It's true...

I'm the father of a fairy princess.

The Sun rears its head

For a few hours at least...this was the sight out our window at 3:15 yesterday afternoon; and what a glorious sight it was! It's been almost two weeks since we last saw the sun. Low clouds and fog have been our companions this Christmas season. But not yesterday! We even went to the park to celebrate.

Cold Weather Shelter

Looks like I'll be helping out this winter at a rolling cold weather shelter for homeless people in Camden. It runs from January through March, and is "rolling" in that it is hosted at seven different sites throughout the borough - one each night of the week. I think I'm helping at one of the morning sessions, helping to make and serve breakfast to the guests who have spent the night. More details later...I went to a training day yesterday, but still don't really know what my involvement will look like.

Drum Lessons

Andi and Jodie loved the African drum lesson. It wasn't really a lesson, so much as a jam session with one of the women in the shop. She started trying to teach the girls how to hit the drum properly, but they were shy and didn't want to do anything she was telling them. Then she said "I'm going to play, and you improvise when you feel comfortable." That did it. The girls had a really good time playing the instruments and then dancing to the beat while other people drummed. It really fascinates them that the drums are made with animal skins. They keep asking if different kinds of skin would work..."what about Lions, Daddy, do you think they use Lions skin? Or maybe dogs? Or Zebras, what about Zebras Daddy?" Since I have absolutely no idea what kind of skins are actually used, I make it up and say in my authoritative voice "Goats, they use goat skins. And maybe Antelope."

Party Update

Our housewarming party went really well last night. We had a few people from our building who we hadn't met before. Someone brought us flowers, and a guy stopped by to say that he couldn't come to the party, but he wanted to introduce himself. Pretty cool.We all forgot to take pictures during the party (lame, I know) but here's a shot before people got into all the cheese.
After the party, Oli and I went and checked out this new place that has finally opened up across the street. It's a bar called 55. We've been watching them renovate for the past two months, and were interested to see what it's like. It's a really nice cocktail bar owned by a guy about my age. I'll post a few pictures if he lets me. Tomorrow Somer and I are going over to see some of the old tables he's getting rid of to see if anything will work for us as a TV table.

Housewarming Party

Tomorrow night we're having a housewarming party. Somer and Kathy are cooking up a few things , but they left me in charge of the most exciting part: the wine and the cheese! The wine's already taken care of, as we had to buy a whole case for Thanksgiving and only used two bottles, but the cheese required a special trip to Neil's Yard Dairy in Covent Garden. Selections for tomorrow night include Montgomery's Cheddar ('the best cheddar in England'), Childwickbury - a fresh goat's cheese especially for John, Colston Bassett Stilton ('the best stilton in England'), and my favorite: Gorwydd Caerphilly - a traditional cheese that tastes a lot like Camembert, but with a texture more like a smooth cheddar.

In fairness to Somer, the things she's making will be far more interesting to most of you than my cheese obsession...check them out on her blog.

Tomorrow before the party I'm taking the girls to open drum lessons for kids at a stall in the market that sells drums from Ghana. They are VERY excited about it...woke up talking about it this morning. More tomorrow, I hope.

Volunteer, anyone?

So I'm not really a big fan of the advertising that is ubiquitous in the city. Billboards, shop signs, and people handing out leaflets vie for your attention as you walk down the street. The view out our window is dominated by the sign for Viacom Outdoor (which is, ironically, a billboard company) and for Holiday Inn, the lights of which light up our bedroom in the middle of the night.
So it's with some amazement that I tell you that a sign on a bus had the desired effect on me yesterday. I saw an advertisement for the Camden Volunteer Day on the side of the number 134 bus. So yesterday afternoon, I went along with teammate Kathy to see what opportunities for volunteering were available in Camden. There were fewer groups than I expected...mostly smaller, less-well-known groups that probably have a harder time recruiting volunteers than the big-boys like Oxfam and RSPCA do. Still, there was a good variety, including a group called The Gorilla Organization that needs volunteers to put on a Gorilla suit and ask for donations at tube stations. There's also a group that works with HIV/AIDS patients that may be looking for someone to do computer training.
I went hoping there'd be opportunities to volunteer in our neighborhood, and while most of the groups were based in Camden burrough, it's a large burrough and none of them were very close to us.

Spotted in Team Leader's kitchen...

Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas tree! Friday we were walking back from Camden market when we passed some trees at the Morrison's. Ten minutes later we had picked out the "tallest tree ever" according to Jodie and were walking home with it. Ray is a friend from the States who was visiting and kindly agreed to help carry it. The best part of the tree is that it came with it's own stand...it's been nailed into a slice from a larger tree trunk that serves as the base. It works great, and there were no issues of getting it straight or stable once we got it in the house. I'll admit, it's not quite the same as Ryan, who cut his own tree from a forest, but it still makes it feel like Christmas around here. Which is good, since we're having a housewarming/Christmas party this weekend.

Teacher leaving

We just got a letter from Andi's school, saying that her teacher is leaving at the end of this term. We're really sad about this. I'm sure the new teacher will be great, but we really like her current teacher. Somer has started to get to know her a little, and has been going into the class to help by reading individually with the kids. So a little uncertainty right now for Andi and her class, and a little sadness too.

Glass

I've been here for nearly three months now, and have yet to find any glassblowers working in this area. Now I'll admit, it's a pretty small pool of people - not everyone has a hot shop in their basement. But I've been surprised at how hard it is to find people working in glass here in Camden.
So yesterday I went to the market determined to find someone. I went to a stall that sells small jewelry - rings, necklaces, etc - that are made from fused glass. The attendant was not himself the artist (he said the artists only come on weekends), but he sent me to a little place called Lead and Light.
Lead and Light is off the beaten path, tucked back in an alley behind a row of houses. A cool place with more sheets of glass than I've ever seen in one place. But sadly, only a very small kiln in which to do fusing (layering pieces of glass and melting them together in the furnace). No glassblowing.
There is a glassblower who has a stall in the market, but he does most of his work in Italy because the gas for the furnaces is much cheaper there.

So...I'm still looking. If anyone happens to know anyone doing glassblowing in the Camden area, or know of a school that has a hot shop, let me know.

Oil On Canvas

My friend John plays in like 4 different bands. I recently took my other friend John along to one of his gigs. He was playing with Oil on Canvas at the Purple Turtle in Camden. When we got there it was pretty dead, and the first band to play was some pirate/sailor themed band that drew about 6 people total to watch. But, we got to hang out with John for a good part of the evening and talk about life.

One of the things we talked about was how the church used to be a big supporter/patron of music (and other forms of art as well). I would like to see that practice revived, and we talked a little about how to make that happen. Even though John isn't big on "church" or "religion" himself, he said he'd be very open to having a local church as a sort of patron, as long as they didn't try to control his music.

Any of my readers have any experience or ideas for how to pull off something like church-sponsored patronage for local bands/artists? I'm not just talking like "open band night" for the youth - am I totally ignorant of history, or did musicians used to make their living producing music for the church?

Thanksgiving

Yes, thank you Jeremy. We all know I haven't posted much lately. Let me try to catch you up on our lives.

We celebrated Thanksgiving on the appropriate day last week. John and Kathy hosted the dinner, and we had a number of our British friends over, plus a couple of other Americans. The English/Welsh contingent wanted to know why we celebrate Thanksgiving, and to our shame, non of the Americans knew why, we just knew that we all eat turkey and watch Americann football.

Now I don't know who won the real Thanskgiving day games (and I don't want to...at least not yet). But I can tell you that our Thanksgiving game was won by the Baltimore Ravens, who blocked a Titans field goal at the end of the game to hang on and win by 1.

Anyway, we had a great time. Kathy's turkey was incredible, as was Somer's pumpkin pie. There were 13 of us all crammed around the table, and it was a sweet time of being with friends. Somer's got some good pictures over on Daily Offerings.

More to update about, but that'll come in another post.

Arsenal

60,000: number of supporters chanting the name of Thierry Henry or Robin Van Persie, or screaming insults at Liverpool, or singing the praises of Arsene Wenger.
14: number of rows between us and the field.
3: number of goals Arsenal scored, compared to Liverpool's 0
2: number of hotdogs we ate
1: number of times I've been to see a football match here in England

Thanks to John for taking me, and for the pre- and post-match tea at his apartment. What a way to begin immersing myself in English culture.

Quick Roundup

It's been a full week here. You already know about Monday (see previous post). Yesterday I helped a buddy from the market deliver some furniture. Then Mark and I went rock climbing at The Castle last night. My hands are raw.
I had coffee this morning with a musician from Finsbury park. And by "coffee" I mean fresh squeezed OJ. John and Kathy's stuff has arrived already and was being unpacked (and even put together!) this afternoon when Somer and I stopped in to say 'hi'.
Tomorrow I'm heading out to Ilford to meet up with Stephen, one of the guys I worked with last year, and I'll be going to the youth club and seeing all the kids from last year.
Oh, and Sunday I'm supposed to be going to a certain football match (I'll keep it quiet so I don't jinx it...more to come...)

Monday

UPDATE: It's here! The guys brought a small van that was able to pull into the covered parking under our building. They were done in half an hour. Then about 20 minutes after they left, John and Kathy showed up to help unpack. What a treat. They worked all afternoon, and by the time Somer brought the girls home the boxes were all unpacked and the trash was in the dumpster. Thank you God. Thank you for friends and teammates in London, thank you for small vans and high ceilings in the parking garage. Thank you for whoever cancelled their shipment so we could get ours.

I got a call from our shipping company yesterday, and...Our belongings are supposed to be delivered on Monday!! Yay! There was a cancellation and a slot opened up in the delivery schedule. The only hitch could be that the water company started tearing up the road in front of our house on Friday. Today they broke up the section just opposite where the delivery truck would park, leaving just one lane to get by. Not sure how it's going to work. We were technically supposed to get a permit from the council for the truck to park, but with such short notice we didn't have time. So any parking fine the truck gets, I'll have to pay...but it's worth it.

Teammates Arrive

Our team leaders have arrived today. Jodie and I went to the airport to meet them. They were really tired, but we were so excited to see them. They joined us for pizza/movie night last night before going home to crash. SOOO glad they're here.

Stephen's Baptism

It's 11:11 PM and I have just returned from a house in one of the wealthiest parts of London. Imagine, if you will, the following scenes:
A group of young people in their 20s are loitering outside a train station. They have come from all over the city - Camden Town, Enfield, the Isle of Dogs. A guy in a ski hat with multicolored spikes pulls out a bag and starts to hand out food - wraps and fruit he's salvaged from a store that was throwing them away because they had reached their sell-by date.

At the appointed time, we march 500 yds down the road to a massive house. Inside, they are met with more food - more wraps, in fact - lovingly prepared by the occupant, a young doctor-to-be. More people arrive.

The crowd moves upstairs, cramming into a surprisingly small bathroom. A warm bath has been drawn, and Stephen steps in. After some interesting body contortions and one uncomfortable incident involving the water tap, he manages to lay down. His head is gently pushed under water. The ancient words are spoken: Stephen, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

When I met Stephen, he was living in Camden Town and had already started following Jesus. I had nothing to do with him finding Jesus, or Jesus finding him. But this is why we are here in Camden. We want to see many more like Stephen, welcomed into God's family. We want to see people joining Jesus in his death and resurrection, so that they might leave behind slavery to the elemental spiritual forces, and enter into their inheritance as dearly loved children of God.

Tonight, I was given a gift. The gift of participating in a baptism, of laying my hand on a new brother and praying God's blessing on him. Of helping to welcome him into God's family. God is at work here in Camden Town. Tonight he let me see a glimpse of the road ahead.

Stephen, if you happen to find your way here, thank you so much for inviting me.

Galatians 4

Preached Sunday on the first part of Galatians 4 at Church on the Corner in Islington. Thanks for the warm welcome from everyone at the evening service - it was my first visit (we've been attending the morning service since we came to London in September). I felt like the evening went better than the morning. It's one of those funny things...I can't really explain why. I did make a rather desperate request for prayer after the morning because I was feeling a bit lifeless. I guess the Holy Spirit showed up in response, and I experienced his power at the evening meeting.
One of the most exciting parts of the passage for me was that when Paul says God has made us "heirs" - he means that in Jesus we are heirs of all of God's creation. I connected that to our view of the city, and challenged us to see the church as the rightful inheritor of the city.

Our stuff is here...sort of

It's in the country, at least. We heard from the shipping company that our stuff arrived in port on Tuesday. However, we also found out that it'll be another 3-5 weeks before it clears customs and gets delivered to us. Aaaarrgghh!

Drawing Studio

On Saturday afternoon, Andi and I walked next door to Arlington House. They were hosting an open drawing studio. Professional artists joined homeless residents of Arlington house and members of the community in creating a room full of drawings. Tables, walls, and even the floor were covered in paper. Markers, pencils, charcoal, and paints were scattered around the room. Andi had a great time doing butterflies (where you fold a sheet of paper in half to creat mirror images of the paint). We learned from one of the guys that you can then use the 'butterfly' to create multiple prints on the wall if you use enough paint. Really cool. Andi had no problem getting right in there and drawing. But I found it very difficult. I couldn't think of what to do, and I kind of froze up. It was like I wanted to put something down, but every idea I had just seemed stupid. I like the freedom children have to express themselves.

MySpace

So I finally did it. I didn't really want to. Maybe it's 'cuz I'm getting older and stuck in my ways, and I feel overwhelmed every time I go to it. But I have resisted joining MySpace. But now I have friends in the states as well as friends here who use it to keep in touch.
So today I joined MySpace. I promptly discovered that although Tim and I have known each other for 20 years, I am not his friend. At least not according to MySpace. I also learned that I only have one friend, and his name is Tom. I visited Tom's page to learn about my only friend. My only friend Tom has 122 million other friends. Now I'm really jealous of my only friend Tom. I think I don't want to be Tom's friend anymore as he makes me feel inadequate with his 122 million friends. So even though I've known him for 20 years, I'm going to invite Tim to be my friend. If he wants to be my friend, maybe he'll replace Tom as my only friend. Tim only has 46 friends...I'm not too jealous of him.

Meditation

Last Thursday I went to a "Silent Meditation" at a church in the area. I don't know why, but I expected the meditation would somehow revolve around a piece of scripture or some Christian theme, or something. To my surprise, it was more of a Zen Buddhist mediation, complete with brass gong on the altar and instructions to empty our minds. I stayed on even though it wasn't what I had expected because I had already made a scene once when I came in (I was...ahem...late). So I focused my thoughts on Jesus and sat silently for 20 minutes while all the muscles in my back tightened up and I got a searing pain in my right shoulder. At one point, I opened my eyes because I wanted to look at a cross...but I couldn't even find one in the church building. I should mention that it was a really good exercise for me, I haven't sat that still or been that silent, focussing only on Jesus, for quite a while. The experience highlited for me the hunger for spiritual experience in Camden, along with the void of Christ-centered spirituality.

Finished Table

Some of you had asked about the table now that it has glass on it, so here it is. I thought about clearing it off, but the glory of the glass is that it allows us to USE the table, so I thought I'd show it in use. The wooden chairs are the old pub chairs we were given last weekend.

Gallery

As yet Unknown art gallery in Camden's Stables Market is a great little place, tucked away in the catacombs of the market. I met the owner Ryan last week while helping a friend unload new furniture stock for his shop. Today I stuck my head in to check out the gallery. He's got an impressive collection of pieces on display at the moment, mostly paintings and photographs - some from artists I've seen before, but most from people I'd never heard of. The thing I love the most is Ryan's desire to help new artists get established. When I stopped in, he was working on a painting representing the takeover of religion by pop-culture. Hopefully he'll put it up on his site when it's finished.

Weekend Update

This has been a lazy weekend. After family movie night on friday evening, I met up with some friends again at the Spread Eagle. Saturday Andi and I walked up to the park to meet a friend, and while there we also saw a family from her weekly football training. Saturday afternoon Johnny and Becky had us over for ribeye on the grill! OH BABY.
Today was laying back and watching a really tight Ravens game - week three against the Browns. Thanks Andrew for recording it for us. You don't know how much we look forward to getting your packages.
Oh, and we now have a dinning room table and CHAIRS! The glass top arrived for the table on Friday so we could start using the table, and today my friend Mark dropped off some old chairs that were left over from when his church used to be a pub. Thanks bud!

Arlington House

On Friday I stopped by Arlington House, the men's hostel right next door to our building. They have a room set up for the public to come in and learn about the history of the building...and it's fascinating. At one time it was the largest hostel for men in the UK, providing housing for over 1000 people. Over time the number of beds have been reduced and the rooms enlarged. Read about the history of Arlington House and its connection to Irish immigrants here. Novas Group currently runs the hostel, and you can read about their plans to redevelop the building and reconnect to the community here.

Ravens Game

Oli stopped by today on his way home from Camden Market. He was buying this:
Hope you're ok with me posting this bro, it's too cool a pic to leave it to rot on my hard drive. The girls convinced him to stay for dinner (and play Go Fish).
Tomorrow we're watching the Ravens game (week 2 - no spoilers, please) and I'm inviting a guy from our building to join us. It's nice to have this little Sunday afternoon American ritual to make us feel a little bit like we're at home.

Bring Back the Bomb

Went to see a new friend of mine play at a pub last night. The show was called Bring Back the Bomb, and you can read more about it here. It was basically a memorial concert in honor of several members of a band who were killed in a car crash a few years ago. The bands that played were all somehow connected to the band that died. My friend Jon plays bass in two of the bands that played last night. They were both really good - a little heavier and more frantic than I normally like - but quality stuff. I don't know the right musical terms (help me out here, Tim) but I liked the way the bass drove the rythm of their songs, and was at times a stronger element than the lead guitar.
And I'm not just saying that so Jon won't be mad at me for this next statement: My favorite band of the evening (Jon, if you read this: sorry mate) was The Bicycle Thieves. I met them before they played and discovered two members of the band are Americans (or at least decended from Americans) and we chatted for a while about life in London. Their style was a little more chilled out than the other bands, which is why I liked it so much. Had a hint of Arcade Fire, if you know those guys. Their myspace is here.

Tour of Camden

Last week I met a Canadian actor who's been living in Camden for the past couple of years. He knows lots of people in the area, and has a good sense of what's happening. Today we met up for a couple hours and he took me around and showed me some of his favorite places. He introduced me to a friend of his who runs an internet cafe with a gaming room. Not only can you rent a computer for internet use, for £1/hr you can also rent time on an Xbox! How great is that? He said it hasn't really taken off yet...hmmm...maybe I'll have to give him some business.
Yesterday, my friend was an extra in a scene for the sequal to 28 Days Later - and they liked him so much they gave him a minor speaking part. Click here for Google's satelite hybrid map of Camden Town. Mostly we walked south down Camden High Street, which was great, because I've spent most of my time exploring the area north of there.

Mouse

So last year at our house in Ilford (affectionately termed "The Rock House" by the girls) we caught a total of 8 mice. Today we caught our first mouse in our new home. Thanks to Adam for showing me how to remove the floor board under the cabinets and for setting the trap - I couldn't get it positioned without setting it off. I thought about posting a picture, but then realized that it's just gross, so I thought I'd spare you.

The Spread Eagle

Met some really cool people at the Spread Eagle last night. There was a debate about whether Manchester United or Arsenal are a better footbal club (since I haven't decided which Premiership team to support, I listened with interest), and I was asked to explain why American football teams change cities and names so frequently. Hoping to go see one of the guys from there in concert next week. There was a camera there (not mine), I'll see if I can track down a picture or two.

Door

Met a guy in the Camden Market who sells old doors from Mumbai, India. He said they're about 200 years old, and they literally yank them out of the plaster walls that surround them. Then they age them in the desert before selling them off. The doors are beautiful, but they were selling for something like £1,000. Then I saw that he had some pieces of the doors just kind of lying around. One of the doors had broken during shipment, and he wanted to get rid of the remaining pieces cheap. We agreed to a price, and a few days later he brought the door pieces to our apartment. Now, you might be thinking, "What does Dan need with a door?"
Well, after several hours and a good bit of aggrevation, we now have a dining table. I still need to get a sheet of glass to cover the top, but my friend in the market has someone that can get me one.

Welcome to the Jungle, Baby

We received a note in our mailbox on Friday from one of our neighbors. It had a cryptic message about rock stars and a party on Saturday night. From what I gathered, the building was invited to a "fancy dress" party (that's a costume party) with a "dress like a rock star" theme.

Well, in one of those moments that we look back on and wonder what we were thinking, I decided to go as Slash from Guns-n-Roses. [update: my friend Oli said I had to put this second image up...thanks man]

I'm not saying I pulled it off well, but it was fun just the same. There were several Ozzy Osbournes and a Gene Simmons. I had a great time, especially when people asked me what I do and I told them I am helping start Jesus-centered communities. I guess I don't look like a typical vicar. I wonder what kind of church Slash would feel welcome in.

First week highlights

The people who helped us: Jeremy, who picked us up at the airport and drove us around the next day to get all our luggage and boxes we had left in storage here in London; and David, who heard we didn't have anything to sit on in the apartment, and brought us a few chairs to borrow.

The new experiences: The girls starting school and loving it so much, they were disappointed on Saturday that they had to wait until Monday to go again. Watching three different European football matches simultaneously in a jam-packed pub down the street from our place. Going shopping each day for food for meals, because our refrigerator (believe it or not) is smaller than the one we had last year when we were here.

The hard stuff: missing family and friends, eating cereal with a fork (spoons are coming, but it'll be a while), and sleeping through the noise of traffic and late night revellers.

Update: Somer's Birthday

Thanks for the ideas on making Somer's birthday special. In the end, I couldn't do much elaborate. I liked the idea of getting her lots of little presents or writing notes or things, but I had about 15 minutes of spare time in which to plan and execute her gift, so in the end, we only got her one present. But we did keep it as a surprise and gave it to her mid-flight. It was a sort of memoir written by a food critic. She loved it, and was left wanting more when she finished it. The book was Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise

Welcome to the real world

It feels like we've been living a disconnected life these last two weeks. We finally got broadband internet on Friday (only to have it go down Friday night and all day Saturday). But we're connected now. Feels good - like I can breathe again.

Saying Goodbye

We left Philadelphia for Baltimore on Wednesday - it was sad to say goodbye to our friends we've been living with since we returned to the States in January. Monday we leave for the UK, so this weekend we're seeing family and saying goodbye. I don't think I'm very good at saying goodbye. It's kind of how I feel about saying "thank you" - I want what I say to be genuine, and not the sappy cliches you get in movies. Problem is that in the moment, I can only think of the cliches, you know? I guess there's more to leaving well than words, though.
Monday is also Somer's birthday, and since we'll be spending the day traveling I'm working on a creative way to make her birthday special. Well, I'm actually not working on it yet, 'cuz I don't have any ideas. Any help out there?

Prayed Into a Home

We've been in London for the past week, hanging with a group of young people from Texas and Philly. They came to pray for Camden Town. We came to be with them, and to look for a house while they prayed.
And did they pray! Or more accurately: Did God respond!
Both Somer and I and our team leaders John and Kathy signed leases on apartments this week. We found places that are about 4 blocks from each other (a mere 8 min, 15 sec walk at a leisurely pace - thanks Jason for timing that!). Our flat has an interesting layout - only one 'normal' bedroom with a door - the other bedroom is a studio style - with a dividing wall separating it from the rest of the living area. But it has tons of windows that face southwest for that all-important winter sunshine, and a decent kitchen. Plus, as soon as I saw the living space, I envisioned it filled with friends having a good time and experiencing the welcome of Jesus. It's very close to the Camden markets, and on the same street as a primary school (don't know yet, but it's possible that it could be Andi's school - we'll find out in September). May manage to get up a few pics when we return home.

Prayer for Dummies

I'm preaching at River's Edge Community Church on Sunday morning. Looking at Jesus' words to his disciples about prayer in Luke 11. I'm working from some notes for a sermon I gave last year at City of Peace in London, though I think I have a slightly different perspective this time around. In the middle of support raising, I'm finding it very difficult to pray, even as I have a great need to be connecting to God in prayer. I'm also feeling a bit like the shameless guy who bangs on his neighbor's door in the middle of the night...I've become rather shameless in my requests to God these days. Also feeling like I need to hear the truth that God is not in the business of giving his children scorpions and rocks; he gives good things like his Spirit to be with us.
So yeah, Prayer for Dummies...that's where I'm at.

The Empire Strikes Back

I promise, this will be the last post about Settlers for a while. But I felt compelled to share that the setback suffered at Mark's hands last week was merely temorary. I returned to top conquering form on Thursday evening, soundly defeating our friends Dave and Erika, who are both seasoned players. That's it, I promise...on to something else.

A setback in the empire

Yes, it's true, last night I was defeated by my brother Mark at Settlers. The string of 6 consecutive wins has been broken.

Settlement

I just won Settlers of Catan for the fifth time in a row. Settlers is our favorite game, by far. You normally need 3-6 people to play, but in London we played with our imaginary friend Joe (that shows how much we love the game, not how insane we are). Sometimes Joe won.
But for the past two weeks, I've been on a role. My friend Tim can't touch me...Somer just sits and knits between turns, and my brother Mark had a bad case of malaria strike his settlements.

Crabbing on the Wye

Visited some long-time family friends who live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland on Saturday. The crabbing exploits of Wye River Web are legendary, so my brothers and I thought we'd try our hand at it and see if his skills would rub off on us.

Here I am on the dock, helping the Legend himself load the boat for our final run of the day. As we pulled in the last traps, we were caught in a heavy downpour. As the rain splashed on the surface of the river, the sun came out and caused a rainbow to appear on top of the water. It was beautiful, and almost the perfect ending to the day.


The perfect ending came a few minutes later, once we had arrived back on shore, put some dry clothes on, and started to steam the crabs. They were huge! Somer bravely holds this example - unfortunately the camera angle fails to show how close the crab is to me! The Legend had indeed come through for us.


The girls also got in on the boating action. Here we are flying back to shore. My brother Andrew is piloting the boat.





Somer also has a couple good pictures, including a nice close-up of a crab, over on dailyofferings .

Fort-Worth

Hangin' out here in Fort Worth, snaging the wi-fi at Trinity Bible Church. The Lord is in this trip, it would appear. After only two hours here, I had decided to extend my stay for two more days in order to meet with another church on Tuesday evening. Then I called a friend of a friend to see if we could connect while I was here - and wouldn't you know it? I was sitting at the Borders not 200 yards from his house!! He popped over and we had a good long talk, with lots of stories of God's power on display.
So far, I love this place.

The gospel in the emerging world

So went the title of the missions conference at River's Edge this past weekend. I had lots of fun showing how the culture emerging in the West looks very different from what came before. Used clips from Star Trek, Seinfeld, and a song from Pedro the Lion to stir people's thoughts about how their assumptions about the world might not match up with the assumptions that are becoming prevalent in my generation.
In one memorable moment, I had compared George Bush to Captain Kirk, intending to show why he was so disliked, but several people thought I was trying to compliment to Bush.

Sunday morning was great - I was exhausted, and yet seemed to have lots of energy for the sermon. I think the Holy Spirit showed up. Focused mostly on God's love showered upon "the wrong people".
Thanks River's Edge - I love being with you guys and look forward to being back there in a couple weeks to worship with you again.

The Gospel in a Far Away Land

I'm preaching on Luke 15 at River's Edge on Sunday. Actually, I'm speaking at their mini-missions conference on Saturday night too. Luke 15 is where Jesus tells three stories about lost things - a shepherd with a lost sheep, a woman with a lost coin, and a father with a lost son.
I've got a couple ideas bouncing around in my head at this point on the passage. In no particular order, they are:
The passion of the shepherd/woman/father to find what was lost.
The rejoicing is over finding the lost thing, not what was never lost.
The identity of the lost/not lost things - the sheep, the coins, the brothers - they are the same except in their relation to the shepherd/woman/father.
The dissimilarity of the father as compared to the shepherd/woman - the father waits...he doesn't go into the far away land to find his son.

Any of these strike you as particularly powerful? Any aspect of these stories that I didn't mention that really catches your attention?

Reunion

Our high school reunion on Saturday was fun. Had great crabs from Crab Shanty, and saw lots of people we hadn't seen in ten years. Somer has a good picture over on Daily Offerings.

DaVinci Code

Somer and I went to the DaVinci code with a High-School friend and his girlfriend on Sunday. We had a really good time with them. The movie was so-so. Probably my favorite part of the book was the working out of all the codes...a movie can't contain the same level of complexity and detail, so I felt like it suffered. I think if I hadn't read the book, I would have been a little bored at the movie. Like the book, the character development was extremely thin and the plot twists felt a little contrived. However, I enjoyed remembering the story from the book and filling in various details and remember plot twists before they happened.
Being a follower of Jesus and someone who trusts the traditional Christian telling of the life/death/resurrection of Jesus, I was a little surprised at how 'uncontroversial' the movie was. In comparison to the book, the movie made a fairly week argument for the assertions that Jesus had children through Mary Magdalene, and that the church violently supressed this reality through the centuries. Langdon (male lead played by Tom Hanks) was portrayed as skeptical of the claims for a Jesus-Mary Magdalene union, and kept calling them 'myths' and 'theories'.
Kelley asked under the last post what I thought of the movie, and I guess my overall impression is that it wasn't all that great.
BUT - like I said, we had a great time with our friends. After the movie, we went to DuClaw Brewing Company for dinner. It was fantastic. I got a sampler of seven of their in-house brews. It was really good to get re-acquainted with our friend and get to know his girlfriend a little bit. They are a great couple - they let us ask really personal questions and didn't hold it against us. Thanks guys - see you on Saturday at the reunion!

Oh, yeah...I haven't mentioned this here yet. Our High-School reunion is Saturday night. Have no idea what to expect. We'll keep you posted.

Back in Baltimore

We love Baltimore. It's a great town, and more importantly, it has that lingering feeling of 'home'. We're staying with my parents and youngest brother, Mark, in the house I grew up in. On Saturday, Mark graduates from High School, so we're throwing a big party.
We're here most of the month, telling the God/us/London story to anyone even remotely aware of our existence. Feeling a bit like Gideon must have felt after God cut his force down to 300, and hoping for similar displays of our Father's glory as our goal of being fully supported by August 18 races toward us.

Final Piece

My last glassblowing class was two weeks ago (a make-up from one I missed during our visit to Arkansas). I actually made two pieces - this is the only one that survived. My first drinking glass of the night fell to the floor and broke into several large pieces as we attempted to transfer it from the blowpipe to the punty.
But, this was worth it! It's about twice the size of the other drinking glass I made - holds a full pint-and-a-half. The bubbles are part of the glass, and though not intentional, I like the way they look.

Learning the faith

I received an e-mail today from friends who want to give to support our ministry in London. Part of the reason they were drawn to support us is that they have two young children around the ages of our girls, and they like the idea of being connected to people that their children also have a connection with. I love this!
As I've said before here, I want my children to learn the faith by practicing it alongside us. Here's an example of another family putting the same concept into practice. Their kids will grow up knowing that they have a connection to some other kids on the other side of the world whose family is trying to follow Jesus and tell people about him in their own neighborhood, just like their family is. My kids will be blessed because they'll grow up with friends who pray for them because supporting and praying for our family is important to their family.
Thanks guys - you've been an encouragement to my faith today.

Goths

Under the previous post, Amy asks "I'm curious to know your views on the goth scene".
To be honest, I don't know as much about it as I'd like. Camden has a very visible goth presence, so I'm hoping to get to know and better understand goth culture once we're living there.
I do know this: I doubt goths feel welcome in many western evangelical churches. Goth culture seems to be about creative self-expression and a commitment to not allowing mass media/pop culture to determine 'me'. Most churches I've been in allow creativity only within a narrowly defined (though unspoken) framework. Churches that are on the more creative side tend to be massively influenced by pop culture - and that's not necessarily a bad thing, though it does tend to exclude goths and others who are living in cultures that are decidedly anti-pop culture.
There's a church in Camden Town called Glorious Undead that's committed to living for Jesus while remaining within the Goth scene. They have a great article about Just Being Goth, which attacks many of the steriotypes surrounding the subculture.
Do I have any Goth readers who'd like to weigh in?

Jesus Loves Me, 'Yes' or 'No'...

Sing to the tune of the children's song "Jesus Loves Me", after each support call, no matter the response.

Chapelgate Missions Conference Festival

You ever get that feeling like you really should know a person? Their face is familiar, but you just can't place them.
Welcome to the past week of our lives. Somer and I met at Chapelgate and spent our formative high-school and college years there. We recognize most of the people there, and at one time knew their names...but often we find ourselves having to ask for their names. We've been warmly welcomed, and most people don't seem to mind, even if we really should know who they are. It helps that my hair is much longer, and Somer's much shorter, than when we left Chapelgate, so most people don't recognize us either!!

Thanks to all you Chapelgaters who have welcomed us back!

Here's to 200 more!

Just noticed this is post number 201. Not that anyone's counting. I've had fun, and hope you've enjoyed the stories. I keep saying this, but I really want to learn to be a better story-teller, and want this blog to be part of that process. So thanks for following the first 200, and here's to 200 more.

Ejection-Seat Pews

During our recent visit with family in Florida, I saw this commercial for the UCC. What do you think? HT: Mark Fletcher

Facing our Fear

Preached yesterday at my father-in-law's church in Hunt Valley, MD. They are a great bunch - very warm and welcoming of us. My parents drove over to attend the service as well, along with both my brothers and a visiting missionary friend from Uganda. I had a lot of fun, even though I was feeling sick most of the weekend - the Spirit gave me extra strength to get through both services without feeling any ill effects.
The sermon was from Isaiah 43 - a passage very close to my heart. I have tried lately to structure my sermons around the passage (rather than around "3 points" or something like that). So yesterday's sermon was basically a running commentary on the passage, with connecting verses and stories thrown in. I like doing it that way, because it's harder to forget your "points" when the passage is right in front of you. I also think it helps people learn to encounter God in the Bible for themselves.
You should be able to listen here - though as of Monday morning my message isn't up yet.

Reformed heritage in emerging-missional church

I read a helpful post today on TallSkinnyKiwi's blog about the influence of reformed theology within the emerging church. Check it out.

New Glass

As promised, here is the latest installment from my glassblowing class. I picked it up last Wednesday on the way to the airport with Somer (it takes 2-3 days to cool in the annealer). As I said before, the tumbler itself is nothing spectacular...BUT...I think the red handle saves it. I really like the color (it's hard to tell how the color will turn out before it cools - it was in powder form before heating, and then when it's heated it glows dull red/orange). I think it works really well with the clear tumbler.

Camden is waiting for me

My friend Julian from London City Mission sent me this picture. It gives you a little insight into our future home. I especially like the "Charity Muggers" sign...I figure that's British for "Support Raising Missionary", so I'll fit right in when we arrive.

Weekend with Daddy

This weekend it's just me, Andi, and Jodie. Somer's visiting her sister in San Francisco. The girls are surviving...mostly. In the mornings the girls tend to come into our room and play or watch TV until we wake up. Yesterday morning I discovered that they had given their teddy bears hair cuts (again)...but then last night I saw a chunk of blonde hair on the floor. Thing is, their bears have black hair...the only one with blonde hair is Andi.
We went to the mall tonight with some World Harvest friends - their kids had gotten free passes for the carousel. I rode in the spinning cup with Andi and Jodie...they loved it (I did not like all the spinning, but loved having fun with them).
I've also taken advantage of Somer's absence to make things I can't make when she's around - like playdough for the girls (makes her gag) and tacos.

The perfect size

Call it beginner's luck...not only did I blow the best drinking glass in the class, but the glass is the perfect size - holding exactly 12 oz of one's favorite beverage.
I only had to endure the wrath of the rest of my classmates for about 40 minutes, though, because that's how long it took me to blow my second drinking glass this past Saturday, and prove that I really have no idea what I'm doing. I'll post a picture of that one as soon as our camera returns from San Francisco with Somer.

Glass Pieces

I feel a little like my children when they run up to me after school holding their latest pictures. "Look what I made for you, Daddy!" They're always so excited.
Well, so am I. These are the first two pieces from my glass-blowing class. Hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy my kids' art.

Back in Baltimore

After a great weekend in Fayetteville, we're back in Baltimore. We're hanging at the Panera in Columbia mall, using the free wi-fi and enjoying the souffles. The folks at Covenant in Fayetteville were great - they were a real encouragement to us. On the flight back I was reading Free of Charge, and it reminded me of our experience this weekend. The author talks about the circular flow of giving and receiving, and shows how God's giving is never simply for our sake, but that we receive from him in order to be givers to others. We're meant to be conduits. That's why Paul can talk in Romans about being "mutually encouraged by each others' faith". Paul's statement was in the broad context of his planned trip to Rome, in which he hoped to have the Roman church provide him with support on his mission to Spain (which probably didn't happen in the end). But that's exactly what we experienced this weekend - that mutual encouragement. Anyway, thanks to everyone who fed us, housed us, and just plain loved us.

Off to Fayetteville

We've been invited to participate in a missions conference this weekend at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We'll be sharing stories from London during the Sunday evening session. It turns out that one of the guys I know who goes to Westminster is from this church, and he's given us the names not only of some of his friends, but also of the best places to eat in town. So we're looking forward to it, especially in light of the Nav videos I mentioned in a previous post, which encouraged us to preach the gospel wherever we find ourselves. We're looking forward to letting this church preach the gospel to us (we need to hear it!) and also to having opportunities to tell of God's love in our lives.

I'm a Mall Walker

Yes, it's true. I have entered the world of suburban soccer moms and retirees. Somer and I have been in desperate need of exercise recently, and we've found that walking at the mall before it opens is a great way to start our day together. Somer helps me plan my day while we avoid the hazards of double strollers and slow old people. After our first day of mall walking, we discovered the mall walker's code demands that everyone walk in a counter-clockwise direction (it took a few dirty looks from otherwise pleasant looking grandmothers to clue us in as we walked counter-flow).
The best part is that it's warm in the winter, cool in the summer, and filled with stuff that we don't need but want to buy anyway.

Preaching the Gospel

One of the nice things about being a missionary with World Harvest is that they provide us with a support raising coach. Our coach walks with us through the process of raising support and provides encouragement and the occassional butt-kicking when we need it. He sent us these videos that the Navigators use in their support-raising training.
Well, the videos are about 20 years old and the speaker keeps referring to stuff that happened before I was even born, but the stuff he's saying is just great. One of the things that has really impacted me has to do with preaching the gospel. Sometimes us "professional missionary" types tend to think of ourselves as called to preach the gospel in another country. And that's true, we are called to do that. But that calling flows from the more basic calling that belongs to us as followers of Jesus - to be ambassadors for God. Like Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, God is making his appeal through us: "Be reconciled to me!" And that calling doesn't get put on hold until we make it overseas.
So, even though we are talking to churches and individuals about supporting us, our most basic calling is to preach the gospel - wherever we may find ourselves. That's a refreshing challenge that has captured my heart, and I'm hoping it'll translate into telling more stories about God's faithfulness in Jesus, and doing less worrying about where the money's gonna come from.

Hot Soup

I took my first glassblowing class on Saturday at Hot Soup in Center City Philadelphia. It was so much fun! We learned the basics of how to gather the molten glass out of the crucible and how to work with some basic tools. I made a paper weight and a "snowman" - basically two lumps of glass on top of each other.
It's a short class - just four Saturday mornings - but by the end I'll be able to make a drinking glass. I can't wait for the next class, which will be in two weeks because we're heading to a missions conference in Arkansas this weekend, so I have to make up the second class later. Maybe next time I'll bring the camera and post some pics.

As seen at 2006 ETC

Probably the single most valuable part of the Theological Conversation was the people I met. Not surprising, since Emergent sees one of its primary functions as connecting people. So here are a few of the connections I made:
Craig - pastor and good friend to one of my closest friends in life. We had never met before, but knew we would both be there. We had lunch together and discovered that our stories have various points of connection. The coolest intersection? The head of his D.Min. program was one of the priests at the church I grew up in outside Baltimore. Craig's a good guy...hope to see you again brother.

Postmodern Negro - I met Anthony at the diversity conversation. He goes to Warehouse 242 in Charlotte and knows my London teammate Pat Wallin from the same church. He's still at the conversation, but should have some good reflections on his blog when he returns.

Sarah - sister-in-law to a guy I know from Westminster. Just a cool and crazy connection.

The Conversation

Had a great time at the Emergent Theological Conversation at Yale. I'm skipping the final session this morning - not 'cuz it was bad, but 'cuz I'd rather be spending time with my family and working on getting our support together to get back to London.
So...here are a couple thoughts:
1. Miroslav Volf was great. It's refreshing and powerful to hear a theologian speak out of his personal experience. Volf's views on forgiveness, exclusion, and embrace have been worked out in the midst of his life in the conflict-torn Balkans, and he has experienced the real-life outworkings of his theological views. One of the most gripping aspects of oppression that he discussed was the fact that both victim and oppressor are in need of repentance and forgiveness. There are no "innocents" in the world. This doesn't mean that victims are to be blamed for the violence they suffer, but that violence has a way of creating and inciting sin, even in the heart of the victim. The desire to plan and enact revenge is but one example.
2. One of the strongest things he had to say in my mind was in response to a question from Brian McLaren about the nature of the atonement. He spoke of his understanding of an "inclusive atonement", as opposed to an "exclusive atonement". The idea is that inclusive atonement entails our inclusion in Christ in his death and resurrection. Our guilt is not simply transferred outside of us and into Jesus...but our very selves are included in Jesus on the cross and out of the grave. He freely admitted that this raises the question of "how were we present?" to which he doesn't have easy answers.
3. I went to a break-out group on Diversity within the Emergent Community. A lively discussion...but I'm still processing it, and I'm not sure how far we really got in the conversation. One interesting thing I discovered from the conversation is that Emergent is seen by some in the church who would call themselves "liberal" as being very conservative...funny, since some "conservatives" see Emergent as far too liberal.

Emergent Theological Conversation

Heading up to Yale for the 2006 Emergent Theological Conversation tomorrow. It actually begins tonight, but I couldn't stomach another night away from the family. We've been doing lots of travel lately, and I have more scheduled for the end of this month.
The Conversation promises to be very interesting. Miroslav Volf is providing the theological fuel for the discussion, both in person and through his two books Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation and Free of Charge : Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace. Check back tomorrow for updates.

C'ville

Continuing the theme of "where I've been" during the silence:
This past weekend, Somer and I were in Charlottesville, VA with the rest of the World Harvest Emerging Generations team.
Friday and Saturday we went to a conference to hear Pete Greig founder of 24-7 Prayer.
A couple things for us as a team came out of the conference:
First, the challenge to make prayer central (not just a component, not just an after-thought like we're prone to) to a church planting work in London. Second, the reality that you don't have to be a leader in the church to have a powerful ministry. Another way to say that: God does extraordinary and powerful things through people who are not gifted/called to lead his church. We want to see God unleashing his power in and through young people in London - leaders or not. Sure, we want to see the next generation trained for leadership in his church, and that's important; but leadership is not to be equated with being a channel for God's power.
Aside from the conference, we had a great time together as a team. We prayed together (a lot), talked about our passions, our plans for the months before returning to London, went bowling, played Settlers of Catan (see photo) and somehow I got the name Stinking Bishop. I'm debating whether or not to rename this blog under that title.

Next to me and Somer are John and Kathy Hall, Pat and Jen Wallin, and Rebecca Williams. That's our team. We love you guys!

Utah

Appologies to those who have come to expect more frequent updates...I've been in and out of town a lot recently. Here's part of the reason why:

I went snowboarding/skiing with my two brothers in the Wasatch mountains in Utah. First time the three of us had done a trip like that together. We had a great time. I enjoyed getting to know my brothers better - when you're the oldest sibling, you kind of forget that when you move away from home, the rest of your family continues to grow and change. So even though I "know" my brothers, they've changed a lot since I left home. And even though we've seen each other loads in the past 6 years, this was the first time it was just us. So thanks guys. Thanks for setting this trip up, thanks for inviting me, and most of all, thanks for letting your older brother share life with you.
Of course, it didn't hurt that we were able to fly down the mountain (sometimes in untouched powder) and soak in the hot tubs while snow flurries fell on us.
I tried snowboarding - even took a lesson the first day. But two days of it was all this aging body (yes, I turned 27 yesterday) could take. But it was lots of fun, and I'll probably try it again. That first picture in the series is me. In the one of the three of us behind our goggles, I'm closest, and I think Mark is in the middle with Andrew at the far end.
The beauty of the place is amazing. One day I looked straight up and lost myself in a sky that was so smooth and consistent it looked almost solid. At times the contrast between sky and mountain was so sharp that there was no sense of depth - it looked like a flat painting, with the top-half Cobalt blue and the bottom-half pure white.

Beautiful Quote

In an e-mail to me, in the context of making plans that aren't set in stone:

"Remember: the Holy Spirit is a wild goose!"

Diversity in Community

I spoke at Sunday School at New Life last week on Diversity in Community. It was an extremely challenging topic, but one that I really enjoyed. I'll give you a few random thoughts, in no particular order of importance...mostly because that's about all I did with the class - it was more a facilitated discussion than a lecture.
I had us interact with a couple articles that analyzed the riots in Paris this past November. This article compares the model for diversity in France with the model in India; while this one argues that no model of diversity will work unless there is a sense of purpose within society. This second article especially intrigued me, because it connected with something else I was thinking - namely, that the church is united in its missional calling to be about God's purpose of reconciling the world to himself.
I had us look at Genesis 11, the story of the tower of Babel. Here, linguistic diversity is actually a blessing that enables humans to get back to their original purpose - to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it. At the begining of the story, humans had all congregated in one place and didn't want to be scattered over the whole earth. We then looked at Genesis 12, where God tells Abram he is going to bless him, and that through him all nations on earth will be blessed. We can't talk about diversity with the local church without connecting it to God's purposes to bless all nations. We also looked at a few others - Genesis 7, Acts 6, and one of my favorites - Joshua 9, the story of how the Gibeonites brought diversity to Israel by basically stealing their way into the community.
In all of this, the overriding assumption is that it's the Holy Spirit that forms the church into a community - he is the one that unites us under one Lord, giving us His mission and making us His body. For those of you who are interested, that fits under the scheme of Kingdom-->Mission-->Church