Its been a crazy couple of months since the last time that I wrote in this space and much has happened. Here’s a quick lowdown:

• finished Seeds of Survival recording with James. Here’s the link to hear it www.seedsofsurvival.bandcamp.com
• worked with a few local artists and created a soundscape for their opening
• had Charis my niece come and visit for a couple of weeks
• changed my eating habits and turned the corner on the ‘no energy’ status in my life
• invited to be part of the BC worship development group for the Vineyard
• nailed a big design project with Kids in Balance which I’m pretty excited about!
• went to Vineyard National Gathering in Penticton; met some great people and had some inspiring conversations; saw God at work; changed a few things & led worship with a band of awesome people.
• continued to build relations with artists in the local area.
• started a collaborative project with a band of artists from NLV Eighty-Eight which will see its completion in the fall on All Saints day.

August will see me heading back to the UK for a couple of weeks to see family and attend my eldest niece’s wedding. In the midst of that I’m hoping to find some space to re-evaluate what I’m committing too and where I’m heading in the fall with projects. A few things are already lined up such as the artists retreat and the collaborative project. One thing that seems to be rumbling in the background is growing links between artists in the different Vineyard communities across the lower mainland.

In the midst of August I’m also hoping to start a book called ‘The Artists Way’ by Julia Cameron. One of the first things that goes when life gets busy is personal creative time (actually I’m not sure that that has ever been a consistent rhythm in my life anyway lol!) so I’m attempting in August to use this book as a place where I can start this rhythm and continue it into the fall. I’m a great believer that you can’t call people to something that you don’t already do yourself so this is my attempt to start to create space for being creative! I’ll let you know whether it is working as I go along lol!

Anyway you may see me blog here sporadically over August. Hope those that read this have a great summer!

my observations of _ _ _ _ _ _ Temple:

excessive. gold. symbolic symbolic symbolic. colourful. holy. accessible to the few. exclusive. HUGE. central to the people’s lives. rich. breath takingly beautiful. well thought out. excellent craftsmanship. more gold. more symbols. central to the people’s spirituality. a resting place for god.

my observation of Solomon’s Temple.

Over the last day I’ve been reading about the temple Solomon constructed - there is only one word in my head to describe it - ‘excessive’. Nothing was done without careful thought and by the best of the best materials and artisans. I would love to see a modern day version of this thing - couldn’t even begin to imagine the world’s responses to its construction!!

What continues to fascinate me is why we keep on building temples - this desire in humanity to construct, create, build a sacred space, a space set-aside for a special purpose. This desire is seen throughout history in all the major religions. Its as if its built into our make-up. Even after Jesus had come and added in his two cents about our physical bodies being a temple, a thin place, liminal space we still continue to build and construct physical spaces that are set-aside. Maybe our motivation to do this is to continue to create something costly, beautiful and sacrificial for the god we believe in? Maybe its to show the world that we are serious about our faith? Maybe they are built to reflect the God we believe in and remind us daily, weekly of who he is? Maybe we continue to build them cause everyone else is building one? Maybe its because we need a home? Maybe its because we still want to provide a resting place for God?

I’m not sure if this fascination with why we continue to do this has any relevance and maybe its just more observational. My thoughts are not complete . . . . there will be more

my observations of a new _ _ _ _ _ _ Temple

extravagant. beautiful. revered. symbolic. sacrificial & costly. creative. attractive. peaceful. no expense spared. thin place? inspiring. thought provoking. representative of the faith and the god. symbolic rituals reminding people of the story. light. journey. set aside. serious. reflective. well thought out.

my observation of a new Mormon Temple.

Built over the last 6 months here in Langley BC, it was open to tours and last week I went and visited. The experience was thought provoking, stirring, inspiring and left me wrestling with many thoughts about the temples constructed throughout our historic story. Made me think about where the ‘temple’ is located in my life and the lives of those in my community. Made me think about ‘thin places’, liminal places, our physical bodies. Made me think about the tension of material extravagance and justice. Made me think about creating spaces where people can engage with their creator. Made me think about if God could build a temple today what would it look like.

my observations.

what does your temple look like?

it just IS and always will be a part of our lives no matter how much we try to medicate it away

sometimes it appears in the midst of a gift in life e.g giving birth to a child

the religious world sometimes preaches prosperity and ‘come to Christ . . . live a life of un-suffering”

Christ said something different. Christ lived something different.

“Jesus has many who love His kingdom in Heaven, but few who bear His cross”

(Thomas A Kempis)

Nobody has the answers.
Nobody is listening to you.
Nobody is looking out for your interests.
Nobody will lower your taxes.
Nobody will ?x the education system.
Nobody knows what he is doing in Washington.
Nobody will make us energy independent.
Nobody will cut government waste.
Nobody will clean up the environment.
Nobody will protect us against terrorist threats.
Nobody will tell the truth.
Nobody will avoid con?icts of interest.
Nobody will restore ethical behavior to the White House.
Nobody will get us out of Afghanistan.
Nobody understands farm subsidies.
Nobody will spend your tax dollars wisely.
Nobody feels your pain.
Nobody wants to give peace a chance.
Nobody predicted the Iraq War would be a disaster.
Nobody expected the levees to fail.
Nobody warned that the housing bubble would collapse.
Nobody will reform Wall Street.
Nobody will stand up for what’s right.
Nobody will be your voice.
Nobody will tell you what the others won’t.
Nobody has a handle on this.

Nobody, but you, that is.

Never forget, a small group of people can change the
world.

No one else ever has.

by Micah Sifry
excerpt from What Matters Now

No one can know in advance how one will be used, or when, or what one’s life will count for in the long run. The young Pablo Casals, while pouring his life energy into years of practice on the cello, could not guess that when Franco came to power, he would stop playing for three years, and that the silence would be heard throughout Spain as if the streets were full of demonstrators….

When the need for bread is met we discover that we have other hungers, and none so deep as the hunger to be understood. The artist helps us to interpret, understand and communicate feeling. When the artist is successful we are led into communion with ourselves and with the world, and the solitary work becomes a communal work. For want of this we walk on parched land.

Elizabeth O’Connor

And so artists keep on wrestling . . . . .

The insert below is happening at my place. Hopefully a space where we can understand and be understood and out of it change occur in us.

“Naomi and I thought it would be good to gather those with serious questions about art and faith for an– everything allowed – time of discussion.  Bring your questions on a slip of paper and we will put them in a hat and whatever gets drawn we will discuss. No expectations, no ready answers, just a think tank to count the cost of true discipleship as an artist.”

Betty Spackman (installation artist, painter and author of A Profound Weakness: Christians and Kitsch)

Julie’s when asked why her . . . why did she have to have cancer, was:

“Well why not!”

A haunting answer.

Think it may stay with me for a long long time.

Its her birthday today

WWJD

‘What Would Julie Do?’

Death/dying is a subject that I have wrestled with over the last year because of Julie. As I have looked around the society/culture that I live in these are some of the things I have observed about how we handle death and dying.

We medicate ourselves in order to prolong the days that we get to spend on this planet; we put our aged, and those closer to death often on the margins of our lives by sending them to comfortable ‘communes’ where they can get taken care of by others; we pump our bodies with ’stuff’ to help stop the ageing process; we have incredible hospitals and drugs that allow us keep living despite the pain we may find ourselves in; we fear it yet are obsessed with it (the obsession played out on our TV’s).

Julie’s dad, John was telling us how many, many years ago, when he was growing up there was not today’s medication available and the lucky ones died in their homes with their families. He remembers family members leaving their homes as those dieing with cancer were screaming out in pain - it was so hard as there was nothing that they could do to ease or make their loved one comfortable. John was sharing this as we sat around Julie’s bed in her last days with doctors and nurses increasing her pain meds to keep the moaning at bay. I’m not quite sure why what he related struck me so hard but it did . . . .

I sometimes wonder whether in all of this we have removed ourselves so far away from from dying and death (and even suffering), that we loose or miss something in living. Death can be ugly, fearful, because its is a step into the unknown. It takes faith to believe that there is or isn’t something on the other side.

this week our community says farewell to one beautiful life and hello to a brand new little life

the pendleton family will be made up of four people today