worship in the gaze…

One of the things that like to do is notice trends…
And it is nice to see more and more people recognizing the need to think though what is truly important about Christmas. Eliminating the fluff and focusing on the miracle of Christ’s birth.
In my life, I have been going through this very process over the last few years.

Our creative team at church was actually very excited about our Christmas set. Called “Christmas Crescendo”. A visual juxtaposition of the simplicity of Jesus’ birth vs. what it has become in our society. The implementation of this thought was wonderful. The highlight of it all was “Mary’s Child”
The chorus said:
Angels and shepherds are singing your praise
But I want to worship right here in your gaze
Tomorrow a savior ,but today just a babe
Tomorrow on a cross, but today in a manger you lay.

This Christmas may all who love Him take time to simply worship in the gaze of the babe of Bethlehem.

rest in peace Puffin

Puffin Holland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, the beginning of my day was absolutely wonderful.

The end of my day tragic. I had to go to a meeting at Starbucks this evening. When I came home, I found my sweet, sweet 18 yr, 10 month old dog Puffin dead on the living room floor when I came in.

Obviously, it has been expected.

I love my husband, he has worried about me so much when this time would come. He was there to hold me and comfort me as long as I needed. He gets the prize as the very best husband ever.

I am hurting, but I know it was the right thing. I have been praying that God handle the situation. I wanted to be able to make the correct choice. Yet, she wasn’t really in pain. But, because of the prayer…I know it was the right rime.

I trust in Him.

Isn’t he amazing to care enough for me and my little bundle of joy.

But for now, I sit simply holding her. She brought so much joy. She is going to be missed greatly.

Christmas Crescendo implementation…

Christmas Crescendo
Here are some pics., taken during set up Friday evening and Saturday morning.
ChristmasCrescendo2?feat=directlink
Curtains Closed

Worship Set 1 (sung in front of the curtain w/ only acoustic guitar)
Joy to the World

Welcome & Greet

Creative Element: “Christmas Crescendo”
Designed to show how often the true of meaning of Christmas is lost in the hustle and bustle of what Christmas has become to society.

Curtain opens to a blue spot on Mary and baby Jesus.
She is quietly singing to baby:
O, Come, O Come Emmanuel (one verse)

She remains center stage as: Start: Electronic wav file of Carol of the Bells, entire band joined in layers on top of the track. The song gets louder and more hectic as the following scenes unfold:
Lights: Leg of curtains, lights up on each side of stage.
Stage left: Husband and wife bring in Christmas tree, set it up and decorate (plug in lights), they also bring in gifts. Their young children enter (in p.j.’s), shake packages and play around tree. Read book.
Stage right: shoppers enter with rolling rack of clothes.
Stage right: Santa comes in, seated on a rolling platform with elves. Photographer enters and sets up his lighting and camera on a tripod. Families with children line up to get their picture taken with Santa.
More Lights: Icicle lights on back curtain light up.
Another rolling rack with clothes enters into the auditorium with another shopper and retail sales person.

ALL ACTION STOPS: Music ends abruptly, actors freeze in place, all lights black out except the blue spot again on Mary & Jesus
(short intro of) O, Come, O Come Emmanuel, which transitioned into:
Mary’s Child (amazing song written by April Eads, who also played Mary)

Worship Set 2 (done completely with an acoustic guitar only)
What Child is This? (Actors exited stage during intro. Mary and Jesus exited after the first verse)
O Holy Night

Message: The Real Meaning of Christmas (and giving a gift of ourselves to Him)

Worship set 3 (the full band was back: w/communion and interactive family element)
There were several gifts boxes on each row. Everyone was asked to write or draw on a piece of paper, a gift they wanted to give to baby Jesus. (Families were asked to work with their children, which was really cool to see). Then place the note in a small gift bag and tie a ribbon around it. Then go as a family or with friends to the communion stations. And give the gift to Jesus (a manger was set up at each station).
Glory in the Highest
We Three Kings
O, Come, O Come Emmanuel (the percussionist used a really nifty Samba beat to this, totally cool!)

It was one of those amazing moments in time, where everything combined to share the true meaning with Christmas with all those who entered in today.
Interesting notes today:My husband (not a Christian) came today. He only comes to church once every couple of years.
My son and his family visited again (four weeks now). It is so cool to be able to worship together.
I particularly love how my three year old grandson loves to stand in the aisle to worship. He sways back and forth, claps his hands. My two year grand daughter also joined us.
Someone (a friend I have made at Starbucks, currently dechurched) I had invited, came and texted me afterwards that he thought the worship was awesome!
And two people came up afterwards. One person wants to join the pPod team (that implements the interactive experiential worship elements) and another wants to join the lighting team.
What an amazing day!

How was your Sunday today?

This is being submitted to Sunday Set list blog carnival at Fred McKinnon’s blog. Be sure to check how other churches are glorifying God through worship each Sunday.

tough call…

Posted on our church website, we will be having worship this morning.
Some of our people’s cars (from the south) are covered in ice.
People to the west have already had the bulk of the storm pass.
It’s starting to sleet at my house.
Praying that all who come in arrive safely.
Well, got to head out now…

checking off #61 on my list of things to do…

Today is a big day. This evening is the stage set-up for our “Christmas Crescendo” production.

Shortly I will leave for Starbucks to work.

My ancient Thunderbird is already packed to the gills with multiple bolts of material, a box of Christmas ornaments, a huge box of white trees, two huge pink stuffed dogs, box of chiffon, Christmas lights, a newly purchased clothes rack and other various and assorted stage props.

I have a bag packed with a change of clothes, since I will have to head directly from Starbucks and head to Eagle Ridge Middle School to coordinate the efforts of about 10-12 people. We will have 3 hours to go from zero to full stage set.

Next, I need to add my camera and computer, work bag. I have print-outs of details how to do each piece of the set, so each team will know what to do when we start.
Oh yes, and my pPod bag.

The weather man is calling for snow Saturday evening and Sunday morning.
Life as stage designer for a mobile church is interesting to say the least.

And now it is time to pause and pray again…

I really need a bigger car for my rolling storage closet.

What are your preparations for this Sunday’s service?

imago…

We have been working towards incorporating our youth in the weekend experience about once every 8 weeks or so. It is always a tremendous event.

“Imago” has an incredible ministry, which includes their own monthly worship services, out reach neighborhood groups and they have almost two entire worship bands.

So today was one of our Sundays when the youth lead worship.

Worship Set 1
We Three Kings
Blessed be Your Name

Welcome and Greet

Worship Set 2
Fire
Here I am to Worship

Creative Element:
Dramatization to:
The Reason (Hoobastank)

Message: Christmas is about the Incarnation.
What it looks like to walk in the human steps of Jesus-God in the flesh, Emmanuel, God with us!

Worship Set 3
Glory in the Highest
Angels We Have Heard on High

This is part of the Sunday Set List at Fred McKinnon’s blog. Always fresh, always interesting. Check it out.

circle of life…

As I walk through life, almost every day my mind captures snapshots and extrapolates every day occurrences into worship designs.

I have absolutely no control over this. In fact I call it “God exploding in my mind”. Sometimes it is a full blown worship experience, other times is a mere snippet. In fact that is why I started this blog. I had so many ideas running around in my head that they were crashing into each other. I needed a place to download my thoughts.

November 23rd, my mother took me to see the “Lion King”. It was an amazing experience and a shining example of breaking through the fourth wall of stage design.

Just one of the moments that captured my imagination was these birds that had soaring over the audience. Check out this youtube video, you can see the character Zazu entering at 2:17. If you look closely you will also see other bird puppets in the background.

I saw about four people, spaced through-out the auditorium flying “something” over the heads of the worshippers.

So, I have spent the last couple of weeks trying to figure out how to implement this into worship. I have finally figured out I need fly fishing pools and fishing line. I have yet to figure out what to attach to the poles. That may have to wait until this element works it’s way into a specific message. We will see…

What is your wildest idea for worship design?

why did the chicken…

From space to breathe * room to grow…

“…one day I noticed that my chickens and my congregation both react to change in much the same way.

Each day, we move our floorless pasture pens forward eight feet, providing access to fresh grass.

The birds learn they must walk as the pen is pulled forward. Even so, several factors determine their willingness to cooperate.

One factor is my own anxiety level. If I am anxious for the chickens to hurry, they sense it and do the opposite. If I jerk or kick the pen or yell, they stand still or crowd into a corner, making movement impossible. But if I remain patient and calm, they walk together rather well.

Even then, there’s a wide range of response to this daily change. A few birds rush to the front of the pen as soon as the pulling chain is attached anticipating the new clover and bugs to come. A larger group hangs back to watch the early birds, and moves only when the pen moves. About a third of them delay a bit longer, until the movement is well underway; another third delays until there seems no choice but move ahead or get run over.

Inevitably, a group remains along the rear wall of the pen, staring backwards.”

~ Jeff Hawkins “Tending or Processing?”

So true.

Which chicken are you?

graphics…

A few simple tips today…

Along with technology the changes in worship graphics are growing exponentially. I still remember the days of black words on a white over head projector screen. Yet, if you are in a ministry that tends to focus on the technologically savvy it’s still important to remember basic design concepts along with implementation of new technologies.

1. One thing dominates the screen. When you look at a well-designed page, there is usually one dominant feature that your eye will gravitate towards.

What is the first thing your eye is drawn to in this example?
All I see is the face. Eyes particularly are drawn to faces.

2. Minimize typeface variety. Don’t mix and match multiple fonts just because you are able. Stay away from weird type styles – you don’t want your worship to resemble a used car commercial.Choose one or two nice, readable fonts and stick with them throughout your service. Times Roman is bland – start with Arial, Verdana or Helvetica.
Notice the difference in readability in the following samples. Particularly note the difference between serifs (the details on the end of the letters) and sans serif.

Generally a font that is crisp and clean and well spaced out is easier to read. My personal belief is that serifs tend to get in the way.
Whenever you use a new font, try it out on the screen before worship. What looks good on your computer monitor might not look so hot enlarged in 40 point font.

3. Easy to read text. Tiny text is hard to read on screen. Centering lyrics is the trend, but you learn Art 101 college class that this tires the eye – lyrics should be “flush left” – like a newspaper column. See how hard it is to read the following. The eye has to search for the beginning of each line: 4. Use caution with bells and whistles. It’s always fun to find a new technique. But, don’t overdo it. Not every song, not every week. Currently this is motion graphics.

5. Pay attention to details. My favorite story is there is a motion graphic on a popular worship media program that has a deer peacefully drinking at the edge of a calm body of water. In the far background there is a lion stalking the deer.

As always prayerful consideration in all you do. That is a given.

What are your design guidelines (pet peeves) about worship graphics?

my mother the pole dancer…

My mother is a kick. She will be 70 this month and is a consummate storyteller. I won’t do this story justice I’m sure, but I just have to relate it.

Her most recent job was gathering research data on people living in the inner city.

One of the people she needed to contact lived in an apartment above an establishment called “Sassy Kat’s”. An almost neon pink building on a corner in the “hood”.
She found the office around the back of the building and spoke to the manager who offered to give her a tour.
When they walked in off the street, there was a large portioning wall. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dimly lit room.
Round tables and chairs crowded the room. And along one wall there was a large square table, with chairs and a pole rising up in the middle.

This is the conversation that ensued…

“Oh, so you have dancers?”
“Well, yes…”
“Girls and boys?”
“No, only girls…”
“Are they all young?”“No, we actually have someone in here in her sixties…”
“Hmmm…”

Well, mom just loves to tell this story, teasing that this is probably going to be her next “job”.

She had also decided she wanted me to take pictures of her at her various hang outs. She wanted to send pictures to her brother that chronicled her job.
We spent a fun filled day, driving around the inner city in her “hood” and taking pictures.
As she primped for her picture at “Sassy Kat’s”, here is what I saw in the viewfinder of my camera.

That’s right. Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. Amateur Tryouts 8-10 p.m.

If you look closely, you are able to see we added “Happy New Year” to the photo and this is the cover of her New Year’s card this year.

Doncha’ wish your mother was cool like mine?