Pente-chaos

Sometimes, the balloon order gets lost, the word on the cake is wrong, and the candles on the altar are crooked and they make me crazy. But God shows up. Every. single. time.

pantocrator ink

A little over a year ago I decided that I wanted a tattoo on my upper arm of the Christ Pantocrator, one of the oldest icons of Jesus Christ. The oldest known Pantocrator image was written in the sixth century, and it survived the iconoclastic periods of 730-787 and 813-843, housed in the monastery of St. Catherine in the Sinai desert.

In Greek, the word Pantocrator means “ruler of all”.

While I wanted a classic image, I wanted it to have a modern twist. My friend Paul Soupiset is an amazing graphic designer and illustrator in San Antonio. I fell completely in love with his work when he did a Moleskine painting a day as a Lenten discipline a few years ago.

Back in February while I was in San Antonio for the Faith Stories retreat, I asked Paul if he would design a Pantocrator image for a tattoo for me. He graciously agreed, and I was delighted to receive an image from him a few weeks later.

My tattoo guy made a few small changes, but stayed pretty true to Paul’s original design.

Here’s a photo of the finished piece, taken right after Julian finished inking.


As you can see, the symbolism of the original images is represented here. In his left hand, Christ holds a book with a cross on it, depicting the Gospel. His right hand is raised in blessing. There is significance of the posture of his right hand – with his thumb, ring finger, and little finger bent together symbolizing the divine and human natures of Christ and his index finger and slightly bent middle finger held upright.

The letters on the top left and right are ‘IC’ and ‘XC’, which symbolize Ieosus Khristos, the Greek shortened form of Christ’s name IC XC.

Jesus’ face follows ancient traditions, with a high forehead to indicate wisdom, a small mouth closed in contemplation, and eyes that appear to peer into the soul.

I couldn’t be more pleased with the final product. Thanks, Paul!

Palm Sunday 2010

new liturgy

I'm loving the Call to Worship, written by Cheryl Lawrie, that we are using right now at House:

We’re here because we’re people who have heard a rumor that there’s life to be found on the other side of death.

We’re here because just the rumor is enough to bring us hope and just the hope is enough to bring us a moment of life.

We’re here because even though it is only a flicker, a moment, a breath it’s changed our death forever.

Sometimes, that rumor is just enough to keep me going.

faith shift

I've experienced somewhat of a shift in my faith the past several months. Again. And likely (hopefully) not the last. Difficult to articulate, it has something to do with a desire to 'be' or 'do' the gospel, as opposed to hearing a different spin on the gospel. There's more to it than that, but that's what I know today.

This has been most evident in my lack of engagement at so-called evangelical gatherings, where the message was presented by a speaker to a captive audience. On two separate occasions lately, I was hugely under-whelmed, when in times past I would have been totally engaged and on track with the presenter. It has been a bit disappointing. The times that I have been engaged, particularly when I look at what resonated with me the most at Greenbelt, speak to this as well.

No, I'm not losing faith. And you need not worry that I am not reading the latest Christian book. I'm not. And I likely won't be any time soon. But I am leaving a little more room for Jesus.

pentecost, bluegrass style

Good Friday

Tonight we had our Good Friday service at House. Upon arrival, each person was given a purple tulip to lay on the cross during the time of adoration.

We chanted the psalm and did a responsive reading of the Gospel text, which was John 18 & 19. Not having much Scripture as part of corporate worship in recent years (last several months excluded), I am enjoying anew hearing the text read aloud. (Although 'enjoying' isn't quite the word to describe hearing this text.)

Following the sermon and prayers was the Proclamation of the Cross and Adoration. After which people had a chance to visit the stations of the cross and scribe a response to each station, before leaving in silence.

The times of silent reflection were quite meaningful to me, yet the whole service felt very haunting and sparse without the Peace, Alleluia, and Eucharist.

Following the service, a few of us took the tulips downtown to the site of the last shooting (that we could recall) and placed them at the site and offered a prayer.

I am liking this liturgical rhythm that I have seemingly fallen into.

Maundy Thursday

It's late, so I'm just gonna let the photos of our Maundy Thursday service at House for All speak for themselves with just a few quick details:
- We did the gospel text as a narrative reading and then incorporated the foot washing and Eucharist into it. It was powerful.
- Yes, those are condoms you see. We put together over 200 bleach kits for Praxus, a street outreach that is part of the Colorado Network to End Human Trafficking (CoNEHT).
- At the end of the service we stripped the altar bare and covered it with a black cloth.
- As people left in silence they dropped 30 silver coins into a bowl by the door, to be given to a group that has been betrayed. We'll be giving the money to the Four Winds Native American community, who we rent our space from.
A holy evening.