Simple Complexities"Great improvisors are like priests. They are thinking only of their god."
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Simple Complexities "Great improvisors are like priests. They are thinking only of their god." |
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Wednesday, March 26, 2003 Surfs Up A few things of note: The Saga website has been revised thanks to Gregg Stokes. And...CNN.com has a story about War Blogs. Click Here. posted by Joe | 2:05 PM Saturday, March 22, 2003 Ticket Sales Ticket sales for the Jesus event begin in earnest tomorrow. (We have embedded journalists in the ticket booths this year for closer coverage.) A little midwar humor for you. We will be selling tickets at Canyon Ridge this weekend and The Crossing next weekend. I'm praying for 600 to come from these weekends...If you have any ideas/contacts for selling tickets, shoot me an email. posted by Joe | 12:46 AM Thursday, March 20, 2003 War "War is hell, but it makes for great television." I found it interesting that the CBS War coverage was interupted last night for Survivor. Fox delayed, but eventually showed American Idol. Pseudo-reality abounds in news and entertainment. War is now unreal enough to make good TV and TV is now unscripted enough to feel real. Somehow, its all the same...unless you are the guy dropping the bomb or the mother of the soldier the bomb lands on, then war still sucks. I still think that I am a pacifist, but I don't agree with any of the reasons that most pacifists give for being against war. I am against war because it is such a good thing. It is so powerful that it allows human beings to believe in themselves even more. It is really hard to support a war without letting the mission of the war become the mission of your life. It is hard to support a war without worshiping some seemingly altruistic ideal other than God. Ultimately, it is hard for me to support a war because Jesus died on a cross when he could have called down an angelic army and had at it. It's hard to support a war between nations when I am already a soldier in a war agaisnt the powers at work in the world. The tension comes when I have to acknowledge that there is part of me that is happy that this war might protect my children from violence in the future. I can trust God to protect me, but I still want the nation state to protect my kids. God, give me faith. posted by Joe | 3:13 PM Tuesday, March 18, 2003 Sean Critchfield Sean is a friend of mine who is currently traveling with a Shakesperean theater company. He will be back in Vegas in April. I was able to talk with Sean for a few minutes tonight and it made me realize how much I miss having him around. He's doing good things with his life. posted by Joe | 11:38 PM Sunday, March 16, 2003 Our New Home We should be moving to the new community house in 6-8 weeks. Click here to see the floorplan. Go to Ironwood model 430... posted by Joe | 11:43 PM Friday, March 14, 2003 A Tribute to Fight Club upon completion of the book: The problem with our generation is that we haven't had a Great Depression or a Great War, therefore we have made our lives depressing and violent. I know this because Tyler Durden knows this. I am Joe's troubled mind. posted by Joe | 3:54 PM Saturday, March 08, 2003 A New Day's Comin' I am overwhelmed in a good way about all of the new things on the horizon. 1. The Apex Gathering is moving on March 30 to the Christ Lutheran Church building located at I-95 and Jones. That excites me for numerous reasons: it's more centrally located for our churches, the room isn't orange, it's much cheaper, it's seats 500 instead of 800 so the crowd will feel bigger, and it really seems as though God has mysteriously led us there. I also feel like we are closer than ever to figuring out the long term future of the Gathering. We are five weeks into a 16-week thing now which is going well, but I think the next run will be a breakthrough for us. 2. Saga officially kicks off in less than 30 days on April 7, 9 and 11. I am truly excited and a little nervous about it. Ticket sales start next week and I can see them going slower or faster than expected...its so hard to tell what will happen. No matter what, I am very pleased with the opportunity to work with my friends to pull it off. Saga has been a monumental source of joy in my life this year. 3. Our new house should be ready in late May or early June. We had a meeting with our housemates last week to voice some fears and expectations of our new life together. I know that it won't be easy to learn to live with eleven other people, but I also know that the opportunity for growth and joy in my life will be eleven times greater. 4. As I mentioned earlier, I have made some new friends through my acting classes. They say that they want to come to see the Saga event, which is very cool. With all of these good things, I would ask for your prayers for my sister-in-law Angie who is battling brain cancer, and has been for 8 or 9 years. It has been a source of sadness in our house of late, particularly with Deb. posted by Joe | 11:18 AM Tuesday, March 04, 2003 Am I Having Fun Yet? I have had the strangest reaction to my Second City improv. classes. I can only classify the emotion as "fun." I cannot remember ever enjoying something so much as I have these classes. (I just finished the fifth of eight sessions today.) Now, I know that I have had much deeper joy and fulfillment in other areas of life, but this is really high on the straight fun-o-meter. It's everything that I tried to make all of my other hobbies become. Here are the reasons why I like it so much: 1. I feel accepted there. 2. The people there seem to want me to work with them. 3. I just feel like one of the gang-most don't know that I'm a "pastor" yet. 4. It's freeing to take creative risks in a safe place. 5. I think a lot of my classmates understand the creative torment of an artist/philosopher type of person. 6. They all knew my name before the first class was over...and I knew all of them. 7. Overall, I feel like I'm pretty good at the actual improv. work. 8. They all compliment me, much more than most of my Christian friends. I'm sure there are some other reasons, but those were the first ones to come out. I find myself curious as to why the community there seems so much stronger than many of the churches that I'm trying to help out. Makes me wonder if we Christians are just too serious sometimes...or if maybe its easier to feel accepted at acting class because we can be less vulnerable and hide our personal stuff behind the art. I'm sure that my new friends need Jesus, but i was floored to find out how much I need them. These twelve relatively pagan people have taught me more about church than any book I have ever read...maybe God will let me bring Jesus into the community somehow. I'm going to invite them to the Saga Jesus Show in April. Please pray about that. posted by Joe | 12:48 AM Saturday, March 01, 2003 For Doug Citizen and Tommy I stole this from my friend Miah...Click here if you are a Star Wars Geek. posted by Joe | 8:48 PM  
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