by tashmcgill | Dec 30, 2004 | Church, emerging church, god ideas, Prayers, Spirituality, worship, youth ministry, Youth Work
A Dangerously Long Comment on Fallout from the “Emerging Church”…
Here is the genesis of my dialogue, plus some. From Steve’s site. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that I don’t think Steve himself is actually being attacked. And I think that Lynne’s fruit counts, and is valid.
The danger is.. that people get all caught up in it being one way or the other. There are a couple of very ‘Modern’ pastors at my church, who have read the Emerging books and now think that’s how we should do church.
Some thoughts on to Emerge or not Emerge.
Exegete the culture of your community. Who are the not-yet followers? Tell the story in their language, and celebrate the story in the language of your community. That’s what our explorations should be based upon.
We are storytellers. Employ whatever means you like to tell the story, there is no set way.. jsut know that for some people they will like to skip to the end, some like to read for themselves, some like the same story told the same way over and over. We have the freedom to do that, so long as we tell the right story, it doens’t have to be about telling the story right.
Well, doesn’t this one come close to home?
I think, read and observe, that proponents of the Emerging Church do carry this ideology close to their hearts. So it’s almost understandable how things quickly seem to become viscious and snide. It’s why the blogosphere is a great place to air ideas, but only if you have a thick hide. Much like print media, you have to accept that someone will always read and interpret in a contrary tone. So the suggestion of coffee is a good one, but the suggestion of an open forum is also excellent.. and inevitably the kind of exercise that will hopefully bring widespread productivity to these discussions.
As a relative new kid on the block in terms of ministry, theology and experience, it’s easy to feel like you don’t have anything relevant to add, but.. I am living and breathing in the generation that is meant to be delighting in their ’emerging’ nature, and I don’t really see a lot of it. My peers can talk about the ideology, but their practice of worship, community etc, remains unchanged. And I am a proponent of the Gospel, so I shall endeavour not to focus my energy on changing the way we do church, but working to ensure that however we do church, it’s relevant to our immediate context.
We are storytellers. Employ whatever means you like to tell the story, there is no set way.. jsut know that for some people they will like to skip to the end, some like to read for themselves, some like the same story told the same way over and over. We have the freedom to do that, so long as we tell the right story, it doens’t have to be about telling the story right.
In a congregation that does experiment from time to time, I count more failures in our experiments than successes. That is a lot to do with my weaknesses, for sure. But I also think it has a lot to do with the fact that a lot of so-called ’emerging’ practice isn’t simply not relevant or connective with the people I am ministering too. It’s relevant to me. But then, so is a major rock’n’roll concert. Here am I, caught in a parallel. Sometimes I like church to be like a rock’n’roll show too.
I work as part of the team organising a youth gathering that’s highly evangelical. Here’s what I’ve learned that’s still true about youth culture..
- big is beautiful, in fact sometimes size really does count.
- sometimes celebrating small is easier in the context of a large gathering.
- hype is sometimes just fun, and that’s ok.
- stages that look great don’t have to dominate the landscape of the message.
- Stages that look great make sense to kids.
- it’s an uplifting experience for kids to see a God who is working, real and relevant in the lives of their peers across the country.
- Arty kids and sporty kids, extroverts and introverts can all find expression and a sense of belonging in a big kick-ass event.
In the five years between adolescence and young adulthood.. what are we really expecting to change?
My environment is a challenging one, because things are openly critiqued, vigorously so. Not much is done just for the sake of it. But it’s an open critique that has a good motive underneath it. We are responsible for ministering to, leading and opening up doors for longtime, middle-aged, newbie and no-yet followers of Jesus, and the way we tell the story must bear all of those things in mind. So we experiment, but we try and do it with wisdom.
I, for my part, respect the fact and the manner with which our national leader is engaging and endeavoring to dialogue on these issues. It seems wiser and safer to me than others who seem to delight in picking up the books, and immediately wanting to leap into implementing new worship styles. It speaks to me of being all things to all men, and a willingness to put the needs of others ahead of self. After all… there are many ways in which I can connect with God, but I care much more about how my sisters, my neighbour and my friends will connect with His Story. That is the overwhelming, pressing urge on my heart.
When emerging fits for them, that’s great. And when they go to Hillsong and love it, that’s great. And wherever they find the truth of the Gospel, that’s the answer to my prayers and the cry of the Kingdom.
For the sake of the Kingdom, we need to, and I implore all.. to humble ourselves enough to admit, we all need God to lead us and speak to us through one another.
In the States recently, I saw a lot of creativity for creativity’s sake that was more about artisitic expression, than about relevant spiritual engagement. It was as off-putting, stale and inauthentic as some of the more theologically inaccurate mega-congregations I could attend in Auckland or Sydney. And it was at one of the flagship Emerging Churches. Which throws up lots of questions for me in regards to what Emerging Church really does look like, feel like, sound like. In terms of production values, and performance intensity, speaking with some of the practitioners there revealed remarkably similar values to a Hillsong, or large-scale ‘Modernist Icon’ church.
Some of the congregations that we read about, happily denote that the success story of what they are doing is the numbers of faithful who are retaining ther faith, staying in Christian community, being discipled. But Both-And tension is so vital here, because as a youth worker I have a responsibility to communicate the importance and relevance of the Gospel for us and others, and if we do not value the numerical growth as well as spiritual growth of our ministries we are in trouble. In the ministries I have participated in, people leaving, or people sitting and not participating or engaging with the mission are signs of trouble. Celebrate the raspberries, and remember to plant lots of them.
I am in a ministry context that is experimenting with some different approaches to worship, communication and community. Some things work well and become meaningful, many do not. I am a keen experimenter, but I count more failures than successes with my work. Why? Because I read and think and talk.. and it suggests that there are ways my congregation ought to be engaging, or would like to engage.. the reality is that they don’t. When we create and invite them into those spaces and experiences.. more often than not, it doesn’t carry meaning when part of our services. It’s the same over a small but significant number of congregations that I have participated in and/or observed on a micro-level.
But we have some great sports teams. Touch teams that participate in community tournaments, smaller community groups going to the beach together, adventure sports together and more recently.. lawn bowls for young adults. It has all the elements we emerging ones love.. embracing nature, community, participation, the old and the new, it’s embracing and inviting, it’s evangelical by way of relationship.
So whilst church with candles, symbols, prayers, words, images, darkness and light works really well for me, I also have to accept that the majority of these supposedly ‘post-modern’ young adults who all connect really well with the ideology in their heads.. actually prefer the practice of community that looks more like Hillsong, or CLC or CCC. It’s simple, and understandable. It’s accessible to the masses.
Swing to the other side of the pendulum. So much of our emerging energy seems to get spent up on healing and restoring those who didn’t do mainstream church well, those who didn’t fit. Read the blogs, the books, listen to the seminars. There are a lot of church folk out there who just are looking for a way of doing church that suits them. It will always be that way, but I don’t think we will ever have an entire generation that will pick up the post-modern flag and wave it on a hilltop. And there are some people who need to stop preaching that message. And it shouldn’t ever be that way, because all of this debate comes dangerously close to pulling us away from the task at hand..
Lord, hear the cry of your Children
We are weak, we are limited in understanding
Grant us your eyes to see and ears to hear
For the sake of the Kingdom, may we strip ourselves away
For the sake of Your name, may there be nothing left
For the sake of those who do not yet know Your Love
Make us humble at the feet of our brothers and sisters
Teach us to learn from those around us
Teach us to walk in Your ways
Refocus our eyes, change our lens
Cleanse from us the sin of pride
In a world where there are many Right Ways
Simply help us to avoid the Wrong Ways.
In a world where there are many Voices
Help us to listen wisely, and to speak more so.
For the sake of the long-time, middle-aged, newbie and not-yet
For the sake of Us, the Followers
Tell us again the Story of finding and feeding sheep.
Find us, feed us again.
by tashmcgill | Dec 7, 2004 | Youth Work
Qualified For Ministry.
Today I talked with a friend who’s just been given the boot from a ministry position. It took a really long time for him to get there, both in terms of life preparation, listening to God and then leaping. And it’s never gone as planned. First it was going to be a full time position, and then it was parttime. Now, they don’t want to pay him, but they offered him the 25-35’s ministry to start from scratch.
Granted.. there are many things I don’t know about the situation, and I’ve been really impressed with this guy’s humility towards his leadership, and desire to get the thing sorted out. But there’s been no process. He doesn’t have much understanding of what’s going on, but the Senior already had a meeting with the youth leadership to say what the deal is.
These were the questions I asked him:
Outside of this situation, what’s the whisper of God saying?
What can you do with the time that’s been freed to pursue that call?
What are you prepared to do to follow God in this thing?
How are you relating to God through this whole process?
Unfortunately, this youth pastor isn’t in the Baptist family. Or maybe that’s a fortunately. I know that these things happen still in lots of places, but it’s sad to think that it’s a process he has to go through relatively alone, pretty much reliant on his family to help him through, and trusting the church to demand good process.
Here’s A Potential Generalization, Not To Be Misconstrued
I get concerned about senior pastors leading churches who mistake ‘measures’ for ‘expectations’. It’s a same-old, same-old story. The job description says something nonsensical like ‘see spiritual fruits, young people growing, discipleship’, when the expected visual result is mostly in measures like attendance, rolls, participation.
I suspect that is what’s happening here. A big case of ‘how can we get the kids coming to our programme?’. But the geographical position of this church and it’s local area would reflect a statistically slight chance of it exploding into a major youth ministry. The area is saturated with a number of medium – large size ministries, and critical mass is valid in youth ministry. At each end of the spectrum there are solid, large youth ministries happening with historical credibility. In between are dozens of smaller ministries.
This of course, is irrelevant in the light of what God can do, but the question to be asked, by the senior leadership as well as the youth pastor should really be, what is God doing amongst us, and how can we express that to the community around us?
Count one more for the road, Mike. I just hope that he finds his pathway from here, and doesn’t give up on listening to the Voice.
I’m going to give him some books, and a lot of prayer.
one of our brothers is falling
not because he was careless
not because he wasn’t making the effort
sure, the hill might have been a little slippery
but he was sure trying to stay upright
but now he’s falling, Lord
and someone needs to help catch him
to wipe his tears, to comfort
someone to encourage him back onto his feet
another to pat him on the back
one with a bandaid to put on the wound
a friend to know when it should be exposed
someone to point out all that went right
don’t let him simply hear echoes of words
or the emptiness of where explaining ought to be
help him to keep his ear to the ground
to hear Your whisper for here and for now
keep tomorrow certain in his heart
for we know You are faithful, Lord
mostly Lord, help us remember
that this in itself is not a career
it’s a heartbeat, a calling
and something more earthy.
Lord keep us close as we ought to be
remember our brother, help us stay clean.
Qualified To Theologize
Stu can now blog from anywhere. But is he qualified to blog? By this I mean, Stu’s blog is infinitely more intelligent than mine.. but is he more theologically trained than I? This, I should establish.
Relevant why? Well.. give me a theologian who doesn’t at times get frustrated with the content of many of our worship songs. Give me a theologian who doesn’t sometimes scoff under their breath at the more meaningless, throwaway lines that fill our slick multimedia presentations.
I was talking with one such Songwriter on sunday, where he voiced his growing interest in theology and a certain reluctance to delve too deeply into it, feeling ‘under-qualified’.
Perhaps it’s with undignified restraint that I ramble my meager offerings to this table (of sorts). But that someone should feel so excluded from the gathering.. made me feel very uncomfortable. So theologize, I say. Wholeheartedly and rambuctiously, delve into the deep mystery of our God. Our songs will benefit, as will our dialogue.
So move over. If you are an overqualified theologian, make room at the table for us young’uns.
by tashmcgill | Nov 7, 2004 | Youth Work
Dear God.
We are at the time of year where moments we have dreamed of, are coming
into sight.
We can imagine the joy of the sun on our faces as we hand in our final
assignments. As we sit our final exams and venture out into summer. As
business rushes towards the summer break and social commitments start to
pile up, Lord, help us to remember that You are with us.
As we prepare to be tested and examined.. examine us oh God, and let it be
that nothing in us saddens you. Help us to stay focused, although the haze
of knowledge and study sometimes makes us feel that we are suffocated.
Help us to be sensible as we start to get tired. Help us to remember to
sleep right and eat right, and do right, so that we honour Your name, in
the midst of everything.
As the end of the year draws close, Lord, we will endeavour to finish it
well, and celebrate with you when it comes. Be present in our families,
workplaces, schools and in our midst here – teach us to
celebrate with all the glory of God. Thank you for the sunshine, we have
seen it, and we believe that it is coming. Thank you for the salt of the
sea, and for these islands we call home. You have given us a paradise to
live in, so that we might be reminded of You constantly. Honour and praise
to You. Amen.
—
by tashmcgill | Oct 11, 2004 | Travel, Youth Work
Letters From America Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World
From “Tash McGill”
Subject Letters From America Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World
Date Mon, October 11, 2004 9:01 pm
To tashmcgill@maxnet.co.nz
Ha! I hear you say.. that’s not a Dave Matthews Song… but technically it
counts for this email.. as you’ll figure out in a little while.
Sorry it’s been a little long between exciting updates.. but I’ve been so
busy out there in the world that I haven’t been anywhere near a computer.
So anyway.. we were up to the Architectural Rivier Tour of Cihicago. The
more the days drew on in Chicago, the more I fell in love with the city.
In all it’s colours and flavours. The river tour takes you through the
central parts of the city where the river has suffered at the hands of
industry. There’s not a single place along the river that you’d feel safe
to fall into .. the tour guide took pride in letting us know that the
status of the river had in fact improved from Toxic to merely Hazardous.
But it’s not the beauty of the river that’s meant to catch your eye.
Everything points up..
From the iron work on the raising bridges, to the architecture of steel
and glass, marble, granite, the transition from boxes to curves on
buildings.. everything draws your eye into what man has built alongside
the lake and river. And it’s nice to know where Sammy Sosa of the Corkied
Bat lives, as well as Oprah Winfrey. Also learnt a few old-time Chicago
stories.. like the start of the great fire that wiped out much of the city
in the 1800’s. The site of the barn has now been filled by the Chicago
Fire Acadeny. I’m not kidding. There is a sense of humour in Chicago. it
And as for it’s nickname, the Windy CIty.. it’s in fact due to it’s rich
and character-filled political history. More on Chicago legends.. there’s
Legends the bar and venue, which we drove past but didn’t go into, the
also famous Blue Chicago, that simultaneously exists in two places,
featuring some wicked acts in both. You want to be sure that you’re going
to the right one.
Also visited the Millenium Park, which sits on the shores of Lake
Michagan, and it makes me drool at the site of it’s outdoor arena sound
systems, and it’s aluminum sculpture that reflects the viewers and the
skyline of the city. Just across from there are two large LCD screens
encased in glasss brick towers, reflecting the brick of the city all
around. They play constant video footage of faces, smiling and staring at
one another across a shallow pond.
As they play, there are those young and old that pretend to be Jesus
walking on the water, splashing in the edges and waiting with anticipation
for the spitting tactics of these strange projections. It acts like a
fountain of sorts, but conveniently syncs with the video to produce the
spitting effect. Watching those who weren’t paying attention get soaked
was completely worth the wait.
A 180 degree turn has you facing across the street, to penthouse bars..
but more significantly, buildings where the brick and plaster facades are
starting to fade from their glory. Pieces missing from cornerstones,
window arches and decorative pieces give you a sense that this city is old
enough to deserve a little TLC around the edges. Maybe that’s the heart of
the reflective sculpture.. simply that the art and beauty of Chicago is to
be found in mirroring back her own image.
And that was just one Saturday.. here’s the rock’n’roll part.
Sunday the 3rd of October I flew to Detroit to catch an American political
rally, with My Morning Jacket, Jurassic 5, Ben Harper and the Innocent
Criminals and Dave Matthews Band. It was the most stunning experience.
It began as I flew into Detroit, home of the Big THree car manufacturers.
This is a blue collar, working class city. Those wearing white collar in
executive jobs live up to an hour outside the city and commute each day,
but the heart of the city lives on a factory clock, it gets up early,
relaxes hard and is a constant production force. I had a tour guide/cab
driver on the to the Palace.. who filled me in on the ethnic, political
and social history of Detroit, as well as himself. So we traded views and
ideas on Kerry, Bush and Hillary Clinton, and his own personal history.
We talked about the importance of the family name, and he let me know that his first ancestor off the boat from Sicily was named Joseph Barroni.
Consequently, to this day, he has 22 first cousins and one brother named
Joseph Barroni. He lucked out, and his parents named him Larry.
The show was incredible. For those that care, I was in the first floor,
sitting in the corner, so had an amazing view of backstage and the whole
front piece, as well as the light show and the screens. It was actual
perfect. No one in Detroit could understand my accent, but it really was
amazing. As a stage manager, I was in love with the crowd illuminators
that weren’t blinding, and the revolving stage. Dave broke 3 guitar
strings and had his tech working all night, with the exception of two
tracks, there was a guitar change between every song.
There are some little rituals that you don’t read about in interviews, or
see on DVD’s. Like the nod and handshake between Carter Beauford and DM after each track, or the particular grin when they nail something. It was amazing.. and then it got better.
Here’s where it all comes together.. Keep On Rockin’ In The Free World,
totally counts as a DMB song for the night because they played it. And
they played it with Neil Young. Live and In Concert, guitar solos
abounding, Neil’s gray hair was bobbing all over the stage. Talk about a
triple decker bonus. I was dying. I really couldn’t breathe. Only some of
you will understand the depth of my experience. That’s okay. Don’t feel
bad, just go and spend some time reading and listening in the Borders
Music Library to get a vibe for the mega influence of this artist.
So after the show.. I caught a shuttle back into downtown Detroit with a
Russian/Palestinian cab driver. Yeah. It was an interesting conversation
as well. He had spent 7 years in London and chose to live in Michigan
because of the climate.
From downtown Detroit, I caught the 12.45am Greyhound back to Chicago. The homeless guys hang out in the bus shelter until the last bus leaves (mine) and make conversation with weary travellers. There were collections of young guys listening to homemade mixtapes heading to find jobs in Chicago, women travelling to visit family, a couple of tranvestites.. and who knows what they were travelling for. A couple were in the rear of the bus making a valiant effort at concieving their 2nd child whilst the first slept. The bus rollled on through the night, finally delivering me back into downtown Chicago at 5am. I made it home via cab and train by about 6am.
Worth it? Hell yes. The quintessential American experience rolled into
fourteen perfect hours.
There were some scary moments, and moments where joy and emotion were riding so high that I didn’t have words. The loneliest part was just not
being able to share it, in the wordless way of eye contact and smiles that
you share an experience with someone. But maybe you want to find someone to share an experience with, and relive the setlist, enclosed below for your enjoyment.. I suggest a decent merlot or suitable beverage, some soft lights, turning the phone off and soaking in the goodness.
Sunday Oct 3 2004
Palace of Auburn Hills
One Sweet World
Granny
Don’t Burn The Pig
Joy Ride
Song That Jane Likes
(Extended Intro)
Don’t Drink the Water
Tripping Billies
Hello Again
Stay
Sugar Will
All Along The Watchtower
Cortez The Killer
Rockin in the Free World
__________________
What Would You Say
Too Much
— Oh… then I went on another voyage.. that’s next. Stay tuned.
Tash
Letters From America: Satellite
Well, I’m here… Music City USA. It’s Nashville, Tennessee and it’s gorgeous.
But first… there’s a few more adventures.
I left Chicago on Tuesday, and as the rest of the team were leaving to head back to NZ, I was in Indianapolis. Home of speedway, big trucks, corn, horses.. in fact, just about anything to do with money, speed and racing. But the reason I was there was much more important.
My uncle has been in Indianapolis for 14 years, and a couple of years in Iowa before that. And it was the first time in ten years that we were seeing each other face to face. I was so excited and nervous.. not sure how it would go. Lots of family stuff had happened in the last few years.
But everything was cool. Strange and awkward at first.. when you all of a sudden have to transfer the 14 year old girl memories into 24 year old woman thoughts and conversation. But before too long we got used to each other again. He has a particularly dry sense of humour that now I recognize in some of the people that I love… and now I know where I found my penchant for that sense of humour. Bingo.. so many questions answered!! Uncle John just doesn’t suffer fools .. and so one of the most frequent phrases you’ll hear is ‘They’re not right’. Sometimes if it’s a particularly perplexing situation, that’s closely followed by ‘Not even close’. Needless to say, catching up with family news and various aspects of life, involved lots of those phrases. Lots of laughs.
Uncle John surprised me with the coolest trip ever. Only in Indianapolis for one night, then he took me to Florida!! Land of warmth and humidity. But good humidity. It was great. Seafood every night, margaritas every night, in every flavour. He and Valerie took me to Universal Studios, lots of shopping and then Downtown Disney. We had an amazing time getting lost in the Disney store as I laboured over Pooh Bear gifts for my sister. And Si.. you’ll die.. we came out of the restaurant next door to House of Blues at about 11, only to see that Joe Satriani had been playing there that night. AGHHH! But you can’t have too many great shows in one trip before you start losing friends back home… so. Yeah. Florida was great. It was too soon to leave, and too soon to leave John and Valerie.
We went home to Indianapolis to meet my friend Danielle. We drove out to a friend, Dean’s place and hung out with his horses and puppies, before heading out to meet Danielle, Aaron and Allison. Dean’s son is also a big DMB fan, and was actually at the Detroit concert that I was at.. he made me some CD’s. I like Indianapolis.
We met Dani and Co. at Mama Carolla’s Old Fashioned Italian Restuarant. An amazing restaurant and amazing to meet her face to face at last. The restuarant is old stucco, orginally built as a showhome to model the California/Mexican/Italian style of house that they were trying to introduce into the area. Filled with Fairy lights and soft furnishings, it was like dining in some romantic movie scene and the food was great.
Dani said I wasn’t as short as she was expecting, so as you can imagine, we are getting along great. We sat up last night, catching up .. and it’s felt as natural as can be. So we stayed another night at my uncle’s and left Indianapolis at about 6.45am. Uncle John even got up at that time to say goodbye, so Mum says that he must have enjoyed having me there. I’m pretty stoked about that because we’re already working on the list of things that I have to do next time I come. Family is too important.
The whole way down from Indy to Nashville, I was teary. I wasn’t sure if it was just the beauty of the sunrise over the fall leaves on the trees, or the lack of sleep and caffeine, or just the sadness of feeling such immense joy at reconnecting with my uncle, only to turn around and leave again.
Here’s something I was thinking today looking at those fall leaves turning though. It’s the way that life ought to end.. the end of a leaf is glorious. It’s brightest colour, it’s most dramatic impact. Those final moments are just glorious, and that’s how life ought to end for us.
We drove straight through Kentucky today, and then did a tour of Franklin, which is where Daniellle lives. Tomorrow we’ll tour through downtown Nashville, maybe even the Country Music Hall of Fame and some vintage guitar stores. You gotta look and dream, right? The Les Paul goldtop is huge here right now, so as long as I’m looking for anything but that, I’m sweet.
Should head to bed soon I think.
I hope that things are going well for y’all.
Tash
by tashmcgill | Oct 11, 2004 | Travel, Youth Work
Letters From America So Damn Lucky
From “Natasha McGill”
Subject Letters From America So Damn Lucky
Date Sat, October 2, 2004 6:05 am
To tashmcgill@maxnet.co.nz
Reporting live from the Mothership of All Motherships.
Here I am at Willow Creek Community Church. I could tell you about the brand new auditorium that they just opened, that seats 7000. Or about the 25,000 people that came through the doors last weekend. I could tell you about the lake, and the landscaping, or the water feature in the lobby. But it wouldn’t be fair to comment on those things when I haven’t figured out what they all mean yet.
So I can tell you about the people.. Had lunch with the Student Impact staff. They work with senior high schoolers, a ministry of more than a 1000. The kind of ministry that has youth pastors, small group pastors, worship pastors, counselling pastors and administrative staff just for one small bracket. Also had a meeting with one of the people from Axis, which is the 18-30 ministry.
They’re good people. An enormous number of them are relatively new and they are all asking the same questions of post-modernism and what that means for us and the people that we are leading, and those who are leading us. And the questions are the same.. how can you make this work, what must be sacrificed for the sake of wider community etc etc etc.
Being in a place this big, where there are so many people who ‘belong’ but the definitions of community are challenged by logistics… makes me glad for the fact that I could recognise by sight at least most of the people that I see azs part of the Windsor Evening Community on a regular basis.
But all that church and work talk aside…
Chicago. Windy City.. although I haven’t figured out if it earnt that name for the hotwinded politicians and mobsters, the actual wind.. or immense number of jazz and blues musicians here. The atmosphere and character oozes out and around every pavement and sidewalk.
Chicago feels like the first real city that I’ve set foot in here in the States. The people feel real, the buildings are old and beautiful, the air is clean.. err.. cleaner, than in LA. The train track that runs through the city, the architecture of the skyline is stunning. Haven’t made it to the Frank Lloyd Wright memorial yet, but that is on the cards for the weekend. I have spent a couple of days downtown though.. street crawling and capturing the sight and colours and light of a city like this. The way the sun sets over the horizon of Lake Michigan and reflects of the wall of glass that is the skyscraper outline. The gracious view of Chicago’s sprawling city suburbia filled with brownstone and redbrick from the skydeck on Sears tower.
I submitted to the tourist pull and walked thorugh Navy Pier, rode the Ferris Wheel, took a speedboat tour of the shorefront, and I’m hoping to the architectural river tour this weekend too.
Michigan Avenue is one of THE places to be in Chicago. Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Tiffany’s, Bvlgari and etc etc etc.. line up along what’s termed the Magnificent Mile. So I went into Bloomingdales, cos I’m after the pan-ultimate American experience.
If you’ve seen ‘What Women Want’ where Mel Gibson walks into the department store and just is swamped in a sea of women’s voices.. it was actually like that in real life. I stood and watched, just observing old ladies in Chanel suits wearing diamonds set in platinum that could sink ships.. I couldn’t help but feel.. well, distinctly out of place, but also disappointed to discover that the heart of all the Hollywood exaggeration.. doesn’t exaggerated the radical dependence on the external to minister to the internal. Beauty counters set in for metres and metres, while just a couple of blocks away, the darkness of the crowded housing, all black neighbourhoods, covered in litter and grime and sadness sits in the shadow of the high-rises.
Yeah.. typical I know. It’s the same old same old to come and be horrified by the wealth of some and the poverty of others, but it would be irresponsible to pretend like it’s not the case. So I’m not cheesy.. I’m just real.
After a hard day of travelling the streets of the city, went to Giordanos for pizza. A traditional deep-dish Chicago style pizza. Kinda has to be seen to be believed, but the cops in the booth just down from us, with thick Chicago accents, the Italian/Greek metropolitian flavour of the place seems to be just right.
Anyway.. the flavour of the place is hard to capture in a series of letters and words. But I’m loving it. Chicago is a place I could live. Defintely a place I could live. Off to find music and madness tonight. What I haven’t found is a cup of coffee worth drinking. Watched the presidential debate last night.. couldn’t help but like some of what George W. Bush has to say. I’m watching myself before entering into too much political discussion though.
Where I’m staying in Chicago is actually covered with pictures of New Zealand, my hosts were just there. I missed home for the first time the other night.. but there is still a lot of travelling to be done. I’m looking forward to all the conferences being over and getting to see my uncle and Danielle, Natasha and a few other friends.
There is a big ol’ message stirring up within me at the moment.. decisions that I made before leaving home that have solidified and choices that I have coming up expanding.. and so that’s exciting. I realised before I left that I’ve been slowing losing my edge.. it’s been dulled by circumstance and choices, and that’s not okay with me. So I’m resharpening the blade. Here’s hoping that journey will continue to unfold when I get back, and it will help you resharpen yours too. I’ve discovered that it’s better if you take your life with you when you go somewhere.. so in a sense, y’all are here with me. You are in my thoughts and prayers.. and your influence travels with me. So much things to say.. starting with, I’m so damn lucky to have been given what I have, and to be entrusted with you, to journey with.
Thanks for your emails and text messages etc. Brightens my days.
May you be Present in the moments you are in.
May you be Present with each other, and honest.
May you be Present with the Father, and loved.
Tash xxx
by tashmcgill | Oct 11, 2004 | Travel, Youth Work
Letters From America So Much To Say
From “Natasha McGill”
Subject Letters From America So Much To Say
Date Sat, September 25, 2004 6:41 pm
To tashmcgill@maxnet.co.nz
Yes, that is a Dave Matthews Band song. Cheesy I know, but … deep down you appreciate the fact that I am a passionate person.. so passionate that I don’t mind y’all knowing my vunerability!
So here I am in crazy Anaheim, in crazy America, surrounded by youthworkers! eeks.
The plane out of NZ got delayed by a couple of hours so things got off to a great start on this little sojourn.. but we arrived in San Francisco and gassed it to Santa Cruz to visit with VIntage Faith church.. pastored by Dan Kimball and a team of great, and I mean, genuinely awesome, feel like you’re talking to Jesus people. We were welcomed with such great hospitality and warmth.. and not to mention the church service itself.
It reminded me of a lot of places I’ve been, but in every experience there’s always felt like there was an element missing in the connection of creativity to community to church. Here at Vintage Faith, it’s natural as breathing to see artists painting the message being spoken, silent prayer corners set up, people sitting with coffee cups in their laps. Some sitting on cushions, some at tables. The sense of God’s creativity taking pride of place and not just creativity for creativity’s sake was really encouraging.. to think.. this can be done. Somehow all the ideas and thoughts and emotions that run rampant in my head and in the body of our community can be brought into the open in outstandingly glorious ways.
The absence of self, the sideways stage, the overwhelming beauty of the all-encompassing images… left me wth a profound sense of peace, and of God’s wondrous romance. It’s marvellous to be this close to every emotion that sits under the weight of busyness and the rush.
So, apart from some great face to face time with Dan, talking about his postmodern journey, Snta Cruz also inroduced me to Josh Fox. He’s the music pastor at Vintage, who’s incredibly humble and real. We’re trying to convince him to come on out and visit for a while.
We visited the Boardwalk at Santa Cruz and that was choice as, incredibly old rollercoasters and carousels. Then we took the Pacific Coast Highway down to LA… mint.
I went off wandering by myself from Anaheim to Newport Beach, then Long Beach. Cool, just to be immersed, travel through some of the poverty and see the influence of America on Mexican culture and vice-versa. Meeting interesting people wherever I go, and enjoying the ride.
Yesterday and today has been critical concerns courses with Rob Bell, a teaching pastor from Michigan. Challenging stuff, and there are lots of things that I have been wanting to explore and action in my life and in the lives of my community that I am encouraged to do now.
I gotta jett.. so all the exciting deep parts that you were hanging out for will have to wait til the next installment. Hopefully tomorrow sometime.
God is with me, and present all around.
He is also present where you are, working amongst you and I.
May your eyes be opened to see Him. Read yourself Colossians 2.
Grace and Peace.
Tash
