Transmission

JESUS and the SATAN (skit by j. Snodgrass) February 9, 2008

JESUS and the SATAN

-or-

Meeting the Devil’s Advocate in the Desert

By j. Snodgrass

Presented 3 February, 2008

READERS :

Narrator (Bible Student)

“Luke” (Author of the Gospel According to Luke)

Jesus (Live Free or Die)

Devil (Advocate of Alternate Strategies)

Moses (Supposed Giver-of-the-Law in Deuteronomy)

NARRATOR : Today, in honor of the Lenten Lectionary, we’re going to take a look at my all-time favorite Biblical passage – The temptation of Jesus in the desert, in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter four, verses one to thirteen. As a matter of fact, I love this passage so much, we’re going to hear it twice!

“LUKE” : Jesus…was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him,

DEVIL : “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

JESUS : “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’”

“LUKE” : The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.

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Ash Wednesday Transmission, Feb 6, 7-9pm February 4, 2008

This week we’ll be having Ash Wednesday at Paul’s - email if you want to come and need directions.  Come ready celebrate your own mortality and kick off lent with style!  We’ll also be discussing the possibility of collaborating on a
Purim/Maundy Thurday service with Storahtelling (yes, the two really are on the same day this year) and a Good Friday service with our friends at Sanctuary.

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Blind Voyager on Happiness & Healing April 10, 2007

Here is a quick write up on Transmission at my house on Wed March, 28th.

“If only we could get ahead in life we’d be happy.” A similar thought probably went through the paralyzed man’s head at the pool of Bethsaida (John 5:1-9). He thought if only he could touch that pool he would be healed and he would be happy. But as a blind person I know that physical healing doesn’t necessarily mean happiness. There are plenty of people in the world who are not paralyzed and who are just as miserable. What truly makes us happy is our spirit and attitude towards life. But sometimes our spirit is paralyzed and we need someone or something, like Jesus, to come and kick us off our ass.

We ritualized these ideas at Transmission on Wednesday, March 28. As we all gathered together, we each took change and threw it into a pool of water and wished for the things that “If only we had” would make us happy. Then we read psalm 121 and intermixed it with the chorus from the Beatles song “Help.”

After this I gave an abridged version of a sermon I had given at my seminary a week ago, and we then discussed our desires for happiness, how they help us and hinder us, and where our true help comes from. I told a story about a friend of mine who was born blind. Her parents were devastated and they did not know what to do. They assumed that a blind person could never live a happy and successful life so they sat out to make her life as pleasant as possible. They gave her a bedroom with a radio, tv, refrigerator, and microwave, and she stayed there and grew up into a woman weighing over 300 pounds. The whole time she thought that this was as happy as she could get, but if only she could see she could be truly happy, make friends, and go to college. Until one day a worker for the National Federation of the Blind came and told her to get off her bed and follow. The worker taught her how to accept her blindness and use skills such as cane travel and braille as a means not just of coping, but of living. After a year of training my friend had completely changed. She had lost a hundred pounds and is now going for her doctorate of law degree. This was a true transformation, and I believe that Jesus can effect a similar change in people.

After sharing with one another we ended in silent prayer. It was a wonderful time and the food and fellowship we shared before and after the service was incredible. I was particularly excited because we were able to have the service at my apartment, and I was able to welcome the church into my own home.

Paul Grenier.

Miss Good Friday? April 7, 2007

Were you too worn out to make it to church last night? Did your boss make you work late? Did you have a better offer to go out with some friends?

Well, never fear - I’m bringing you a nice good Friday meditation featuring the poems of Barbara Crafton and the music of, well, me. So turn up your speakers, turn down your lights, and spend some time getting ready for Easter…

Enjoy!

PS a really large chunk of my last album is in the meditation, so be kind about distributing it. If you really, really love it, consider picking up a copy.

Grid::Blog::Via Crucis 2007 - Station VIII April 6, 2007

Check out other blog “stations” on the Way of the Cross at Via Crucis 2007

Can Jesus console these daughters?

By Bowie Snodgrass
Washington Window
Vol. 75, No. 6, May 2006

Mothers. Whores. Martyrs. Virgins. We’re all daughters. Daughters of Jerusalem.

Asked to do a Station of the Cross for an alternative Good Friday service, I chose VIII: Jesus Consoles the Daughters of Jerusalem. Thinking about my station, I wondered: who are the daughters that need consolation? Can Jesus, a first-century male, console us?

“A great multitude of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’” - Luke 23.27-29

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Sabbath Poem (anon) April 4, 2007

My personal aphorism lately has been “count your blessings, cut your losses”… which a friend thought was a Bowie original, and I was convinced was pirated. So, I googled it! Of course, both phrases are oft used, although perhaps not always together (sort of like “we’ll jump off that bridge when we come to it”).

But, here’s an anonymous Christian poem that I found online with the same sentiment. It may be cheesy, but it feels like good advice for these last days of Lent… as we complete our fasting and prepare for the feast!

Count your blessings instead of your crosses;
Count your gains instead of your losses.
Count your joys instead of your woes;
Count your friends instead of your foes.
Count your smiles instead of your tears;
Count your courage instead of your fears.
Count your full years instead of your lean;
Count your kind deeds instead of your mean.
Count your health instead of your wealth;
Count on God instead of yourself.

Psalm 121 Mash-Up April 2, 2007

I write a lot of music for Transmission but we haven’t put any audio up on the site yet. I wrote this last week for our Bethesda service and thought you might enjoy hearing it.

Push play to listen:

I frequently write antiphons for psalms when we use them in worship, but I don’t have a strong voice so if the crowd is small the singing can get iffy. Since hiring a cantor was out of the question, I figured that sampling Paul McCartney would make things a little easier (and more fun).

It actually worked really well - I recommend that any of you other small house churches look into sampling pop tunes for worship. If you want to know about the nuts and bolts of how I put this together, read on…

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Holy Week Schedule March 31, 2007

Hey, guys, some of you have asked about what Transmission is doing for Holy Week. Obviously, with Easter around the corner we won’t be able to throw a service every day of the week, but it would be cool if we could spend some time together. Here’s our tentative schedule for any Transmissioners (and/or transcurious) folks who are looking for stuff to do:

Palm Sunday. Sanctuary, 6pm, 74th and York Ave. T.j.Snodgrass, the one and only, will be delivering his first homily. If you know Snodgrass, you know he’s not a man to be trifled with, so this should be worth checking out. I’ll be doing the music (including a tribute to Depeche Mode). One specific reason to come: almost every church does the crucifixion on Palm Sunday, but Sanctuary is actually focusing on the entry into Jerusalem and leaving Good Friday for Good Friday.

Wednesday. We’ll be having our last planning meeting at Avalon, 20th St and 6th Ave. This won’t be a service, but it will be our only chance to lay out the space, check sounds and lights, etc. The more hands, the better.

Maundy Thursday. Transmission will be gathering at Katherine Lee’s place up in Washington Heights. Good food, evocative ritual, and everything you’ve come to love about Transmission… (see post below for more info)

Good Friday. We’ll be back at Sanctuary, this time for an environmental stations of the cross which will be set up from from 6-9pm. No, it’s not a three hour service; that means that you can show up whenever you want and leave whenever you want. Bowie and I are both doing installations, and I’m also making an audio loop of poetry and music. It’ll be a neat experience of traditional church doing a radically decentralized worship.

Holy Saturday. Down to Time Square for St Mary the Virgin’s Easter Vigil. Affectionately known as “Smokey Mary’s,” this place does high-liturgy like no one else. It’ll be a very different experience from Transmission, but we also recognize “high liturgy” as being both solidly multi-sensory and very traditional. It’s a long service, so eat before you get there.

Easter Sunday. EASTER AT AVALON! What else do you need?

Maundy Thursday March 29, 2007

Hey, Transmissioners! First of all, a quick reminder that next week we’ll be having our tech/dress rehearsal for the event down at Avalon from 7-9pm. It’ll be hot. Ok, actually, it’ll probably be a little bit boring, but you should come anyway.

But, since that meeting is supplanting our weekly dose of community and ritual, we’ve decided to celebrate Maundy Thursday as a community. Katherine Lee has volunteered to host (apparently she has a massive apartment up in Washington Heights). Since the other Katie also lives up in that hood, they’ll be doing the food and I’ll be planning some sort of service. If you want to come, just shoot me an email and I will reveal Katherine’s address.

Hope to see you there!
isaac

Bethesda Transmission March 27, 2007

Hey guys! This is your reminder that we’ll be having Transmission tomorrow night, Wednesday the 28th. This week Paul Grenier, our very own Tiresias, will be leading us in a meditation based on the pool of Bethesda. Paul’s treatment of healing stories is always exceptional - this is not one to be missed.

Unfortunately our usual gracious hostess, Bowie, will be out of town this week so we’ll be having services at Union instead (where Paul and I both live). It’s only a few blocks away from Bowie’s so it shouldn’t kill anyone to get here. Union is located at 121st and Broadway - closest stops would be 116th on the 1 train or 125th on the A/B/C/D. If you want to hopstop it, the address is 3041 Broadway, NY, NY, 10027.

There’s some big news you guys should be aware of. First of all, if you haven’t checked out the article about us on the Sojourners website (Jim Wallis’s magazine), go look at www.sojo.net Secondly, Time Out New York will be running a piece on us next week, which is fabulous.

We also have our postcards made up, so if you want some make sure to let me know! I’ve got scads.

hope to see you all tomorrow!