on SoulPerBlog to showcase your creations.)

Merry Mas?

Christmas just isn't right without "Christ," is it?

What ideas have you heard and/or executed for keeping the focus on Christ this Christmas? What are you giving God this year for His birthday? Here's a link to an article I wrote that will hopefully help you keep the focus where it belongs.

Sense of Taste

Engage your sense of taste...

Chocolate covered pretzels. Chex mix. Wassail. Sugar cookies. Almond Roca. Sharp cheddar cheeseball rolled in pecans. Carrot pudding with rum sauce (see picture). These are the flavors that come with the season in our house.

What about you? What foods say "Christmas" at your place?