Blog

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Thursday, March 24, 2005

"Jabberwocky is a freely available mobile phone application designed to promote urban community connections and a sense of familiarity, anxiety, and play in public urban places."

"The principle metaphors of Jabberwockies are "digital scents" and "digital tagging". As individuals traverse an urban landscape, they simply infuse their path with a unique and detectable digital redolence."

"One of the most powerful elements of Jabberwocky is that it is not driven by the bits of an online network, but by actual real-life daily ebb and flow within our actual urban landscapes – by the movement and interaction (or non-interaction) of others who’s path we encounter."

The expresso leadership team met last nite. 5 of us gathered to talk about how we are finding God spiritually, what is church and what a new congregation at Opawa could look like.

Excellent discussion. My summary:
- We'll meet weekly; with a cycle of 3 weeks of discussion, 1 week of mission, 5th week of fun.
- Looking at Tuesday nites, 8-9 pm, in a local cafe.
- Discussion nites will have an opening ritual and a closing multi-sensory prayer. In between is discussion, with the group choosing the topic/question and different people taking turns to 'kick-start' each evening discussion.
- We're not yet sure about how often we should do communion.
- This will be a congregation of Opawa, seeking to offer a complete church experience, yet seeking to develop it's own life that could look very different from existing ways that Opawa is church.
- We talked about the tension between small group and being church. How good can a conversation be amongst more than 12 people? If we talk around tables, will that still give us good conversation with a growing mix of one yet many, big yet small? (Any thoughts out there? Can you experience good community in a cafe with 50-70 people clustered around tables talking about one 'kick-start'?)

We have gone away, with different individuals working on opening and closing rituals, others on logo's, others on 'group guidelines for a healthy learning experience.'

One of his ambitions is to open a cafe "with great local art on the walls and a poetry open mike and free internet access, and a space for adult literacy classes and debt counselling".

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Monday, March 21, 2005

Every good relationship between two or more people, whether it is friendship, marriage, or community, creates space where strangers can enter and become friends. Good relationships are hospitable. When we enter into a home and feel warmly welcomed, we will soon realise that the love among those who live in that home is what makes that welcome possible.

When there is conflict in the home, the guest is soon forced to choose sides. "Are you for him or for her?" "Do you agree with them or with us?" "Do you like him more than you do me?" These questions prevent true hospitality - that is, an opportunity for the stranger to feel safe and discover his or her own gifts. Hospitality is more than an expression of love for the guest. It is also and foremost an expression of love between the hosts.

The table is one of the most intimate places in our lives. It is there that we give ourselves to one another. When we say, "Take some more, let me serve you another plate, let me pour you another glass, don't be shy, enjoy it," we say a lot more than our words express. We invite our friends to become part of our lives. We want them to be nurtured by the same food and drink that nurture us. We desire communion. That is why a refusal to eat and drink what a host offers is so offensive. It feels like a rejection of an invitation to intimacy.

Strange as it may sound, the table is the place where we want to become food for one another. Every breakfast, lunch, or dinner can become a time of growing communion with one another.

Monday, March 14, 2005

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Wednesday, March 02, 2005