"The Lists"...topics and speakers

We've got our line-up of topics/workshops/discussions for the gathering as well as speakers/guides/curators. Check them out.

Think About it.

This is the first of a series of quotes, thoughts, metaphors, art and other holy mischeviousness that will frequently pop up here in order to inspire our imaginations, create new ways to see life and connect us with one another and the rest of our global tribe.

Our context today is characterized by a glaring disparity between the rich and the poor. No serious Christian can quietly ignore this situation. It is no longer possible for someone to say, “Well, I didn’t know” about the suffering of the poor. Poverty has a visibility today that it did not have in the past. The faces of the poor must now be confronted. And we also understand the causes of poverty and the conditions that perpetuate it. There was a time when poverty was considered to be an unavoidable fate, but such a view is no longer possible or responsible. Now we know that poverty is not simply a misfortune; it is an injustice.

Of course, there always remains the practical question: what must we do in order to abolish poverty? Theology does not pretend to have all the technical solutions to poverty, but it reminds us never to forget the poor and also that God is at stake in our response to poverty. An active concern for the poor is not only an obligation for those who feel a political vocation; all Christians must take the Gospel message of justice and equality seriously. Christians cannot forgo their responsibility to say a prophetic word about unjust economic conditions. Pope John Paul II’s approach to the phenomenon of globalization is a good example. He constantly asks: “How is this going to affect the poor? Does it promote justice?”

Gustavo Gutierrez
Via - americamagazine.org

Where to stay while in Seattle

This link will take you to a handful of hotels in Seattle that are located in Seattle center. They are all a quick bus ride away from the venue. Email us if you have any questions.

Click here to check out hotels.

Calling all Poets and Lyricists

Last year we asked people on our mailing list what they would like to see included in our upcoming gathering and the wave of creative ideas was overwhelming. We have taken the input very seriously and included many ideas in the design of the gathering.

Now we issuing another invitation MSA invites our friends all over the world to write a song for the gathering. If we are serious about getting the church out of the building we need a song to motivate the followers of Jesus to join God’s purposes to transform a people and restore our world. You don’t have to be a musician to participate. We are simply asking you to write lyrics for music that reminds of God’s love for a world.

The problem as we see it. Many of our worship songs might lead one to conclude that God’s mission is to rescue our disembodied souls for the clouds… “leaving clothes behind on air plane seats.” The problem is that an eschatology of escape tends to disconnect our faith from both real life and the real world. This kind of music will never motivate us to leave the building and care about the urgent needs filling our planet. We need some new lyrics that reconnects us with God’s loving purposes for a people and a world.

Tom Wright, British theologian, when speaking at Seattle Pacific University last year, stated, “Heaven is not our home!” In his book on resurrection he reminds us the bible teaches that at the return of Christ we will be bodily resurrected… not to head to the clouds…but to come home to a restored creation. We will have new bodies but real bodies. We will come home as a resurrected community to a future in which God not only intends to transform and redeem us but all of creation as well (check out I Corinthians 15 regarding the promise of believer’s resurrection).

Your challenge… write a song that reminds us about God’s purposes for a people and a world. Start by looking at the imagery of Isaiah 2:1-4…suddenly Mount Zion becomes raised above all other mountains then we see a great multicultural resurrected community coming home to a world made new in which swords are made into plowshares and God will settle disputes between the nations. In Isaiah 25:6-9 we witness a great homecoming celebration on the top of the mountain enjoying “the best of food and finest of wine.” In Isaiah 35:1-7 there is imagery describing when the blind will see, the deaf will hear and the “lame will leap like a deer.” More than that the passage reflects imagery of God’s good creation being restored to wholeness too. In Isaiah 9:2-7 we are shown the imagery of the coming of the Prince of Shalom and his commitment to bringing justice, righteous and peace to this troubled world.

So what kind of lyrics are we looking for? We are looking for lyrics that celebrate the resurrected community of God’s people coming home to future in which God brings justice to the poor, wholeness to the broken and peace to the nations. We want to see lyrics that aren’t spiritualized… but make these vivid images compellingly come to life in the tough world in which we live today… so we can actually see images of people’s lives and communities in some of the tough places on our planet being changed.

This vision is not in the clouds… and it isn’t disconnected from real life and real world. Also it is a very different dream than the individualistic pursuit of “more” that drives the global economy….and captures the lives of too many Christians today.

In other words it is a vision that calls us beyond ourselves and into God’s world. It calls us to leave the building to both be a difference and make a difference in response to the urgent needs that fill our world.

We will share the winning song at our conference April 28th and 29th. If we choose to publish any lyrics submitted we will work with the author on a standard contract. We hope you can come and hear your winning song. We need to have your entries submitted by March 30th. Send us your lyrics on the great resurrected homecoming of the people of God…that more fully reflect God’s loving purposes for a people and a world. We will respond to all entries. This contest is sponsored by Mustard Seed Associates and reflects our mission to help followers of Jesus to take God’s kingdom purposes more seriously in our lives and communities of faith.

Our deepest hope is that we will see some new music emerge that calls us beyond ourselves and gives a reason to roll out of bed Monday morning that is more about making a difference instead of making a dollar. Please get your lyrics into as soon as possible. Remember we need them by the end of March. We are looking forward to hearing from you and reading your creative lyrics. Submit lyrics to mail@msainfo.org with “Song Contest” in the subject line.

The Urban Experience

gcoefamily's suggestion is spot on with part of what we are hoping to accomplish with the conference. Friday afternoon, from about 3pm onwards, is dedicated to an urban experience. We plan to give conference participants some basic instructions & ideas about the community and then send them out to walk the streets of Ballard and Fremont to gain a sense of God's presence and work in the community. This is not just a time to walk and pray, it is a time to really get a sense of how God feels about the community and where God is already at work in the community...asking questions of those who know the most about the community (shop assistants, community workers, homeless people and passers by on the street): "Where are you aware of God's presence in this community?" would get some amazing responses I think. Asking the even more provocative question "How do you think that the church could best serve this community?" would probably receive some even more startling responses.

Often we don't know how to engage the communities in which God has placed us because we never get out and listen to the voices through which God is speaking to us. God speaks through many aspects of the communities around us - through the people that live in the community, through those that work or shop in the community, through the homeless people that live on the streets and through the needs that we observe in the community to name but a few.

We want people to get out and listen to the community - take photos, write poetry & reflections and as well as that we hope that some people will bring video cameras and do some interviews like gcoefamily suggest. Friday evening will be an open mike time in the cafe area for people to share their experiences, observastion, photos & video clips. This is a great way to get us out of the building and help us understand how we can really be God's people in our communities and around the world.
Christine

Hi,
Nice to see the website up and running and attracting some interest.
I'm looking forward to the conference but have a mountain or two to climb before then. Last night a group of us met under the Parallel Universe Worship Collective umbrella to plan worship for Easter Saturday here in downtown Melbourne. Dead Man Waiting is our title. Not much idea of the content yet but we liked the idea of dark and gloomy (always so much more fun than bright and cheery!), lots of dry ice, blacklight, and a wall of projected images - still and moving. This weekend I'm working with a church to help them see some new possibilities for their corporate worship.
Mark

Worship Has Left the Building, Part I…

by Tracy Howe

Though I had a deep and intimate faith and it had been the foundation of all my music and relationship, going to a local fellowship to worship and even leading well known worship songs often seemed so shallow to me. I resolved it must be because of my own arrogance and immaturity and kind of forced myself to do it. It has only been in the last several years, coming into a family of Levite like, artist missionary, public worship leaders that my passion for worship has been ignited and vision for worship restoring the Kingdom of God has come alive. Notwithstanding my arrogance, or the sincerity and power of well known worship songs, I have found, and become part of, a tribe of worshippers celebrating the presence of God outside of Church buildings.

In hind sight, one of the reasons I seemed to rebel against worship (as I knew it) was the worship experience seemed to be divisive in it’s containment to a building and the narrow demographic of people it held. Worship is an eternal act and one of the few things we do on earth and in heaven. And if, in heaven, when the Kingdom is restored, we are all together, why on earth, when it is our work to restore the Kingdom, do we move backwards by dividing ourselves in buildings either to keep people in or out?

Here is an excerpt from “The Question For Worship Leaders,” an article by my friend Ben Pasley (www.bluerenaissance.com).

Here are a few insights, however, that may help us in our discovery. A quick study of the design of the Temple in Jerusalem reveals that the mass choirs and music of the Levites could be easily heard all over the Temple platform. The music performance area was open to the court of the Gentiles via the open roof and the large open entryways. People from every nation, gathering on the huge Temple platform for trade or tourism, could hear the awesome songs of worship to God! This is an amazing picture. It reveals that the Psalmists were well aware that all of there songs would be heard by the nations of the world. The crying, the repenting, the thanksgiving, and the wild praise would all be on display on the most public platform in the eastern world. Jerusalem was a primary trade route between Persia and the Mediterranean and between Egypt and Assyria. This public worship would be the modern equivalent of doing outdoor worship ministry in Times Square or the lawns of Parliament buildings of the world’s greatest nations...every day and for all the world to see!

A Recent Example…

I work with an amazing group in Minneapolis called Source. Source is a believing community in the heart of Minneapolis serving at risk youth. They interact with people primarily through an art gallery, a music venue, and transitional housing. Every summer they hold an art festival, and as they have genuine relationship with many artists in the city, believing or not, they fill the street with stages and booths for people to display their work and present their music and poetry. They are also passionate about giving a voice to the people they serve and so there were community murals, open mics and much opportunity to express yourself.

This past summer myself, a few other Blue Renaissance artists and the Psalters were there as artists and worship leaders. After a long day of art festival type activity, we all took the stage and started leading worship. The result was several hundred people worshiping in the street, painting, dancing, (we even had one fire dancer) declaring the promises and hope of the Living God in a broken, violent, and impoverished area of the city. I believe the worship that was offered that evening impacted the entire city.

The bottom line is God moved and the Holy Spirit who has the power to draw and unite people moved. But I also think the success lay in the journey together as opposed to the presentation of a few to the masses. We sang about a God who loved the people right in front of us. We sang about hope for the people who lived one block away and we welcomed their voices too. There was live feed journaling on the video screens and painters on stage with us. As a worship leader that night, I prayed for God to do exactly what he did for Gomer the prostitute (Hosea’s wife). He called her into the wilderness and spoke words of comfort to her; he showed her hope, and her song was restored.

14 "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. 15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
His beauty enraptured me that night in all the people. And I longed for their songs to be heard. I needed them to help me understand the fullness of God’s character and love.

See pictures from the Source festival
Tracy will be hosting a music writing workshop at the conference.

Another milestone reached – we now have someone who will co-ordinate the set up of our café space – always an important part of any conference in Seattle. I think this is going to be the coolest place at the conference. We are redesigning the gym (don’t tell the church) so that we can have lots of informal conversation places to talk to speakers, workshop leaders and your favourite out of town friends. In the evening there will even be music and an opportunity to share your own songs, poems and artistic reflections on the day. We are hoping to have internet access and an espresso stand so that we can all continue our favourite addictions too. If you have ideas as to how we can make this space and even more fun happening place please let us know.

Christine Sine