Baby Jackson!
January 1, 2007
Peel Slowly and See, originally uploaded by bowiesnodgrass.
Elizabeth and John had their baby! The healthy 8 1/2 pound boy was born at 4:30 am on Dec 30, 2006. Please pray for mommy, daddy, and baby.
Here’s a photo of his very first day of life! already being exposed to some Warhol pop culture…
Church Marketing Sucks
December 13, 2006
ChurchMarketingSucks.com is one of my favorite websites
And, on a related note: Presbyterian Polis has been doing a series on Innovative Business Ideas for Churches (thank you Bob C. for the fyi)
Here are three pieces I especially liked from this series –
#6 - Communication, Marketing and Social Networking
byte: Even before I went to seminary (1978-81), I felt that relationships were central to life. But I never found much affirmation for that idea until the last few years as those who see themselves as either ‘post-modern’ or ‘emerging’ are emphasizing the social relationship aspect of the church.
# 3 - The Cluetrain Manifesto
byte: If you read The Cluetrain Manifesto, and I hope you will, you will not agree or understand everything in it. I didn’t. But you will be challenged to make our life in the church more human, and less organizationally artificial.
#5 - Mavericks at Work
byte: From my perspective, everything is a risk. You risk trying new things. You risk doing the same things over and over again expecting different results. Risk in inherent in life. From a spiritual perspective, risk forces us to deal with the question of ‘Where is God in my risk taking?’
+ + +
so, where is God in your computer usage? your business, political, or financial savvy? your pop culture critiques? your creative endeavors? Your so-called po-mo life?
Two Visions of the Emerging Church
December 11, 2006
Embracing Worship 2.0 – an Architecture of Participation
by Johnny Baker, excellent column published in Church Times
Brian McLaren shared this poem with me at the end of October, after it was shared with him on a recent trip to Mexico City. It resonated with me so strongly that I recently got permission to publish the English translation (trans. by Amy Stabeno and Elisa Padilla). Many thanks!
Do You Know Someone Like this?
A poem by Pablo Alaguibe
Could there be someone out there,
someone else,
who would be interested
in participating in an experiment
of Christian community
’model 2006,’
Read the rest of this entry »
WAITING : AN ADVENT MIX
December 7, 2006
badass nina., originally uploaded by canela_miel.
j.Snodgrass mix for Transmission apt.church 12.06.06
MILES DAVIS: SOMEDAY MY PRINCE WILL COME
LEONARD COHEN: WAITING FOR THE MIRACLE (FULL LENGTH)
THE DOORS: WAITING FOR THE SUN
ANNIE LENNOX : WAITING IN VAIN
DEPECHE MODE : WAITING FOR THE NIGHT
NINA SIMONE: LILAC WINE
LOU REED : WAITING FOR THE MAN
CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN : COME ON DARKNESS
ISAAC EVERETT : EXPECTATION
DEPECHE MODE : WAITING FOR THE NIGHT (REMIX)
DISNEY SOUNDTRACK : “SOMEDAY MY PRINCE WILL COME”
You can check out and download (a slightly modified version of) this iMix from iTunes:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=208077971
Fifth Wednesday
November 25, 2006
So this coming Wednesday is the fifth Wednesday of the month, which means that there’s no Transmission. It also means, however, that we’ll have three whole weeks between one Transmission and the next, and I’m not crazy about that. How about we do something low-key, like have a movie night or something? Fifth Wednesdays do happen with some frequency, so it’d be neat to start a tradition regarding what we do with them.
I’m in Seattle right now and I’m playing for Church of the Apostles tonight with Lacey Brown. It’s a little bit like playing with a second me (electronic backing tracks mixed with live instruments, combining ancient texts and melodies with modern grooves, etc) except that, unlike me, Lacey can sing. It’s pretty cool - I wish you guys could hear it!
Church of the Apostles is pretty cool - they’ve taken an abandoned church and converted it into an Abbey for themselves. They take the whole “radical hospitality” thing pretty seriously. I was met at the airport, driven into down, and given a room all to myself. It would be a lot more expensive to get a building in NYC (I don’t there are any abandoned buildings, anyway), but I would really, really love to see Transmission blossom into a living community…
Video Games for Jesus. Whoa.
November 20, 2006
I don’t know how many of you follow gaming news (ok, I’m a geek), but this month saw the release of a real-time strategy game based on the Left Behind novels. Wired magazine has a really interesting review of it. Supposedly, the gameplay is surprisingly adequate, although I’m more than a little disgusted by, “You can sway enemies to your side by unleashing your Christian-rock singers, whose joyful noises raise the spirit of anyone near them. (You can even convert evil forces if you’re persuasive enough. Of course, the Antichrist has his own evil heavy-metal musicians who work precisely the opposite effect.)”
Why does a Christian video game have to be about warfare and converting people? Could we make a game about feeding the poor, welcoming the stranger, and striving for social justice? Why doesn’t the Christian gaming community look more like Games for Change?
Earlier this week, “Left Behind” found me on MySpace and sent me an invitation to be their friend. I denied them and felt pretty good about it. These unreadable sludgepiles advocate some truly destructive theology, and the entire Left Behind industry takes advantage of hysterical people who want to spiritualize their hysteria. These books embarrass me.
looking back
November 11, 2006
looking back, originally uploaded by bowiesnodgrass.
I flickered some photos from Katharine Jeffert Schori’s Investiture as 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, last Saturday, November 4th (two days before a rockin’ national election!).
U2charist on TV tonight
November 10, 2006
Nightline is doing a segment tonight on a U2charist put on by a church in Westchester. I happened to be there, so TiVo it if you want to have some stock footage of me praying…
I think it’s interesting that they’ve gotten so much press for this because, frankly, the service wasn’t all that cool. I applaud what they’re doing, but there are a lot of small things they could have done to make it much more effective. If anyone’s interested, I wrote an entire critique of the ritual from an “emerging” perspective…
myspace.com/transmissioNYC
November 8, 2006
want to be our friend on myspace?
awesome MDG video by a priest in Yonkers
November 5, 2006
Father Matthew hits another home run with his newest YouTube video on the MDGs: How much is 0.7%?
enjoy :-)