Atheist Song :: First Hymnal for Atheists

Capturing Inspiration...

Where does inspiration come from...? At times it seems like inspiration for a message, teaching, writing, song, etc comes from some mystical place. Yet, more often than not, it's simply the byproduct of becoming aware of what's going on within us and around us, along with a sense of the divine spark lighting on fire (as it were) the mundane bushes before us... 

“Earth is crammed with heaven,and every common bush is on fire with God;but only he who sees takes off his shoes; the rest sit around it and pluck blackberries.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 As I'm writing and developing thoughts, there are a few artists I tend to pull up in the iTunes to play in the background. One of those is Brooke Fraser. In the following clips she shares about what it looks like for her to capture inspiration in the everyday moments and encounters of life.

FLAGS PREVIEW - Writing from Brooke Fraser on Vimeo.

"Creativity, has been said, consists largely of rearranging what we know
in order to find out what we do not know.
Hence, to think creatively,
we must be able to look afresh
at what we normally take for granted."    
— George Kneller 

"Anyone can look for fashion in a boutique
or history in a museum.
The creative explorer
looks for history in a hardware store
and fashion in an airport."
— Robert Wiede

Free Book :: The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God, Having the Guts to Respond

Bill Hybels and Zondervan are giving away the Kindle Edition of The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God, Have the Guts to Respond for free this week (until October 18th).

The Power of a Storytelling

Stories have enormous power, unfortunately the very essence of that power is often crippled in the telling. True storytellers simply know how to communicate old stories in new ways. And, even when they use the same plot as before, it always seems to take on new life. This life flows not from some new fabrication of the events at hand, rather the outworking of a life that's actually been there. The aliveness comes from the life the story has within them, it just simply can't be contained.

Martin Buber once commented about the power of stories:

"A story must be told in such a way that it constitutes help in itself.

My grandfather was lame. Once they asked him to tell a story about his teacher. And he related how his teacher used to hop and dance while he prayed. My grandfather rose as he spoke, and he was so swept away by his story that he began to hop and dance to show how the master had done. From that hour he was cured of his lameness.

That's how to tell a story."

I'm fascinated not only how our very lives have been shaped by stories, but how powerful stories become in the authentic creative telling. Creativity is often simply pausing long enough to allow new ways to emerge for telling an old story. It is the very pause of contemplation that becomes the path that simply takes one deeper into the story itself.

The following is a short video by Storyteller Jay O'Callahan talking and demonstrating the power of stories.

Wonderfully Made

What does it mean to be created in the image of God…? How is it that Christ holds all things together, even our very bodies…? I'm looking forward to the upcoming series, Wonderfully Made, where we'll explore the miracle of life and the amazing imprints of God upon humanity.

Theology Matters

Biblical theology, according to Eugene Peterson, "does not so much present us with a moral code and tell us, 'Live up to this,' nor does it set out a system of doctrine and say, 'Think like this.' The biblical way is to tell a story and invite us, 'Live into this – this is what it looks like to be human; this is what is involved in becoming and maturing as a human being.'

We do violence to the biblical revelation when we ‘use’ it for what we can get out of it or what we think will provide color and spice to our otherwise bland lives. That results in a kind of ‘boutique spirituality’ – God as decoration, God as enhancement.

Rather, when are to submit our lives to what we read, we find that we are not being lead to see God in our stories but to see our stories in God’s. God is the larger context and plot in which all our stories find themselves."

Life is Better in Groups

An academic journal called The Journal of Happiness Studies publishes studies using the tools of research to identify what makes human life flourish. When researchers look at what distinguishes quite happy people from less happy people, one factor consistently separates those two groups. It is not how much money you have; it is not your health, security, attractiveness, IQ, or career success. What distinguishes consistently happier people from less happy people is the presence of rich, deep, joy-producing, life-changing, meaningful relationships. 

This week at PVC, we're launching our fall groups - from Flag Football to Divorce Care and everything in between. As the church grows larger, the challenge is to simultaneously grow smaller. Groups are one of the ways that we are endeavoring to grow smaller. A smaller venue where people can simply connect with one another and grow closer to Christ.

Life is Better in Groups.