Running on Fumes
Well, it is finally my weekend (I worked today) and I need it bad! I’ve worked 9 of the last 10 days to finish off the last of our summer camps and I am just about completely exhausted. I’ve forgotten how much more sleep I need when I’m working 8-5 instead of even 9-6. Aren’t people supposed to work jobs from 9-5? Being hourly really bites. I keep saying I’m going to stop working jobs that are on hourly pay but I keep ending up in them. Oh well.
I was at Home Depot again tonight and bought a work lamp. We are doing an art project at Vintage tomorrow where we are going to trace people’s profiles onto canvases and then hang them up in the coffeehouse. The idea is that the coffeehouse is a place where the church family gathers so we are going to put up family portraits. It is really fun to now be involved in a project that I can get behind instead of the wacky cotton ball fiasco. It is fun to keep meeting people too and feel like I’m more a part of the church. I think to really feel at home in any church I’m attending I’ll need a role other than just parishioner.
There is big news at Vintage too. I went to an “All-Serve” meeting yesterday night where the staff’s of Vintage Faith and First Presbyterian announced that they will be formally merging the churches come January. Everyone is very excited on both sides of the table but there are a couple bumps that have to be dealt with. Most comical I think is all of the Emerging church folk who are now in panic mode thinking Josh and Dan will go all Calvinist on them. In a lot of ways it really is funny how at home I feel in an Emerging community considering I believe myself to be a Calvinist. While I do find it very comical, there is a part of me that feels sad people have such a frightened reaction. To me, being a Calvinist and being an Emerger are not at all incompatible. My Calvinist side submits to the all-powerful creator of the universe while my Emerging side worships His beauty and mystery. I didn’t want to push things to far and stumble over my words but I also am excited that Vintage will be joining the bay area presbytery. I think being part of a denomination (or any form of formal church governing body) is very healthy for a church also. Not to say that there is anything inherently wrong or bad about non-denominational churches, but more because I think the accountability encouraged by being part of a presbytery (or classis, for us RCA types) is healthy. We talked about how being part of a denomination brings in a rich history and tradition and deep liturgy the Emerging church movement lacks while Vintage can hopefully bring new life and fervor to a system that has been sagging in recent years. The VFC/FPC staff talked about how they want this to serve as an example of how an established church can partner with a new “upstart” to better reach the community. Traditionally on the west side of Santa Cruz churches have floundered and sputtered along until they died, yet Vintage is now poised for near explosive growth. I’m not a big fan of the numbers game because there are a lot of ways to get people in the door without really making an impact on their lives, but when it’s a God thing and the church is a community that is encouraging people to change how they live and be a source of light and salt, then keep the doors open wide! How exciting it is to see God move!
