Advent Meditation Pieces
December 4, 2006
1)
The wind has changed
I can smell you again
In the soft open air
Beneath the mountains of the moon
In the stillness of the night
I sense your sweet scent
2)
we speak of matters of the soul
when we’re alone in this world.
men and women trying to figure
it out and our insides to know.
we work to know ourselves, and
thereby accept the other folks, we.
work together in the struggle for
liberation and peace in our land.
3)
some goals for the new liturgical year…
be honest about your life.
cherish your inheritances and pass on to other people.
come to know yourself by taking time to think and worship god.
be creative. move ideas around. be curious.
struggle for justice.
be flexible. breathe.
be kind to living things and appreciate nature.
share. believe.
love.
what else? please comment with additional goals.
Psalm 13
November 30, 2006
1) How long, O God? How long will you hide your face from me? How long will I be clinging so tightly to wisps of smoke?
2) How long will I wrestle with these traditions, these scriptures, this church? How long will this obsession last? How long until I can happily live a secular life?
3) I need answers, God! You have left me too many questions. Give me a sign that my struggling is more than foolishness or please release me from this burning need to seek you.
4) My friends will say, “We’re glad you’ve matured out of your religious phase. We’re glad you’ve come to your senses.” They will rejoice for me and welcome me back with open arms.
5) But even if I cannot take hold of you, Silent and Invisible One, the wisdom of this world is insufficient. My search gives me meaning that this world never will.
6) And so I will write songs for you and craft rituals for you. I will walk your road because my struggles, wanderings, and discouragements are a blessing. You have given me a bounty.
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…
Thanks Giving
November 22, 2006
Dear God, you provide for the birds of the air and the lillies of the feild. You have given us our minds our bodies, and your love.
For this we come to you in humble thanks giving.
Let us give thanks for all that we have.
Let us give thanks that we have enough to be thankful for.
God is There
October 28, 2006
Commemoration Ceremony of the Destruction of the Bamyan Buddhas, originally uploaded by Chris Kuhn.
a photo I found on flickr looking for pics tagged: friends god alone
—————————————
by Bowie Snodgrass
a poem I wrote wednesday night:
I want
A church
that’s part
of my private life
the life I live alone
in my head and heart
so many public personas,
media mentalities/realities
we yearn for integration
to become whole again
be part of something
bigger than just me
when two or three
gather together
God is
There
Special Prayer Request
October 14, 2006
This is coming from a gal I know from the metal/goth/punk church I use to attend in London called Asylum. If you could keep her in your prayers, it would be greatly appreciated:
Dear all in my beloved fellowship,
Once again my life has taken another dramatic turn. This one the biggest yet. My sister Devonnie is dying. She is in the hospital
right now in a coma and the Doctors say there is no hope. She overdosed on heroin and was without oxygen to her brain for several
hours. My father found her gasping for air in the morning. I will know the outcome later today but she is most likely going to be a
vegetable and my parents will have to make the heart wrenching decision of pulling the plug. This will be especially hard for my
mother who lost her own brother to heroin when she was about my age. I am in shock. I will have to go back to America sometime in the
next few days probably for two months or so, I guess I will come back to the UK in January. Hopefully my visa will come through all
right. I desperately need your prayers. I hope everyone can come this Sunday for the prayer meeting because I will need it. Please
pray all day today for a miracle!!! Only God doing a miracle will save her. Medically speaking she has no hope. She is only 17!!!
Thanks for loving and caring for me all these years, you guys are my family… I love you more than words could ever express.
Please Pray:
For a miracle to save Devonnie’s life and that she won’t have brain damage. For the pain of my family, they are unstable and could turn suicidal themselves For strength for me going back home, this terrifies me. For my Visa to come through OK.
Sad, Sad Story
October 13, 2006
this is one of my favorite songs written by my bro, TJSnodgrass. I thought they were good lyrics to muse upon while thinking about house church. the arrangement reminds me of an ol’ revival grace or, perhaps, a campfire song.
From The Sundry Brothers WORK OUT
Bring your sad, sad story to the table
To lay between the salad and the steak
Spill it like the horses from the stable
You’ll find the cloth is clean ‘fore you’re awake
Bring your sad, sad story to the table
To flow between the politics and news
Bring it satire, daydream, fact or fable,
You’ll find there’s still an ending left to choose
Bring it if it’s beautiful or terrible
Bring it gospel truth or pretty parable
Save your certified learning
Don’t preach your practice sermon
Don’t try too hard to hide your cards
Just share it all
Bring your sad, sad story to the table
To lay between your set-up and your stash
You’ll know you’re getting somewhere
If it’s painful, and in the morn we’ll
Throw it in the trash, yes, in the morn
We’ll throw it in the trash
© Snodgrass 2006
Some Prayers
October 4, 2006
Coincidentally, both Bowie and I have brothers who are deploying to Iraq for the war. We also both have brothers who are brand new parents. We’re also both starting a church together.
With these things in mind, I wrote a few prayers:
God of Isaiah and Daniel, who has promised us a day when we will beat our tools of war and destruction into tools of food and abundance, we pray for our brother who is going to war. We pray that you will keep him safe from violence and we pray that you will keep him safe from having to commit violence himself. Above all, dear God, we beg for the advent of a time when your children are no longer sent away from their families so that they may spend their energy bringing about your kingdom on earth.
God of Abraham and Sarah, Zechariah and Elizabeth, we thank you for the gift of this child. Please help us love this child with the same love with which you have loved us, so that the bonds of love and kinship may be continually cemented in your community.
And finally, I have an excerpt from the Disco Episco which you might enjoy. The Episcopal Church requires us to pray for a) the church, b) the nation, c) the world, d) the community, e) those who are suffering, and f) those who have died. Since we only have thirty minutes to play with, my collaborator John penned the shorted Prayers Of The People I’ve ever seen:
Praying for the church and nation,
Keep the earth and congregation,
Those in trials and tribulations,
Those who’ve passed their expiration.
house church!
September 25, 2006
So while Francis is temporarily on hold while we wait for our Storahtelling friends, I thought it’d be good to talk about our upcoming Wednesday gatherings, especially since they start in a week and a half! Rather than planning out the format start to finish, I thought it’d be better to start with what ingredients I want to throw in the pot. Here are my thoughts:
1) community. I’m a professional churcher, which means that I almost always encounter people in an “official” capacity. I have jobs; I don’t have a community. I do have individual friends, who love and support me, though, and maybe if I can get five or six of them together in the same room at the same time along with some food (I’m a pretty good cook), they’ll like each other, too.
2) social time. I want to have a group of people who are aware of what’s going on in my life and in who’s lives I can take an interest. I also hardly ever have time to see friends these days, and I want to set aside some time each week to be with people I care about.
3) food. I’m a pretty good cook, and I think there’s something really holy about eating together. I eat so many meals on the subway or while I’m running down the street to my next appointment, and I think that’s a little messed up. Let’s break bread together.
4) prayer. Prayer is so intimate; it’s really hard to do. I think praying together can be really transforming, though, and I want to make it a regular discipline.
5) creative ritual. This doesn’t have to be much - it could be a bible study, a meditation, someone reading some poetry or playing a song, or whatever. This doesn’t need to be the focus of the evening, but including makes Transmission distinguishable from a social club or a discussion group. If different people took responsibility for coming up with something each week, the burden would be light and we’d have some pretty cool stuff.
Anyway, unless the plan’s changed, we’re first gathering on October 11, probably around 7ish. I can’t wait!
St. Francis & Storahtelling
September 22, 2006
Originally uploaded by perhapsfairfax.
Yom Kippur 5767 (in the Jewish calendar) is coming up on Oct 2nd. Ike has been gigging with a group called Storahtelling – “a radical fusion of storytelling, Torah, contemporary performance art and traditional ritual theater” – for three years now. Since Yom Kippur is so close to St. Francis’ Day this year, they have invited us (Transmission) to do a littler interfaith component during their day long YK 5767 RituaLab.
Here’s an email I sent to a Storahtelling leader on Sept 11th -
Hi Amichai -
Again, thank you very much for welcoming me in yesterday. What an amazing and wonderful group you have. And so welcoming - this morning Ayelet stopped me in the Times Square subway to say Hi!
I wanted to send you a little more info on Francis, who is arguably the most beloved Christian saint (he is certainly a favorite for Episcopalians, who value their saints for the lives they lived and as role models, more than for miraculous powers).
Francis’ feast day is October 4th, but will be celebrated by Christians on Sunday, October 1st (which is often a ‘blessing of the animals’ service). So incorporating Francis into an Oct 2nd Yom Kippur is timely - and will hopefully be one more way for us to think together about the interplay between atonement and peace - both personal and shared.
Blessings, Bowie
Info on Francis
St. Francis Prayer
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
* this, other prayers by Francis, and many other great prayers from World Prayers