This is the third day this week that I've managed to take a jog with Trevan and Katy-dog (who seems very happy about it.) Trevan, who is normally very serious and quiet toward strangers, was greeting many of the people we passed with his "Gabba-gabba-gah!" He's also started to say "OOooh--kay!" with the wonderful, exagerrated facial expressions that I've been trying to teach him. We did some grocery shopping and ate at Applebees. (Apparently, a man alone with an infant attracts attention and welcomes conversation. Do we really look that odd or helpless? Granted, being different races, we proabably do attract even more attention.) Trevan seems to be enjoying this one-on-one time. I am. But I do miss Pauline and Mac.
They are doing well in Montana. They are dividing time between my side and Pauline's side of the family. Today, Gramma Shanks and Pauline took Mac to the Children's Museum (which is quite a bit bigger with more to do than here in Tacoma... cheaper, too). There was a child's size baketball hoop that Mac wouldn't leave until he had mastered.
On the book-reading front, I'm about half-way through Richard Giles's Re-Pitching the Tent; Reordering the Church Building for Worship and Mission. It has been a better (and easier) read than I'd expected. It is an especially good book for a church that is just about to rebuild or remodel.
His point is that many churches need to "re-order" their bulding, interior design, or spaces--not just to stay "hip"--but to remember that "a wandering Aramean was my father." He shows that, from the beginning, whether we have tents or buildings, the structure must serve the message--no, not just the message (theology and teaching), but the transmission of that message (evangelism)! and its accompanying mission.
Older (biblical) models of house-churches or preaching sights, together with centralized gatherings may be worth more serious consideration, and more use. As Jesus and the apostles spread the gospel, they met in homes, local synagogues, the Temple or community-meeting places. I have been less impressed lately with the way we tend to define a "church" body-- i.e. self-sufficiency. The Bible clearly suggests something different.
Giles is often writing from his British experience, but he includes and applies his insights to his American audience; we are dealing with many of the same issues, especially here in the Northwest. I may have over-done the book-quotes in previous blog entries (and I will again), but I'll end with this one:
"It is the people of God themselves, assembled for prayer, who together form the primary icon of Christ among us. We no longer gather merely to gaze at Christ the image of God; in the renewed liturgical assembly we enter into the mystery of becoming Christ....We recapture the New Testament vision of the entire Christian assembly as the holy, priestly community called to offer worship. There are to be no more spectators, for in the eucharistic action all the faithful are ministers and celebrants of God's inexpressible gift" (p.83).
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