Well Kara is off at Princeton getting her French out of the way before her New Testament program starts. I like to do that too, learn a language in a few weeks every summer just to make life easier for the next semester. Or maybe she’s just unique like that. You might think that the upside to moving away from Kansas City to Princeton, NJ would be escaping the oppressive heat. You might think that. And you’d be wrong. According to my apple weather widgets, today Princeton is on par to beat our heat wave by 8 degrees. Uggh. As much as I like Al Gore, I really wish he was wrong about this.
        So while we skip from one island of air-conditioning to another, Kara gets to put life without a car to the test as she walks all over Princeton in the sweltering heat. She’s taken a ton of pictures of the Princeton campus, check them out here. I’m glad for things like flickr that help me get an idea of what her life looks like out on the East coast, but no technological marvel (even iSight) is as good as being with her in person.
        I miss you babe, can’t wait to see you in September!

        This past Sunday I had the chance to visit and hang out with the folks at Church of the Sojourners in the Mission district of San Francisco, CA. I happened upon this community last year at the Ekklesia Project gathering where the Sojourners were presenting on Christian community. They are very similar to other Christian communities around the United States like Simple Way in Phillly and Reba Place or JPUSA in Chicago.
        Unlike Reba Place, Sojourners does not live on a common purse. Instead the Covenant members commit to live on an allowance, after paying for necessities like healthcare etc. They tithe everything else. Like most of these new monastic communities, hospitality is at the core of who they are and one of the most important ways they express their love for God. I was a welcome recipient of this hospitality last Sunday as I ate some fish tacos with a few people from the Double Deuce house (as Ryan calls it anyway), went to a small meeting where I learned more about the life that Sojo members live and finally as I broke bread with the community at their Sunday worship gathering.

        I’ve been reading through Scot McKnight’s recent book Praying With the Church. I am really enjoying his perspective on praying with a prayerbook or another tool at set times with the church. I came to faith in a church which valued what Scot calls praying in the church very much, but put little emphasis on praying with the church. That started to change a little bit at a time, first as my church in college would pray other peoples prayers as our own during the worship gathering. We called that the prayers of the people. At other times when I’ve visited an Episcopal church, Catholic church or Monastery I’ve prayed ancient prayers with the church.
        I’m with Scot in affirming that both forms are important, and that praying with the church is not meant to eliminate or take the place of praying in the church. The practice of praying with the church is for me however a place of deep connection with God and other Christians.
        One thing that Scot said is important in praying with the church (even if you are alone at home) is to pray out loud. That’s something I’ve never been too good at. I’ll read the book of common prayer, or the lenten readings, etc. but I usually just read them. As I was thinking about this today it struck me how I had fallen into the dualistic trap of public/private, body/spirit. I had always thought that if someone were to interrupt me reading through prayers there would be no harm done and they would politely let me continue. The reason I didn’t pray these out loud was for fear of someone walking in on me speaking my prayers. That seems so cultic, so charismatic… so bodily. I had willingly relegated my prayers to my “private thoughts,” rather than let them enter my bodily, public life.
        So I’m praying ancient prayers out loud now.

        ps - for daily readings, click on “Church Season” at the top of this page.

        Jeff and Meredith finally tied the knot this past weekend. They had a beautiful (although hot) outdoor wedding in the foothills outside San Jose, CA. I was honored to stand at Jeff’s side as he and Meredith exchanged vows. It was also special to see up-close just how much joy Meredith brings Jeff as he started to cry when she walked down the rose strewn aisle. The wedding was beautiful and the reception felt like a college reunion party. It was great to see so many old friends from Loma come and celebrate Jeff and Meredith’s big day.
        Big props to improv wedding co-ordinator (Nell Becker Sweeden) and DJ (Kallie Markle) for doing a great job on the spot at something people get paid big bucks to do. I for one know that Nell is thinking of taking up wedding co-ordinator as a part-time job, so any of you out there that are looking for someone to work with on your wedding day, just call Nell. Tell her Charlie sent you.

        This is the second year I’ve been able to attend the annual Ekklesia Project gathering held at DePaul University in Chicago. By the way, I am still very impressed with Chicago’s public transportation, way to go CTA! I met up with Kaz again for this year’s EP gathering and as always it was good to see my old friend. This year’s theme was about imagining what the Kingdom looks like. There was a heavy emphasis upon artistic expression of the Kingdom. We Ekklesia folk can tend to get bogged down in “resisting the Empire” (which was last year’s theme) that we often forget to do the positive work of creatively expressing what the Kingdom looks like. There was talk of Christian discipleship looking like improvisational theatre via Sam Wells. At the end of the first day we heard the music of the Psalters. This was the first EP “concert” that I’m aware of, and it was nice to see old theologians and pastors get into the upbeat nomadic sounds of the Psalters.
        The second day was about “Kingdom Practices.” Brenna Cussen, a young woman from a Catholic Worker House in South Bend, IN told us about her life with CWH and the daily practices of caring for the poor and homeless and practicing hospitality that her community finds to be essential to their life together. Fred Bahnson and Grace Hackney spoke to us about Anatoth Gardens, which their church began after the shooting of a man in their community. It was a really encouraging story of how a church was able to “practice resurrection” in the midst of a violent world. We ended the day with a “coffeehouse” which is academia for “variety show.” Many of the artists were inspired by Wendell Berry, including a photographer, a fashion designer and a painter. Songs were sung and poetry read… it was a great time together.
        For more on this year’s Ekklesia Project check out, AKMA’s thoughts on day one, day two and day three.

        I’m finally back home after a 12-day zig-zag trip across the United Sates. I started off going to the wedding of good friends Wilson and Amy Ryland in super hot Phoenix, AZ. I arrived in time to get some good hang-out time with Wil before the all-day bachelor party. We got to hang out on the Lake, have tons of fun in town and go bowling. It was good to see old friends like Ty and Kay and catch up with new ones like Zach. Wil and Amy are enjoying Hawaii right now.
        From Phoenix I flew to Chicago for my second visit to the annual Ekklesia Project conference held on the campus of DePaul University. It was also a chance to catch up with old friends from last year and make new ones this year, as well as just enjoying my time with Kaz.
        Next on the itinerary was Jeff and Meredith’s wedding in San Jose (that link will continue to update as people add photos). I got into SJ on Wednesday and was able to put things together for Jeff’s bachelor party with the help of Sammer. We had a blast making Jeff do all kinds of crazy things in San Jose as well as some more serious time of loving on him and praying over him. The wedding was amazing and beautiful. It was such a delight to see those two finally get married.
        Right after the reception I drove up to San Francisco in the middle of the night to hang out for a day with the awesome people at church of the Sojourners. They’re a Christian Community/Church in the heart of the Mission district of San Francisco who are striving to live out Jesus’ love for us by practicing communal living, simplicity and hospitality.
        I will be posting more on each of these trips, but I thought I’d give a quick run-down of where I’ve been recently.

create your own visited states map.

I’m sitting in the Phoenix airport after a wonderful week of hanging out with Wil and celebrating his marriage to Amy. From Wednesday to Saturday we had one big party. We went to the lake and boated/jet-skied until we ran out of gas, all the while enjoying Wil’s blue Speedo. We got to watch Wil walk by his future In-Laws in nothing but the same Speedo and a cowboy hat while at dinner in a local Phoenix restaurant. This of course would pale in comparison to the embarrassment Wil was put through at the bowling alley, where he was patted down by a “police officer” (if you have pictures SEND THEM to me!). It was great catching up with Wil and talking about ministry and life, as well as meeting up with old and new friends. Blessings to you both, enjoy Hawaii!

So I got a brown recluse bite (I think) sometime on Friday. After a nice bruise formed on my foot where the venom appeared to have pooled I started to ice it down and tell friends about it. After some pretty scary stories and photos like THIS (warning: DISGUSTING photo) on the internet, I took the day off work early to visit the doctor. I’m now on anti-biotics and all things should be well. So we’ll see.