a coherent collection of random statements regarding God, words and tunes

A simple request....

Haven't checked in, in a while. I could ramble on gleefully about The Scattered Pages' Lazy Are the Skeletons (yet another belated candidate for Best Album of 2006 -- and I'd KILL to see a Scattered Pages/Kamikaze Hearts show, or vice versa) and Andy Partridge's 8-volume Fuzzy Warbles series from the earlier part of this century (and may do so yet), but this one's gonna be fairly short, sweet, and personal.

Awhile back (and on a couple occasions), I'd mentioned and/or solicited feedback on an idea for a discipleship curriculum that's been germinating in my head for awhile, and which God won't let me let go of. (And believe me, I tried dropping it a few times, too.) Anyway, Quarter 1 of a proposed 6 is written (not accepted yet, mind you, just written), and starting tomorrow night, a gang of family and friends from various points of my sojourn here thus far are gonna start having at it.

Thus, the rubber hits the road in a number of ways. Am I really on to something here? Does this test-run help sell this to the internal forces-that-be (actually, the answer to the literal question is "yes," and thus the real question is, "Will it be enough?")? And, not least of all, does said group become more than something that meets for three months, then goes its separate ways? I really, really hope not. To quote from the open letter mailed to said gang:

"I’d really like to see this develop into a real group. It’s fair to say that some personnel will change after Quarter 1 (at least one of you has indicated that this is probably a short-term commitment), but again (and because of that), let’s keep an outward focus... [I]t’s my hope that whatever it is, we KEEP doing it. And let’s see who we can bring along for the journey while we’re at it.

"Y’r getting this because I consider you friends – not only because I just plain LIKE you, but because I value yr opinions and how you’ve brought Jesus into MY life. And, of course, because you’ve bought into what I’m throwing out there, or at least are willing to entertain it.

"That said, a natural attraction is no guarantee that this becomes a community (thank you, Dietrich Bonhoeffer**, for THAT whack upside the head). But that’s my hope. Plain and simple. Pretty much all of us are acutely aware that we’re already in some form of significant transition. God willing, I’d like to start building something that lasts out here."

So, short version: Prayers will be appreciated, if not ravenously coveted. Thanks.

** -- Read Life Together. And as always, tell me I'm wrong.   

Posted by: burninglight at 20:42 | link | comments (5)