Journey Church: A Holistic Missional Christian Community in Dallas Texas

Great Video

2010-07-01T15:08:00.001-07:00

I saw this video and thought it was fitting around July 4th. That or maybe I just liked it. And was challenged by it. That's all... I hope you enjoy:

Voices of the Community

2010-05-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

Rob Ramsey kicked off our new series on Sunday. Rob talked about why he is going to Uganda for a month this summer and his passion for missions in the form of helping equip teachers around the world. It was an inspiring night to hear from someone in the community that is living out faith in such a real way.

We are also excited about the upcoming voices in this series...

On May 16th we will hear from David Martin. David is an elder at Journey and a hospice chaplain. He will talk about how we embody faith and belief.

Pentecost is May 23rd and we will have a special pentecost celebration and focus on how we see Journey as a faith community living out faith in Dallas in the coming months and years.

May 30th we will hear from Candace Cain. Candace is an elder at Journey and the director of the non-profit "New Friends New Life". She will talk about her faith experience and about life working in a social justice focused non-profit.

Come to journey in the next few weeks and Be Inspired!

Interesting video in light of Earth Day

2010-04-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

Our friend Craig over at RecycleYourFaith.com posts an interesting video. I thought I'd share it in light of earth day this week...

Environmentalism for Evangelicals from Recycle Your Faith on Vimeo.

Good Friday: DART Stations Of The Cross

2010-03-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

DART Stations of the Cross is a community art project which links an ancient spiritual practice with mass transit. It is presented on Good Friday by two emergent churches in the Dallas area, Church in the Cliff and Journey. Participants are encouraged to arrive at the Mockingbird DART station between 6 and 7 pm this Friday, April 2nd and to look for volunteers with black armbands.

Volunteers will provide a set of fourteen devotional cards comprised of original paintings and poetry reflecting on the traditional themes of the Stations of the Cross. Riding from Mockingbird to the end of the line in South Dallas participants are encouraged to flip cards as they pass through the stations and to consider the ways they encounter God’s presence, or absence, in the urban landscape. You will be asked to get off the train three times -- at Pearl, Union, and Ceders-- as a movement of solidarity with Jesus each time he falls. (At all of these stations volunteers will greet you, and at the first one you will have the opportunity to donate to the Stewpot’s Open Studio which supports homeless artists). Once you reach Westmoreland, the last stop on the red line, you will receive final instructions before riding the train in silence back to Mockingbird station.

All are invited to participate! Ride alone or gather with a group of friends. For more information contact Courtney Pinkerton via email at churchinthecliff [at] gmail dot com.

Quick Links:

www.churchinthecliff.org
www.journeydallas.com
www.thestewpot.org/art.asp

Technology & how it affects us: this week at Journey

2010-03-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

This Sunday at Journey (March 21st) I'll be leading our discussion on Technology in light of our current Lent Journey. I ran across this funny video that illustrates well a point I'd like to make. The point is that technology does affect us. It affects how our brain processes information. I want to look at the difference between different time frames in history such as; before the printing press society was primarily an Oral one. They told stories. Then with the printing press we had a more left brain linear way of learning by words on pages instead of spoken. Now with technology of images we have a whole new way of processing what we see and hear. I like this video because it shows how our brain works differently when different forms of "technology" (or lack thereof) tells us something. Enjoy...

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Also something we will talk about is a recent trend of "unplugging" from all the technology we are constantly around. I like the take on it from this group:

Hopefully watching these will give you a good little start to spark your thinking as we talk about this subject! See you at journey on Sunday at 5:00pm!

Lent Reflection

2010-03-12T12:32:00.000-08:00

Lent reflection by John Loving:

The season of Lent is the on-going and never ceasing practice of Christian reflection of the final weeks of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. It is a season during which those who follow the way of the Lord contemplate the meaning of not only his actions, but of our own. We ruminate over the sayings of Jesus, and ultimately of our own. This is the season of Christian thinking, true Christian thinking, to which all theology must ultimately bow the knee and acknowledge its weakness, its incomplete nature. Christian theology, no matter its content, must recognize that it is hollow until it is informed by this season, in the shadow of both the life of Christ in these weeks, and in the practice of the Church.

But it must also be recognized that the season of Lent is not one only of contemplation. Contemplation is limited in its efficacious results, and the wisest of women and men may be far from being what, according to Christian faith and quite in opposition to ancient Greek (and even current) philosophy, is the perfect and highest life. The season of Lent is not restricted to contemplation, but is also a season of action. This is the season in which the Church, as a whole and in its individual members, either give something up or take something else in practice as a means of remembering the sacrifice of Jesus for the world. But this cannot be the end of our practice. Our practice is ultimately empty, as “filthy rags,” unless it is coupled with acts of graciousness and self-abnegation for the sake and well-being of our neighbors.

Hence the practice of Lent is to practice not only a constant state of remembrance of the grace of our God, but it is also to emulate that grace upon the world. It is to wage war against the selfishness of our being, it is to be willing to save others who need saving, even if they do not realize that they are in need. This is not a call for a militaristic form of evangelization, but it is a call to be always in realization of our shortcomings in the light of the actions of our God, who was crucified not only for our sins, but also the sake of the poor, the captive, oppressed, for whom he became bound in order that they may be free. It is for us, in order to realize the severity of our hubris and to be freed from it, and thus free to be a force that will raise our voices for the freedom of those who are oppressed by the powers of the world.

Lent, then, is not simply the season of remembrance. Lent is not only a time of the year when we give up something for a period of a few weeks. No, Lent is more, much more than that. Lent is the heartbeat of the Christian life, because Lent is the act of repentance and transformation. The death of Jesus of Nazareth is the only way to life, to resurrection, to the world transformed. The season of Lent cannot end on Easter Sunday. Lent continues through the year, and if we do not recognize this fact of the Christian life then we are guilty of the same sort of hard-headedness of those who, in the Jewish Scriptures, did not recognize that the Sabbath was a time to do good. We are commissioned to be transformed in the image of Jesus. This is the purpose of Lent.
Vicit agnus noster, eum sequamur. Our Lamb has conquered; him let us follow.

Looking at the Didache

2010-01-22T08:42:00.000-08:00

Last week we had Tony Jones speak to us at Journey about the Didache, which is an early church manuscript. We will be continuing our series on this little book for the next 3 weeks at Journey. This week we will read together the beginning of the Didache which talks about the 2 ways, one of Life and One of Death.

You can listen to the audio of the reading of the full text of the Didache HERE.

You can also read the full text HERE online.

Join us on Sunday as we discuss this book together.

Tony Jones- January 17

2010-01-07T06:35:00.001-08:00

Tony Jones will be with us on Sunday, January 17 to kick off a series on the Didache, an early handbook on Christian practice. Tony's new book on the Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve, released earlier this month.

We hope you'll join us for what will be a great start to a great series!

New Year 2010 at Journey

2009-12-31T10:56:00.000-08:00

Join us at Journey on January 3rd at 5pm for our 1st gathering of 2010! Come take a moment to regroup from the holiday whirlwind and join us this New Years weekend! We will have an extended time of response as we travel through stations of meditation to reflect on the year past and consider the gift of the year to come. We hope it will be a great way to start off 2010 with intention and, of course, hope!

We will have some visually stunning representations of our hope for 2010. It's a perfect time to join us if you haven't been in a while.

Gifts for The Well

2009-12-04T07:15:00.000-08:00

This year as part of our Advent Conspiracy we are continuing our tradition of adopting Well members at Christmas and bringing them gifts. (The Well is a ministry for people with mental illness.) For many of them, our gift will be the only one they receive. In the past we've purchased items from personalized wish lists but this year they are trying something new. They are asking us to bring $40 Wal-Mart giftcards. It is a real treat for them to be able to go shopping and pick out exactly what they want; something we often take for granted. They will be able to purchase clothes as well as toiletry items and food. There will be a designated day when all of them will load up in the bus and go shopping together, so it will be a communal activity also.

Thanks to all who have already signed up to bring cards! You can find the sign-up sheet on the blue table in the entryway. Checks can be made out to Journey. And don't forget, you can also go in on a card with friends! The deadline to bring money for the cards is Sunday, December 13.

Journey participates in Advent Conspiracy

2009-11-25T14:48:00.001-08:00

We talked last Sunday about ways that we could live out the meaning of Christmas with our actions this season. Advent conspiracy is a unique way to look at it.

Why spend money on things they don't need or don't want?
Why get stressed about money and shopping this year?
We think there must be a better way, so here are some things Journey is doing to spread the love...

-We encourage you to re-evaluate how you spend Christmas individually, as a family, and as a community.

-Below are some links to great organizations you can give to if you spend less on Christmas - or - if you want to give a gift to someone as a donation to one of the organizations.

-Think of creative ways to give the gift of 'presence'.

-Join Journey as a community as we work together to reach our goal of raising enough money to help one family for one year (details on whether this will be done through Heifer international or The Well community to be announced next Sunday at Journey)

Some Links:

Living Water International
Kiva
Heifer
Trade as One

If you need some others ideas you can check out the Advent Conspiracy site.
Here is the video for this year:

Release Party For 'The Boundary-Breaking God' Nov. 9th

2009-11-02T12:52:00.001-08:00

Come join in celebrating the release of Danielle's 1st book, "The Boundary Breaking God." This is going to be fun people! Bring your friends or neighbor or someone who you think would like the book! Big thanks to Misty Keasler and Brian Gibb for hosting at the amazing art gallery, The Public Trust. Light hors d'oeuvres and drinks will be provided.

You can buy the book at the party and have it signed! They will be available for $16 (list price is $20!)

Read some excerpts at the books page on Amazon HERE.

When: Monday November 9th 7-9pm, Click HERE for google map

I'll leave you with the endorsement from the Front cover of the book:

"I am more than grateful for this book. It is not only true, it is also beautiful to live with God's promise in the heart and God's enlarging horizon before your eyes."
-Jurgen Moltmann

Anniversary Party Pics!

2009-07-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

In June we had our 10 year Anniversary bash, and while we spent most of the evening mingling, eating and singing, we managed to take a few shots. Enjoy!

Movie Night At Journey on Friday July 17th

2009-07-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

Join us on Friday at 7:30 pm for the movie screening of KING CORN.

FREE! Bring Your Friends!!!

From the website:
In King Corn, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, nitrogen fertilizers, and power herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America's most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat -- and how we farm.

A Pentecost Reflection

2009-06-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

Well, last night was a first for Journey. Our Pastor (who was ready to lead the gathering at 5pm) got stuck in an airport in a different state with a canceled flight. Needless to say she couldn't make it on time. Despite not having Danielle to lead the gathering the community had a great discussion on Pentecost. It is so encouraging to be a part of a community that doesn't rely on only one person to 'preach the word.' But instead we can all chime in with our reflections in order build each other up. This is fitting for Pentecost, since it was at Pentecost when the Spirit was released and all followers of Jesus were able to be spokespeople for God. We are all now part of the ongoing story of God. Thanks to all who shared thoughts!

Below is the video that we were unable to show due to technical problems.

The reflection that Danielle wanted to have was this:
There’s a great song by the Fireflies called “Autumn Story,” and it happens to have a stunning video. The lyrics of the song itself speak in many ways about this life-giving way, this life of paying-it-forward, this act of watching the Spirit move and morph the story along from one thing to another, with our help. We are going to show this video as part of our response. And I wonder if during the lovely visuals and lyrics we might think about how we feel like passing on this great story in our lives- what visions we see, what dreams we dream, what people or issues we hope to speak about as the prophets we are all called to be...

Has it Been 10 Years?

2009-05-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Why, yes. Yes it has. On June 7th Journey will host it's 10 year anniversary celebration. Mark your calendars to be there at 5pm for a great event. More details to come... but you can look forward to: multiple presentations from journey members past and present, an interactive art experience, and journey music throughout the years.

Parody of journey announcements

2009-05-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

Some funny guy (cough, Luke) made a video of Dale doing the announcements at Journey with this funny animation. I don't know how accurate it is, but...

Lent, Round Two

2009-03-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

By Joe Chambers

It's Lent again, which reminds me that a year has passed. My inaugural Lent experience was one year ago. I didn't participate, really. I just hung out and observed. Somewhere there's a digital archive holding the blog of my experience, which concluded with my hope that in the coming year I would be more inclined to join in.

Sad though it may be, I felt less inclined this year than last. It's slightly pathetic. There are a few reasons why I resist partaking in Lent. One is that I hate the idea of fostering a sense of depression just to make the joy of Easter more abundant. Today has enough troubles as it is, why drive myself to despair with self-inflicted difficulties?

The greater reason though, is that over the last year my level of spirituality has plummeted to new lows. I say this not so much as a lament, but more as an honest statement of fact. I could proceed to list my reasons, whether to repent or justify myself, but I'll refrain. Basically, in this season of my life (hooray for seasons), I find most spiritual disciplines annoying. Lent included. I guess I'm at a point where I question all the ideas of being "closer" to God due to any actions I would take. Right now I feel God to be more mysterious, and honestly, more distant/unknowable than ever before.

Still, in spite of my reluctance, I am a sucker for peer pressure. When everyone at church started talking about it, I felt like I should join in regardless of my misgivings. There's also the small fact that my girlfriend took up the Lenten discipline of reading the Bible daily. This is her first time to ever read it. She's already finished Mark, and has started on Genesis. When she first informed me of her plans, the repressed evangelical in my head began tearing his robes with guilt. And how did I atone for my shortcomings?

I decided to make a point to attempt to work out three times a week.
. . .Thus far I've managed to make it to the gym about 5 times, which puts me about 7 workouts behind schedule. This is the point where I could concede defeat, and reinforce my anti-liturgical tendencies by feeling guilty. Instead of that, it seems proper to wrap this up by stating what I'm learning:

First, it seems that lack of discipline in life-in-general precludes any chance of benefiting from specific spiritual disciplines. I haven't made it to the gym because I haven't managed to be efficient with school, and therefore I'm always playing catch-up with the time I would otherwise dedicate to everything from working out to praying.

Second, and most importantly, Easter is merely the extension of Lent. The problem we get ourselves into is thinking that Jesus' selflessness in his march toward the cross was something he conceded to do reluctantly. I don't get the idea Jesus was particularly excited about the prospect of dying by torture, but it seems that he was so compelled in his way in life that the threat of death was something he merely disregarded.

In other words, the joy of Easter is only an extension of the joy of Lent. Jesus' life, even in the shadow of his death, was not characterized by a bitter, muttering consent for the trials he would endure. It was an joyful extension of his faith in a loving God, even in the shadow of a cross. That same joy is continuous through his death into his resurrection. If Lent is depressing to us, then I hardly find it believable that Easter will manage to cheer us up. Our attitudes toward the trials of Lent extend into the dawn of Easter.

Thus, my difficulties in finding any enthusiasm for this time of the year can be traced back to the fact that it seems whether I add something for Lent, or take something away, it seems that life will be characterized by more of the same. Easter then is mediocre at best, and Lent a sequence of drudgery that precedes it. Obviously, it doesn't have to be that way. Realizations are seeds of change for the days to come. So, maybe, hopefully, Lenten realizations can transform heavy obligations into ways of rest.

In a Place of Waiting

2009-03-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

Written By Scott Childress...

This Lenten season is very personal for me - and the ideas of journeying, geography, movement and change hit even closer with what I have experienced in the past year.

In May of 2008 the church that I had pastored for seven years dissolved. We moved from our home of 13 years in Virginia and came out to Dallas sight unseen. We have no family here, no deep friendships and (at the time of the move) no job.

Since coming here it has been a roller coaster of situations and emotions. The spiritual upheaval (that I had thought I had worked past) started all over again and I began questioning even my questions. Some mornings I woke up an atheist and would go to bed a believer - sometimes the other way around.

And then - long-ignored marriage issues began to surface. In some ways the pressures of being a pastor, along with the insane expectations of the congregation, had helped us to continue this charade of happiness. But eventually the truth finds you, doesn't it?

We are now both in therapy, trying to re-learn what it means to be a husband and a wife. I want to tell you everything is going to work out fine, and I hope it does. I just wish that I could have dealt with one issue at a time, instead of trying to figure out where I am with God, the world AND my wife.

I feel like I am IN Lent right now...I am IN this place of waiting (and suffering to some degree).

I realize these feelings aren't unusual. I think that many of the folks who attend Journey have experienced the disorientation that can come from major shifts in world-view and perspective, and while I think this is a common theme that brings us together, I think that most of us have had this sense that something was never quite right all along. It was as if there was always something slightly "off" about what we had been told was true.

So maybe that's the point of this post.

I hope I don't come across as self-absorbed. I also hope you don't read this and feel uncomfortable at the honesty. I hope that you DO feel a little less alone. We are all in this together.

And Easter Sunday is coming.

Halfway there

2009-03-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

A quote for you as we reach the halfway mark on our journey toward Easter:

"The pilgrim sets forth, tethered to the past by unseen bonds of memory, yet cloaked in hope, afoot in sandlas of determination, trudging toward something new."
-Denise Levertov

May our pilgrim sandals move us with hope and determination to Easter morning, where we celebrate the One who is making all things new.

Some Pics from the Journey Retreat 09

2009-03-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

We had fun as you can clearly see...

Lenten Journey

2009-03-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

Written by Derek Koehl

As I was contemplating this Lenten season within the current context of my life and the world around me, I came across the following views of Sandra Tsing Loh in an article in The Atlantic.

It will be interesting to see, now that the [financial] apocalypse has arrived, how various modes of American status-striving will be rejiggered, particularly those predicated on amassing large amounts of debt. […] Surely now the honestly eco-conscious will lead a bold return to—gasp!—tap water. (Because what’s worse for the environment than drinking water … out of plastic bottles … flown in from Fiji?) As Starbucks stores close around us, what’s more nostalgically amusing than Folgers Crystals? […] As Borders stores shutter, perhaps we’ll see a reflowering of public libraries. In any case, unable to secure those astronomical loans, more [of us] will have to start rubbing shoulders with The Other, living in truly mixed neighborhoods, next door to such noncreative types as Kohl’s-shopping back-office workers and actual not-yet-ready-for-their-close-up-in-Yoga-Journal immigrants. […]life will be all about the hearth, the candlelight, the guitar (and not a vintage Les Paul).

I hear in these words a description of a less consumer-oriented life—a life less defined by urban “affluent hipdom”. A simpler life often described within Journey as radical contentment and generosity (RCG).
This year, as with past years, I embrace Lenten season practices—one a putting down that daily calls my awareness towards Good Friday and the other a taking up that calls my attention outward toward those walking through life around me. I also determine a taking up that extends, far beyond this Lenten experience. I purpose to take up ever more of the RCG way in my life. Embodied in RCG are attitudes toward a way of thinking, acting, and relating that stands in contrast to the consumerist pull in whatever manifestation it appears. I purpose an orientation toward others and a posture of sharing rather than acquiring. In an ever more simple way of living I seek the space to contain expanding complexities in the relationships that I form with all the lives that surround me.
This is what I seek during this Lenten journey. As it draws to an end, having found in the seeking, I will stand in the twilight of Good Friday looking with hope not just toward the coming Easter sunrise, but also a continued better way of being.

Journey Retreat 09

2009-03-04T11:57:00.001-08:00

Join us this Saturday, March 7th for the Journey retreat! We will meet at a retreat center in Richardson from 10-5 for a day of fellowship including games, music, silence and reflection, sharing our stories, and, of course, kickball!! Snacks, drinks and lunch will be provided. Activities are planned for children as well, so bring them out to be part of the fun! Sign up by Friday to give us a head count, and bring $20 to cover the costs. See you there!

Location: Springhill Retreat Center: 3991 E. Renner Road Richardson, TX 75082

Lent Blog

2009-02-26T10:00:00.000-08:00

Written by Lindsay Hampton...

This will be my first year to 'do' lent. Growing up, I knew what lent was, but never really understood why it was practiced. I guess I'm still working on figuring that out, really. When I was younger and the topic of lent would come up, I would breathe a quiet sigh of relief, because 'we' (the tradition of faith I grew up in and have in adulthood swiftly abandoned) didn't 'do' that. So not only did I not have to deny myself of some wonderful worldly pleasure for six weeks, I also didn't have to think about it or ponder the idea that maybe I should.

And now here I am, doing that, and I'm still not exactly sure why. maybe because it's because I want to prove to myself that it is possible to experience God in ways that are outside the traditions and ideologies that grew up with. Maybe it's because all my friends are doing it. Whatever the reason, I knew as lent was approaching that I wanted to participate this year. The day that I realized it was fast approaching and I needed to decide on my act of self denial, I was already sort of grumpy. I was at work and indulging in a little self pity, and that quickly turned to wanting to indulge in something else. I was suddenly craving some good old fashioned southern comfort food. I wanted pot roast.

Immediately, I knew I had to have pot roast for lunch. The more I thought about it the more deeply the craving set in. It took up residence in my appetite. That's sort of ridiculous, I know. But I have this problem. I want what I want when I want it. To say that this problem has much bigger and messier manifestations than what I eat for lunch is a grave understatement. No matter how impractical, I want it deeply. I cannot be swayed by logic. I just want what I want.

So I went to The Black Eyed Pea for lunch. It was good. It was friggin delicious, actually. But I knew it wasn't as good as the crock pot recipe my mom made, that I could have easily set up on my lunch hour and enjoyed for dinner. So as you tend to do when you accept cheap substitutes, I felt a little cheated.

Last year I decided on a tattoo on my leg. It has a candle and an hourglass, with banners swirling around a lush garden of roses that read "love is patient- life is short." Two polarizing but equally true statements to remind me that some things are worth waiting for and some are not. I was hoping that some how the act of having these words carved into my skin would somehow make this wisdom my own. That I would absorb these words and they would become a beautiful part of who I am. And I sort of feel like that's working, but not surprisingly it's taking longer than I'd like.

This year for lent I decided to give up eating out. To sacrifice the convenience of immediate gratification in hopes of finding something more lasting. I know it will be hard, but I don't want approach the Lenten season with a half-hearted commitment. Go big or go home, right? I don't know if I will come out of the season with any spiritual awakenings or epiphanies on practicing patience. It is entirely possible that the only benefits that i will see from these coming 40 days will be in my wallet and my waistline, but I'm hoping that's not true. Hopefully I can learn to wait, if not patiently, at least purposefully. Time, somewhat ironically, will tell.

Join us for Ash Wednesday service

2009-02-24T15:34:00.001-08:00

We will be having an Ash Wednesday prayer service this week. Please Join us!

One Step

2009-01-16T14:51:00.000-08:00

By Laura Baker

I’m scared a lot. If you’ve read any of my previous blogs, this is not at all surprising to you. But you may be surprised by this: it doesn’t bother me much anymore.
Actually, I think I have become more courageous over the past two years than I have ever been in my life. All the while being afraid most of the time.
Someone important once said to me, in the middle of a crisis, “Feel afraid. But do not make decisions based out of fear.” And I think about that concept several times a week. I’ll tell you why that statement is so important to me.
First, it recognizes that life is scary. I mean, there are a lot of ways we can all be hurt, abandoned, or just generally pummeled by people and circumstances in our everyday lives. This is not a safe place all the time, for any of us. There is much to be afraid of—in ourselves, in our loved ones, and in the seemingly random universe. So, to me, sometimes it is not helpful to hear that I should not be afraid. I like the first part of my friend’s statement because it feels like an arm around my shoulder.
But the second part is a kick in the pants. To me, it means it’s not okay to rest in that fear. Once I recognize that I am, indeed, afraid, it is then time to think, to process. And ultimately, to wait. This is the key for me. Wait. Wait. Wait.
Re-evaluate: Am I still afraid? Can I see through that fear to a decision or course of action that is rational, and that I can live with? No? Then wait some more.
How can we handle fear? Maybe we can acknowledge it, evaluate whether it’s real, and wait until we can see the next step in front of us.
And I have found that one step is all I need. I used to think I needed to see all the steps in front of me before I moved an inch. But, like the rock climbing I’m learning to do, all I have to do is find one or two holds for my hands and feet—and sometimes it’s just for my fingers and toes—but if I can really see that they are firm and stable holds, they may just be enough. I’m learning to have faith that they will be enough.
Feel afraid and then wait. Grab the next hold. And see where I can go. They tell me you can make it up an entire mountain that way.

Epiphany video

2009-01-09T13:56:00.000-08:00

Here is the video we showed during the gathering last week for Epiphany Sunday. Enjoy the video. This is one of those "you had to be there" moments. So don't feel bad if you don't really get how it fits in. But trust me, it does. Danielle talked about how through all of scripture the narrative of promise looks to her a little bit like this video. It starts as one thing, then explodes into a million pieces and then all the promises of God come back together in this new way through the Christ Child.

I also love how the song fits in well "are you the one?" by The Presets.

The Christmas Roller Coaster

2008-12-18T15:04:00.000-08:00

written by Michelle Randall

It’s that time of year when silent nights aren’t really the words we associate with Advent. It’s my own fault, but frankly Christmas is usually one of the busiest times of the year for me. It is full of wonderful things I love to do like baking and going to Christmas parties, but somehow in the middle of waiting and hoping, I end up riding a Christmas rollercoaster. A dear friend once wrote to me that life was like that – “waiting in line for a rollercoaster.” We wait in line, hear the screams, question our decisions, doubt, but anticipate the thrills. And we also worry, “Will someone fall out of these carts?”

Christmas sort of feels that way, too. While we’re waiting in line to celebrate the wonder that is the child in the manger, we lose ourselves in questioning the perfect gift to get Mom, doubting we’ll make it to the next party on time, and sometimes even hearing the screams of shoppers and new babies meeting Santa at Northpark.

Our lives are FULL to the brim during Christmas. But not for me this year.

For me, I’m trying to take a quiet Christmas – one with less traveling and fewer shopping malls – far from the hurry and the noise. One where peace on earth meets my own peace of mind. I have been sort of trying to stay off the rollercoaster ride of the season.
It’s a challenging time to get out of the world’s “quickaholic” mentality that says Christmas is about rushing around and clamoring about and that there is little time for stillness and waiting hopefully.

This kind of fast-forward-through-the-waiting-parts thinking is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer calls, “cheap grace.” We’re all looking for the easiest and quickest way to get through our lives, to get to the front of the line, to make it through the holidays. But seasons of our lives, including Christmas, are not just about the “arrival,” and are meant to be more like an unfolding, not just like the sound of a shotgun. It requires quiet moments of tender nurture, reflection and endurance. There is a quiet pause between the Annunciation and the birth. There is a waiting, an in between place.

And so I rush about, but I also STOP. Gandhi says “there is more to life than increasing its speed.” And stopping is hard because it forces us to think about our lives and the seasons we have found ourselves in. At Christmas, the opportunity arises for me to remember that it is about being “holy and mild” where “all is calm, all is bright.” Maybe in the in between places, we can learn to look inward rather than just pressing forward – and isn’t that what we need during the holidays? And this year especially. For many around the world, they are being forced to stop this season to face lost jobs, lost houses, lost 401ks and even lost dreams. Many are us are in a “middle place” in our lives.

The world around us celebrates new beginnings and victorious endings and sometimes forgets the journey. Like marriage, a new house, babies, death, promotions and we forget the importance of the in between places. Author Sue Monk Kidd says, “We live in a spiritual environment that tends to emphasize full-blown newness and a sense of ‘arrival’ in the mere time it takes to walk the length of a church aisle. Walking an aisle can be a marvelous thing, as long as we acknowledge that the aisle doesn’t end at the altar but goes on winding through life…. We’ve forgotten about the slow, sometimes tortuous, unraveling of God’s grace that takes place in the ‘middle places.’”

The Middle Places.

A time of growth, waiting, transformation.
A time of becoming and finally birth.

I hope this year that we can, in some small way, find a way to stop and cherish the middle places as we wait during Advent. I hope we can drop our consumer-driven, busy-body antics long enough to experience the gift of stillness and hope that waiting for Christmas offers our hearts.

Advent Week 3 Community Blog...

2008-12-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

Written By Dallas Gingles

Political alliances, machinations; taxes; questions of birthplace; right to rule; terrorism – this is the story of Advent. As people who just lived through the longest political elections in United States history, these plot lines have worn thin, and we live in the self-indulged delusion that this is the reality of the world as we craft it. Advent is the confession otherwise.
Advent is political. From the little Jewish girl, Miriam's, prophetic speech promising overthrow of the ruling class, to the eastern magicians who recognize within the fabric of the cosmos a testimony to a new ruler (prompting infanticide), the story of the season is more deeply entangled in politics than the most ruthless negative ad anyone witnessed in the past two years or the most promising and hopeful of speeches.
In the Genesis account of God's creative work, the spirit is present, hovering, "brooding," and breathing into the cataclysmic "becoming" of "life, the universe, and everything," (Douglas Adams). In the Lukan account of Jesus' birth, the spirit is once again present, "come upon," the young teenage girl and bringing into the world a new reality, one bathed in the grace of liberation, the promise of hope, the promise of monetary salvation from those who have seized power in a constant succession of greed and injustice.
And, so it is that in 2008, after hearing rhetoric about all of these political realities from both sides of the aisle, that we are come to Advent, to the place of our waiting, to the place of stillness. Our vote does not count. The most powerful women and men in the world are wresting power and transferring its seat, but that does not matter. Now is the winter of the world's discontent. This is the promise, the frustration, of the Christian calendar, that every Advent we come to the end of the year, having worked, fought, pushed, pulled, wrestled with ourselves and others only to find that it matters not at all, but what God asks of us instead at this time is to wait. We are asked to see the world flung off its axis of power, and spin wildly in the cosmos as a little peasant boy is born in a barn, as a refugee, into the arms of a zealot mother who is a part of an occupied people. And, this promise looks nothing like our parades, our banners, our conventions, our so wildly misconstrued good intentions in the political system that rely on affirmation of Caesar and Herod, John Roberts and Barack Obama. We don't get a say here. We only get to confess. We confess that the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our God. We confess our allegiance is to no flag, to no building, to no book, but to a baby. This is the shock of Advent. It is to us that Jesus came, but it matters not at all if we want(ed) him to come – ever. We are left speechless, wondering, in the words of Brennan Manning, "shipwrecked at the stable."
Advent is scary as hell. More, actually. "Who can abide the day of his coming?" We do not have time to be sentimental. We cannot afford the modern lie that we are people of our own destiny, makers of our own way. No one is safe: not kings, congresswomen, not you, not me. The angels themselves testify otherwise. We are instead, the ones called by the spirit to recognize the difference of power and political structure, and as the Advent hymn puts so delicately, "come peasant, king to own him."

This Week's Advent Conspiracy...

2008-12-11T11:30:00.001-08:00

As mentioned on Sunday, this week our tip for a different way to participate in giving meaningful gifts comes from the North Texas Food Bank. You can get your 2009 calendar by going over to their website HERE. Or at Journey Kaitlin will have some or you can tell her to get you some to avoid shipping costs.

Adv(L)ent

2008-12-04T10:01:00.000-08:00

Sometimes in my meditations, I find myself thinking that this is Lent, not Advent.

Advent is supposed to be about waiting in the darkness for a coming light. That's why I love Christmas lights on a tree. Throughout December, you can often find me in a dark room letting the bright tree lights make my eyes do strange things—white neon lines cutting through the shadows, making wild scrawling graffiti in thin air, as if trying to cryptically communicate with me.

And yet I have to keep reminding myself that this is Advent and not Lent. My life has been destroyed over the past several years, nearly burned to the ground. And so I have a whole new life to create out of nothing. It's overwhelming. It's terrifying. And the light that Advent should bring feels eclipsed by the desert-darkness of Lent.

Lent is about waiting too. Waiting for Jesus to be crucified. And when he dies on the cross, every year we nail up with him our own expectations for what life should be. What dies on the cross with the Christ is everything we think of as order in the world. Because Jesus upends all of our expectations. When the baby came, they hoped he would reign on a throne, not hang dead on a tree. Yes, there is still hope because he is risen. But that hope looks nothing like what we imagined it would. And death always comes first.

And so this Advent, I feel torn between these two seasons. I feel like I'm in the desert, waiting for someone else to betray me and hand me over. And yet in the distance I also feel that maybe there is light. Far away. Liminally.

I am absolutely waiting this Advent. It's puzzling to me how present Lent is with Christmas this year. With each episode of hope I unexpectedly experience—from friends and family meeting my needs without complaint, to happy coincidences and new relationships—I want to believe these are divine signs encouraging my belief. It's as if some voice is saying it's okay for me to have faith in goodness, in the future. But then I remember the kind of suffering that's in the world. And hope feels like the most dangerous choice I could make. I carry both the hope and the pain around with me, like a beautiful gift that will break your back to bear.

I'm starting to think that Advent and Lent are not so far apart. At Christmas, a child is born, and in Lent, he dies—the baby comes, and the Messiah departs. Both events, though, mysteriously produce the same outcome: new life. The child brings hope to a waiting people, and the risen Christ brings new life to those who believe. Throughout both seasons, something is always already being reborn. And this Advent, I'm waiting to see if that something could be me.

-by Laura Baker

Advent Conspiracy

2008-12-01T12:36:00.001-08:00

This is the video I mentioned last night at Journey. Each week at Journey during Advent we will highlight a specific example of something you can do this Christmas that is different from the norm of spending a lot of money on things people don't need. This week our highlight was on Heifer intl. (read about it in the post below this one).

Let us know if you have creative ideas or ways to re-orient how we 'do Christmas.'

Heifer International

2008-12-01T10:00:00.001-08:00

For those of you who were interested in finding out more information, here is a link to Heifer's website. As we seek to be creative this year in giving the kind of gifts that can impact our world rather than clutter our closets, consider giving through Heifer. As we noted last night, when you donate an animal, the recipient family gives one of the offspring of that animal to a neighbor in need, and the gift continues on and on. We will have Heifer Christmas cards available free on the back table at Journey next week. You can give these cards to the person in whose honor you donated the gift.

Lastly, if you are interested in going in on a Journey-wide gift to Heifer, you can email me at danielle@journeydallas.com.

In the Advent Dark

2008-11-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

Written by Derek Koehl.

We approach Advent, the time of midwinter, when the world grows dark, quiet, still—counterpoint to the bright, active days of our summer-time lives. A time that through history we as a race have surrounded with stories of death and fate but also, just as powerfully, stories of the mystery and magic of birth. Stories of Frigga at her spinning wheel weaving the destiny of man and gods alike; her distaff pictured in the belt of Orion as it aligns with Sirius, the brightest star in the eastern sky, on midwinter's night to show where the sun will rise, giving birth to hope to the world once more. Stories of our coming Christ—both promised babe and pledged redeemer.

I approach Advent, and I feel the lengthening nights draw me into a stillness and melancholy of life going down into the dark. I see then that in pushing through, by embracing the dark to myself not as a tomb but as the covering and the closeness of the womb, that it in turn embraces me. In the quiet I open my thoughts to the promise of birth in my life and in the world that surrounds me. I wonder at the tension that the same darkness of this womb that allows me to contemplate and shape that which can be birthed new into my world at the same time conceals from me the fullness of that coming reality.

So during this season of reflection I consider what I wish to see birthed in me and through me. I consider carefully words of promise I hear spoken in the silence. I consider my girls. I consider those close to me—family and friends, distant and near at hand. I consider how that which is to be born in me needs be shaped by them and how it may shape them. I consider all this knowing that in God's birthing there is at all times hope.

The Jesus Prayer

2008-10-31T07:57:00.000-07:00

(written by Chance Williamson)

In 2004 I didn't understand prayer anymore. In fact, my whole spiritual life was being uprooted and reconfigured. To make a long story short however, I'll keep this story to prayer. Like everything, I could no longer continue doing things as I had always done them. In the Christian tradition I came from prayer was something you did in two ways. The first was alone in seclusion, however there was no room for contemplation. It seemed as if the more words you said made you more holy. Almost like you had to complete a 4,000-word prayer so you could get an A plus in God's grade book. The second way to pray was in community. At first it would seem normal. One person would stand up and begin to pray. Normal. But then, a cacophony of voices would join in with their own personal prayers. A jumble, a mess with no thought or direction. Sure, a topic would be stated but like a good hiking trail, we would always veer off and each would trudge our own path. The more you said, the louder you said it, the more holy you were. That's the way it was.

After Bible College I stumbled upon a simple prayer, the Jesus Prayer. "Lord Jesus son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." It is a mantra. It follows your pattern of breath. When you inhale you recite in your mind, "Lord Jesus son of God." When you exhale you say, "Have mercy on me a sinner."

"Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." This is the prayer I pray; the Prayer of the Saints of old, those beautiful and ragtag few who have gone before me, all praying, screaming the same mantra, joining with me in a chorus of praise and need. In one breath, I call on my savior, my Lover, hailing him as King and Lord of my life. As I exhale I am reminded, as it is always ever present on my mind, of how much I need Him.

Oh, what a wretched man I am! Paul coined that phrase but it seems that I have bought the rights. I sit, praying, hoping, knowing that God sees through my cloud of guilt and shame, but I still want to beat my chest. As the tears flow His grace once again washes over me. Oh what a beautiful sweet grace.

Why can't we understand this grace we speak of so much? We are a church of imperfect people pretending perfection. This lie of perfection, this facade, is waning. It is the junkyard dog nipping at our heals. I pray the dog does catch us. When it does, it will rip and tear, true, but what it rips and tears will only be that which needs to be stripped off anyway, our self righteousness. My self-righteousness is killing me.

Until we as the church realize our own imperfection can we operate as only Jesus foresaw. A Church of prostitutes, derelicts, tax collectors, homeless, diseased, terrorists, homosexuals, liars, and thieves all saved by the Grace of God that I am wrestling with right now. What irony this is. We spend our time trying to be good enough and Jesus is simply saying, "Stop trying, you're just spinning your wheels. Let me lead you. We are wild, crazy, and messed up, but I wouldn't have it any other way!"

In this I find my comfort. So let me simply end where I began. "Lord Jesus, Son of God, Have mercy on me a sinner."

Pete Rollins at Journey, 11/16

2008-10-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

Pete Rollins, author of "How (Not)to Speak of God" and "The Fidelity of Betrayal," will speak at our Sunday gathering on November 16. We've gone through both of his books at Pub Theology and are looking forward to engaging him and his ideas. In addition to being an author, Pete is part of the faith collective Ikon. You can find additional information about Pete here. We would love for you to join us (and invite your friends)for what is sure to be a great evening of conversation!

Prayer of a Refugee

2008-10-24T07:27:00.000-07:00

Someone needs to teach me how to pray.

Last Sunday's prayer gathering was one of the most calming experiences I've had at church in a long time. I don't know if it was because I'd spent the previous weekend in nature, or because of the low lights and soothing music, but I felt deeply quiet when I left the service.

But I still don't think I know how to pray.

I went around to many of the prayer stations, and was interested in all the focusing activities I had never thought of trying. I think the labyrinth might be a great fit for me—all the winding and curving but in a purposeful way—or maybe the exercise of gathering and spilling water into a bowl. I spent much of the service meditating about the idea of prayer, rather than doing any kind of actual praying.

There's this hole in me when I think of praying. For much of my adult life, the concept of prayer has evaded me. I just never could find a connection when praying. And I have always felt that way, especially, about praying with other people. The difficulties in my life over the past few years have only exaggerated those feelings.

Or maybe they haven't. Maybe the tough things in my life have made me more ready for prayer.

At this point, there is nothing but a void in my heart when I approach God. There's no liturgy or ritual left, no formula for my faith. And maybe that's the best place to start a prayer life. In the gap, in the fear.

I recently purchased some prayer beads because of a friend. They have been helpful to me on one level, providing a physical connection for this internal activity. I just sit with the beads sometimes, occasionally repeating a comforting Bible verse, occasionally not. I'm guessing this is the moment that some nice Christian will say something about "the spirit interceding for us with groans we don't understand." And of course I hope this is true. But is it? And is this how the experience will always be for me—unformed, primal?

What is prayer? What is it for? How do I do it in a way that is both honoring to God and substantial for me?

The hope that I have is that although I am completely lost on this matter, I keep coming back and trying it. I have no idea why I do this, considering how easy it would be not to. I certainly don't feel obligated any more. But there is something in me that wants to pray. Not in the lots-of-words kind of praying, but in the here-I-am-Lord-now-what? kind of way.

But, really... now what? I just keep following that gut feeling in me, hoping it will lead somewhere. But at this point it's still just a feeling.
-Laura Baker

Online Prayer Sites

2008-10-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

Over the next four weeks as we explore prayer, we encourage everyone to branch out and try something new. To that end, here are a few of our favorite online prayer sites for you.

An interactive online labyrinth can be found here.

A meditative prayer site run by the Jesuits is here.

Guided prayer using Anglican prayer beads is here.

And lastly, here is a daily prayer devotional that includes moving our prayers into action.

If we've left off one of your favorites, leave it in the comments section for others to see.

Journey to Host Charity Poker This Friday...

2008-10-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

Date: This Friday, October 10th
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Buy-in: $10 (one-time option to re-join for an additional $5)

JOURNEY POKER TOURNAMENT:

All funds raised will go toward the Journey Benevolence Fund, which assists community members with urgent financial needs.
Tournament winner will receive prize package including restaurant gift cards and other prizes. "Losers" will enjoy the Loser's Lounge, with other games and a raffle for many prizes.

All ages welcome, and childcare will be provided.

Special prize for the first 10 people in the door and registered!

For more info, email one of our Leaders.

Invite your friends and family!

*Journey is located at 13154 Coit Rd. Suite 101, Dallas TX, 75240

Paul and Gender

2008-09-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

(The following is a reprinted article written by Bob Pyne, Director of
Leadership Development for ALARM.

This story was featured in the May 2008 issue of Chatter, a publication of Irving Bible Church. In the following article, Dr. Pyne describes how his thinking changed regarding the ministry role of women in the church as he applied the principle of transitional ethic. We really like his conclusions and it fits well during our current sermon series on Paul...)

Why I Changed My Mind

When I was a theology professor, people frequently asked me about the role of women in ministry. I used to tell them I held to “complementarianism,” a word with far too many syllables. The label stands for a belief that, while women and men have equal dignity and value, they occupy distinct roles in church and in the home. Proponents of this position believe the Bible places restrictions on a woman’s service in the body of Christ. I no longer believe that, and I now attend a church with a female senior pastor. Clearly something has changed, but it was not my view of biblical authority. My interpretation of the Bible, however, has been recently renovated.

My perspective began changing when some respected friends and colleagues told me that, to them, the silencing of women’s voices did not seem like equal value. Neither did denying opportunity on the basis of gender communicate equal dignity. One friend reminded me that for almost 20 centuries of church history, Christian theologians regarded women as inherently inferior to men, prone to deception and perhaps not fully sharing in the image of God. Be patriarchal if you want, she said, but do not bother trying to soften the blow by calling it equality.

Those conversations opened my eyes. I had downplayed the Old Testament passages that treated women as property, spoils of war, or trophies for victorious men. I had not noticed that Deuteronomy 22 orders rapists to be fined and then given their victims in marriage. When I saw the way accused women were tested for adultery in passages such as Numbers 5, it never occurred to me that there was no similar test for men.

A central lesson became increasingly clear: The Law of God was never meant to represent God’s ideal.
In Matthew 19, Jesus pointed to the difference between the law and the ideal on the question of divorce. The ideal: “What God has joined together, let no one separate.” The concession: “Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.” God’s law about divorce never constituted God’s ideal. It pulled people in the right direction. It made divorce more humane. But it was not the last word. The Law was a transitional ethic for those who had a long way to go on the journey of faith.

If the Law does not fully express God’s ideal, might something similar be happening with other ethical passages of Scripture, even in the New Testament? On the issue of slavery, the New Testament almost certainly represents a transitional ethic. Rather than overturning the institution of slavery, the New Testament assumes it. Jesus uses slavery as an illustration of discipleship. Paul instructs slave owners to treat their slaves with greater respect, even as brothers in Christ, but he never tells them to set the slaves free. Rather, he strongly warns slaves to obey even their Christian masters.

In America’s antebellum south, advocates of slavery seemed to have all the Bible verses on their side. They saw abolitionists as godless infidels who had abandoned the clear teaching of Scripture. But the abolitionists could not get around that idea that it was wrong for one person to own another. They championed the universal dignity of humanity made in the image of God. Reading the New Testament commands about slavery as an ethic on the way, they saw God’s ideal in other Scriptures: Acts 2 declared the Spirit would come upon all flesh, including male and female slaves; Galatians 3 proclaimed that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female.

The abolitionists were no doubt right. But even they did not always recognize the broader implications of their argument. Biblical references to slaves occur alongside references to women. When the slaves are told to submit, so are the women. When masters are told to be gentler, so are the husbands. What makes us think the instructions about men and women should be permanent? Should not “neither male nor female” be taken just as seriously as “neither slave nor free”?

A transitional ethic acknowledges a move from biblical command to biblical ideal. It embraces the spirit of the law over the letter of the law. It encourages a shift from careful restriction to broad encouragement. Paul models such encouragement in Romans 16 as he introduces Phoebe, a deacon and sponsor of a house church who may have been personally carrying Paul’s letter to Rome. Paul tells his readers to “receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints.” May we all join in the movement toward God’s ideal as we celebrate both women and men participating fully in the kingdom of God.

Re-Formed

2008-09-08T15:05:00.000-07:00

(Guest Post by Journey Community Member Laura Baker)

I carry my father's voice in my head. And he's saying we're playing fast and loose with the Bible, inerrancy, and the holiness of scripture.

Now, I'm not saying I agree with him, I can just hear him leveling these criticisms in my head.

Is Paul's letter to the Colossians written for us? And if it is, what might it be saying to us? These are the questions Danielle asked this week. How does a reformed Reformed Christian (that would be me) even think about answering them?

God help me if I know.

I heard a lot of helpful things on Sunday. Ideas like putting Paul's writing in historical and cultural context to understand why he may have focused on the things he did. Or, like focusing specifically on what Paul says about Jesus, since he was an apostle and all. Or, even, like being careful not to use "cultural context" as an easy way out of dealing with difficult elements of these passages.

But I can't help fighting this nagging voice in my head that says, "Are we really allowed to choose how and what to believe in the Bible?" I suppose I learned my conservative Christian lessons really well because I can't seem to break myself of this all-or-nothing, knee-jerk theology. You know how it goes: either it's all true or none of it is.... If you start throwing some scripture out, who's to say you can't throw it all out?... Where do you draw the line? (another of my father's signature statements).

I don't know how to reconcile these gut feelings of mine. Because they really are just feelings--I know better than to think that the Bible is literally true, all the time, in every way. But at the same time, I place so much hope in the fact that the Bible is still a source of Truth--one that I desperately need in my life. I like to tell myself that I'm more sophisticated than this black and white, oppositional view of faith, but I think I'm only just beginning the journey.

The Bus Not the Boat

2008-08-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

(Guest Post by Journey Community Member Laura Baker)

If you're like me, hearing all this stuff about change and growth is really annoying. All the seafaring goofiness aside, I'm not a huge fan of uninvited chaos (troubled waters?), and contemplating all the ways in which change is organic to being a Christian is just not what I'm looking for right now.

Probably like many of you, I am one of those people Danielle was talking about when she said a lot of us Journeyers are in transition. For me, the transition was mostly forced upon me, and therefore highly unwelcome. And I'm guessing, then, that this series about rocking the boat (that one was for you, Danielle) will probably be both very appropriate and also quite difficult.

Don't get me wrong--I like to think of myself as quite flexible. As an adult, I've lived in five different states and eight different homes. I've had many jobs, completed graduate school, and been in every type of financial situation you can imagine.

That kind of stuff doesn't bother me. The change I'm talking about is the near-tragedy kind. The bus that comes out of nowhere and hits you. The uncontrollable stuff that knocks you right on your ass. That's what I'm not interested in. And that's what I'm currently facing. How about you?

Danielle talked about God being a force of change, although I don't think she meant that He causes horrible things to happen. She said God is a centralizing force, and I couldn't help but think of "The Second Coming," the poem by William Butler Yeats (I'm a total English nerd, so you might as well get used to it). Yeats writes:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart, the center cannot hold.

I have this picture in my head of a vacuum-like vertical spinning center that's turning and turning, and Yeats says things fly apart from this center. Danielle says that God holds it together even while it's spinning. I'm hoping God's center does, in fact, hold, but some days I'm not so sure.

One of my favorite sculptures at the Nasher also comes to mind: It's called Quantum Cloud XX (tornado), by Antony Gormley:

(www.nashersculpturecenter.org)

There's no real water or boat tie-in here, but I think the visual is pretty much right-on... there is some kind of centralizing force amid the swirling parts of our lives. I wish that force would make the chaos stop, but apparently that's not its job.

A friend of mine recently said that peace can be as strong a force in our lives as chaos. In fact, he said he was hoping that the next bus that hits me is one of tranquility and reconciliation. I don't know if that Peace Bus is really out there, but I'd certainly step out into the street to find it.

Simplicity, Origin & Ubiquity

2008-08-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

(Guest Post by Journey Community Member Lily Gross)

Overwhelmed by Oprahific ideology, statements of seeming depth and sometimes controversy printed on the sides of Starbucks cups, an optional Religion identifier on Facebook profiles, and an increasingly blurred line in yoga class between God and the Self, there's no place like our current society and culture to consider where we stand as believers. In the hypothetical situation in which a stranger asks us, What do you believe?, how do we answer? How can you summarize your whole being, the very essence of why you see everything the way you do? Like an essay that prompts "In 200 words or less...," so does the world hold us accountable for our raison d'etre.

I grapple with this. Even my most tried philosophies that have evolved over the years are subject to sudden change, because what I feel passionately today may very well counter what I feel down the road after new experiences: If innate evil exists. The role of developed countries in those of the developing. Whether to drink soymilk or conventional cow's. How can I possibly adopt as my confession of faith a succinct pledge composed by a bunch of ancient orthodox dudes, from whom I am so far removed, if I can't conclusively decipher the ethics of dairy consumption?

What initially turns me off from the Apostles' Creed, though, is exactly what draws me to it: its simplicity, its origin and its ubiquity. Of course, there's a book that could be written about each of the aforementioned traits. By 'simplicity' here, I mean neither "easy to get" nor mere recitation; I am referring to the beauty of brevity. Just like the exchange of wedding vows are short but moving and very significant, so are the phrases in the Creed. As for origins, the age of and history behind the Creed, as I am still learning on Sunday evenings at Journey, fascinate and intrigue me. That we as a community can trace back our collective faith (that is, its formal inception) to such remarkable antiquity fosters an empowering sense of identity. When we deliver the Creed, we are in the spiritual company of the billions of believers who have gone before and will come after us, from Paul to St. Francis of Assisi to Martin Luther King, Jr, to our own children and beyond. And as for its omnipresence, how powerful to attend a service at any number of congregations across the globe and with our brothers and sisters breathe forth in unison the tenets of what we hold to be true. The thought gives me chills!

There may be parts of the Creed you hesitate to give yourself to; I have gentle and humble reservations myself. What we can take solace and find peace in is that, while the speech in its entirety might not perfectly identify us individually, we can take each others' hands and figure it out together, one word at a time.

Creed (The Apostles' one, not the band)

2008-07-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

You knew it was coming. The jokes are abundant regarding our new series on the Apostles' creed... Last week the band played some Creed songs before the gathering. I overheard some people telling visitors... "welcome to journey, we don't normally play Creed but we are doing this new series on the Apostles' Creed, so you know..." (and then proceed to act like we don't actually love the band. OK, Eric may not love the band, but he should).

So some say we should embrace the awesomeness that is Creed, while others (like Eric) shy away from the obvious tie in.

So in honor of our new series on the Creed (you know the Apostles' one) I bring you some fun facts on Creed (the band)...

-Creed is the first band ever to have 3 singles in the Billboard top 20 at the same time (The songs: Torn, My Own Prison, and Whats this Life For).

-The name was created by the band's ex-bassist, Brian Marshall. Marshall's former band was called Mattox Creed, and that's where he got the name from.

-Creed’s original name was Naked Toddler.

-Creed vocalist Scott Stapp challenged Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit to a charity boxing match - but the Bizkit singer did not accept.

Also we wanted to point out the other obvious connection... Our new series is not about Creede, Colorado. A small quaint mountain town that many in our community have come to love...

Join us this Sunday for week two in our series on the Apostles' Creed where we will look at the first part:

I believe in God the Father Almighty
Creator of Heaven and earth

Justice, Power and The Kingdom

2008-07-10T14:25:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a good time discussing the idea of God's Kingdom and how it is so much bigger than us. We had a good dialogue about the idea of "Justice" and how Jesus' was an example of love and justice to others. The video that I showed to help guide our thoughts featured Brian Mclaren talking about this very topic. Some people expressed interest in looking at the video again. You can view the whole video HERE if you want to. Take a look and weigh in by adding your thoughts to the comments section...

After the gathering at Dinner someone brought up a great point... They said we talked some about being people of justice, but we didn't really tackle the idea of "injustice" and fighting it. "Sometimes just saying no to something that would cause injustice is a great way for us to practice justice." We wondered together a little bit about what that looks like in our individual lives, in our community, and (the tough part) what that looks like in a broader nation/global sense. How do we live out a life of justice and love amidst injustice in our world?

Good, challenging thoughts for sure!

Journey Anniversary and Talent Show

2008-07-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

Journey turned 9 years old! Thanks to everyone who helped out for the Anniversary service and Talent Show. A great time was had by all. The gathering was full of great stuff... The band rocked out with 4 great songs including a Better Than Ezra riff. Danielle led us in a discussion looking back at the last year which included our new gathering place, a lot of great events, and much growth. We also were led in a touching time of communal prayer by the elders. Newly ordained Erin Babb led us in communion, and we had a special time of baby blessing for our 2 youngest community members.

Then there was the Talent Show! What can I say, there are no words to describe it. Well, there are but instead look at pictures...

City Arts Festival

2008-06-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is our second year to host a children's booth at the City Arts Festival. City Arts is a fantastic celebration of Dallas artists, Dallas museums, good food, and general creative fun. Lots of Journeyers spent part of their weekend helping kids have some good clean fun at our bubble art booth. If you didn't get a chance to volunteer this year, mark next year on your calendar! We love being part of it, because it's a concrete way to encourage the arts, celebrate creativity, and serve our local community, all endeavors we believe are worth our efforts.

We Need Volunteers!

2008-06-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

This weekend, June 14th and 15th Journey is hosting a booth for children at the Dallas City Arts Festival. This is a great event and we love being a part of it. It gives us a chance to get our name out into the community, plus the kids that come to the booth love it!

You can sign up for 1 or 2 hour shift by going HERE to our google doc sign up sheet.

Make sure you give yourself some time before or after your shift to walk around the Festival and see the other booths.

Contact Rhealyn with any questions.

See ya there!

News and Happenings around Journey

2008-06-12T14:52:00.001-07:00

It has been a while with no posts... So here is a quick roundup of some things that have been going on or we have coming up:

-We are currently nearing the end of a sermon series called "Dissident Discipleship." We have had some great discussions about the ideas presented in THIS book. We are discussing and exploring what spirituality looks like when it imitates Jesus and is directed outward in service to the world, instead of inward on the self.

-Last Sunday we had the Ordination Service celebrating the ordination of Erin Babb, one of our community members and hospital chaplain.

-We are currently in the middle of selecting new (and returning) Elders and Leaders as we do each year. Stay tuned for more info on who our new Elders and Leaders will be.

-Public Theology is back and will begin discussing a new book. "The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief" by Peter Rollins. You can find it HERE at Amazon. Public Theology meets at Blackfriar Pub (in uptown on McKinney ave.) Tuesdays at 7:30pm.

-Journey Anniversary service is coming up! We are 9 years old this year. June 29th we will have a special Journey Gathering. Stay after for a meal and a talent show. You don't want to miss this.

TONIGHT: Poker Tourney

2008-05-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

Reminder that tonight is going to be awesome... We have even more prizes that businesses in the community have donated!!!

Here is a cool new update... The first 10 players to register for the tournament will receive a coupon for a free meal and free chips
and guacamole at Chipotle, so don't be late!

Grand prize will be $100 in gift cards, and total prizes for the evening amount to almost $500 in value!

7:30 tonight... see ya there.

This Friday - Poker Tournament for Charity - Spread the word...

2008-05-13T11:51:00.000-07:00

The Leaders at Journey Dallas are excited to host an event to raise money for those in need locally and in the Journey community.

Journey Poker - Where losing is better than winning! (maybe...)

Here is the scoop...

Your $20 suggested buy-in for the Texas Hold em' tourney will go toward the Journey Benevolence Fund, which provides financial support for community members in urgent need. You could also win one of these great prizes:

Grand Prize – Assortment of gift cards totaling $100 (includes a $50 gas card!)

Second Place – $20 Gift Card

Don’t think you’ve got what it takes to win? Go all-in early and then join us in the Loser’s Lounge to enjoy some more laid-back games and a Loser’s Raffle, with total prizes valued at over $100!

Children’s activities are planned throughout, so bring your families and your friends!

*a sneak peak at some of the prizes for the Losers Raffle.....
La Madeleine gift card
Starbucks gift card
Madonna New CD
Over Her Dead Body DVD
Maroon 5 Autographed picture
4 tickets to Six Flags Fiesta Texas (in San Antonio)
& more...

**Bring a deck of Cards if you have them.

For more info contact Rhealyn at... rheamc (at) gmail (dot) com

Journey is located at 13154 Coit Rd. Suite 101 Dallas TX 75240

This time around, or the happenings of (pub)blic theology and new book...

2008-04-23T14:04:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about Journey Church's small group (Pub)lic theology is that it is ever changing, if you will. We have tackled many topics of life, faith, theology, the end of poverty... you know all the easy topics! All the while we have met over a beer (or whatever you choose to drink) in a public place - hence the name (Pub)lic Theology.

The group has been meeting for a while, but that doesn't mean you can't join at any time. Typically we have a book that we are currently reading to help guide discussion. You can get it or not, but either way you should join the discussion. We have just started Muhammad Yunus' Creating a World Without Poverty. So far the discussion on this book has been really good. One point that we made last night was that this is the first book that we have used that doesn't directly talk about God, or Theology. This fact definitely doesn't keep theology from entering the picture though. I think it is because of our theology that we are caused to think of these types of issues. We care about the crisis of Global poverty because our theology causes us to place importance on others. This is a unique discussion that I am really liking. Come join us if you want, we meet (for now, who knows it may change) at BlackFriar Pub on McKinney Ave. in Dallas on Tuesday nights at 7:30.

My friend in Austin, Kester, has a similar group that meets in a pub and he coined this tag line... moderate drinking meets meaningful discourse. That about sums up what are doing to... so come join us.
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Note: Inklings Austin has some good discussion over at their blog if you want to join that discussion.

And HERE is the amazon link for the current book we are reading...

**UPDATE: New location starting week of May 6th - BlackFriar Pub

New Heavens and a New Earth...

2008-04-17T13:14:00.000-07:00

We are right in the middle of our new sermon series on HEAVEN. Wow, has it been interesting. People were literally on the edge of their seats last week during the discussion. Such an interesting topic and one that is hard to nail down. Last week was sort of the intro, or the "What?" of this topic. What is heaven? What is the point of us talking about it? etc... Join us this week as we explore the question "Where is Heaven?" I am sure this is going to be just as interesting...

Spring Event Series

2008-04-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone who joined us for our 3 part series, "When The Ends Don't Meet" hosted by Journey Community Church. The final part was a very successful work-day with an organization committed to helping people out of poverty. Here are some pictures of us working at The Wilkinson Center...

Feel free to email any of the leaders listed at journeydallas.com if you want to help out in our continued effort to be involved with the Wilkinson Center and other efforts that help the working poor in our city.

Spring Event Part 2 Happening THIS WEEK!

2008-03-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

Make plans to come to Journey this thursday evening at 7pm to join in our conversation about the working poor. We have host Doug Pagitt leading our Q&A. Doug is an author and Pastor of Solomon's Porch in MN. Snacks will be provided so at least come by for that!

Reflecting on Holy Week

2008-03-20T15:12:00.001-07:00

As a community one of the highlights of our year is when we have "Holy Dinners." These happen during Holy Week at different houses throughout the week. We approach Good Friday with heavy hearts knowing that we are about to reflect on Jesus' death. These Holy Dinners provide a place to be together and to reflect. Eating together is a meaningful action, but even more so when we take communion together. This week at one of the Holy Dinners we reflected on our experiences of communion. I am amazed at the diversity and range of experiences we all come to communion with.

HERE is a link to the Celtic liturgy we read this week during one of the Holy Dinners.

Lenten Blog: Post Five

2008-03-06T17:56:00.000-08:00

during this season of lent, we have invited some of the many voices at journey to contribute to our blog... to share their thoughts and experiences about lent. enjoy!

I guess I gave up on giving anything up...

Just after the turn of the 1800's a revival movement began in the wild Western frontiers of America. A few preachers got fed up with the bureaucracy of their own denominations and defected. The movement that was born sought to unite all Christians by convincing them to throw off denominational ties in the name of being "Christians simply". (Yes, that's right . . . division in the name of unity people!) Three "nondenominational" denominations ensued: the churches of Christ, the Christian Churches, and the Disciples of Christ. I grew up in the first of these.

My denomination (which denies its status as a denomination) was one that declared emphatically that all that was necessary to live a good Christian life was a New Testament. Nothing less, and unequivocally, nothing more. If one was to isolate six untrained groups of people in remote areas with nothing but a New Testament, one should, years down the road find six churches that looked exactly the same. So the theory goes. One thing which was certain was that no other governing principles were needed. Therefore, when I reached the age of 22 and heard the word "liturgy" for the first time, I remember thinking how sad and misguided those poor 'denominational' souls must be.

As much as I am aware, I represent the fifth generation of my Mom's half of the family to grow up in a church of Christ. I say this to explain the simple fact that the mindset it represents is no longer something I received through training, but I feel fairly confident it is hereditary. That is, it has sufficiently been woven into my DNA. And though my views on many things, including liturgy, have changed, my heart still heralds back towards a sort of radical autonomy when it comes to group participation. Not that I won't ever participate in group activities, only that if I do I tend to do it when I think I'm good and ready.

So, about Lent . . .

I guess I fit in at Journey pretty quickly. For several years I had adopted the 'autonomous thinking' bit to such an extent that I am now too 'church of Christ' to actually go to a church of Christ. I've found several others at Journey who feel the same; substitute their particular denomination for my own. Yet, now I find myself in a community that, at least for certain seasons, is liturgical. And, I don't feel I have quite yet reconciled myself to this way of experiencing God.

Truthfully, I'm not really against practices like Lent. In fact over the last few years, I've come to think that such activities are a pretty good idea. The problem is that I came to such conclusions by considering the theory of Lent. Thus, when people began asking me what I intended to give up this year, my radical self-determination made an executive decision not to comply. I played around with several different things I could give up, and a few disciplines that I might adopt. But, by the second week of Lent I hadn't really settled down on any one thing, and I just kind of gave up on the idea altogether. There are a lot of excuses I could give. I've never had awesome experiences based on ascetic disciplines, no matter how mild. Not to mention the part of me that obstinately disputes anyone's right to impose an arbitrary set of dates where I would need to make my own life inconvenient. But, when it all boils down, I think I'm just too lazy and proud to adhere to Lent. All the theology and personal history I would profess are really just a facade to cover up that point. Yet, that's where the beauty of community comes into play.

I am fortunate to be part of community that practices Lent even when I don't feel like it. I've been reminded this past month that being surrounded with people who are drawing closer to God, will inevitably do the same to those who are not making any particular effort to do so. I've noticed how Lent has broken more than just personal routines, but has also helped our community have different conversations than we would otherwise. We're having to deal with each other's inconveniences, and in doing so are asking questions of each other that might not otherwise be asked. We share reasons that might not be shared at other times. And, most importantly of all, we're reminded of the beauty, as well as the imperfections, of being human. It gets a lot easier to love each other when we're daily reminded how insufficient we each are to even achieve small, seemingly insignificant goals. It's all we can do to keep from smoking or drinking. It's frustrating to face the difficulty of remembering to pray or wake up a few minutes earlier. Most people I've been around have fallen short multiple times on whatever discipline they chose, and though these shortcomings do not seem to be the point of Lent, I am coming to see the beauty of Lent in them. If anything convinces me to sacrifice my deeply ingrained orneriness this time next year, that will probably be it.

- Joe Chambers

Movie Screening and More during the Spring Event Series at Journey

2008-02-29T07:14:00.000-08:00

Mark you calendars and make a point to come out to PART 1 of our Spring Event Series...

The first event of 3 is happening Sat. March 8th!

Lenten Blog: Post Four

2008-02-28T19:05:00.001-08:00

during this season of lent, we have invited some of the many voices at journey to contribute to our blog... to share their thoughts and experiences about lent. enjoy!

This Lenten season, I'm giving up deodorant, toothpaste and books written by Joel Osteen. So far, it's been a real struggle, considering the social consequences. Dallas Gingles would be proud of how much this has already changed my life. Joel Osteen, on the other hand, probably would not. He would probably think I'm not living my best life now or becoming a better me.

Okay, okay, I'm only kidding. So I haven't worn deodorant in weeks, but that's only because I ran out and haven't gotten around to buying more. Toothpaste -- well, who uses that anymore? And Joel Osteen books? Sadly, I can't afford 'em, probably because I haven't given enough money to Kenneth Copeland's ministry lately.

This Lent, really, I gave up chocolate. I swear, I'm the biggest chocoholic I know. None of my friends thought I could go 40 days without chocolate. Unfortunately, they know me all too well, because I'm writing this after I just had a relapse: one of my co-workers waved Ghirardelli underneath my nose. It was a successful seduction; I'm way too easy. The funny thing is, it didn't taste as good as I thought it would. Somebody must've seasoned it with way too much guilt.

And as it goes with Lent, so it goes with sin in my life as well. Of course, being the apple-eating, finger-pointing daughter of Eve that I am, I always have a very reasonable excuse (or two) . . .

"I'm tired today."

"Jesus understands how I feel."

"I'm still doing better than most people!"

"I don't believe in the rapture anymore."

"I'll stop sinning tomorrow."

. . . but I've learned that the bitter aftertaste can last for years . . .

During Lent, we purposefully deny ourselves some unnecessary thing or behavior in which we find comfort or pleasure. In this denial, or death, we are reminded that death is not only necessary, but also ultimately good. In this way, observing Lent is like an opportunity to attend our own funerals. At mine, I want the preacher to say something like, "Today, we are gathered together in this place to bury everything about Wendy that rendered her less beautiful, less pure, less loving, less holy, less human, less Christlike." Impossible? Yes, for Lent is also a time to feel, if only for a time, as hopeless as Christ's disciples must've felt the day Christ's dead, broken body disappeared into the tomb. Sometimes, this journey feels so futile, God's promise of hope as distant as the stars.

I watched Hotel Rwanda for the first time the other day. Afterwards, I spent the better part of an hour sobbing on my blood-red couch, relating more to the murderers than to that courageous guy with the funny last name. I've never killed anyone at the point of a sword, but how many of my friends, family members and acquaintances have died at the point of my tongue? In my sorrow, the satisfaction I feel in dishing out a good tongue-lashing slowly began to die. And in that death, something else was being birthed. Something new, something beautiful.

It's these sort of events that have convinced me that you haven't really lived until you've allowed your heart to be ripped out a few times and wallow in sorrow over the sin and evil in this world and your contributions to them. That's what Lent is for, to mourn the fact that we haven't died, and allow our grief to drive us to seek death in order to find new life. For when the season of Lent has passed, and the joy of Easter has dawned, we will remember that futility isn't our fate, be reminded that only God can raise the dead, and rejoice that resurrection is still His forte.

Not to mention all that Easter chocolate. I'm really looking forward to that as well!

- Wendy Scoggins

Lenten Blog: Post Three

2008-02-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

during this season of lent, we have invited some of the many voices at journey to contribute to our blog... to share their thoughts and experiences about lent. enjoy!

So, I am completely regretting saying that I would come up with something for the Lent Blog. I realize now that it is much harder to come up with “something” worth saying after all. So I’m taking my normal rambling approach and hopefully a little meaning will emerge, but no promises.

The word Lent brings about a lot of words, phrases and images swirling around in my mind, but when I sit down to try and pinpoint what I think of Lent or any moving experiences related to Lent, it’s as if I can’t grab a hold of anything solid. To me that is a little like faith anyway so I’m going with it. I confess, I didn’t give up anything this year. I stopped drinking caffeinated beverages around mid January when I realized one Monday I hadn’t had one all day, and the miracle of it all was…. I survived!! So I went ahead and stopped drinking them then which was good but as the Lent season approached I found myself without an obvious sacrifice and in turn didn’t spend much time thinking of anything else to give up or take on.

That’s when I was reminded of last year when I struggled to give up caffeine and how hard it was for me. Russell and I both decided to give up caffeine, and I had a really, awful time of it. Headaches, grouchiness, and grieving accompanied me on my journey and all the while Russell was feeling none of these symptoms. I couldn’t believe that he was handling this so well. Where was his misery and what about the legendary headaches? Was there no justice? Obviously, I needed to go through some self-evaluation and try not to despise his obvious lack of addiction withdraw.

Time went on and we were in Michigan visiting my little sister, Margaret, for Spring Break, and we decided to take a road trip to Canada to track down some Tim Horton Timbits (for those of you who don’t know, Timbits are amazing, little, scrumptious donut holes that come in a variety of flavors). But it wouldn’t be a road trip without the obligatory stop at the local convenient store to stock up on some good ole’ fashioned junk food. Lusting after the Cherry Coke and regular Dr. Pepper, Russell tried to console me and offered to grab a Mountain Dew like he was getting. A WHAT?!! Yes, you read correctly, Mountain Dew!!!… the soda with one of the highest caffeine contents. Suddenly the world and the previous weeks of suffering became clear as I explained to my innocent husband that not all clearish sodas are caffeine free.

Thinking about this incident this year brought thoughts of intention to my mind (okay and drug trials where they give one group the placebo and the other group the real deal). Again, like I mentioned earlier, I have no grasp on all of this but the word intention stuck out to me and the intention of giving up or taking something on during Lent means to me reaching for a connection with God. Connecting is what I am trying to do more intentionally this Lent season and of course hope to continue. But I also know that I’m not good at it and so in the end this seems like a reasonable and necessary Lent goal for myself. I also know without a doubt that connecting with God is a day to day, moment by moment choice that is only a conversation, thought, whisper away.

- Katy Blake

Lenten Blog: Post Two

2008-02-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

during this season of lent, we have invited some of the many voices at journey to contribute to our blog... to share their thoughts and experiences about lent. enjoy!

“Blindness is also this, to live in a world where all hope is gone.” – Jose Saramago, Blindness

I’ve never given anything up or taken anything on for Lent before. There are two major reasons for this: my church, growing up, didn’t practice Lent and I’ve always found it to be a silly idea. This year, I thought I would give it a try – thinking that perhaps there is more to this “season” than the practice of self-restraint. For my first Lent, I have officially given up “worrying”.

So far, this has turned out to be fairly difficult. I probably should have given up Dr. Pepper instead.

Last Sunday, as I contemplated the “apple/forbidden fruit” in my life, I realized that I couldn’t have picked a better sacrifice. Worry is my way of coping with the unknown. I start to worry when there’s a blind spot surrounding my future, my success (personally or professionally), or an outcome that I desire. It’s pretty much the staple in my assorted coping mechanisms. Worry allows me to both wrap myself in self-pity and also to feel as though I am somehow in control of the unknown. It is also a huge indicator that I don’t fully trust that God has my best interest at heart.

I’m still not entirely sure how to “give up worry” but I can say that it has been an incredible opportunity to reflect on that which gives me hope. I’ve found myself driven more and more into conversation with God about what I fear and what I desire and why. I have to admit that it is sometimes a pretty unnerving process. Everywhere I look, I am reminded of how much I have (both tangibly and intangibly) and of the constancy of God’s provision. I’m also learning that “not worrying” is not equivalent to a lack of needs or uncertainties in my life. However, if I truly believe in God’s promises for me, then I am obligated to live in a way that reflects this faith. I must force myself to see and even to seek out where hope exists – not just in the present, but in the unknown.

So, I approach these coming days with a sense of possibility. I do not know what the days ahead will bring but I shall not worry, because I am called to focus my heart and energies on more important matters. When the outcome is uncertain, joy and hope can still exist.

- Kate Meister

Lenten Blog: Post One

2008-02-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

during this season of lent, we have invited some of the many voices at journey to contribute to our blog... to share their thoughts and experiences about lent. enjoy!

Our selves are violently put upon in stories of life and death, creation and new creation. Truths that we once held simplistically about how the world works, who has power, and how power is held are instantly overthrown with the one intrusive act of kneeling quietly, and being imposed upon by the story of God and God’s own tragic walk outside the walls of the city, and the triumph of empires, and religions, and individuals, and selfishness – of sin – over this God. The cross we hold in our flesh is formed by ashes: ashes that have been held for a year, dormant, waiting, and still, and suddenly with the sunrise, the ashes like us are called upon for the sudden rearrangement of the world, and world’s order. Suddenly, while we partied and celebrated, and lived and were life-filled up until the day before, when we wake on Ash Wednesday we find the world moving with intention towards the place of death, and not just the death of others which is intrusive enough, but the death of God, which is intrusive to all. But we find much to our protests, to our greatest fears, and our stupid selfishness, that we do not wish to die in this way. We do not wish to have our lives remade by God. We wish that the party continued unabated. We are scared of being open with God. We are forgetful of God too often, and when the time comes to be reminded of God, we protest: “anything but this;” “this is too much;” “God should leave us alone.”

The imposition has begun. Now for 40 days our journey towards the cross is symbolized in our actions: things that we have taken up as new practices, others that we have put down as old practices. We are hoping that by giving up something we are making the death of Jesus a story that we don’t just hold in our mind, but is instead a story that we tell year after year with our lives. And so, we do something with the best of intention. We give up sugar, or alcohol, or red meat, or negativity. We add a discipline or a devotion. We attempt to live out cross and resurrection in new and creative ways that we have forgotten over the last year. This is the story of Lent. Our imagination has lost its edge; we have forgotten how to be God’s people, forgotten too easily that the call of Jesus is the call of the self-emptying love of the cross, and Lent is the imposition of the cross into our imagination once again. Like the process of birth, and the violent work of creation, our lives are being remade into the life of God reflected in the ultimate hope of his death. Our stupid selfishness is matched by the ignorant, offensive cross of God who loves “wastefully.”

- Dallas Gingles

The Love of Christ Compels us to Enter into Lent...

2008-02-07T07:38:00.000-08:00

One thing that really stood out to me in our series on "The Love Of Christ Compels Us," is the Plural nature of that phrase. In the whole passage (from 2 Corinthians 5:14) the directions are all plural. God reconciles US, WE are to be reconciled, Christ compels US, and so on. You get the picture.

As we enter into this 40 day period of Lent I am more aware than ever of the plural focus of it. WE are doing this together. WE are repenting, sacrificing, remembering, forgiving, loving, and doing it all TOGETHER. WE are compelled together to figure out what the Love of Christ is compelling US to do. From our Ash Wednesday service last night to the celebration of Easter in 40 or so days, our community partakes in Lent together.

As I enter this time, it is helpful and comforting to know we are in this together.

The Love Of Christ Compels Us...

2008-01-24T17:04:00.000-08:00

That is the title of our current sermon series. We are on week 3 of the series. This Sunday Dallas will talk about what our response is, or what it is exactly that the Love of Christ Compels us to do. There is sure to be good discussion during our gathering on this topic. The picture below gives you a snapshot into the discussion that several of us had this week as we planned the upcoming Journey gathering. For more pictures you can check out the Journey Flickr page HERE.

The Journey Family Tree...

2008-01-21T14:21:00.000-08:00

We Journey folks seem to like combining tradition with innovation, if you will. For example; we like to sing hymns but our band will create new electronic tracks for those hymns. We have couches next to pews. We combine traditional liturgy with whatever we think up. You get the point, we value both tradition and innovation. It seems to work well to create a unique gathering. The latest in this combination is our new milestone wall. Rhealyn, one of our leaders, painted a large tree on the wall in the entryway where will be displaying our Milestones.

Milestones are given to the Journey Community by someone in the community who has had a "milestone" in their life. They usually take the form of a piece of art. Some have given Journey a milestone if they have had a life change that causes them to move away from the Community. Some people have created a milestone for an important event or spiritual transformation in their life. There really are no rules for giving the Journey Community a milestone.

Now we have a "Family Tree" wall to display the milestones on...

Advent Poem

2007-12-23T13:07:00.000-08:00

we wait
in the ever darkening nights
for that which comes always new
like the winter cold sun at daybreak
we wait
for the end is not yet
it will be far better
it will be far beyond
we wait
and we live
and we love
and we laugh
we wait
in the quiet
we wait
in the anticipation
we wait
this advent

by Derek Koehl

the waiting is the hardest part (thank you, Tom Petty)

2007-12-20T15:50:00.000-08:00

Danielle: How long did it take to make that bread?
Me: It’s about a 3 hour process.
Danielle: Woah.
Me: Yeah. The waiting is the hardest part.

Waiting for bread to rise can literally take hours. You put in all this work up front, softening the yeast, warming the milk and butter, mixing the egg, spices and honey, stirring it together, adding flour and kneading the dough. Then you put it in a bowl near a warm, cozy space* and you wait. Some recipes give concrete timelines like, "Place in bowl and let rise for 1-1/2 hours." Other recipes leave room for interpretation and intuition like, "Place in bowl and let rise until the dough has doubled in size." No matter what the instructions say, there is going to be some waiting involved. And, if waiting for the dough to rise is not bad enough, you also have to consider the waiting involved while the bread is baking.

Waiting for bread to rise and then bake is hard because there is no going back. You are committed. You have set these things in motion and you can’t turn around to add forgotten ingredients or revive slow-growing—or possibly dead—yeast. Your only option is to see it through to the end or give up on it completely.** Giving up is rarely worth it unless you are absolutely sure the end is doomed. Sticking with it, on the other hand, is bound to yield an edible product, but has the possibility to be even greater: delicious—loved, admired and consumed by all.

I like to think that the aroma of the dough rising and baking is the fragrance of hope for what the dough could become. It sneaks its way into every corner of the house softly proclaiming, "Hey! There’s something delicious in the making! Just smell it! It is practically the definition of goodness." The smell is comforting and inviting. It invokes anticipation for something even better than itself.

God gives us signs of hope to keep us working and yearning for his kingdom to come in its entirety. The first time around, with little baby Jesus, we had some pretty concrete examples: Zechariah, Elizabeth and John, Joseph and Mary, wise men and shepherds. This time around, we have to look a little harder. But hope is here, living among us. And when I run into tragedy and grief and have trouble finding our friend hope, I bake bread and remember that there is a promise that is to be fulfilled. All the blind will receive their site, all the lame will walk, all who are sick will be healed, all who are deaf will hear, all the dead shall be raised and the good news will be all that we know.

"You take in on faith, take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part"
--Tom Petty

*Although most people choose to put the dough in a warm oven (about 150F) or on top of the stove while the oven is preheating, my mom fully embraced the warming powers of an electric blanket. No joke.

**Advanced bakers and food scientists have figured out a way to put the whole process on pause (this usually requires freezing, but you still can’t really reverse the process.

Recipe for Honey Bread

Ingredients:
1 pkg of yeast (or 2-1/4 tsp)
¼ warm water
1 cup milk
¼ cup butter
1 egg
½ cup honey
1 tbsp coriander
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cloves
1 tsp salt
4 ½ cups flour

extra butter for bottom of baking pans

Directions:
1. Soften the yeast in ¼ cup warm water. Set aside for 5 minutes.
2. Heat milk and butter to lukewarm on stove.
3. Mix together all remaining ingredients EXCEPT flour.
4. Add milk and butter to the honey mixture. Mix well.
5. Add yeast. Mix well.
6. Add the flour 1 cup at a time, using a spoon (or a Kitchenaid if you’re lucky!) to mix evenly.
7. The dough will be too sticky to knead on a cutting board or counter. Just use a spoon (or that KitchenAid with a dough hook) and push the dough back and forth for about 10 minutes.
8. Set aside in a warm, cozy place. Either in a warm oven at 150F or on top of the stove while it is preheating to 300F.
9. Once the dough has doubled in size (about 1 ½ hours), punch it (literally) and mix it again to get out the air bubbles.
10. Divide the dough in ½. Form into 2 round loaves. Place in two 8” cake pans with melted butter in the bottom (trust me…this is the delicious part).
11. Bake at 300F for 1 hour.

Taking Expectation Seriously

2007-12-13T21:01:00.001-08:00

Hope is an interesting thing. To believe that something better is coming really flies in the face of our cultural pessimism. It’s easy to look at the world all around us and lament the terrible future that awaits us all. We hear wars and rumors of war, we hear of disease that threatens the planet and we hear of poverty that seems incurable (just to name a few of the injustices that can be observed).

Yet, at advent, we hope. We talk of expectation of a coming kingdom where wars will cease, where sickness no longer threatens and where equity rules all of humankind. It seems foolish, but we are a people of hope. We are called to long for that Kingdom coming.

There is perhaps nothing more counter-cultural than to be a people that proclaim a Kingdom where the lion lays down with the lamb, where justice is done for all.

Why are we a people of such expectation? Simply put: because of Jesus. In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, we are introduced to a new reality, a new economy. Life is valued above all else, and justice is introduced as something that can and will be achieved.

At Journey last week, we talked about John the Baptist. This prophet was so convinced that the way of Jesus and the Kingdom were indeed coming that it radically changed the way he engaged with the world. As I said Sunday, we are called to be the John the Baptists of our day… people who radically live into a Kingdom vision even when it pushes us to the fringes of society.

Lest we forget, God is often (if not always) found on the fringes in the people that choose to take this message seriously.

As we celebrate this season of Advent, may we be a people of hope. May we say to the powers of this world that better days are coming. Our present reality is not all that exists, and God’s Kingdom of Justice, Love and Peace is coming.

Waiting: Not Always a Bad Thing

2007-12-06T20:30:00.000-08:00

This week, my ten-year-old twin nieces are having some problems with this waiting business. Much to my sister's horror, they found their Christmas presents. Whether they snooped around and found the loot or whether their teenage brother set them up for trouble is still a matter of debate, but this is sad on several levels. My sister absolutely loves buying her children gifts. She loves the surprise on Christmas morning, as well as the anticipation the twins exhibit in the months prior to that morning. She was literally in tears because her well planned surprise has been ruined. I can tell the twins are sad about the lost suprise as well. Whether or not kids will admit, waitng and suprises are a big part of what makes this season so much fun for them. Waiting almost always makes the receivng more special.

I love what Lauren Winner says about advent in her memoir Girl Meets God. When she first converted to Christianity, her pastor explained to her that she never goes to Christmas parties before Christmas day because the waiting of advent is supposed to be a little anxious. Lauren says, "I picture Jane Austen heroines. They never are quite sure their intended will come. We as Christians can be sure, we can rest easy in the promises of Scripture. But we are meant to feel a touch of that anxious handkerchief-wringing expectation all the same."

Waiting is not often an enjoyable thing, but it makes you slow down and it builds a greater appreciation of what we are receiving. This is why I love Advent at Journey. At our Sunday gatherings, we are intentionally slowing down and waiting with eager expectations for the day that celebrates one of the greatest things ever- the incarnation. We spend time in silence on Sunday evenings to meditate on the child who was born in Bethlehem, the God who put on flesh and moved into our neighborhood and whose Spirit remains among us, and the time that is coming when this Christ child that we are celebrating will make all things new. We are rejoicing in the fact that hope has entered our world and hope remains here, and we are wringing our handkerchiefs for the day when our hope is fully realized. The beauty of such a thing must be worth all the waiting that time can muster.

- Janalee Shadburn

Action in Waiting

2007-11-29T09:33:00.000-08:00

This year, as part of our communal journey towards Christmas, we are going to share posts from various community membes about Advent each week. As we prepare for the first Sunday of Advent this weekend, here is an excerpt from a reflection called "Action in Waiting" by Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt in the book "Watch for the Light." (Find more about the book here.)

"It is Advent again. We call this time Advent because it reminds us of what comes from God for the creation of his kingdom on earth. We who are here have been led in a special way to keep what is coming on our hearts and to shape ourselves according to it. That which comes from God- that is what moves our hearts, not only in these days but at all times. That which is to come from God is the most important thing we have, in the past and in the present as well as in the future. It is only in God's coming that even the Bible itself has value to us, let alone all other things we call 'means of grace.' Unless what comes from God is a part of it, it remains like a dead seed and does not achieve what must be achieved if God's kingdom is to be.

There are many today who sigh to heaven, "Savior, come now!" But they are not sighing for the sake of God's kingdom. They cry out like this only when they are in trouble and want God to help them. And they don't know of any help that is more effective than to have a Savior come and put a quick end to their troubles.

When it comes to the things of God, however, we must not be concerned for what is ours, but only for what belongs to Christ. We should do this not merely for our own edification; we must become workers for God. This leads us to God's vineyard, a place where there is not a great deal of talk, but where everyone is intent on deeds.

This is what it means to prepare for Advent...It is remarkable that not only God, creator of heaven and earth, but also God's people must be a part of this plan. There needs to be men and women who give themselves up for God's kingdom and its justice."

What does it look like for us this year to enter into the vineyards of God and do the work of preparing for the kingdom? How can our December become one where we are intent on the deeds of God's coming reign?

My Journey Towards Being a Yogi

2007-10-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

In years past, devotion to God and taking care of myself meant hour-long quiet times at Starbucks with the latest Bible study or listening to the latest praise and worship CD for hours on end. As I’ve stretched my idea of spirituality a bit in the last few years – I feel sure that devotion and spirituality can be found in the most unexpected of places and in the most surprising ways. I’m thankful for a place like Journey that values the many facets of worship and spiritual practice – a community that sees God in art, music, serving humanity – and sometimes even serving ourselves.

For me personally, reading books, good music, journaling and spending quiet time – are all great resources to sense God’s presence in my life. These same things are also crucial for me to remain grounded and calm in a chaotic world. However, recently, I’ve found something that helps me see myself and see God in a new way. Yoga has given me an inner peace lately, and a lot of physical strength. Yoga originates in India and most of the “yogic” terms have their roots in Hinduism. As a group of ancient spiritual practices that encourage connection with the Divine and your own personal existence, yoga is something that stretches the body and mind. However, most churches discourage the practice – because it is not a Christian one. Because yoga finds its roots in another religious practice, I can remember worrying that I should steer clear of such “teachings.” However, something about yoga has always been a draw for me – and this year I’ve made it a regular part of my week.

I think communities like Journey and my yoga class are on to something. If God is within us and we are the present-day manifestation of His presence in our world – then doesn’t it make sense to participate in something that allows us to look inward? Doesn’t it make sense to know ourselves mentally and physically? I imagine people experience more of a “Divine” presence about me when I’m relaxed, feeling cared for, and whole – rather than when I’m frazzled, spread too thin and overwhelmed. Maybe this is the one holy truth within yoga – and something I have decided is worth my time. I don’t think God is as interested in what specifically we are doing to find Him and know ourselves – I don’t think there is a one-way ticket to becoming a “spiritual person”. For me, yoga contains a thread of truth – that in being quiet and strong, we are being spiritual. At the end of a busy workday, there is nothing more substantial to me than stopping, being quiet, taking care of myself, honoring my body and soul, and in that – I often remember that God cares about these things too.

I read in my new favorite book, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert that “If humanity never evolved in its exploration of the divine, a lot of us would still be worshipping golden Egyptian statues of cats….and this evolution of religious thinking does involve a fair bit of cherry-picking. You take whatever works from wherever you find it, and you keeping moving toward the light.” For me, I’ll keep moving toward that, and maybe along the way – I’ll finally be able to touch my toes.
-Michelle Randall

Happy Birthday Pub Theology!

2007-10-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

Pub Theology has turned 1 year old! As I look back over the year, I’ve seen how it has been an integral part of my spiritual life at Journey.

Last week, Ed brought up that the word “conversation” (or “convo”) has been used more frequently these days in our public lexicon. It could be a new trend where the mutual sharing of ideas and viewpoints has become more valued than the regular way of heated debate or dry lecture where a particular position is argued. But I think that Pub Theology has been a true conversation of friends who want to gain useful perspectives and viewpoints of God in our everyday lives.

For me, I enjoy the fact that this weekly gathering of people joins together to discuss without an agenda. Pub Theology is not a book study per se, but we do use a book and have chapter readings for the week to serve as a launchpad for our conversation. But more times than not, we end up talking about anything and everything to do with faith and God. People will sometimes bring up an issue where faith has intersected with something they’ve faced that week. Or sometimes people will bring up an article or world event that totally gets the wheels turning (and occasionally shoots the wheels off).

I’m an armchair theologian. At pub theology, I don’t feel pressured to deliver a sunday-school answer or come to the table with all of my thoughts and opinions about faith fully prepared and mapped out. For as long as I have had a faith of God in the way of Jesus, my theology has been in a constant state of flux. I don’t have any desire to go to seminary and I’m quite comfortable to leave the heavy lifting to the professionals. However, I do appreciate the good company, the tasty beverages, and the engaging, accessible conversations at Pub Theology.

-John

We are taking a break on Oct 23^rd, but join us on Oct 30^th as we start up the next book:
Mark Scandrette – Soul Graffiti

Books we’ve looked at over our first year:
Stanley Grenz – Created for Community
Peter Rollins – How (Not) to Speak About God
Tony Jones – The Sacred Way
Scot McKight – A Community Called Atonement

soul food

2007-10-12T07:16:00.000-07:00

Most of my favorite memories involve two things: good food and good company. Growing up in the south, Sunday dinners (which actually means lunch in that region) were a golden fried tradition. We shared recipes, news from the community, and stories from before my time. The locale for this was always my Grandmother's house, and for her hospitality equaled one thing: as much food as she could possibly cook. Even though she usually wore herself to a frizzle in the preparations, she was never happier than when her house was filled with folks she loved enjoying the feast of her labor.

As I've gotten older, I've begun to realize that I am just like her, only I've left the family fried tradition behind and embraced pasta and soup as my specialties. My favorite memories from my time at Journey involve hanging out over dinner with friends. I'm normally my very happiest when I can share hospitality with others and help them connect over food. I love that Jesus shares his love for his friends over a meal. I really think it's a sacred practice for all involved.

All that being said, we are starting a new event at Journey, and we are calling it "Soul Food" because we believe this kind of communion is truly good for our souls. As a way to connect newcomers to our community, different Journey members will be hosting a potluck dinners in their homes. The host/ess will prepare the main course, and we will let you know what that will be. If you would like to come, simply RSVP by email to the host/ess, and they will let you know what you need to bring. We will have one dinner every other week. The nights may rotate, so that people with weekly commitments can make it to a few dinners. Here's the schedule for the rest of this month:

Thursday October 18: Janalee's place in The Village (Central Dallas)

Tuesday October 30: Jen Wilson's place in Richardson

Check Journey emails and handouts for details and addresses. If you have any questions, please email Janalee at: jleeshad (at) gmail (dot) com

This is a great way to learn more about Journey and to meet the folks that make this community so important to us. We hope to see you there!
-Janalee

Thanks for stopping by...

2007-10-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

He came, he spoke, he read some poetry, and shamelessly promoted his new book. But we are not complaining, nope... Mark can shamelessly promote his book at Journey anytime. A good time was had by all on Sunday night as "new" Journey opened its doors for the first time as a completely finished out gathering space. Complete with art on the wall and a sound system.

Thanks to everyone who came together to pull off a fantastic gathering. We enjoyed Mark Scandrette reading excerpts from his book so much that we will be using it as our discussion point for Public Theology on Tuesday nights at 7pm (meeting at The Flying Saucer in Addison).

Mark's talk touched on many topics. I particularly enjoyed his insight as to how Dallas is, according to some data, "the most Christian city." His thoughts on this centered around an actual difference in "Christian Folk Religion" to "Following in the Way of Jesus." If we really are the most Christian city, is there a difference being made as to how we treat the earth, love others that are not like us, and live in transformative community? Hmmm... I am not sure. Leave your thoughts in the comments...

Coming soon to a church near you...

2007-10-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

The tagline of a new book, "Making a Life in the way of Jesus" might seem like a broad statement. Or maybe a statement that makes you think, "sure... easier said than done." But this is not only an idea that Mark Scandrette tackles in his new book, Soul Graffiti, it is one he really lives out. Trust me, this guy is crazy. But in a good way. Some of us from Journey met him at a conference and I took one of his classes (which were more like conversations). From those few hours came the series at Journey a while ago we called "Radical Contentment and Generosity," aka, RCG. Over a year later, many of us at Journey are still mulling over the ideas he presented about living content and simply in order to be generous to others. In other words- living a life in the way of Jesus here in Dallas or wherever we find ourselves. Turns out it is easier said than done.

Mark is one of those guys whom you can't help but be impacted by. At first I thought that maybe he just had interesting ideas. But upon further examination, Mark really lives out "A Life in the way of Jesus." In his book, Mark talks about the gang shootings on his street and how he befriends the marginalized around his neighborhood in San Francisco. Sounds a little like "a life in the way of Jesus" to me (in an 'off the beaten path' sort of way).

Mark will be speaking at Journey this Sunday, October 7th. Following the gathering we will have a house-style concert with The Cobalt Season and provide dinner. (Please bring $10 to support the band and help with dinner costs.)

Sound interesting? I'm sure it will be. For more info on Mark check out these links...

Mark's website

ReImagine, The organization the Mark leads in California.

MP3 of Mark Reading from his book, Soul Graffiti, via the emergent podcast.

First gathering in our new location...

2007-10-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

So we had this grand plan to have an amazing "housewarming" gathering in our new location. It was going to be so cool to see people look around the room and see it all finished out. They would finally believe all the great things we were saying about how awesome our new location was going to be.

Rewind to a few days before this first gathering...The leaders and Elders get a call from Danielle informing us of how the construction on the interior of the new space is far from being done. "WHAT?", we were baffled. "But is HAS to be done, it is our first gathering, we even had fancy postcards printed," were our comments to this bad news. We thought it was hopeless.

So now we were left with trying to decide if we go forward with meeting in an actual construction site or find somewhere else to meet. (hint, we ended up meeting in the space, dust and all).

I think I can speak for all of us there, we are very excited about this new location and new season for Journey. Despite the place being unfinished and the fact that we had to sit on a hard concrete floor (complete with a fresh sprinkling of dust from the walls being sanded) our original goal was met. I think it was even more meaningful in this unfinished state. People got to walk around to see how cool the room will be. And there was this feeling of excitement in the air for what is next. Which hopefully includes finishing the construction.

A Perfect Present

2007-08-16T13:50:00.000-07:00

What a fantastic surprise this Sunday! Thank you for all of your kind and encouraging words as we celebrate two years of being in community with one another. It is such an honor to serve as your pastor, and to represent Journey wherever I go. Our family is grateful to be part of the Journey family, and to call this place of faith our home.

To all of you who contributed to the donation to the Grameen Bank in my honor, I want to give my deep thanks. What better way to celebrate than to support one of the many places that reminds me- and all of us- that the Spirit of God is active and moving in this world!

For those of you who may not know, the Grameen Bank is the pioneer organization behind the now-flourishing microcredit industry. Its founder, economist Muhammad Yunus, threw every banking rule and boundary he knew to the wind and decided instead to create a bank that would serve those who needed help the most- those in poverty. Needless to say, the whole world was surprised when his bank, which gave loans to mothers of five in small villages with no education and no credit history, garnered a higher loan repayment rate than any traditional bank had ever seen.

It should not surprise those of us who follow the God who is always doing new things. When new life and grace are offered to willing hearts, the result is always astounding. And the world is always a more beautiful place because of it.

Thank you again for your thoughtfulness, support and love. I love all of you dearly, and I look with great eagerness to the open horizon that lies before us.

Growing

2007-06-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

Tillandsia, commonly called "air plants," are the most transportable residents of the plant kingdom. They can grow in the unforgiving desert, the sunlight-starved forests, and even rough mountain terrain. They are unique in that they do not have roots and they do not require soil. Rather than using roots to plumb the soil for nutrients, they rely on their leaves to collect nutrients from whatever surrounds them. You often will see tillandsia attaching to other plants, the group hug of the plant world. This isn't to say that they are parasitic in nature; they don't latch onto a nearby plant unannounced and unwelcome, draining it of its own resources. They simply connect, and allow their leaves to collect everything they need from the dust and moisture in the air. Their grip is light and leaves no mark after they have gone. In fact, they are just as happy hanging onto a piece of driftwood or a seashell or your windowsill as they are another plant. One website said you can even hang your tillandsia from the ceiling, by a string.

I can't help but find correlations between this eccentric little plant and our eccentric little community of faith. As we've spent these past few months considering a number of possible locations for our near future, I have been struck by how incredible portable we are. Deep Ellum, Design District, industrial warehouse, or storefront along 75, there seems to be the sense that no matter where we go, we will be just fine. We do not want to be bogged down by an enormous building. We do not wish to shove our roots into a chosen plot of land and decide to stay there, come what may. Our hope is to be nimble, simple, flexible, open to the Spirit, and connected. Regardless of our location, we will continue to stretch out our arms like leaves and find the nutrients we need by doing what we do best- connecting with one another, reaching toward the Spirit, hands outstretched towards the world.

We are not a community of faith that is defined by our location. We are defined by our relationships, our community, the places we serve. These things are delightfully portable. And they are also incredibly strong. I have been struck in community discussion after community discussion in the strength of what makes us Journey- that "thing" that holds us together, keeps us united. It only makes sense, considering that the One we follow is infinitely accessible in\n this God-saturated earth. The Scriptures tell us of a God who is with us in the lush Garden as well as the years of wilderness wanderings; a Savior who reveals himself in a small, quiet stable and walks toward us in torrential thunderstorms on the sea; a Spirit who hovers over the formless deep and swirls in our presence as tongues of fire. God is with us on every juncture of this human journey.

As breathtaking as the oak tree may be, if Journey were to be a plant, I would choose the tillandsia every time.

- Danielle Grubb Shroyer, Journey Pastor

The Complete Blogging the Bible

2007-06-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

This week marked the end of a Journey that took a little over a year and that covered hundreds of years and thousands of miles in the story of a nation. I'm talking about reading the entire Old Testament.

Every week David Plotz of Slate.com, a self described "proud though not terribly observant Jew", read through a section of the Old Testament and posted his thoughts as he read these words for the first time. It was this way that for a year I tuned in for my weekly trip through time into this book that we call the Bible and discovered the fascinating though often times quirky, and strange stories that are in our sacred book.

If there is one thing that we value here at Journey is experiencing the Bible in ways that we haven't before, and finding ways to engage the deeply rich narrative embedded in the pages of this book, and it is in that way that Blogging the Bible tapped into that very core and although I am sad that the series is over (although I'm crossing my fingers for a New Testament run), I am glad to say that it was a very enriching experience and one that I hope others get to be a part of.

The Well

2007-05-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

Journey is a place that offers many gifts including blessed community, intelligent conversation, and opportunities to reach out to the very real needs in the world around us. That is one of the things I love about it. We really live out the message of Christianity in very real and practical ways within our community and the ways we love each other. But also in the small gestures (and big) that we extend towards our global and local community.

One of the things I look forward to the most each month is The Well.

One Saturday a month, Journey folks gather in Oak Cliff to prepare a meal for the members of this unique community. The Well’s mission is to “engage people with mental illness in a life-giving community of peace, love and hope.” Each month, we have the opportunity to participate in that. The amazing part is that I always find myself leaving with a little more life than I came with. The economy of God’s love is often more backwards than we think. I think a lot of us have really begun to feel at home at The Well. We help folks eat and simply talk and listen. It’s really pretty simple. We prepare a home-cooked, nutritious meal for the community members, enjoy their worship service, and clean up! Mother Teresa said, “We can do no great things, just small things with great love. It is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it.” And I’m humbled every week as my friends at Journey reach out, with great love, to these friends. In their eyes, we see God. And so, really, they minister to us as much as we have the chance to minister to them.

- Michelle Randall

ReGift!

2007-05-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

Danielle spoke last Sunday about regifting the things that we have been given. When we begin to see all that we have as a gift from God, not as something we've earned or are entitled to, we are compelled to want to give those things away again. Here are some ways you can give:

www.thewellcommunity.net
Journey partners with the Well once a month to serve them dinner. This ministry for people with mental illness has plenty of opportunities to serve.

www.kiva.org
Microfinancing organization that allows you to loan money to specific individuals throughout the world. When the loan is paid back to you, you can re-invest it in someone else. Talk about regifting!

www.planfund.org
Local Dallas branch of microfinancing.

www.heifer.org
Provide livestock to families in need. The livestock gives the family both food and income, and Heifer’s “Passing on the Gift” program allows recipients to give offspring of their livestock to other families in need.

www.servlife.org
Sponsor an orphan for $30/month and provide them with food, clothing and private Christian education.

www.ntfb.org
North Texas Food Bank. Volunteer to feed those in our own village.

www.habitat.org
Help build houses for people.

www.wilkinsoncenter.org
Local Dallas organization serving children, the elderly and those who are hungry. Volunteer opportunities abound.

The Latest from Africa

2007-05-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Luke Miller, our very own Community Pastor (and the North American Coordinator of Amahoro) and John Venuto, one of our fearless Leaders, are in Uganda right now at the Amahoro conference.

Amahoro is a place of conversation for those engaging the church in post-colonial Africa, and a place for those of us in the postmodern West to learn and listen to what God is doing in their midst.

Luke has been busy posting blog updates for those of us state-side.

Check it out here.

Next Wednesday

2007-04-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

Friends of Justice is a faith-based criminal justice reform group which organizes across Texas and Louisiana to fight wrongful prosecutions in poor communities. Their Executive Producer, Alan Bean, will be in Dallas on Wednesday, May 9th to talk about his work and how the local church can respond. Join Journey and other communities of faith as we host him and learn more about the call of Jesus in our criminal justice system. Contact Danielle at dgshroyer@yahoo.com for more info. The discussion will be held at CityChurch, 3601 Routh Street.

thoughts on time and neighborliness

2007-04-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

last week at church we discussed what it is to be a good neighbor. seems a simple concept, but the idea of being too stressed and distracted to really live in the present kept surfacing as i listened to everyone's thoughts. darrell mentioned that oftentimes we are too busy to even muster up common decency and consideration for another's well being. our culture drives us to propel forward without so much as a glance to the left and right of us. makes me wonder what better people we'd be if we would just stop to breathe and look around. we'd probably notice more... be aware of our neighbor's pain and struggles. it's such a mindless "duh" kind of thing, when you think about it, but it is in fact SO HARD for us to really practice. anyway, i wrote more about this on my personal blog, which i've copied and pasted below..

'there's always something to look forward to. always something marked on my calendar. fun just waiting to happen. i spend much of my time and energy looking ahead to what's over the horizon..the next step.. things to scratch off my list..new goals to accomplish.

day to day, hour by hour, much of this future-mindedness is unconscious. just how life works; a reason to keep waking up every morning. but i am finding myself losing much of the present. well, i find myself not truly engaging in and experiencing what each moment has to offer.

it's like a super stressed bride and groom on their wedding day. they plan, they toil, they put so much of their time and thought into the big day, yet most say that they don't even remember eating the food-or knowing what songs were played- or what relatives they even spoke to. it's all about what's next on the list. and stress inevitably takes control and makes sure that you aren't relaxing and enjoying what's happening right now.

i've been trying really hard to step outside my routines and my stress and my calendar and just take time to look around at my current world- the emotions i feel, the weather, interactions with friends, smells, sounds, the work i'm doing (however tedious and pointless), and allowing certain moments to linger just a little longer than i would normally let them. sometimes this makes me seem ultra sappy or weird, but it's the only way i know how to slow down the clock.'

Easter reflections

2007-04-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

Easter is (obviously) an important event on the Christian calendar. I grew up in a tradition that avoided putting too much emphasis on certain days of the calendar. This is because, of course, Christians should celebrate the resurrection every day! This is a great thing, but it can has the potential to become repetitive. I mean, every single Sunday recounting the death and resurrection...what a drag! (notice the sarcasm here).

I know there are pros and cons to both approaches, but for Journey we love following the Christian calendar. It gives us many opportunities to truly engage and remember in unique ways. This was the case for me this year. From Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday. From Good Friday to Easter Sunday. Each gathering held a unique purpose and used a unique form to help us to experience the event.

For me, I particularly enjoyed the 'grand finale,' if you will. The final weekend. Good friday was a powerful time of silence and reflection as we had prayer stations set up to engage the senses to remember the brutality and ugliness of the cross and Jesus' death. Then on Easter Sunday at 6:45 am - as the sun rose in the sky - we were reminded of a new day, a new hope. I love how the whole thing was a process. It was 40 days of intentional remembering leading up to a simple (yet profound) celebration of life that stood in stark contrast to the despair of death.
And the whole process was done in community. We remembered and experienced it together. I am thankful that we can embrace the tradition of following the Christian Calendar, but in a way that gives us freedom to do it in the context of community.

black gold: this friday

2007-03-12T11:06:00.001-07:00

This Friday, journey will host a semi-exclusive screening of black gold, a film about the coffee trade between the two-thirds world and the west. Fair trade coffee will be available to drink (for free - thanks to 963 coffee) and to buy by the pound ($12, but $5/bag will go to Invisible Children.)

Come enjoy a good film, good coffee, get educated, and enjoy the company of friends. See you there!

Wake up and Smell the Coffee

2007-03-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't heard, our church will be hosting a screening of the documentary film "Black Gold: Wake up and Smell the Coffee" which looks into the multi-billion dollar coffee industry and shows the plight of poor Ethiopian farmers who grow the beans, but see little of the profits. Hopefully this documentary will become a great vehicle to entertain, inform, and ultimately motivate us, as consumers, on how we can directly empower poor coffee farmers to elevate themselves out of extreme poverty.

Incidentally, we have a couple of Starbucks employees who frequent Journey. So I decided to check out the Starbucks website and I found that they should be commended for their many social, environmental, and economic practices.

I also came across a Starbucks quicktime movie promoting its positive Ethiopian initiatives. From what I can tell, the improvements Starbucks made in infrastructure and methods (except for a $75,000 water well installed by the Brits) are basically just direct *business* investments with the intention of improving the quality of their product in Ethiopia. Which is not a bad thing necessarily, but it is just something that any ordinary company would do in a commodity oligopsony. By all rights, Starbucks is a very small buyer anyway--they only buy about 2% of their coffee from Ethiopia, but somehow they have come to the forefront of this issue. Starbucks happens to be a very large coffee retailer so their brand is shown in the movie, but I don't think that they are or should be villanized.

What do Ethiopian coffee farmers have to do with Journey anyway? Well, I believe that reacting to this issue embodies our value of "social justice." To me, social justice means that we must somehow seek to do what Jesus did--which was to go into the world healing AND empowering the marginalized. Jesus gave more than just gifts of miracles, he also gave an affirmation of value to those considered valueless by society such as the samaritan, the prostitute and the tax collector.

There are a lot of us at Journey who have social justice causes that we are passionate about. And unfortunately, the world has limitless cases of injustice! It's not just coffee farmers and it is not just Ethiopia that feel the pinch of imperfect markets. But so far, the only way to circumvent the exploitation of these extremely poor farmers is to inform the consumer of the importance of an available fair trade alternative. What better way to make a difference in the world by doing something we already love to do anyway: drinking coffee!

-John

http://www.blackgoldmovie.com/
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/blackgold
http://www.oligopolywatch.com/2003/09/05.html

free house show - wednesday, february 28

2007-02-23T13:26:00.000-08:00

The Well on People Magazine

2007-02-19T15:28:00.000-08:00

Here at Journey we are very proud to be serving the community of The Well. People's latest issue ran an article on it, and the Dallas Observer posted the content in their blog. You can read it here...

This Friday...

2007-02-13T08:48:00.000-08:00

Life as Investment

2007-02-08T12:49:00.000-08:00

I’ve really enjoyed our recent conversations about the end of time, the return of Christ and the kingdom. We said from the beginning that our intention was not to create a new system, or to crack some sort of code in our understanding. Our intention was to consider how our beliefs may affect our ability to follow our God, and to pray that through our conversations the Spirit would show us how we can be more faithful.

Sunday we asked, “How then shall we live?” As people who hope for the coming kingdom in its fullness and as people who are called to follow it, how do we live? Is there a way for us to engage both our need to be fully present to where we are and to hold a future hope for what will be?

I think Lindsay used the best metaphor when she talked about investing. As in the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, we wonder what it would mean for us to be people who invested wisely. For those of us following the way of Jesus, investment in people, in creation, through our desire to see God’s kingdom come and God’s will be done in and through and among us, is our highest calling.

How do our lives beckon us to invest in grace? Invest in God’s justice? Invest in healing, or forgiveness, or love? If we take seriously the responsibility- and great joy- of living as God’s hands and feet in the world in every way possible, how then shall we live?

Perhaps these questions are fruitful ways for us to prepare our hearts for Lent. What ought we give up, or take up, as we enter this season of ashes?

Excavations and Revelation

2007-01-22T13:10:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago Winston and I took a trip to Greece, and in every single travel book and website we were admonished to visit the Palace of Knossos… it was amazing…. it was a labyrinth… it was the home of the Minotaur… in short, not to be missed under any circumstances. We got really excited about going. We hopped into our little car, drove down 1 lane roads in Crete, got lost a couple of times, got stopped by some sheep, all to fulfill this quest.

Once there, however, we got a far different picture of what kind of excavation this really was. Basically, back in 1900, this Englishman named Arthur bought the Palace of Knossos and set about “renovating” it. I picture him walking into empty halls and rooms and imagining what it might have been. “Maybe this is where they hung their clothes”; “This hole in the floor could have been a toilet”; “This red line on the wall could have been a giant painting of a Greek goddess”. Except that after he was done imagining, he actually reconstructed the rooms according to his fantasies. We pay money to go visit this site, and unless you very carefully read all the signposts and interpret them for what they are, you might actually think that it’s the real thing. I’m petitioning to have the site renamed “Place of Arthur”, but so far the Greek government hasn’t given me the time of day.

It’s human nature to “reconstruct” history like this. We don’t like the unknown, and God gave us a vivid imagination. We take the book of Revelation, which to me at least, is incomprehensible, and we make neat little connections and with a little bit of imagination we have something that kinda sorta makes a little bit of sense. But it’s not the real thing, and we have to remember that it’s just a reconstruction.

I’m not holding out hope that I’ll ever understand Revelation. And I hope that I’ll continue to have the strength to accept the not knowing.

it's the end of the world as we know it...

2007-01-19T07:06:00.000-08:00

this song has been stuck in my head ever since i found out we are doing a series on the end times. it just keeps going, on repeat, and it's driving me insane. but beyond that, i'm really enjoying the series and am learning stuff i would never have explored otherwise. eschatology isn't exactly the most exciting topic i can think of- when it gets down to its history and all the angles and layers. it all sounds a bit like crazy-talk. like i want to bust out in the middle of some of the explanations and yell "that's crazy talk!!" (revelation is bad enough as it is.. we needn't any more craziness). but i like how we're at least looking for some semblance of relevancy and seeking the nature of God through it all (rather than just being 'okay' with the left behind theology and continuing to scare children into a quick and efficient salvation). *the technical term for this theology is 'dispensationalism'. see? i learned some'in!

last week at church, we had a lot of discussion throughout the sermon (or 'talk', as we are prone to calling it). when the question was posed, "if we don't believe this (dispensationlist) theology, then what is the alternative? what's going to happen?" (i think i actually said: "what's going to help me sleep at night?") in response, someone (a new guy- his first time at journey) said something to the effect of: it doesn't make a difference. the not knowing is okay, and even freeing...

that 'not knowing' works for me when it comes to many big issues- like evolution, for example. if it's ever 100% proven, my foundation will still be in tact. i won't have to question my faith or denounce christ or concede that christianity is ridiculous. this is because i've decided that it's still worthwhile in SPITE of the evolutionary process. i've just got to start looking at revelation in the same way and go from there. so far, i've avoided it entirely. but then i feel ignorant, and there's nothing more frustrating than an ignorant christian who knows nothing about a very big part of the bible. (not as frustrating as narrow-minded christians who refuse to ever see the color gray), but i don't want to be either.

so the point is, i'm excited about this series.

Welcome to the JourneyDallas Blog!

2007-01-15T08:59:00.000-08:00

We'll be blogging here a couple of times each week to keep you posted about what's happening in and around the Journey Dallas Community. We'll tell you what's coming up, what's been going on, and what we've been thinking/talking about.

And this blog is for the whole community. If you have an entry you'd like to submit about something happening at Journey, e-mail Luke at luke@thedetour.net.

Stop by often or subscribe to our feed at http://www.journeydallas.com/blog/rss/atom.xml.

BTW- We kicked off our new series, "Leaving Behind Left Behind: a 4-week series about the end of time, the coming of God, and the future of the world," last night. The conversation was great, and we look forward to exploring these ideas over the next few weeks.