Easter planning meeting 3/7
March 6, 2007
We’re closing in on Easter. It’s only a month away! This Wednesday we’ll be putting our noses to the grindstone once again covering the following things:
1) workshopping our “communion by numbers” component
2) refining the structure of the service
3) getting our PR machine rolling
4) getting a handle on fund raising
5) nailing down some of our individual installations and contributions
Our press release is almost finished and we might take a look at that, too. There will be food, as usual. We’ll be meeting at a chelsea church, Holy Apostles in Chelsea (296 Ninth Avenue @ 28th Street), 2nd floor of the Mission House, 7-9 p.m. We hope you can come!
EASTER @ AVALON: service draft & songs
March 6, 2007
ORDER OF SERVICE draft (comments and questions welcome below!)
Gathering
* DJ
* Singing, clapping, body moving (see song ideas below – input welcome!)
* Welcome
Remembering the Resurrection
- “theater in the midst” (various components, still working out, order not set, staged around the room)
* Death of Jesus (Mark 15:33-47?), told by storyteller?
* Just Another Poor Boy by Chris de Burgh
* Matthew 28:1-10, reading
* 2-4 people reflect on Easter story, Mary Mag, Limelight, resurrection, etc…
Prayers of the Peoples
- interactive stations will be arranged around the space before people arrive. people will have time to explore them as they please. visit all or spend whole time at one…
* Time line from founding of Holy Communion Episcopal Church, to the Limelight, Avalon, and 4/8/07. There will be markers for people to add their own tick marks and memories to the time line of the space.
* Confession and prayer stations
* Photos and candle lighting station
* Movement station w/ dancers and yoga
* Station reflecting on seeing the Risen Christ in others
* Sex Worker information tables
* Common Ground will also be setting up an interactive station
Pass the Peace
Communion in Small Groups
- people gather in groups in 6-10, each group has a bag with instructions on how to proceed
Closing – more songs and Soul Train
SONG IDEAS (feedback and additional suggestions welcome below!)
Keep the Faith – Bon Jovi
Like a Prayer – Madonna
Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees
I Would Die 4 U – Prince
Jesus Walks – Kanye West
I’m a Believer – Neil Diamond
Broken Wings – Mister Mister
upcoming
February 27, 2007
WEDNESDAY : : Feb 28
apt.church. This week we’re celebrating the arrival of Lent with a homecooked meal from Bowie and a ritual led by Paul, who spent most of January in Turkey. He’ll be guiding us through themes of pilgrimage and more (ask him about getting thrown into Turkish prison). Should be a great time. Please contact us for directions.
SUNDAY : : March 4
baby.naming. For those of you who are interested, John and Elizabeth will be having a formal baby naming for Thomas Jackson at the Church of the Epiphany next Sunday, at 6 p.m. There will be food there, too, as well as a bunch of songs written by John and Isaac.
WEDNESDAY : : March 7
easter.prep. All are invited to our next planning session for Easter @ Avalon (service April 8 @ 6 p.m. – see blog posts from 2/6 and 2/18 for more info). We’ll be meeting at Holy Apostles in Chelsea (296 Ninth Avenue @ 28th Street), 2nd floor of the Mission House, 7-9 p.m. We’ll have food, will workshop a part of the service, and continue discussions about the ritual components, advertising, etc.
Mary Magdalene Leading the Way to Easter
February 18, 2007
St Mary Magdalene, originally uploaded by hadyn.green.
this is the email we’re sending out to PONY and $PREAD Magazine lists… please pass on to any (current or former) sex workers you know and feel free to comment below!
* * *
dear sex workers with spiritual leanings,
we’d like to invite you to help us plan and produce an Easter service. We’re an underground church mostly made up of folks who feel unfulfilled by mainstream American church culture, and we have a passion for sex worker advocacy (we aren’t sex workers ourselves, but are friends with members of PONY and editors of $PREAD Magazine).
We’ll be focusing on Mary Magdalene’s close and personal relationship with the man we call Jesus, her witness and mission on behalf of the risen Christ, and contemporary sex worker issues.
we will be holding the service at Avalon (Ave of the Americas @ 20th Street) on the evening of April 8th. Avalon used to be called Limelight and before that, it was Holy Communion Episcopal Church, a church which did some really interesting work with the sex worker community in the 19th Century.
we would welcome your participation in making this event fabulous and meaningful to people who may feel unwelcome or marginalized in the Christian church today. quick note: the point of this event is NOT to get converts or to “save” anyone – the point is to celebrate the easter tradition, explore how we can apply it to contemporary issues, and have a service that includes a community which is often excluded.
please consider joining us for a planning meeting this Wednesday, Feb 21, 7pm – in the basement of Advent Lutheran (Bway @ 93rd); we would really like some sex-worker led guidance in developing this event. Transmission is a Christian group but folks from any tradition are welcome.
we’ll be holding future planning meetings on Weds 3/7, 3/21 and 4/4. Location TBA. please contact us through our blog if you can’t come this week, but would like to hear more about our future meetings.
blessings,
Bowie Snodgrass and Isaac Everett
www.transmissioning.org
EASTER @ AVALON : dreams of resurrection
February 6, 2007
Jenn & Isaac facing back of hall, originally uploaded by bowiesnodgrass.
Hi. We’re planning to do an Easter Service at Avalon (used to be Limelight), in Holy Communion Episcopal Church – which was founded by William Augustus Muhlenberg
AVALON – Avenue of the Americas @ West 20th Street
6pm – all are welcome
Come join us for an experimental melange of ritual celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. We’ll be touching on the story of King Arthur and Avalon
We will also be focusing on Mary Magdalene’s role in this tale. Mary was one of Jesus’ best apostles, both during and after his time on earth. In the early centuries of Christianity, the church conflated Mary Magdalene with prostitute characters in the bible – and for the next millennia and a half, most christians believed Mary was once a worker in the world’s oldest profession. Maybe she was. Jesus hung out with a lot of hookers.
And so did Muhlenburg. In the 1870s, this priest set up a network of Episcopal dioceses to participate in the Midnight Mission , a radical outreach effort for sex workers (which for him included both mistresses and brothel workers). In a very 19th century way, his effort was to help these fallen women find new homes in wholesome, Christian houses in the country…
130 years later, we find ourselves in a very different NYC. But in America 2007, sexuality is still a great divider and money something we don’t like to talk about‚Ķ so it‚Äôs time for us to start living a little more like Jesus. Let‚Äôs have a party for Easter and celebrate the first women who knew that Jesus was no longer dead, but alive… again!
Please contact us if you would like to participate in this effort.
Our first planning meeting will be held on February 21st (Ash Wednesday). We will have a short ritual to kick off Lent, followed by a meeting with food. More details to follow.